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In
Shifting Grounds, Burak Kadercan draws upon a wide variety of cases, ranging from the Thirty Years War to ISIS, to examine the relationship between "territorial ideas" and armed conflict. He argues that states and societies have adhered to different forms of territoriality across time and space, and territory, as well as territorial control, has meant different things in different time periods and regions. Ranging broadly across different eras and world regions, the book sheds light on the shifting nature of the relationship between territorial ideas and armed conflict not only in the context of the distant the past, but also in present-day global politics.
List of contents
- Chapter 1: Introduction: A Tale of Two Countries
- Part One: Conceptual and Theoretical Framework
- Chapter 2: Territory, War, and the "Territorial Trap"
- Chapter 3: Territorial Orders and War
- Part Two: How Territorial Ideas Affect Wars
- Chapter 4: Rigid Borders, Spasmodic Wars: Mosaic and Monolithic Territorial Orders
- Chapter 5: Fluid Frontiers and Forever War I: Amorphous Territorial Orders
- Chapter 6: Fluid Frontiers and Forever War II: Virulent Territorial Orders
- Part Three: How Wars Affect Territorial Ideas
- Chapter 7: Systemic Wars and the Evolution of the Territorial Order(s)
- Chapter 8: Conclusion: Territory and Territoriality in the Twenty-First Century
- References
- Index
About the author
Burak Kadercan is an Associate Professor of Strategy and Policy at the United States Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, and a Senior Associate at the Center on Irregular Warfare and Armed Groups (CIWAG). Kadercan's research agenda lies at the intersection of International Relations Theory, strategic and security studies, political geography, and international history. His research has been published in outlets such as International Security; International Theory; Review of International Studies; International Studies Review; Territory, Politics, Governance; Middle East Policy; Cambridge Review of International Affairs; and Global Studies Quarterly. He is also the co-editor of Territorial Designs and International Politics: Inside-out and Outside-in (2018).
Summary
Territory has always played a key role in the origins, conduct, and consequences of armed conflict. For territories to exist in any meaningful sense, human groups need to think of them in the first place, and then act upon these thoughts: territory is what states and societies make of it.
In Shifting Grounds, Burak Kadercan draws upon a wide variety of cases, ranging from the Thirty Years War to ISIS, to examine the relationship between "territorial ideas" and armed conflict. He argues that states and societies have adhered to different forms of territoriality across time and space, and territory, as well as territorial control, has meant different things in different time periods and regions. Building on this premise, Kadercan makes two claims. First, how state elites conceive territory within and beyond their domains affects their military objectives as well as methods and strategies for waging war. Second, adherence to different forms of territoriality leads to different modes and patterns of war, and wars themselves may affect how state elites and societies conceive territories. Kadercan then turns to the transformative roles that wars can play in shaping dominant territorial ideas and geopolitical assumptions and how the impact of such wars differs in Western and non-Western regions.
Ranging broadly across different eras and world regions, Shifting Grounds sheds light on the shifting nature of the relationship between territorial ideas and armed conflict not only in the context of the distant the past, but also in present-day global politics.
Additional text
This theoretically and conceptually rich study provides a crucial addition to our understanding of territory, conflict, and ideas in international politics. Through wide-ranging historical and contemporary case studies, the book demonstrates the mutual implications of territorial orders and warfare. Essential reading for anyone interested in the central role of territory in international relations.
