Course Description
The course focus is classical and contemporary geopolitical theories. We examine different and competing ideas and consider how and if geographic logic of the international (or global) political order has changed. Discussion will initially focus on the historical progression of geopolitical reasoning and then will proceed to discuss imperial rivalries, concepts of hegemony and world order and the geopolitics of the Cold War and the post-Cold War eras. The final section of the course will consider theoretical struggles surrounding the geopolitics in the early 21st century and the challenges posed by critical geopolitics, social movements, environmental changes and feminist theory. Throughout, the primary concern is how the effects of scale, space and power in global politics is understood and experienced.
Distribution Requirement: Social Science
Lecture hours: 24
Exclusion: GGR439H1
Prerequisite: 14.0 credits
Core Skills Developed
- strong understanding of geopolitical theory
- identifying, summarizing, and critically analyzing information from scholarly sources
- communication of research results in a scholarly term paper format