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PONARS Eurasia
PONARS Eurasia
  • About
    • Contact
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RSS PONARS Eurasia Podcast
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NEW BOOK: The Geopolitics of Spectacle: Space, Synecdoche, and the New Capitals of Asia

  • July 12, 2018
  • Natalie Koch

Why do autocrats build spectacular new capital cities? In The Geopolitics of Spectacle, Natalie Koch considers how autocratic rulers use “spectacular” projects to shape state-society relations, but rather than focus on the standard approach—on the project itself—she considers the unspectacular “others.” The contrasting views of those from the poorest regions toward these new national capitals help her develop a geographic approach to spectacle.

Koch uses Astana in Kazakhstan to exemplify her argument, comparing that spectacular city with others from resource-rich, nondemocratic nations in central Asia, the Arabian Peninsula, and Southeast Asia. The Geopolitics of Spectacle draws new political-geographic lessons and shows that these spectacles can be understood only from multiple viewpoints, sites, and temporalities. Koch explicitly theorizes spectacle geographically and in so doing extends the analysis of governmentality into new empirical and theoretical terrain.

With cases ranging from Azerbaijan to Qatar and Myanmar, and an intriguing account of reactions to the new capital of Astana from the poverty-stricken Aral Sea region of Kazakhstan, Koch’s book provides food for thought for readers in human geography, anthropology, sociology, urban studies, political science, international affairs, and post-Soviet and central Asian studies.

Read More © Cornell University Press

Natalie Koch
Website | + posts
Associate Professor, Department of Geography, The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs
Affiliation

Syracuse University
Links

Personal Website (Bio)
Expertise

Central Asia, Authoritarianism, geopolitics, Nationalism, urban geography, Environmental Politics
  • Natalie Koch
    https://www.ponarseurasia.org/members/natalie-koch/
    The Geopolitics of Spectacle: Space, Synecdoche, and the New Capitals of Asia [NEW BOOK]
  • Natalie Koch
    https://www.ponarseurasia.org/members/natalie-koch/
    Renewables in Kazakhstan and Russia: Promoting “Future Energy” or Entrenching Hydrocarbon Dependency?
  • Natalie Koch
    https://www.ponarseurasia.org/members/natalie-koch/
    Катар и Центральная Азия: Что поставлено на карту в Таджикистане, Туркмении и Казахстане?
  • Natalie Koch
    https://www.ponarseurasia.org/members/natalie-koch/
    NEW POLICY MEMO: Qatar and Central Asia: What’s at Stake in Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan? | N. Koch
Related Topics
  • Asia
  • Central Asia
  • Koch
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  • Commentary | Комментарии

Россию не спасет даже ЧМ-2018

  • July 11, 2018
  • Pavel Baev
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Все больше молодых людей мечтают о карьере чиновника

  • July 12, 2018
  • Graeme Robertson
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