The Fate of Territorial Engineering: Mechanisms of Territorial Power and Post-Liberal Forms of International Governance

Abstract

Does there exist a genuine threat to the continuation of a broadly liberal international (and domestic) order, driven by the re-emergence of religious and secular fundamentalisms? This paper assesses this issue in the context of, first the rise of territorial power and then its fate in a period of globalization and the revival of religious intolerance. The twin concepts of sovereignpower and bio-power are deployed to investigate the emergence of territorial engineering in the 18 th century. A key feature of modern fundamentalisms is that they promote and trade-off the deterritorialization of social, political, cultural and economic activity. It is argued that this is a manifestation of a new form of 'spiritual martial power'. The risks associated with these developments should not be over-exaggerated but they exists nonetheless. If this is the case, the problem becomes one of how to re-territorializes the activities and disputes engendered by this reappearance and re-emergence of spiritual martial power with its link to religious fundamentalism. Here the argument is that this requires a re-examination of the nature of international borders, and indeed a re-emphasis on their role, not just in respect to containing disorder and restoring the capacity for governance, but also as a way of re-configuring international toleration and of righting a wrong.

Populist Counterpublics: Exploring Populist Mobilization, Crises of Representation, and Popular Subjectivities in Canadian Politics

“…While the work of staff might be best understood as "missionary", travelling to houses to proselytize about the nature and solutions to politics, I would suggest that the work of members themselves (in keeping with the analyses in other chapters) is that of the crusader. I use this term because of its links to what Thompson (2007) calls spirited martial power, a kind of power linked to "struggles formed in the context of 'blood, toil, and soil,' heroic virtue and legendary combat" (p. 488). It is fundamentally linked to territorially-derived authority and manifests in several geographic and historical modalities.…”

Shifting imaginaries of 'good citizens' : governing citizens in 20th century Peru

“…This persistence of heroic, military discourse, and its connection to narratives o f race and rescucitation of a noble Inca heritage reflect, in part, whatThompson (2007) refered to as "spirited martial power", relate to the " .. .struggles formed in the context o f 'blood, toil, and soil', heroic virtue and legendary combat..." (p. 488).…”