GEOG 320: Geopolitics
Geopolitics is the study of power and space. This course is designed to be integral to global studies and geography. However, it also complements political science and historical, as well as area studies perspectives. As the Soviet Union devolved and Western Liberalism has sought to re-structure and flatten global space, the importance of understanding how power is generated and deployed has become increasingly valued.
The course examines several different theoretical bases for understanding power through a spatial perspective. We begin with a history of perspectives that have considered power at the scale of nation-states. Those perspectives focus upon both governmental and economic power. We also examine power and its practices at other regional, local, and embodied scales. In the second half of the course we focus on specific case studies. These draw on ethnic, environmental, territorial, and strategic concerns and issues.
This is a largely a seminar course. We use assigned readings and current events to organize discussion, and intentionally work to build an environment conducive to peer teaching and learning.
Learning Objectives for the Geography Major:
#2. Understand the origins, characteristics, processes, and distribution of the world's major economic and political systems, and culture areas
#3. Understand how a region's economic, political, cultural, demographic, and environmental processes intertwine within a region, between regions, and across scales to create the Earth's complex human-environment mosaic, and its rural and urban landscapes
#6. Understand how human actions modify the physical environment and how the physical environment impacts human systems
#7. Oral and Written Communication Skills