Geopolítica(s). Revista de estudios sobre espacio y poder

Sesiones del Research Committee on Political and Cultural Geography (RC15) del XXVIIIth World Congress of the International Political Science Association (IPSA)

Ismael de la Villa Hervás — 2025-11-20

Geografía(s), conflicto(s) y paz territorial: la Conferencia Temática de la Unión Geográfica Internacional 2025 (Santa Marta, Colombia)

Luis Carlos Jiménez Reyes — 2025-11-20

Reporte sobre la Conferencia de la UGI en Santa Marta (Colombia)

Border Studies and Political Geography: A Vision of the Hinterland and Regions of the Iberian Raya

Lorenzo López Trigal — 2025-11-20

The text aims to respond to the demand of colleagues interested in learning about the research trajectory of a Spanish scholar in the field of Border Geography, particularly in the regions and localities along the Raya (border) between Portugal and Spain. To this end, the themes and lines of research undertaken are presented, converging in a geographical study of this Iberian border: the itineraries carried out during several years of fieldwork with interdisciplinary and multinational teams, the process of Iberization of markets and the changes initiated toward an Iberian urban system, the normative frameworks and good practices of cross-border cooperation, and finally, reflections that highlight features of an emerging network of binational relations of a new kind.

For a Solution to the Regional Problem of Catalonia

Pau Vila i Dinarès — 2025-11-20

The number of proposals and the diversity of definitions regarding the scope and scale of a comarca (region)—almost all of them based on history or the physical environment—that have arisen in Catalonia since the mid-19th century have led to a rich but dispersed and sometimes confusing debate. To lend solidity and rigor to this discussion, in 1931 Casa del Vallès promoted a series of lectures delivered by experts led by Pau Vila, who gave his talk a few days after the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic. According to Vila, this accelerated events, as it opened an excellent opportunity for autonomous Catalonia to break with the discredited provincial dynamic. When the lectures were published in book form weeks later, Vila added an appendix with a proposed territorial division based on counties and regions, which became an inspiring guideline for the subsequent work of the Committee created by the Generalitat to draft the map of the regional division. To obtain «a practical delimitation»—a division that would serve the administration, management, and governance of autonomous Catalonia—Vila’s proposal advocated disregarding natural and historical counties, which he considered traditionalist and nostalgic, and introducing an evaluation of economic elements, social relations, and current mobility, through the study of market centres frequented by local populations and the communication routes leading to them.

Commentary. Pau Vila and the Territorial Division of Catalonia

Abel Albet i Mas — 2025-11-20

According to Pau Vila—an eminent teacher, pedagogue, and geographer—although the regional dimension has existed for centuries, it was only in the mid-19th century that it began to be considered the essential basis for Catalonia’s political and administrative territorial division. This coincided with the first signs of the recovery of self-government and, especially, with the rejection of the provincial structure by both citizens and elites. In 1931, the Catalan autonomous government created a Committee of scholars tasked with designing a territorial division that would serve the administration, management, and governance of the country. This Committee, led by Vila, ignored earlier debates based on the traditional (natural, historical) region and proposed a novel working methodology grounded in Vidalian geography and, above all, in the functional (urban, economic, relational) aspects of the territory. Surveys and visits to town halls helped shape a territorial division project that would only gain legal validation after the revolutionary outbreak of July 1936. The complex and turbulent context of the revolution and the war did not prevent its implementation or its widespread popular acceptance. Despite the repression exercised for decades by the Franco dictatorship, the «Pau Vila» regional division map became an icon of democratic resistance and national

Palabras de ultramar para un geógrafo…

Yanga Villagómez Velázquez — 2025-11-20

In Memoriam: Gérard Chaliand (1934-2025) Pensar la revolución desde la revolución

Jerónimo Ríos Sierra — 2025-11-20

In Memoriam: Gérard Chaliand (1934-2025) Pensar la revolución desde la revolución

Beyond Globalization: A model of conceptual approaches for the analysis of 21st century borders

Sedrgio Alfonso Sandoval Godoy — 2025-11-20

Under the assumption that the term globalization, as a conceptual model, has been limited to sufficiently explain and interpret the characteristics and depth of recent border and cross-border transformations, in this paper, a conceptual analytical model is proposed, represented through a relational scheme. . with specific conceptual categories, contextual, auxiliary and instrumental, that account for the structures and processes that organize the different territorial border spaces. We highlight, above all, the practical usefulness that reviews the incorporation of binary and/or dichotomous conceptualizations such as those of integration and disintegration, cooperation and conflict, and those of re-borderization and de-borderization. This aims to expand the explanations and interpretations of the dynamics of change in these spaces from a social constructivist and critical perspective. For this case we use general information from bibliographic documents, our own and analytical schemes generated by the International Research Network on Comparative Borders (RECFronteras) and the research project “Borders of the 21^st Century”. The practical usefulness of the proposed model suggests advancing in the design of public policies that involve better organizational management of ethics and public life at the borders.

The Internet on Russia’s National Security Agenda: RuNet and Digital Sovereignty

Abdiel Hernández Mendoza — 2025-11-20

This article examines the RuNet project—a strategic component of Russia’s national security agenda—analysing its role in building digital sovereignty in response to the fragmentation dynamics of the global Internet. Using an exploratory–descriptive qualitative design with methodological triangulation and a transductive approach, it studies the implementation of Federal Law 90-FZ (2019) and its institutional architecture. A bibliometric analysis of 457 academic sources (2020–2025), official Russian legislation, and specialized technical reports was also conducted. The results reveal that RuNet transcends a mere defensive response to Western sanctions, constituting an exportable model of technological resistance across the Eurasian space and BRICS countries. The research identifies an operational triad—state, academia, and industry—that shapes the digital space as a territory of geopolitical power. In conclusion, the article reflects that Russian digital sovereignty represents a paradigm of controlled fragmentation of the Internet that challenges Western hegemony in cyberspace, projecting alternative models of digital governance for the construction of regional orders distinct from the dominant liberal system.

Brazil and the «Active Non-Alignment» Space Policy

Luis da Vinha — 2025-11-20

The emerging rivalry between the United States and China is the most defining feature of international politics for the foreseeable future. As both great powers seek to safeguard and promote their national interests, research has increasingly focused on how this rivalry will shape regional politics around the world. However, the rivalry will also play out in the outer space due to its critical security and economic role. Brazil’s unique geographic position, its decades-long involvement in space activities, and its political ambition to become a relevant space actor make it an important Latin American player in the emerging international rivalry. The Brazilian space policy of “active non-alignment” aims to prioritize its national interests by taking advantage of the opportunities offered by the two rival great powers. It shares the emphasis of a hedging strategy on avoiding binary alignment choices, strategic ambiguity and calculated contradictions, and on maximizing agency and room for maneuver. This article analyzes the growing geopolitical importance of space in the emerging Sino-U.S. rivalry, focusing on how Brazil interacts with the two superpowers in a polarized geopolitical environment. The article also assesses Brazil’s space aspirations and how a hedging space strategy can help Brazil maintain a leadership position in Latin America. Accordingly, the article highlights the Brazilian geopolitical, legal, and political frameworks in relation to outer space and reflects on the current challenges and opportunities for emerging nations, especially in the region, in engaging in the complex international rivalry for space dominance.

Amazon, Territory and National Sovereignty: History and Memory of a Territorial Dispute

Eduardo José Monteiro da Costa — 2025-11-20

This article revisits relevant but little-known historical episodes that inform the contemporary debate on sustainability, sovereignty, and development in the Amazon. It addresses: (i) the occupation and demarcation of the Brazilian Amazon, as well as the dispute over the Guianas; (ii) the Maury Plan and the proposed «Amazonian Republic»; (iii) the conflict over the territory of Acre at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries; (iv) Nazi interest in the Amazon and the planned invasion of the Guianas; (v) the attempted creation of the International Institute of Amazonian Hylaea (IIHA); and (vi) the Great Lakes Project in the Amazon. Some of these initiatives have been lost in historical debate and are currently little known, even within the region itself. However, they allow us to draw important historical lessons for the contemporary debate, warning us not to repeat the mistakes of the past.

Spatial transformations of nearshoring in Mexico and the impacts of a “new” development paradigm

Gian Carlo Delgado Ramos — 2025-11-20

Given the vulnerability of supply chains and current trade and geopolitical tensions, nearshoring is on the rise. This paper describes the policies and actions aimed at promoting it in Mexico, paying particular attention to the role of the current administration’s megaprojects in the production of space, assessing their relationship with the real estate market, the overall expansion of built-up areas, and the related socioecological implications, including those derived from lock-in effects and land teleconnections. The paper distinguishes between aspects that constitute a reformist agenda aligned with the traditional notion of development—and thus of growth—and those that seek to create, amid challenges and contradictions, the conditions for transforming current social relations of production, including the human-nature relationship. In our reflection, we do acknowledge that the current and the previous administrations differ markedly from their predecessors and that there are limits to their immediate action. With this in mind, we aim to foster a constructive yet critical and useful analysis, concluding with practical short-term recommendations and calling for a collective process to guide and sustain a shared normative notion of long-term transformational change that actively addresses the most challenging and contested aspects.

Alternativas ante la desindustrialización: entre la vulnerabilidad y la resiliencia

Javier Llanos de la Guardia — 2025-11-20

Reseña bibliográfica de Paz Benito del Pozo (Coord.). (2022). Resiliencia en espacios industrializados. Valencia: Tirant lo Blanch, 321 pp. ISBN: 9788418802522

El «ancho» de Gibraltar: aproximaciones críticas europeas a las dinámicas políticas en el norte de África

Álvaro Ramón Sánchez — 2025-11-20

Ensayo bibliográfico sobre ele libro de Bárbara Azaola Piazza, Thierry Desrues, Miguel Hernando de Larramendi, Ana Isabel Planet Contreras y Ángeles Ramírez (eds.) (2022) Cambio, crisis y movilizaciones en el Mediterráneo Occidental. Albolote, Granada: Comares, 441 pp. ISBN: 978-84-1369-476-4

En la frontera: estudios de caso en América Latina y la Unión Europea

Mireia Delgado Castresana — 2025-11-20

Ensayos bibliográficos de

Alejandra Ramírez Soruco, Yolanda Alfaro y Alina Stoica (Comp.). (2024) Fronteras y problemáticas ciudadanas. Mirada Comparativa entre Unión Europea y Región Latinoamericana. Cochabamba, Bolivia: Universidad Mayor de San Simón – Centro de Estudios Superiores Universitarios (CESU) / Universidad de Oradea / Grupo de Trabajo Fronteras: movilidades, identidades y comercios de la CLACSO / Jean Monnet Module EU Cultural Diplomacy in the Andean Community. 302 pp. ISBN: 978-99905-72-02-5