La métaphore spatiale : pour une lecture de Michel Foucault et Yves Lacoste.

Based on a close scrutiny of Michel Foucault's interview published in the very first issue of Hérodote, a journal dedicated to geopolitical approaches founded by Yves Lacoste, this article unfolds, thanks to the analysis of spatial metaphors, the conceptions and functions of space for the philosopher as well as for geographers. This symmetrical reading enlightens a subtle system of similarities, between Time and Space (two categories rejected by Foucault and the geographers alike, as they abandon grand concepts in [...]

The dean on the raft.

A critical plea for the combination of Ted Schatzki’s and Jean Hillier’s socio-spatial approaches.

In this article, I make a plea for a combination of Ted Schatzki’s and Jean Hillier’s approaches. After a short introduction, I identify and discuss central aspects of Schatzki’s social site approach and Hillier’s strategic planning approach. I then argue that Schatzki’s social site approach might be more convincing and usable for practical research in geography if aspects of power, which are central to Hillier’s argumentation, are integrated. Following Lukes’s (2005) so-called radical view of power, various concepts are [...]

Immensité et despotisme, le pouvoir en Russie.

Since the sixteenth century, Russia has been a vast country when compared to other states. Historically, power has always been exercised in a despotic way : the Tsarist autocracy led the way to the dictactorship of the Soviet proletariat. Since 1992, the official project has been a tendancy towards democracy but spatial inertia has impeded this development. Tsarist regimes (except between 1861 and 1917) and the Soviet regime have been carefully preventing any change to the spatial structure [...]