 | Cosmopolitan Spaces: Europe, Globalization, Theory Subjects: Politics & International Relations; Social Sciences; Urban Studies; Urban Studies; International Political Economy; Sociology & Social Policy; Globalization; Urban Sociology; Cosmopolitan Spaces: Europe, Globalization, Theorynbsp;endeavors a highly innovative reading of both globalization theory and contemporary European transformations. Interpreting cosmopolitanism as a politics of space, Rumfordnbsp;positions his analysisnbsp;at the intersection of two exciting currents in contemporary social science research: the 'spatial turn' in the social sciences and the renewed interest in cosmopolitanism. Rumfordnbsp;elaborates a completely new theoretical framework for understanding the contemporary social and political transformation of Europe, and takes issue with many aspects of the globalization-inspired accounts of Europeanization which remain blind to the spatial dimensions of change. In addition tonbsp;its compellingnbsp;reading of cosmopolitanism, Cosmopolitan Spaces: Europe, Globalization, Theory,nbsp;offers a provocative critique for thinking about Europe in terms of Empire, andnbsp;advancesnbsp;thenbsp;startling claimnbsp;that Europe should be considered 'postwestern'. Chris Rumford is Senior Lecturer in Political Sociology at Royal Holloway, University of London where he is co-director of the Centre for Global and Transnational Politics. He is the author of The European Union: A Political Sociology (Blackwell, 2002), co-author (with Gerard Delanty) of Rethinking Europe: Social Theory and the Implications of Europeanization (Routledge, 2005), and editor of Cosmopolitanism and Europe (Liverpool University Press, 2007) and Handbook of European Studies (Sage, forthcoming 2008). |
