2021/07/09 by Daniel Lambach · 1 citation
Environmental Science · Social Sciences · #Arctic and Russian Policy Studies #Island Studies and Pacific Affairs #Polar Research and Ecology
paper · doi:10.1017/s026021052100036x
openalex publication_date 2021/07/09 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
Abstract Space matters for global politics but the treatment thereof in International Relations (IR) has been uneven. There is broad interest in spatial aspects across many research communities but only a nascent theoretical discussion and little cross-field communication. This article argues for a fuller engagement of IR scholars with sociospatial concepts and proposes a spatial approach to global politics based on four essential dimensions: a spatial ontology, the constructedness of space, a scalar perspective, and the interaction of materiality and ideas. As one possible way of integrating these aspects into a more specific concept, the article elaborates a framework of spatial practices and uses the example of Arctic Security research to illustrate the upsides of such a spatial approach for IR research.