Description
This course critically explores the history and current state of political geography and geopolitics and examines empirical issues from the vantage point of the spatiality and materiality of politics and power. The course develops the complementary insights that politics and power are fundamentally spatial, that geographical phenomena have political dimensions and implications, and that geographic space is infused with both power and political potential.
The course aims to equip students with:
- an understanding of political geography and geopolitics as fields of enquiry
- knowledge of key perspectives, debates and developments in these fields
- an ability to engage critically with research in these fields
- an ability to use core concepts to think about political geographic and geopolitical issues
- knowledge of relevant examples and case studies
- a sense of methodological issues and challenges in these fields
This module changes from year to year, depending on staff availability. These topics have been taught in the past, and are indicative of the kinds of topics that might appear:
Territory
Security
Identities
Bodies
Statecraft
Urban geopolitics
Material politics
Controversies
Politics of truth
Recommended reading
In preparation for the module, we advise reading the following core texts. These can be read via UCL Explore:
- Agnew, J. (2019) ‘Political Geography’, in the International Encyclopedia of Geography
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Module deliveries for 2024/25 academic year
Last updated
This module description was last updated on 19th August 2024.
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