The graphic representation of political space. How cartography shapes our world views and why Geopolitics should care about it

In recent years the issue of space has returned to arouse the interest of those who study international politics from various disciplinary perspectives. If during bipolarity there was little interest in spatiality, both because its dual scheme was highly evident and because the two ideologies of reference explained the reality according to factors which were substantially indifferent to space (the class struggle and popular democracy on the one hand and market laws and liberal democracy on the other), the end of the Cold War has made it appropriate once again to wonder about political spatiality. A new interest in the spatial dimension of politics today pervades the entire, vast field of Social Sciences, from Political Geography to the Philosophy of Law and Politics, as well as International Law, History of Political Thought, History, Economy, Regional Studies and, obviously, International Relations. Starting from the observation of this recent evaluation of space as an explanatory device for the understanding of politics, this research focuses on one specific aspect: its cartographic representation. The interest in this topic is justified by the recent critical turn in map studies, which has produced an epistemological revision and focused attention on the rhetorical power and performative quality of the map. This provoked a re-examination of the meaning and political value of cartography, to which this study intends to make a contribution.