Politična geografija v 21. stoletju.

RAZUMETI PROSTORSKO STVARNOST-(U) VIDETI PRIHODNOST.

Predgovor

Bralci Geographice Slovenice, publikacije Inštituta za geografijo, se tokrat prvič soočajo s strokovnimi teksti, ki so zapisani izključno v angleščini in francoščini, obeh uradnih jezikih Mednarodne geografske zveze (IGU). Na kongresu v Haagu, leta 1996, je njena Komisija za politično karto sveta osrednji letni posvet s politično-geografsko vsebino za leto 2000 poverila Sloveniji in Oddelku za geo-grafijo ljubljanske univerze. Ob pomoči Zveze geografskih društev Slovenije smo posvet mednarodno promovirali in ga poimenovali "Politična geografija v 21. stoletju - razumeti prostorsko stvarnost in (u)videti prihodnost" - Political Geography in the 21sl Centur)>: Understanding the Place - Looking Ahead. K sodelovanju oziroma izvedbi smo povabili še hrvaške (Hrvatsko geografsko društvoj in italijanske geografe (Universita degli Studi, Trieste). Posvet je potekal med 24. in 27. majem 2000 na dveh lokacijah - v italijanski Gorici in sloven-skem Portorožu. Strokovna postkonferenčna ekskurzija v Bosno in na Hrvaško (Ljubljana - Sarajevo - Mostar - Knin - Ljubljana) je nadaljevala delo še za tri dni. Posvet je vodil dr. Anton Gosar, redni profesor - kot predsednik organizacijskega odbora; ob strani pa sta mu stala dr. Maria Paola Pagnini, redna profesorica iz tržaške univerze in dr. Mladen Klemenčič, urednik v Leksikografskem zavodu v Zagrebu ter dr. Milan Bufon, docent iz Znanstveno-raziskovalnega središča v Kopru.

Glede na strokovno prestižnost posveta in predvideno odmevnost v javnosti je Oddelek za geografijo že na pomlad leta 1999 pristopil k organizaciji prireditve. V ta namen je organizator namenil lastna sredstva za celostno podobo, koordi-nacijo in tisk prvega, bogato opremljenega vabila. V njem so bili navedeni razlogi za organizacijo posveta ter cilji, ki si jih je kongres zastavil. Ker je bil alpsko-jadranski prostor, skupaj s sosednjim balkanskim, območje dolgoletne napetosti ("železna zavesa") in vojaških spopadov (I. svetovna vojna) je bila politično-

geografskim vsebinam območja v katerem je posvet potekal namenjena ustrezna pozornost. Poleg tega je posvet obravnaval še naslednjo problematiko: sodobno politično-geografsko teorijo, videno iz evropske perspektive; dileme zahodno-evropskega federalizma in problemi širitve Evropske zveze (EU); svetovni demo-grafski razvoj in migracijski tokovi v Evropi; politični in ekonomski trendi v tranzicijskih državah Vzhodne in Srednje Evropi; položaj evropskih manjšin ter oblikovanje nacionalne teritorialne identitete; sovpadanje politično-geografskih vsebin s problematiko s turističnih migracij; zgodovina politične geografije v 20. stoletju in smernice za politično-geografska raziskovanja v 21. stoletju.

Za mednarodni posvet Political Geography in the 21s' Cen tun': Understanding the Place - Looking Ahead se je prijavilo 86 znanstvenikov iz 20 držav sveta (Avstrija. Belgija, Egipt, Francija, Hrvaška, Italija, Izrael, Irska, Južna Afrika, Madžarska, Nemčija, Nizozemska, Češka, Poljska, Romunija, Rusija, Slovenija, Švica, Velika Britanija in ZDA). V tem številu niso zajeti ugledni italijanski in slovenski politiki in odgovorni znanstveni in pedagoški delavci, ki so posvet pozdravili. Na posvetu je sodelovalo okrog 30 študentov ljubljanske univerze, ki jim je Politična geografija študijska usmeritev. Vsebine, ki so jih posamezniki predstavili so bili večinoma rezultat dolgoletnega raziskovalnega dela. Dr. Peter Taylor je, na primer, pred-stavil raziskavo s katero se ukvarja že 18 let v želji pokazati pot za novo, sodob-nejšo ureditev sveta. Večstoletno funkcijo nacionalne države naj bi zamenjala mesta in njih vplivna območja. Drugi referenti so prednostno prikazali aktualno stanje njihovih trenutnih raziskav, mlajši znanstveniki pa so poročali o lastni disertaciji. Organizator je obljubil izdajo zbornika in se za organizacijsko pomoč zatekel k Geographici Slovenici, ki je ponudbo z veseljem sprejela. Ugledna mednarodna strokovna revija GeoJournal, založbe Kluwer Publ., je za izbrane vsebine ponudila tudi svoje strani. Zato v pričujočem zborniku ni vsebin, ki zadevajo širitev Evropske zveze (EU). Skoraj istočasno bodo te vsebine izšle v posebni izdaji GeoJournal-a, z naslovom The New Europe. Dr. Anton Gosar je prevzel urednikovanje obeh publikacij. V imenu slovenskih geografov se mu za vloženi trud najlepše zahvaljujem.

dr. Jernej Zupančič Nacionalni komite za geografijo

Zveze geografskih društev Slovenije

Political Geography in the 21st Century

UNDERSTANDING THE PLACE -LOOKING AHEAD

Editorial

At the beginning of the 21s' century the world is in a great state of chaos. The post-WW2 political and economic division between East And West has been removed. Democracy and market economies (capitalism) have spread into an eastern di-rection, towards Asia. The rule of law is replacing the chaos and painful transi-tion times in what was Eastern Europe. The economic coherence of Europe's western part will be strengthened with the introduction of a unified economy. The Euro-American co-operation is impacted by the potency of the US economy and military strength. The European Union's initial enthusiasm to embrace the newly freed nation-states in the East is fading away. Facing the reality of their economies and weighing the advantages and disadvantages of economic expan-sion, many social groups in the European core worry about the benefits gained in the union of 15. To the ten East Central European candidate countries, which entered negotiations to join the union, the EU first set 2001 as a likely goal for their admission. At present, according to the verbal pronouncements of leading politicians, the "enlargement of the Union towards the east" will not take place before 2004.

The painful devolution of multiethnic Yugoslavia and Cyprus and the never-ending drive towards regional autonomy, combined in places with terrorism (Spain, France, Great Britain), has also called the nation-state, as the best ex-pression of societal and economic territory, into question. Additional issues na-tion-states will be confronting in the next few decades relate to environmental quality and security, terrorism networks, transnational corporations, transborder migration (legal and illegal immigrations, refugees) and investments, the diffusion of new human and animal diseases, the rights of women and children, and the emerging roles of non-state institutions and organizations. New and emerging political powers on the world scene, especially in developing worlds, will make

the tasks of state government and fashioning regional and international agree-ments more difficult.

Envisioning problems of the future, political geographers from a number of coun-tries gathered in May 2000 in Portoroz - Portorose (Slovenia) and Gorizia (Italy) to discuss the relevant political geography issues for the 2P' century. The IGU's Commission on the World Political Map initiated the meeting and fully supported the idea of the bi-national and cross-border cooperation. The articles in this regular issue of Geographica Slovenica represent a selection of papers presented at the conference.

The conference, entitled 'Political Geography in the 2P' Century: Understanding the Place - Looking Ahead", took place in one of the most turbulent parts of the Mediterranean Europe during the 20''' century. WWI began there with the battle-fields of Caporetto and Isonzo in 1916 (described in Hemingway's novel Farewell to Arms) and continued with the reality of the Iron Curtain (a term invented by Churchill, with reference to the border near Trieste). During the 1950s, commu-nistic and democratic worlds confronted each other there, and concluded in the 1990s with the violent breakup of Yugoslavia. The conference organizers, the Department of Geography of the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia) and the Geog-raphy Section of the Department of Political Science at the University of Trieste (Italy), being leading centers for the study ofpolitical geography in this part of the world, have excellent research grounds on site. Plenary sessions at the conference and workshops therefore: (1) examined current European dimensions, patterns, and trends in political geography; including the enlargement of the European Union and NATO; (2) considered trends in world population with a focus on migration within Europe; (3) examined current and likely future trends and devel-opments in East Central Europe, including the Balkans; (4) discussed transborde)-cooperation, in particular within the context of Euro-Regions; (5) analyzed post-communist space and the implementation of democracy through elections; (6) discussed ethnic geography, in particular territorial identities of minority and majority populations; (7) considered a view of the environment within which po-litical geography operates in research and in practice; and (8) reviewed past, present and future political geography research. The following fifteen articles reflect the diversity of presentations at the conference. The distribution of the authors from around the globe was not a hindrance to write in English and/or French. The management of the language was in their full responsibility.

The editor of the present Proceedings would like to recognize the assistance of the following colleagues and friends, without whom organizing the conference Politi-cal Geography in the 21s' Century and publishing the results would not have been possible (in alphabetical order): Dr. Marco Antonsitch, Dr. Milan Bufon, Dr. Stanley Brunn, Ms. Danica Jakopič, Dr. Mladen Klemenčič, Dr. Vladimir Klemenčič, Dr. Vladimir Kolossov, Dr. John Loder, Ms. Kendra Marshall, Dr. Andree-Louis Sanguin, Dr. Herman van der Wüsten, and Dr. Jernej Zupančič. There are many more individuals, in particular those conference participants, whom I would like to express my sincere thanks. Please except my apology for not mentioning you by name. A very special and most sincere "Thankyou " goes to my colleague and conference co-organizer, Professoressa Dr. Maria Paola Pagnini from the University of Trieste, Italy.

Dr. Anton Gosar, Guest Editor Department of Geography

University of Ljubljana, Slovenia