Denis Shaw

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the very rich thinking about environmental issues which has grown up in Russia since the nineteenth century, a body of knowledge and thought which is not well known to Western scholars and environmentalists. It shows how in the late nineteenth century there emerged in Russia distinct and strongly articulated representations of the earth’s physical systems within many branches of the natural sciences, representations which typically emphasised the completely integrated nature of natural systems. It stresses the importance in these developments of V V Dokuchaev who significantly advanced the field of soil science. It goes on to discuss how this distinctly Russian approach to the environment developed further through the work of geographers and other environmental scientists down to the late Soviet period.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the very rich thinking about environmental issues which has grown up in Russia since the nineteenth century, a body of knowledge and thought which is not well known to Western scholars and environmentalists. It shows how in the late nineteenth century there emerged in Russia distinct and strongly articulated representations of the earth’s physical systems within many branches of the natural sciences, representations which typically emphasised the completely integrated nature of natural systems. It stresses the importance in these developments of V V Dokuchaev who significantly advanced the field of soil science. It goes on to discuss how this distinctly Russian approach to the environment developed further through the work of geographers and other environmental scientists down to the late Soviet period.

The Geography of Emerging Regions provides an in-depth and stimulating introduction to the histories and contemporary development problems of the non-core countries of the world economy. Dramatic shifts in economic policy and the nature of political institutions have occurred in these countries over the past decade, much more substantial than those experienced within advanced economies. Here, the authors assess the impact of these shifts at different scales of analysis, from the supranational to the local. Drawing on the experience of Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, Latin America and East Asia in particular, the authors seek to illuminate the many contradictions in contemporary discourse on the so-called 'emerging regions', and look forward to the future and the type of world that might develop away from the core advanced economies.