Introduction to Contemporary Geopolitics

2023/2024

Учебный год

ENG

Обучение ведется на английском языке

4

Кредиты

Кто читает:

Департамент политологии и международных отношений

Статус:

Курс по выбору

Когда читается:

4-й курс, 3 модуль

Преподаватель

Чекаленко Анатолие

Course Syllabus

Abstract

The purpose of this course is to introduce you to the main concepts and research themes in contemporary geopolitics. As one of the primary perspectives within the field of political geography, geopolitics represents a broad engagement with the interactive relationships between power and place, and the construction, contestation and reconfiguration of political spaces that result. During the semester we will examine the formation of geopolitical images of the world, where these images come from, and how they have shaped our thinking and politics over time. Following an introduction to traditional and critical approaches to geopolitics, we will examine the modern history of global geopolitics from the turn of the 20th century to the present day. This class is Practice-Based! We will be critically analyzing articles, speeches, and movies throughout the module in class.

Learning Objectives

• You are required to complete class readings prior to the day for which they are assigned, and to come to class prepared to discuss the topic of the day. In addition to the required readings (see the course schedule below), you are required to follow the international news on a daily basis, and we will begin most class periods with a review of the relevant news of the day. By the end of the semester, students will be able to: ● Define and distinguish between traditional and critical approaches to geopolitics; ● Discuss the main elements of the geopolitical imagination that shape our understanding of the world and our place in it; ● Describe, provide examples of, and critically analyze the formal, practical, and popular geopolitics that interact to produce our geopolitical understandings of the world.

Expected Learning Outcomes

• acquires critical, analytical, synthetic, reflective, theoretical and practical thought to be able to understand, analyse, interpret and rigorously and independently sum up international reality from a multidisciplinary standpoint
• acquires the ability to consider and creatively respond to the essential questions as to the whys and wherefores,and the consequences of human, social, political and economic events of global society
• generates public opinion and builds bridges with the various social sectors, allowing for the formation and dissemination of a message and culture for the benefit of humankind, conveying values based on the search for truth and common good
• develops personal leadership focusing on communication and mediation in the context of international relations
• applies group work with common objectives, fostering the analysis and pooling of various approaches
• understands and analyses the international reality from the standpoint of respect and protecting democracy, human rights, cultural diversity and the values of equality, justice and solidarity. To be able to take part in discussions on current affairs, based on knowledge of international relations and an analysis of todays world

Course Contents

• Week 1. Introduction to geopolitics
• Week 2. Justifying Geopolitical Agency: Representing geopolitical codes
• Week 3. Global geopolitical systems
• Week 4. Embedding Geopolitics within national Identity
• Week 5. Territorial geopolitics: Shaky foundations of the world political map?
• Week 6. Critiquing Classical Geopolitics
• Week 7. Mapping Time onto Space
• Week 8. The Geopolitics of Capitalism
• Week 9. Feminist Geopolitics
• Week 10. Popular Geopolitics of the Post-Cold War
• Week 11. Popular Geopolitics after 9/11
• Week 12. Postmodern Geopolitics
• Week 13. Final Test

Assessment Elements

• Quizzes (15%)
• Team work (15%)
  Group work consists of one task. With this, you have the option of choosing between two assignments - critical paper or podcast. The number of students in the group is 4. The deadline for submitting a group task is the penultimate seminar.
• Final test (20%)
  Description: The test makes up 20% of the final grade. It consists of two parts and lasts 1 hour 20 minutes. Part one is a simple one correct answer quiz. Part two consists of open questions where students have to demonstrate their deeper knowledge of the subject.
• Seminar participation (15%)
  Criteria of engagement ● Meaningful engagement with the mandatory readings demonstrated ● Own critical approach to the reading and lecture materials elucidated ● By bringing in concepts and empirical examples from other fields of study, the student demonstrates a complex understanding of the introduced concepts ● Contribution to the class dynamics: by reflecting on earlier points and comments, students can again demonstrate a practical understanding of the discussed concepts, as well as their abilities to understand the dynamics of ongoing discussions. Conversely, redundant and self-serving comments will lower the participation grade.
• Exam (20%)
  Description: The exam makes up 20% of the final grade. It consists of two parts and lasts 1 hour 20 minutes. Part one is a simple one correct answer quiz. Part two consists of open questions where students have to demonstrate their deeper knowledge of the subject. The exam is not compulsory for those students who have achieved above a grade 4 for the other forms of control.
• Individual task (15%)

Interim Assessment

• 2023/2024 3rd module
  0.2 * Exam (20%) + 0.2 * Final test (20%) + 0.15 * Individual task (15%) + 0.15 * Quizzes (15%) + 0.15 * Seminar participation (15%) + 0.15 * Team work (15%)

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

• Agnew, J. A. (2003). Geopolitics : Re-visioning World Politics. London: Routledge. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=853964
• Flint, C., & Taylor, P. J. (2018). Political Geography : World-Economy, Nation-State and Locality (Vol. Seventh edition). New York, NY: Routledge. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1802663
• Introduction to geopolitics, Flint, C., 2012
• Said, E. W. (1979). Orientalism (Vol. First Vintage books edition). New York: Vintage. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=842875

Recommended Additional Bibliography

• An, N., & Zhu, H. (2018). Conceptual and theoretical debates in modern geopolitics and their implications for Chinese geopolitics. Area Development & Policy, 3(3), 368–382. https://doi.org/10.1080/23792949.2017.1405732