Publisher's Synopsis
This critical and challenging book examines the human geography - political, social and economic - of Europe within a strong and clear theoretical framework and the context of the collapse of the Iron Curtain and the expansion of the European Community. Dr Dawson begins by examining the structure of European economic geography and the legacy of 19th and 20th centuries political and social impact. The second chapter examines the concept of the "Fourth Kondratiev Wave" in the changing economic structure of Europe by sector (agriculture, extractive, manufacturing and service industires) and regionally, particularly regional growth or decline.;In the third chapter, the political environment and the concept of "the Common European Home" as a model for integration is considered in an historical and contemporary context and the roles of nations, markets, communities and regions are presented in detail. This introduces an analysis of the map of economic rents' in europe in terms of the distribution of resources, energy, markets, population and transport. The final section of the book studies the implication of all this for the economic and political integration of Europe, and the likely geographical consequences for regions and the new industries of the Fifth Kondratiev. An important addition to Belhaven's list of leading adoptable textbooks on the geography of Europe, it is intended for all students of economic geography.
