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Semester 2

Geopolitics (PLIT10163)

Subject

Politics

College

CAHSS

Credits

20

Normal Year Taken

3

Delivery Session Year

2023/2024

Pre-requisites

Visiting students must have completed 4 Politics courses at grade B or above. We will only consider University/College level courses, and we cannot consider interdisciplinary courses or courses without sufficient Politics/Government/International Relations focus. **Please see Additional Restrictions below**

Course Summary

Geography was once assumed to be natural, but the spatial division of the world is anything but. Historically and today, struggles persist over the ownership, administration, and domination of space. This course introduces students to the spectrum of geopolitical thought that tries to account for the relationship between geography and politics. The course provides a genealogy of geopolitical thought and practice. This accounts for its early 20th century imperial and colonial associations to how the recent pluralisation of approaches has addressed the way space is socially constructed and contested. Focusing on how recent developments in the study of space and politics are increasingly interdisciplinary, the course will introduce students to new ways of approaching topics like territory, sovereignty, borders, militarism, everyday life, and security. By exploring the interdisciplinary features of contemporary geopolitical thought, students will practice how to think and analyse the spatial dimensions of politics from the local to the global level.

Course Description

The study of geopolitics has evolved over the last 100 years from what is referred to as classical geopolitics, to the emergence of critical geopolitics, to an increasing diversification of approaches and subjects of geopolitical analysis. The aim of this course is to introduce students to the history of geopolitical thought and study. Practically it will equip them with the skills to design and conduct a research essay of their own that critically engages with key concepts from the study of geopolitics. Topics may include: - Geopolitical thought; - Classical Geopolitics; - Critical Geopolitics; - Popular Geopolitics; - Vertical Geopolitics; - Feminist Geopolitics; - Space and place; - Borders and cartography; - Territory and sovereignty; - Climate change and the environment; - Technology and geopolitics; - Warfare and geopolitics; - Popular culture and geopolitics; - Geopolitics beyond the planet. **This course introduces students to the questions such as: How should we account for the spatial dimensions of politics? What is the history of geopolitical thinking? What distinguishes traditional geopolitics from critical geopolitics? How does culture shape geopolitical thinking? How does studying popular culture expand our appreciation and analysis of geopolitics? What does this all mean for the way we study international politics? **The course will be taught weekly through a combination of lectures and tutorials designed to allow students to critically engage with the weeks' compulsory readings and work towards their research essay. In brief, the course will introduce students to the literature on orthodox and critical geopolitics and how these can be applied to the study of politics. By the end of the course students will have acquired the conceptual and analytical tools to design and develop a research essay on a topic of their choosing that draws on the wide range of approaches and concepts that comprise the study of geopolitics.

Assessment Information

Written Exam 0%, Coursework 100%, Practical Exam 0%

Additional Restrictions

Unless you are nominated on a Politics exchange agreement, visiting students are only permitted to enrol in one Politics course each, per semester, before the start of the relevant semester’s welcome period – and spaces on each course are limited so cannot be guaranteed for any student. Enrolment in a second Politics course will depend on whether there are still spaces available in the January Welcome Period, and cannot be guaranteed. It is NOT appropriate for students to contact staff within this subject area to ask for an exception to be made; all enquiries to enrol in these courses must be made through the CAHSS Visiting Student Office. This is due to the limited number of spaces available in this very popular subject area.

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