Government and the Governed

Abstract

Some of the most important geographical work of recent years has concerned the process of government, in terms both of the ways that governments at various levels decide upon the allocation of resources, and of the ways in which groups within the community work to influence, channel or expand the allocation process. Although political decisions on the distribution of resources between areas, groups and classes is the very core and substance of political geography, most of the work in this field has been undertaken beyond the formal confines of political geography, and urban and social geographers and political scientists have found a most fruitful convergence of interest in this field. The study of allocational behaviour and of the ways in which non-governmental groups seek to constrain and direct it lie in the mainstream of the process-orientated approach which was strongly advocated in the original edition of this book. Detailed study will only confirm our argument that a proper understanding of the spatial phenomena of human geography is best approached through study of a behavioural nature. Process-orientated study depends heavily on behavioural perspectives, while the rejection of such approaches renders effective analysis impossible and confines research either to the formulation of normative and dehumanised statements, or to static description, whether of a quantitative or non-quantitive nature.

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