Geopolitics

Course Description

This module will introduce the study of geopolitics and translate its significance for understanding the contemporary international order. It considers the territorial, spatial and social dimensions of international politics through a detailed investigation of historical, critical and geographical perspectives that emerge through competing accounts of geopolitics. It surveys the history of geopolitics within the 20th century and seeks to understand the underlying geopolitical factors emergent in the post-Cold War era. The focus is on developing a critical architecture to understand the spatial and social underpinnings of world politics, exploring the potential of critical geopolitics to rethink dominant ?logics? of world politics. The module draws upon a series of case studies that demonstrate the spatialised vocabulary of war, state violence and the interstate relations within global politics.