Geography and Politics Author(s): Baroness J. Young Source: Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, New Series, Vol.

12, No. 4 (1987), pp. 391-397 Published by: The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/622791 . Accessed: 13/09/2013 10:32
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391

andPolitics Geography
YOUNG BARONESS J. London SW1 2AH and Commonwealth Minister Office, ofState, Foreign
(Third Mackinder lecturedelivered in the School of Geography 3 February1987 to celebratethe centenaryof the first Readership in Geography in Oxford, 1887)

MS received 24 April, 1987 Revised

ABSTRACT enterinto politicallanguage.A because geographical Politicsand geographyare inter-twined imagesand relationships and political decisionsmusttakeaccount and itsview oftheworld.Politicians nation'sgeography itsview ofitself affects there needsto be a greater resources. and natural between notonlyofpeople,butalso technology interplay Consequently, and politicians. geographers KEY WORDS: Politics, Resources, Self-images Technology,

and viceversa. a general on ournatural Ministers title activities Office usually surroundings, prefer Foreign for a speech. Somethinglike 'Peace'; or, perhaps, And as the world gets more crowded,and techon 'Democracy'.The boldersouls among us even ven- nology enables us to change our environment the role for advisers with tureintosuchdangerousand controversial scales, territory ever-larger political as 'Peace and Democracy'.But we normally like to good backgrounds in geographical sciencescan only suchas 'British grow.This shouldlead to good long-term avoid a preciseor over-specific title, prospects too limiting-or fartoo forgeography graduates! ForeignPolicy':it is either It is not surprising thatgeographical misleading! imageshave the titleof my talktoday, entered ourpolitical But by any standards language-and therefore shape andPolitics', is broadenough.Ifyou will ourthinking. Forexample, thephrase'North-South'. 'Geography thepun,whaton earthto say?And whatin Some people use the label 'North-South divide' to forgive the world to leave out? Human history itself is all describe in In Britain. the regional disparities European about the changingpatterns of humanresponseto Community we argueaboutcompeting North/South our physicalsurroundings and naturalresources-- claimson agricultural subsidies and industrial investthe soil, animaland plant life-and how we have ment as between the northern Community strategies, andwhatwe have done to overcome countries and their Mediterranean And at a them; exploited partners. or takeadvantageof majornatural are obstacles, rivers, global level international development problems often described as 'North/South' issues.Thereis not canyonsand mountains. So politics and geography are inevitablyand only North/South. Thereis East/West. Despite the This is not to define physical facts of thematter, we in theForeign Office irrevocablyinter-twined. overevidencethat EastandWestare'moving geographyin an obvious, rathernarrowsense. I ponder know thatthe subjecthas changedfrom the largely closertogether'; orthat theAtlantic is 'getting wider'; andmapping activities ofthefirst is 'nearer' America thanEurope.And, modem or thatBritain descriptive we bum a lot ofenergy, geographersin the last century;geography has of course, maybetoo much in all We directions. now understand new eitherat 'summits' or tryingto reach sometimes, expanded new chains ofcauseandeffect. Itis hard them! relationships, to drawclearlinesbetweengeography, These are familiar Yet I climatology, everyday political images. and conservation. The basic wonder whether misleadecology, agriculture theycan not be positively themelinking thesesubjectsis theimpactof human ing. For example,take the so-called North/South
Trans. Inst.Br.Geogr. N.S. 12: 391-397 (1987) ISSN: 0020-2754 in GreatBritain Printed

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392

BARONESS ]. YOUNG different formations but thatthe movecompletely mentof vastplateshas created themap oftheworld we know today.That processhas takenmillions of years.Butwhatwouldhappenifitsuddenly speeded up?Suppose thatover thenextfewyearstheUnited States drifted over to nestleup againstthe Soviet burrowed northwards and Union;thatSouthAfrica had African countries on all sides;or that Switzerland eased itself down theMediterranean and Italy moved northwards, losingitscoastline. No doubt these movementswould be accompanied by a certaindegree of practicalphysical for the upheaval! But what of theirimplications ofthecountries involved? political psychology The Americansand the Russianscould still be bitter buttheywould also now be neighadversaries, with all the problems-and opportunitiesbours, whichthatrelationship The whitesin South implies. Africa likewise wouldfind itmuch harder to maintain theirisolationist and policies. And the mentality Swiss would lose the security of theirsurrounding while the cooler climateof Northern mountains, Europe could have drasticconsequences for the character and reputation ofMediterraneans. All thisis, to say the least,improbable. We find theveryidea comic.Butwhy?Not justbecause it is physically impossible.Mainly because we simply can'timaginetheItalians beingnorthern Europeans, or theSwiss beingMediterranean, or theAmericans being simplyone part of a greatland mass: these people simplywouldn't be 'Italian' or 'Swiss', or 'American' anymore! Whatdoes thisshow?Not, of course,thatwe are all theresult of some sortof geographical determinthatthenational characteristics ofanypeopleare ism, and exclusively mouldedby thephysical inevitably size and locationofthelandin whichtheylive.That overstatesthe case. Instead,my fanciful example out themoremodestthought thatthe merely brings cultural identities countries-and hence of different their identities-aredefined in terms political partly oftheir placein theworld. physical

Ourselves How does this apply to the United Kingdom? Whatever thepolitical creedofanycountry's leaders, whateverplans they have, they startwhere their A NATION'S GEOGRAPHY AND ITS SELFa packagecomprising with not predecessors stopped, IMAGE and itsphysionlytheactuallocationof thecountry but also thestockof skills, beliefs and One ofthemostfascinating theories for cal resources, geographical the layman is continental drift: the idea that the expectations by its present acquiredover centuries world'sland surfaces were once joined together in population.

dividein Britain. Is it a questionof geography, or a ofattitudes? Itis undoubtedly true that there question are some severelydepressedareas in the Northof Britain Butit is nottrue (however'North'is defined). thattheyare depressedonly because theyare in the North. Itis all too easy for rhetoric to runthefirst political into the second.And thisdoes no-one proposition ifnotdespairin any good. It tendsto breedfatalism areas.It gives no credit to people in poor Northern thosepeople in theNorthwho are doingwell-and thereare some very successful areas there.It also distracts attention from areas economically deprived in thecountry. elsewhere This is notjust a semantic How we define or describe theproblem point. shapes ouranswersto it.Is itbetter forgovernment to concentrate itsinvestment on building up thedepressed areasthemselves, with newinfrastructure, newphysical capital?Or is it wise in the long termto invest in thepeople in thoseareaswithnew training mainly forsmallbusinesses and so on? facilities, grants Governments of different politicalcomplexions here and abroad have wrestledwith these basic or other questionsfordecades. Indeed,in one form within the theyapplyto theNorth/South questions and the global North/South EuropeanCommunity issuesmentioned earlier. Do notexpectme to answerthesequestions, butI mentionthem simplyto show that our language affects ourviewoftheworldandofourselves. 'North' and 'South'are neat,self-excluding They categories. lendthemselves wellto political to claims of rhetoric, clearanalysis and simple solutions. And thusthey can trick us intoidentifying facts withassumptions. All this goes to show that the ways in which and Politics Geography overlaparemanyand subtle, and rather too muchfor one talk. So todayI propose to offer some generalthoughts underthreebroad headings: 1. how a nation'sgeographyaffects its view of itself 2. how new technologyis transforming international use ofresources, and 3. looking ahead, how geographersand politicians willhave moreand moreto talkabout.

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andPolitics 393 Geography willassumethe continuing about So whoeverwinsournextelection the Channel Fixed Link, arguments ofa rather thepopular rows oddly-shaped groupof or theglee withwhich pressreports leadership political coast of Europe.Our total withtheFrench overlambdeliveries islandsoffthe northern orferry services, wonders ifithas changedat all! area is 241 000 km2: about the size of Ghana but one sometimes the size of Texas; Our historically twicethe size of Cuba; one-third withEurope stormy relationship skills contributed to the early one-tenth the size of Sudan; one fortieth the size of and our maritime ofBritain as theworld'sleadingtrading Canada.We have a gentleclimate-well,mostofthe development in termsof basic power. We certainly well-off looked outwards, time!-and are relatively away from of energyreserves and good farm- Europe fortrade,settingup trading natural resources networks that ing land. About 56 million people live here,which eventually spanned the world, from China to meansthatcompared, again,to Ghana,Cuba,Texas, Colombia,New Orleans to New Zealand,Miami to in likesardines! Sudanor Canada we are crammed Madagascar.Much of our tradedevelopedwiththe feature of Americans. is a boom on partsofBritain's How has themostobviousgeographical Now there theUnitedKingdom influenced our east coast as tradingand otherlinkswith Europe (ourislandstatus) and foremost, First thelargemoatroundour surgeahead.Thisneatly reflects whatwas happening politics? islands has been a crucial factorin our national two centuries ago as Bristol, Manchester and in the world Liverpool defence: therecan'tbe manycountries trade. grewon westward-looking In short, whichhave not suffered invasion since1066! British foreign foreign policyhas long reflected It is, of course,not easy to prove the effects of our thiswidercultural ambivalence towards this Europe, relative from outsideattackon our political feeling of beingat once partof,but alwaysseparate security culture. Butoverthecenturies ithas certainly allowed from, the ideas and values of theContinental mainthegradual ofinstitutions andassociated land.Thisambivalence towards development Europehas also,partraditions-theMonarchy, sinceWorldWar II been reinforced Parliament, independent ticularly by the and respected as strong and political cultural judiciary-whichare as important pulloftheUnitedStates. ever.We have had the chanceto develop a cultural However, under the impact of our European forand appreciation of thelaw,publicorder, Community we arenow,perhaps for the respect membership effective administration and honesty in government, first timein our history, to look activelyto starting which other countrieswith insecureborders and Europefortrading and political This is partnerships. have sorelymissed. an enormouschange.And the British systems political publicare at at schoolofBritain's Second,we all learn greatsea- long last getting used to Europe. We even see traditions. is more than advertisements Nowhere in Britain on British TV in foreign faring languages: about 70 miles fromthe sea and, not surprisingly,Vorsprung durch Technik! 'Europe'meanssomething attitudes to thesea have influenced ourpolitics. This positive, new,something something growing. stillapplies.Whatever themilitary or technical the tensionbetweenthe 'European Nonetheless, arguments in favour of reorganizing defence in and 'Atlanticist' views of Britain's role stillpersists. spending new ways,popularsupport fortheRoyal Navy runs We ourselves it.We stilltendto see ourencourage maritime also gave selves as uniquelyqualified, if only for linguistic deep.Our historical pre-eminence us good practical groundsforarguingin favourof reasons,to act as a 'bridge'betweenEuropeand the freedom of shippingon the high seas and against UnitedStates(even thoughothersmay see us as a in shipping trade.We remainone of self-appointed protectionism punch-bag, absorbingheavy blows thestaunchest international ofthisimport- from bothsides!).Butone way or theother, thetenupholders antprinciple in theebb and flowofdebateon today.And our maritime pre-eminence sion showsthrough enabledus to discover, buildandmaintain an empire. manydifferent in publiclife. To takea few questions Needless to say, our islandstatushas also influ- examplesof the past year: the Westlandaffair; the encedour attitudes to ourEuropean For American raidon Libya;therecent EC tradedispute neighbours. into thiscentury and in the lifetime withtheAmericans centuries, overginand other and right products, of manyof us heretoday,thethreat to our national the question of Tridentand Britain's independent deterrent. securityusually came fromour closest European nuclear So we These are all recent Holland,Germany. Each in their differneighbours: Spain,France, examples. have had good reasonto be waryand distrustful of ent way shows thatthereare two 'pulls'on British ourfellowEuropeans. Again,thisattitude goes deep policy, one towards America,the other towards and changes only slowly-indeed, judging by the Europe.The factthaton issuessuchas thesethere is

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BARONESS]. YOUNG

within ourvariouspolitical usually disagreement parties as well as between thembringsout my point is a cultural as well as an clearly:thisambivalence and it stemsdirectly from the 'ideological' question, and history have interacted. way ourgeography reinforces this One final Forcenturexample point. ies ourislandstatus has fixed inourpolitical a culture firm formarkets and trading. So far, there preference has been little over theyears disagreement practical betweenUK political over theimportance to parties the UK of a world trading thatis as freeas system possible. Of course, there have been periodic demandsforprotectionist measuresbut theyhave different Theyhave never cropped up within parties. takenroot, thankgoodness, not least because the British public are well aware thatthe UK lives by in trading (whether in goods or, increasingly, and has to 'pay itsway in theworld'. services) So much for the impact of our geographical and position on our underlying politicalattitudes Whataboutother countries? assumptions. Other countries is different. Itdoes not Needlessto say,everycountry followthatislandpeoples are all going to behaveas we do. Take the Japanese-far fromadopting an forlong periods mentality, outward-looking trading in their isolationextreme theyhave pursued history remarkable ist policies.Despite their trading power and today, their culturalsuspicion of foreigners attitudes are still evident. protectionist But I would like to say a word about the two and their geography. superpowers We allknowoftheinternal theUnitedStates. First, oftheUnitedStatesbased on thephysical dynamism for hashistorically offered restless, country scopethat cultural traof freedom. This pioneeringconcepts rein hasgivenfree to theenergetic dition exploitation theUnited so enabling natural ofAmerica's resources, States to become the global power in political, thatwe see today. terms economicand military in theworldhas,once Yet itsgeographic position various tensionsinto American again, introduced alivetoday.Forexample, Theyremain foreign policy. about the defence ambivalence thereis the political If Americahas interests. of Americaand American interests how is and globaltrading, political strategic them?Does the the line to be drawnin defending in on theRhine, in theGulf, ofAmerica start defence The capitalof on theUS seaboard? Cuba or actually inWashington is as close to policy-makers Nicaragua as is Phoenix,Arizona,hence publicanxietyin the

United States about Communistsubversion in Central 'America's backyard'. America, In anothersense,just as Britain is subjectto the and Europe, theUnitedStates 'pull'ofbothAmerica feelsthe pull of Europeand theFar East. Therehas been plentyof debate about the 'Pacificdrift' of American ofgravity in centre policyas theeconomic theUnitedStateshas shifted westwards to California and southwards-we are told for instance that Floridawillbe thethird mostpopulatedstateby the there are 300 000 US forces year2000. Nonetheless in Europe, stationed a to making majorcontribution our defence. The UnitedStatespolitical and military commitment to thedefence ofEuropeand to NATO remainssolid,but Europeanpolicy-makers can not afford to takeitfor granted. the United Securityconsiderations again affect with itstwo neighbours, States'relations Canada and Mexico. These borders are long and effectively to defend. This and thehistorical impossible power imbalance betweentheUnitedStatesand its neighbours have made fortraditionally relationprickly relations are at rather a low US/Mexico today ships: point because of the ease withwhichillegalimmiand drugsare crossing intoAmerica; and US/ grants Canada tradequestionsare a continuing source of friction. a wordaboutAmerica's economic Finally, policies. The United State's culturalpropensityfor 'selfreliance' and, in particular, its enormous natural havemeant that ithasnever hadBritain's wealth deep to Free Trade: it has neverneeded it. commitment Quite the reverse-isolationist or protectionist about attitudes combinewith constantcomplaints to give America's unfair trading foreign competition is behind a hardtime! The US budgetdeficit partners in demands thelatest of Congress, surge protectionist forthe so is the factthatit is a novel experience and buildings to see US companies Americans being bought up by Japanese-and British!-investors. One way or the other,we mustall hope thatthe of the latestEC/US tradequarrelsets a settlement good precedentfor keeping America'straditional instincts at bay! protectionist The Soviet Union is by farthe world's largest withan area of over 22 million km2-it is country, It has a vast timesthe size of Great Britain! 92.5 leadershave Yet Russian resources. wealthofnatural and culturally been isolated politically historically from Europe.Since 1917 the MarxistGovernment and personaleconomic has repudiatedthe market a societyhighly Thishas created freedom. inefficient

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andPolitics 395 Geography not to say eitherthe naturalor humanresourcesavailable to at all levels. It is trulyextraordinary, The old-fashioned answerto thisproblem was depressing,that 70 years after the Revolution them! are stillobligedto queue for hoursforbasic to grabtheresources Russians of one's neighbours, either by their orbysubjugating householdgoods. territory annexing completely over their After economic all, thepeople on it to gain control Maybe thisoughtnotto be so surprising. one problem withrunning thelargest in the activity. More recently we have realizedthattrade, country more efficient worldis theconstant aboutdefending scientific need to worry research, working-practices it, or simply keeping it together.Hence Soviet and simplygood old hard work can all, if rightly leaders'obsessionwithmilitary enhance thevaluea nation's stock of existing spendingand their applied, resources. permanentanxieties about securityalong their itsnatural Finland from extendedborders, whichstretch round This in turn has brought us to the trueeconomic to to Iran and centurynamely the through Europe Turkey, Afghanistan, revolutionof the twentieth round to China and Japan.There are no obvious realization thata relative absence of natural resources from physicalboundariesto definemost of the Soviet need not stop a people or a country becoming Union's borders. All the Soviet Union can do is to rich! The contrast betweenJapan or SouthKorea or and hope to deter Hong Kongon theone hand, defence maintain enormous forces andtheSovietUnionon itsmanyneighbours from the otherspeaks for itself. What counts is not so causingtrouble. The Soviet Union's cultural tradition of isolation much what naturalresourcesa country physically fromthe outside world also plays a major part in possesses, but the way its naturaland especially itssuspicions abouttherestof theworld. human resources aremobilized and motivated. reinforcing As Mr Gorbachevis fastdiscovering, if the Soviet In short, thewholehistorical processofindustrialUnion and its Eastern are not to izationis now entering a new phase as rapidcomEuropeansatellites fall irreversibly behind in the modern world in munications and computer breakdown technology thereis little thepreviously essential links betweenmanufacturing developingand usingnew technology resources. Itno longer makesmuch option but to open up Soviet societyto new ideas. sitesand physical Butthenew breaths offresh airand freedom in terms of resourceswhere a multiwhicha difference sustainedpolicy of 'openness'(glasnost) firm sitesa car-building whatcountsis impliesare national plant: bound to be highlyunsettling to manysectionsof theskill and reliability ofthework-force and theway the Soviet establishment. It remainsto be seen if thetotalcostoftheoperation is assessed(wages,tax Mr Gorbachev can introducenew ideas into his incentives, regional grants etc). The actual steel, a plastic,rubber and glass thatmake up the cars are sprawling and profoundlyconservative---with small'c'-society! thefactory is! simply shippedto wherever Whatall thisadds up to is this: eachnation's political assessmentsof its comparativeadvantage in TECHNOLOGY AND RESOURCES PEOPLE, worldtrade is now far, far harder. Thisposes immense The SovietUnion'sdifficulties inabsorbing new tech- practical forpoliticians. It meansthatthey problems me to second the have to look at national in a totally resources new my nology brings point,namely betweenpeople, technology way. changingrelationship and natural resources. One example fromrecent Britishpolitical life As I saidearlier, whena new government comesto should make the point. Coal-miningis a typical start with whatthey have.However,they exampleofan industry which is self-evidently tiedto powerthey will probably have been electedto office at least in thephysical location ofa natural resource. We cannot have promised theelectorate to put minecoal inpartsoftheworldwherelabouris cheap partbecausethey the nation'sassets to better use thantheirpolitical ifthe coal is not therein the ground.Yet, as other opponentscould do! An all-important partof thisis energysourcesbecome cheapercoal becomesrelafor using the tivelyless attractive. However, as we have seen, definingthe economic framework and human natural resources and supervis- passions run very high indeed over the closureof country's contactswithothercountries: as we all 'uneconomic' for new ing trading pits.Thereis constant pressure know, the basic theoryof comparative in such pits to make them 'economic' advantage investment demonstrates how tradestandsto benefit everyone. again.Yet in today'sworldtheintelligent calculation Of course,there have been plenty of occasionsin is notsimply thestraight difference betweenthecost when leaders have not been satisfied with to theGovernment history ofnewinvestment to keepthepit

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BARONESS]. YOUNG

whichcontrol themconsiderable levermoneyandwelfare thecountries going,andthecostofredundancy to workers laid off ifthepitcloses.Instead age. Oil, chromium andgold areeachgood examples. payments have to look at theopportunity lostof Nevertheless, has a wayofinventing subpolicy-makers technology in and not new industries for new stitutes these resources or making stocks money investing public existing lastlongerifsupplies arecutto putprices technology. up inordinThe bitter minersstrike the dilemmaI ately. These fluidinternational reflected economic relationwhenI mentioned North/South issues shipshelp to explainwhy sanctionsagainstSouth posed earlier in Britain: shouldwe be investing in physical are unlikely to be effective, and why OPEC capital Africa or inretraining skills new mines) and human to is-temporarily-in thedoldrums. (here, to takeus intothenext In short, lackofphysical is no longerthe resources equipourpeople withtalents Of courseit is verypainful whenold com- dominant constrainton development for most century? munities break economic out- countries. from Localphysical features dicstill, obviously, up under pressure but tatewhatis basically and whatis not:no-one side,whichthoseaffected scarcely possible comprehend, in Greenland! thisis now a world-wide But and,I believe will get richgrowingpalm-trees phenomenon, is decidedby a combination ofhuman that we shallall have to get used to it. whatis sensible and theright We can therefore So the international of the concept of ingenuity incentives. blurring towardsdemovement manyhead- expectto see a world-wide advantagegivespoliticians comparative in different forms as the subsidies? and privatization aches.How do we organizeregional How regulation of humancapital necessitates to encourage growingimportance do we set up tax and otherincentives in management and in Britain? Arewe notobligedto the greatest businesses to invest possibleflexibility hardaboutourtop tax ratesifourbest other areas.Thisis notgoingto be a smooth start ride, but, thinking as I can see,itis an inevitable mindsare attracted abroad by countries withlower as far process. ifwe don't actually makeanytaxes?Does it matter services, any more?Can we live by exporting thing our language, our cultureand (via GEOGRAPHERS our expertise, A AND POLITICIANS: tourism)our scenery?Even if economic theory GROWING DIALOGUE? is no need for us to makeanything decidesthatthere will be lookingto any more,how do we accustomour people to the In the years to come politicians underAs our scientific for and confor this revolution geographers guidance. practices implies working between the in different standingof the complex relationship ditions, strengths given our traditional land and our use of it has developed,our political sectors? manufacturing issues.Over thenextdecadeswe optionshave become less obvious.We now realize Thesearereal-life forour of clean air and clean rivers willsee continuing changein manyareasof national the importance toxicor radioactive that certain We recognize as international economicand political life, competi- health. This substancescan cause devastatingdamage to the us to becomemoreefficient. forces tivepressure We now see ifnotcontrolled will affecttrade unions,universities, banks,local environment properly. andsoil careless links the between of the and national farming techniques Many government. government willbe painful-itis notonlyMr Gorbachev erosion. changes makeslifehardforthe poliAll thisnew insight withvestedinterests! who has to contend This is not just a problem for Britain.The ticians! They have to tryto balance the competing hard about what it interestsof environmental groups, trade unions, developingworld has to think all of whom can and scientists, itsresources. Yet banks,industrialists, wantsand how itcan bestmobilize allofwhomsee their fre- have a legitimate interest, cultural and ideological ideas of 'self-reliance' partof as the the total of as do renewed fears run part! all-important picture exploitation deep, quently too. Thereare Thisappliesin international an is notreally from overseas.However,self-reliance politics of a to The in world. key openingup plenty examples: option today's aid expertshave argued foryears to themthe (a) International is bringing nation'sphysicalresources ofdifferent market skillsof the international typesof impact place. Self-reliance abouttheenvironmental need the and for and countries, leads to ignorance, takento extremes cropstrategies developing paranoia of deserts. the counter to in is classic Albania the spread example Europe. poverty: of Europeare engaged in detailed rawmaterials (b) The countries oftheworld's thelocation Of course, causes of acid to agree on the different Some are particularly is not irrelevant. scarce, giving discussions

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and Politics Geography

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of violent withcenturies rainand thebestway to reduceit.Not an easy prob- so showingthatcountries between them cantakepractical be obligedto close down certain mistrust lem:shouldBritain stepsintheir should Germans joint interests. There is also a role forthe United power-stationsor alternatively Nations and its specializedagenciesin centralizing drivemoreslowly? and trading of expertise and raising international ofthese awareness (c) How can theinternational poaching sorts ofproblems. be stopped? rarespeciesofwildlife as a whole Inother willhavea growing need words, (d) Should the international community politicians oftheworld'sgreatrainforests, forexpert scientific advicein future: are have a say inthefate geographers the Amazon basin, given theirglobal particularly to give it.I hopetheywillrise well-placed particularly to thechallenge! environmental importance? can be done about the phen(e) What,ifanything, in theAntarctic omenonof'ozone-leak' region? CONCLUSION environmental (f) What would be the long-term consequencesof the grand Soviet plan to divert There is a lovely little aphorismby the British variousnorthern rivers? And so on. humorist Saki: All theseissuesevidently transcend national bound'Happy is the countrythat has no geography'. ariesandso arenotsusceptible to thesolutions ofany Many people no doubt thinkthat 'happy is the one country on its own. The thathas no politicians'. Be thatas it may I acting political problem country to set up international is thatattempts bodies with hope thatI have been able to show you today that formal in theseareasusuallyfounder Politics and Geography arestuck witheachother, for responsibilities ortakean inordinate oftime. Themostdifficult better or worse.Thatis as it shouldbe. We are all in length issue is nationalsovereignty: countries resentother part a productof our environment. As an Oxford countries them whatto do on their own terri- graduate I am thefirst to admit it! telling myself, not practical tory!It is simply politicsforus to try to dictateto the Brazilians how to look after their ACKNOWLEDGEMENT trees. the trendis towardsinternational The author would like to acknowledgethe help Nevertheless, is doing receivedfrom Mr CharlesCrawford of thePlanning cooperation.The European Community workthat is quiteunprecedented interms ofharmon- Staffof the Foreign and CommonwealthOffice, izingenvironmental policies amongitsownmembers, London.

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