Description
This specialist module explores concepts and case studies related to the geopolitics of current global challenges. The module draws on political geography, critical geopolitics, and cognate areas, to explore some of the most important geopolitical processes of our time, focusing on the Middle East, Russia and Cities.
The module adopts a deliberately wide notion of geopolitics encompassing a variety of scales and their interactions, from the regional and transnational through the national to the urban, the everyday and intimate.
The module has three strands of lectures and seminars: on the Middle East, on Russia and on urban geopolitics. These will equip students with a broad knowledge of current global geopolitical challenges and concepts, applying them to relevant examples. The module blends lectures and seminars, where students will deepen their knowledge of and engage in learned debate about a range of specific cases and/or ideas.
By the end of the module you should be able to:
- Identify and critically evaluate the main and geopolitical challenges in a number of crucial settings (e.g. Russia, the Middle East and cities) in the 20th and 21st century.
- Master a conceptual and policy-relevant vocabulary to address and communicate aspects, concepts and dynamics of geopolitics and more widely political geography across a variety of scales.
- Demonstrate in-depth empirical and policy-relevant understanding of contemporary global geopolitical challenges.
- Develop analytical skills to understand complex issues and be able to write about, discuss, and communicate geopolitical issues for a range of target audiences.