Download PDF Spaces of Global Capitalism A Theory of Uneven Geographical Development eBook David Harvey
Download As PDF : Spaces of Global Capitalism A Theory of Uneven Geographical Development eBook David Harvey
Fiscal crises have cascaded across much of the developing world with devastating results, from Mexico to Indonesia, Russia and Argentina. The extreme volatility in contemporary political economic fortunes seems to mock our best efforts to understand the forces that drive development in the world economy. David Harvey is the single most important geographer writing today and a leading social theorist of our age, offering a comprehensive critique of contemporary capitalism. In this fascinating book, he shows the way forward for just such an understanding, enlarging upon the key themes in his recent work the development of neoliberalism, the spread of inequalities across the globe, and 'space' as a key theoretical concept. Both a major declaration of a new research programme and a concise introduction to David Harvey's central concerns, this book will be essential reading for scholars and students across the humanities and social sciences.
Download PDF Spaces of Global Capitalism A Theory of Uneven Geographical Development eBook David Harvey
""Spaces of Global Capitalism" by David Harvey consists of two presentations delivered at the eighth Hettner-Lecture at the University of Heidelberg in 2004 and a third related essay. These challening works are the product of a thinker who has spent a lifetime of cross-disciplinary study on the issues of capitalism, politics, geography and related topics. Intended principally for an academic audience, Mr. Harvey's research succeeds in providing guidance for others who may want to further explore these issues in the future.
The first lecture, "Neo-liberalism and the restoration of class power" is by far the most accessible in the book. In essence a 62-page synopsis of Mr. Harvey's exceptional book, "A Brief History of Neoliberalism", the author convincingly reveals neoliberalism to be an ideology whose primary goal is to enshrine and protect elite power. Mr. Harvey's brilliant analysis connects growing income disparities with a concomitant rise in militarism and fundamentalism which he contends must be addressed with a revived popular struggle for democracy. The author's thoughts on this timely and important topic is quite simply essential reading.
The second lecture is entitled, "Notes towards a theory of uneven geographical development". Mr. Harvey explores how developed capitalist nations of the north tend to exploit the periphery, creating a chronic state of underdevelopment for much of the global south. The author discusses the concept of accumulation by dispossession and how it is subject to changing conditions, including: market exchange, spatial competition, geographical division of labor, monopolistic competition, annihilation of space through time, physical infrastructures, production of regionality, production of scale, territorial systems of political administration, and geopolitics. The analysis opens pathways for other scholars who may be interested in applying Mr. Harvey's principles to specific case studies.
The third essay included in the book is "Space as a key word." This seemed to be the most theoretical of the three and will probably be of greatest interests to specialists in the field of geographical development. Mr. Harvey shows how human practices define urban space and gives shape to architecture; for example, collective memory and political struggle are critical to defining culturally significant landmarks such as the rebuilding of ground zero in New York City. The author suggests that space must be understood from multiple perspectives and provides methodologies for others to consider.
I recommend this demanding book for academics or persons who have a sophisticated understanding of geographical development. On the other hand, those who are interested in uneven development as it pertains to neoliberalism are encouraged to pick up Mr. Harvey's highly-readable "A Brief History of Neoliberalism" in order to fully appreciate the author's thoughts on this particularly important topic."
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Spaces of Global Capitalism A Theory of Uneven Geographical Development eBook David Harvey Reviews :
Spaces of Global Capitalism A Theory of Uneven Geographical Development eBook David Harvey Reviews
- "Spaces of Global Capitalism" by David Harvey consists of two presentations delivered at the eighth Hettner-Lecture at the University of Heidelberg in 2004 and a third related essay. These challening works are the product of a thinker who has spent a lifetime of cross-disciplinary study on the issues of capitalism, politics, geography and related topics. Intended principally for an academic audience, Mr. Harvey's research succeeds in providing guidance for others who may want to further explore these issues in the future.
The first lecture, "Neo-liberalism and the restoration of class power" is by far the most accessible in the book. In essence a 62-page synopsis of Mr. Harvey's exceptional book, "A Brief History of Neoliberalism", the author convincingly reveals neoliberalism to be an ideology whose primary goal is to enshrine and protect elite power. Mr. Harvey's brilliant analysis connects growing income disparities with a concomitant rise in militarism and fundamentalism which he contends must be addressed with a revived popular struggle for democracy. The author's thoughts on this timely and important topic is quite simply essential reading.
The second lecture is entitled, "Notes towards a theory of uneven geographical development". Mr. Harvey explores how developed capitalist nations of the north tend to exploit the periphery, creating a chronic state of underdevelopment for much of the global south. The author discusses the concept of accumulation by dispossession and how it is subject to changing conditions, including market exchange, spatial competition, geographical division of labor, monopolistic competition, annihilation of space through time, physical infrastructures, production of regionality, production of scale, territorial systems of political administration, and geopolitics. The analysis opens pathways for other scholars who may be interested in applying Mr. Harvey's principles to specific case studies.
The third essay included in the book is "Space as a key word." This seemed to be the most theoretical of the three and will probably be of greatest interests to specialists in the field of geographical development. Mr. Harvey shows how human practices define urban space and gives shape to architecture; for example, collective memory and political struggle are critical to defining culturally significant landmarks such as the rebuilding of ground zero in New York City. The author suggests that space must be understood from multiple perspectives and provides methodologies for others to consider.
I recommend this demanding book for academics or persons who have a sophisticated understanding of geographical development. On the other hand, those who are interested in uneven development as it pertains to neoliberalism are encouraged to pick up Mr. Harvey's highly-readable "A Brief History of Neoliberalism" in order to fully appreciate the author's thoughts on this particularly important topic. - In this collection of essays, Harvey offers a concise history of the late 20th century along with valuable reflections on space and uneven development.
- good buy
- As is usual for David Harvey, this series of three essays considers the role of space at both the political economic and the philosophical level. The first two essays are speeches given as Hettner Lectures in Geography at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, the last essay is a reflection on space as a 'keyword' in the sense of Raymond Williams. Together, this forms a small booklet of little more than 140 pages.
The first essay, "Neo-Liberalism and the Restoration of Class Power", is an overview of the resurgence of neoliberalism in recent decades, and the deleterious effects this has had both practically and in academics. Much of this is known to any leftist and the same sort of thing can be found in any radical blog.
The second essay is "A Theory of Uneven Geographical Development". This essay is much more interesting and is basically a summary and example of the typical approach of Harvey in utilizing Marxist economical geography. This text can be considered an introduction to the subject, useful to look into before one would go on to read "Limits to Capital", Harvey's most important work of this kind.
The last essay, "Space as a Key Word", is a philosophical analysis of the meaning of the word space, and its various dialectical aspects. This is in my view the most novel and contributive essay in the collection, as it builds on the work of Lefebvre, Einstein and Marx to construct a concept of space at nine different levels of abstraction. Two different matrices showing the intersection of these levels are provided by Harvey, sure to give inspiration for new thinking on this subject, which I think was the essay's main intent considering its shortness.
Whether it is worth it to buy this booklet separately is hard to say. It can be quite useful as an introduction to Harvey's way of thinking, to be read before some of his real books. The last essay is also a good insight into a little discussed subject, the philosophy of space. But certainly purchase of this work is hardly necessary, any other Harvey book will do as well.
