Foreword
| Date | 01 July 1995 |
| Published date | 01 July 1995 |
| DOI | 10.1177/019251219501600301 |
| Author | Jean Gottmann |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
219-
Foreword
† JEAN
GOTTMANN
This
issue
of the
International
Political
Science
Review
is
devoted
to
the
interplay
between
politics
and
the
geography
of
telecommunications.
In
our
rapidly
changing
world
telecommunications
has
come
to
play a
considerable
part
both
in
the
new
style
of
political
life
and
in
the
study
of
human
geography.
As
modern
technology
gradually
replaces
brawn
by
brain
on
the
labour
markets,
the
majority
of
the
work
force
in
the
developed
areas
of
the
world
turns
towards
work
dominated
by
the
gathering,
processing
and
distribution
of
information.
The
late
twentieth
century
has
ushered
in
the
&dquo;information
era.&dquo;
In
this
era,
the
whole
geography
of
commu-
nications
takes
on
new
forms
and
increasing
importance.
It
influences
all
aspects
of
the
modern
ways
of
politics
and
calls
for
legislation
capable
of
rapid
evolution.
The
interplay
between
telecommunications
and
politics
thus
appeared
as
a
field
of
promising
study
for
the
Research
Committee
on
Political
Geography
of
the
IPSA.
At
a
meeting
at
the
Cosmos
Club
in
Washington,
D.c.,
during
the
International
Geographical
Congress
in
August
1992,
I,
as
a
co-chairman
of
the
Research
Committee,
and
Dr.
Henry
Bakis,
chairman
of
the
Commission
on
Communication
Networks
and
Telecommunications
of
the
International
Geographical
Union
(IGU),
agreed
to
hold
a
symposium
on
&dquo;Global
Change
and
Communications&dquo;
in
Paris
during
May
1993.
The
papers
in
this
issue
result
from
that
symposium.
The
meeting
was
sponsored
by
UNESCO
and
Observatoire
Telecommunication
dans
la
Ville
and
held
at
Issy-les-Moulineaux.
It
lasted
four
days
and
attracted
about
one
hundred
partici-
pants
from
21
countries
and
five
non-governmental
organizations.
Many
symposium
papers
other
than
those
in
this
issue
are
being
published
in
the
review
NETCOM-
Networks
and
Communication
Studies,
an
IGU
publication.
Students
of
politics
and
geography
have both
examined
from
different
stand-
points
the
same
space:
the
space
accessible
to
human
activity.
This
global
space
is
divided
by
nature
into
three
categories:
land,
sea
and
air.
The
advent
and
devel-
opment
of
telecommunications
have
created
a
fourth
division
of
accessible
space:
that
of
the
waves,
satellites
and
other
signals
that
technology
may
produce.
It
is
this
fourth
space
that
penetrates
the
three others
and
poses
new
problems
of
policy,
regulation
and
location.
It
challenges
the
significance
of
the
old,
established
relationship
of
territory
and
frontiers;
it
underlines
the
importance
of
technologi-
cal
development
which
can
be
manipulated by
large
specialized
corporations.
It
also
increases
the
role
of the
media
in
politics
and
other
aspects
of
modern
daily
life.
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