Geopolitical imaginations across the North-South divide: issues of difference, development and power

In the context of development and the will to be modern, this paper explores key elements of power and representation across the North-South divide. After a short discussion of the problems involved in our contemporary usage of gee-political categories such as North and South, it is argued that the power that has been exercised over peripheral societies needs to be interpreted in direct association with the evolution of subordinating modes of representation. Taking examples from US-Latin American relations, the paper emphasizes the continuity of geopolitical power and the importance of recovering a historical perspective. Whilst the impact of the 'power over` is stressed, equally the crucial significance of linking inside with outside is introduced, and examples given of this key sire of critical geopolitical analysis. The paper concludes with the suggestion that more thought can be given to the ways in which our critical enquiry might lead into a more sustained consideration of issues concerning the agents of knowledge and the politics of citation in ostensibly global times. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.