The Great Mediterranean as a Multi-Dimensional Object of Political Research
Chikharev I.A.,
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia, ichikharev@yandex.ru
elibrary_id: 230701 |
DOI: 10.17976/jpps/2021.03.09
Chikharev I.A. The Great Mediterranean as a Multi-Dimensional Object of Political Research. – Polis. Political Studies. 2021. No. 3. https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2021.03.09
The article is a presentation of the research program for the study of political processes in the greater Mediterranean region; the scientific and practical reasons for actualizubg the problems of political development within the macroregion are demonstrated. Special attention is paid to political evolution in the region, including its transformations and transitions, which have recently put it at the top of the global political agenda. A review of the study of the Mediterranean in the history of socio-political thought and in modern political science is provided. It is proposed that the Greater Mediterranean should be conceptualized as 1) modern States of the Mediterranean, Black, and Azov seas; 2) regions including these States; 3) regions described by the contours of empires and civilizations which had access to the Mediterranean and influenced its development; 4) the middle regions, functionally similar to the Mediterranean; and 5) the scope of multilateral global communications, including the Mediterranean or being correlated with it. This design determines the direction of comparative studies: 1) the manifestation of Mediterranean trends in individual countries and subregions of the “basin”; 2) a comparison of the political dynamics of the Mediterranean with other regions; 3) a comparison of mediterraneans; 4) a correlation of trends in the political development of the Mediterranean and mediterraneans with global trends. Thus, the Great Mediterranean is presented in the article as a subject of political research across a the long historical timeline and in the macroregional spatial “unfolding”. It is interpreted as a macroregion – an ecosystem in which, due to its resource and civilizational attractiveness, geopolitical strategies compete and evolve most intensively. This conceptualization helps to reveal a cluster of interrelated problems of political development within the region (transits, migrations, hybrid conflicts, secessions, fragility of states, international legal dysfunctions), and to form a relevant framework for their study.
References
Abulafia D. 2011. The Great Sea: A Human History of the Mediterranean. Oxford: Penguin Books Ltd. 958 p.
Abulafia D. 2005. Mediterraneans. – Rethinking the Mediterranean. Oxford: Oxford University Press. P. 64-91.
Agnew J., Corbridge S. 1995. Mastering Space – Hegemony, Territory and International Political Economy. London: Routledge. 402 p.
Barnett T. 2005. The Pentagon’s New Map: War and Peace in the Twenty-First Century. New York: Berkeley. 460 p.
Gorka M. 2018. The Three Seas Initiative as a Political Challenge for the Countries of Central and Eastern Europe. – Politics in Central Europe. Vol.14. No. 3. P. 55-73.
Haas P. 1989. Do Regimes Matter? Epistemic Communities and Mediterranean Pollution Control. – International Organization. Vol. 43. No. 3. P. 377-403. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0020818300032975
Horden P., Purcell N. 2000. Corrupting Sea. London: Blackwell. 761 p.
Mackinder H. 1943. The Round World and the Winning of Peace. – Foreign Affairs. July. P. 595-605.
Petri R. 2016. The Mediterranean Metaphor in Early Geopolitical Writings. – History. Vol. 101. No. 348. P. 671-691. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-229x.12326
Routlege Handbook on Mediterranean Politics. 2017. Ed. by R. Gillespie, F. Volpi. London: Routledge. 432 p.
Ratzel F. 1897. Studies in Political Areas. The Political Territory in Relation to Earth and Continent. – American Journal of Sociology. Vol. 3. No. 3. P. 297-313. https://doi.org/10.1086/210709
Ratzel F. 1911. Das Meer als Quelle der Volkergrosse: eine politisch-geographische Studie. Berlin: Boston Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag. 101 S. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783486739077
Asherson N. 2020. The Black Sea. (Russ. ed.: Asherson N. Chornoye more. Moscow: AST: CORPUS. 480 p.).
Braudel F. 2002. La Mediterranee et le monde mediterraneen a l’epoque de Philippe II. (Russ. ed.: Braudel F. Sredizemnomoryie i sredizemnomorskiy mir vo vremena Filippa II. Moscow: Languages of Slavic Culture. 496 p.).
Ilyin M.V. 2020. Vvodnyi ocherk dlya Bol’shogo Sredizemnomor’ya [An Introductory Essay for the Greater Mediterranean]. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.22076.18569
Ilyin V.V., Panarin A.S., Akhiyezer A.S. 1995. Reformy i kontrreformy v Rossii. [Reforms and counterreforms in Russia]. Moscow: MSU. 399 p. (In Russ.)
Ilyin I.V., Ursul A.D., Ursul T.A. 2012. Globalnyi evolutsionism: idei, problemy, gipotezy [Global Evolutional Approach: Ideas, Problems, Hypotheses]. Moscow: MSU. 616 p. (In Russ.)
Ilyin I.V., Ursul A.D. Ursul T.A. 2014. Evolutsionnyi podkhod v globalistike [Evolutionary Approach in Global Studies]. – Moscow University Bulletin. Series 27. Global Studies and Geopolitics. No. 3/4. P. 4-17. (In Russ.)
Modelski G. 2005a. The Evolution of Global Politics. – Polis. Political Studies. No. 3. P. 62-82. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2005.04.10
Modelski G. 2005b. The Evolution of Global Politics. – Polis. Political Studies. No. 4. P. 124-142. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2005.04.10
Nechaev V.D., Chikharev I.A., A.A. Irkhin, Makovskaya D.V. 2019. Framework of the Geostrategic Atlas of the Greater Mediterranean. – Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta. Seriya 5. Geografiya. No. 1. P. 67-74. (In Russ.)
Nikitin M.J., Baraboshkina T.A., Baraboshkin E.J., Kuznetsova A.V. 2017. Crimea Mountains Area’s Natural Resources and Transportation Networks. – Vestnik Moskovskogo obschestva ispytateley priridy. Otdel nauk o Zemlye. P. 49-56 (In Russ.)
Phillippson A. 1911. Das Mittelmeergebiet (Russ. ed.: Phillippson A. Sredizemye. Moscow: Zhurnal “Zemlevedenie”). Politicheskaya globalistika: naprevleniya issledovaniy v usloviyakh globalnoy neopredelennosti [Global Political Studies: Research Areas at the Age of Global Uncertainty]. 2020. Ed. by A.I. Kostin. Moscow: MSU. 299 p. (In Russ.)
Reteyum A. 2020. Vernone’s Latitude in Nature and Society. – Regnum. https://regnum.ru/news/innovatio/3094541.html (accessed 31.03.2021).
Stoletov O.V., Chikharev I.A., Moskalenko O.A., Makovskaya D.V. 2019a. Geoinformation Support of the Mediterranean Branch of the Silk Road. – InterCarto. InterGIS. GI Support of Sustainable Development of Territories: Proceedings of the International Conference. Moscow: Moscow University Press. Vol. 25. Part 1. P. 102-113. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.35595/2414-9179-2019-1-25-102-113
Stoletov O.V., Chikharev I.A., Moskalenko O.A., Makovskaya D.V. 2019b. Geopolitical Foundations of the Project “Geostrategic Atlas of the Great Mediterranean”. – InterCarto. InterGIS. GI Support of Sustainable Development of Territories: Proceedings of the International Conference. Moscow: Moscow University Press,. V. 25. Part 1. P. 163-178. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.35595/2414-9179-2019-1-25-163-178
Tikunov V.S., Chikharev I.A., Panin A.N., Rylskiy I.A. 2019. Atlas Informatic System “Geopolitical Situation in the Greater Mediterranean”: Principles of Construction and Methods of Spatial Analysis. – Science, Innovations, Technologies. P. 107-114. (In Russ.)
Tuathail G.O. 2009. Postmodern Geopolitics? The Modern Geopolitical Imagination and Beyond. – Political Science (RU). No. 1. P.188-214.
Voskressenskiy A.D. 2013. World Regional Studies and the Prospects of Non-Western (Sinocized) International Relations (IR) Theory. – Polis. Political Studies. No. 6. P. 82-96. (In Russ.)
See also:
Pushkaryova G.V.,
Political space: problems of theoretical conceptualization. – Polis. Political Studies. 2012. No2
Round Table of the «Polis» Journal, Rakitiansky N.M., Smulkina N.V., Palitay I.S., Zatonskikh A.V., Evgenyeva T.V., Selezneva A.V., Cherdantzeva A.M., Nikiforov A.R., Bogdan I.V., Ahmatnurova S.F., Samarkina I.V., Bukreyeva O.V., Shestopal Ye.B., Shcherbinin A.I., Shcherbinina N.G., Yanitzky M.S., Titov V.V.,
Political behavior: unconscious mechanisms and their rationalization. – Polis. Political Studies. 2013. No6
Round Table of the «Polis» Journal, Gaman-Golutvina O.V., Avdonin V.S., Sergeyev S.A., Chernikova V.V., Sidenko O.A., Sokolov A.V., Evdokimov N.A., Tupaev A.V., Slatinov V.B., Zhukov I.K., Kozlova N.N., Rassadin S.V., Chugrov S.V.,
Regional political processes: how «subjective» are subjects of the RF. – Polis. Political Studies. 2013. No5
Okunev I.Yu., Zakharova I.A.,
The Greater Mediterranean as a macroregion: spatial analysis. – Polis. Political Studies. 2022. No3
Ilyin M.V., Nechayev V.D.,
Challenges and prospects of study of the Greater Mediterranean. – Polis. Political Studies. 2022. No3