A Political Geography of Polarising Identities

Contested Iconic Places

This book links the current wave of political polarisation to the polarisation taking place between cosmopolitan and parochial identity discourses, and their antagonistic valuation of iconic urban and regional places.

This book links the current wave of political polarisation to the polarisation taking place between cosmopolitan and parochial identity discourses and their antagonistic valuation of iconic urban and regional places.

Instead of looking for explanations of polarisation only in left-behind regions, this book analyses how societal changes favouring cities, like globalisation and individualisation, created an urban hubris which is now challenged. A careful analysis of the different valuations of specific iconic places like those linked to borders, waterfront apartments, and livestock farms in different Western European countries shows that this polarisation between cosmopolitan and parochial identity discourses goes deeper and further than the rise in support for national populism. It shows the growing spatial polarisation through the enclavisation of the cosmopolitan new bourgeoisie in cities, further polarising the antagonistic valuation of different iconic urban and regional places as either disgusting examples of urban arrogance or parochial bigotry.

The broader spatial and temporal perspective adopted in this book is of interest to anyone who wants to look beyond the national political headlines. It will help students, researchers, human geographers, political scientists, and sociologists better understand the intricate relation between identities, politics, places, and societal developments.

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