Jordan Branch - Böcker

As technology continues to evolve and advance, new weapons, communication media, surveillance systems, and more are increasingly interwoven into warfare, diplomacy, trade, and every other aspect of international relations. To make sense of the shifting grounds of international politics, it has become essential to understand how technological and political change interact.Virtual Territories examines this relationship by focusing on the mechanism of representation, which encompasses both how technologies and their capabilities are represented and how technologies produce or alter representations of the world. Through a series of case studies, Jordan Branch demonstrates how these representations are involved in producing novel ideas and concepts, making particular political arguments tenable or convincing, and foreclosing certain political choices or outcomes. The book explores these consequences in four empirical areas: the technologies of nineteenth-century state-building and imperial expansion, digital geospatial technologies and territorial borders, cybersecurity threats and how states address them, and remote and possibly autonomous warfare through drones. Branch's analysis of the representational dynamics between technology and politics presents implications for the core features of international relations, including the future of the territorial state and the international system itself.

As technology continues to evolve and advance, new weapons, communication media, surveillance systems, and more are increasingly interwoven into warfare, diplomacy, trade, and every other aspect of international relations. To make sense of the shifting grounds of international politics, it has become essential to understand how technological and political change interact.Virtual Territories examines this relationship by focusing on the mechanism of representation, which encompasses both how technologies and their capabilities are represented and how technologies produce or alter representations of the world. Through a series of case studies, Jordan Branch demonstrates how these representations are involved in producing novel ideas and concepts, making particular political arguments tenable or convincing, and foreclosing certain political choices or outcomes. The book explores these consequences in four empirical areas: the technologies of nineteenth-century state-building and imperial expansion, digital geospatial technologies and territorial borders, cybersecurity threats and how states address them, and remote and possibly autonomous warfare through drones. Branch's analysis of the representational dynamics between technology and politics presents implications for the core features of international relations, including the future of the territorial state and the international system itself.

Why is today's world map filled with uniform states separated by linear boundaries? The answer to this question is central to our understanding of international politics, but the question is at the same time much more complex - and more revealing - than we might first think. This book examines the important but overlooked role played by cartography itself in the development of modern states. Drawing upon evidence from the history of cartography, peace treaties and political practices, the book reveals that early modern mapping dramatically altered key ideas and practices among both rulers and subjects, leading to the implementation of linear boundaries between states and centralized territorial rule within them. In his analysis of early modern innovations in the creation, distribution and use of maps, Branch explains how the relationship between mapping and the development of modern territories shapes our understanding of international politics today.

Why is today's world map filled with uniform states separated by linear boundaries? The answer to this question is central to our understanding of international politics, but the question is at the same time much more complex - and more revealing - than we might first think. This book examines the important but overlooked role played by cartography itself in the development of modern states. Drawing upon evidence from the history of cartography, peace treaties and political practices, the book reveals that early modern mapping dramatically altered key ideas and practices among both rulers and subjects, leading to the implementation of linear boundaries between states and centralized territorial rule within them. In his analysis of early modern innovations in the creation, distribution and use of maps, Branch explains how the relationship between mapping and the development of modern territories shapes our understanding of international politics today.