Authoritarianismhasemergedasaprominentthemeinpopularandacademicdiscussionsofpoliticssincethe2016USpresidentialelectionandthecoincidingexpansionofauthoritarianrhetoricandidealsacrossEurope,Asia,andbeyond.Untilrecently,however,academicgeographershavenotfocusedsquarelyontheconceptofauthoritarianism.Itslongstandingabsencefromthefieldisnoteworthyasgeographershavemadeextensivecontributionstotheorizingstructuralinequalities,injustice,andotherexpressionsofoppressiveorilliberalpowerrelationsandtheirdiversespatialities.Identifyingthisvoid,SpatializingAuthoritarianismbuildsuponrecentresearchtoshowthatevenwhenconceptualizedasasetofpracticesratherthanasasimpleterritoriallabel,authoritarianismhasaspatiality:bothdrawingfromandproducingpoliticalspaceandscaleinmanyoftensurprisingways.Thisvolumeadvancestheargumentthatauthoritarianismmustbeinvestigatedbyaccountingforthemanyscalesatwhichitisproduced,enacted,andimagined.IncludingadiversearrayoftheoreticalperspectivesandempiricalcasesdrawnfromtheGlobalSouthandNorth,thiscollectionillustratestheanalyticalpowerofattendingtoauthoritarianism’sdiversescalarandspatialexpressions,andhowintimatelyconnecteditiswithidentitynarratives,builtlandscapes,borders,legalsystems,markets,andotherterritorialandextraterritorialexpressionsofpower.
