1st Edition

Mapping European Empire Tabulae imperii Europaei

By Russell Foster Copyright 2015
    244 Pages 3 Color & 26 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    256 Pages 3 Color & 26 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    256 Pages 3 Color & 26 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Empire and maps are mutually reliant phenomena and traceable to the dawn of civilisation. Furthermore, maps retain a supremely authoritative status as unquestioned reflections of reality. In today’s image-saturated world, their influence is more powerful now than at any other time in history.

    This book argues that in the 21st century we are seeing an imperial renaissance in the European Union (EU), a political organisation which defies categorisation, but whose power and influence grows by the year. It examines the past, present, and future of the EU to demonstrate that empire is not a category of state but rather a collective imagination which reshapes history and appropriates an artificial past to validate the policies of the present and the ambitions of the future. In doing so, this book illuminates the imperial discourse that permeates the mass maps of the modern EU.

    This text will be of key interest to students and scholars of political science, EU Studies, Human Geography, European political history, cartography and visual methodologies and international relations.

    List of illustrations Acknowledgements 1. The Non-Imperial Empire 2. All Roads Lead to Rome 3. Through the Looking-Glass 4. First Among Equals 5. Render Unto Ceasar 6. A new Race of Pilgrims Bibliography

    Biography

    Russell Foster is Doctor of Political Geography in the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology at Newcastle University, UK.