Al-Nahdhah Paper, Iraq, 5Th October 2004

Political Geography

al-Nahdhah paper, Iraq, 5th October 2004.

GEO 2047 Module Guide 2007 – 08

Module codeGEO 2047

Modular value20 credits

Assessment30% practical, 70% essay

SemesterOne and two

Course leadersDr Alex Jeffrey, Daysh 4.24

Office hours: Monday 3pm-5pm

Dr Nick Megoran, Daysh 4.10

Office hours: Tuesdays 2.30pm – 3.30pm &

Fridays 2-4pm

Teaching AssistantRaksha Pande

Milecastle on Hadrian’s Wall, Northumberland July 2006

(Photograph: Alex Jeffrey)

Course Timetable

Semester 1

Part I: Introduction
Lectures
1 / Thur 4 Oct / Why political geography?
KGVI.LT1 11-12
2 / Thur 11 Oct / Heroes and villains of political geography
KGVI.LT1 11-12
Part II: Space and sovereignty
3 / Thur 18 Oct / Sovereignty I: origins
KGVI.LT1 11-12
4 / Thur 25 Oct / Sovereignty II: American empire?
KGVI.LT1 11-12
5 / Thur 1 Nov / Nations and nationalism
KGVI.LT1 11-12
6 / Thur 8 Nov / Proto-states, quasi-states and ‘non-places’
KGVI.LT1 11-12
7 / Thur 15 Nov / Dividing the world: making international boundaries
KGVI.LT1 11-12
8 / Thur 22 Nov / Identifying the state: living with international boundaries
KGVI.LT1 11-12
Tues 27 Nov / Assessment 1 introduction
HERB.G.LT2, 5-6pm.
9 / Thur 29 Nov / Indigenous sovereignties
KGVI.LT1 11-12
Thur 6 Dec / Practical workshop, assessment 1
Postgraduate Training Suite, Daysh, 7th Floor, 9-11
10 / Thur 6 Dec / Global sovereignty and the ‘international community’
KGVI.LT1 11-12

Semester 2

(note change of lecture time)

Part III: Geopolitics, classical and critical

11 / Thur 31 Jan / Geopolitics: was Sir Halford Mackinder right?
KGVI.LT1 10-11
12 / Thur 7 Feb / The Cold War, danger, and American identity KGVI.LT1 10-11
Fri 8 Feb / Film showing, ‘No Man’s Land’
Postgraduate Training Suite, Daysh, 7th Floor, 9-11
13 / Thur 14 Feb / The post-Cold War world, 1991-2001: ‘post-phallic’ geopolitics? KGVI.LT1 10-11
Fri 15 Feb / ‘No Man’s Land’ seminar –
BEDTC.L.G.38
Group A: 12-1
Group B: 3-4
14 / Thur 21 Feb / The critical geopolitics of the ‘war on terror’ KGVI.LT1 10-11 - and beyond
Fri 22 Feb / Film Showing, ‘Die Another Day’
HERB.G LT2, 9-11.30
Part IV: The State and Citizenship
15 / Thur 28 Feb / Whose state?
KGVI.LT1 10-11
Fri 29 / ‘Die Another Day’ seminar
Group A: BEDTC.L.G.38, 12-1
Group B: Merz L303, 3-4
16 / Thur 6 March / Electoral geographies
KGVI.LT1 10-11
17 / Fri 7 March / Migration
KGVI.LT1 1-2
18 / Thur 13 March / Radical citizenship
Postgraduate Training Suite, Daysh, 7th Floor, 9-10
19 / Thur 13 March / Conclusion
KGVI.LT1 10-11

Political Geography

Political geography is one of the oldest sub-disciplines of human geography, and is currently undergoing an exciting renaissance with an explosion of new research. This course is intended to give students a window into this field. It is hoped by the end of the course that you will have a richer understanding of the political geography of your world – how political communities divide and contest space.

If we teach this course well and if you study well, it will change and enhance the way you experience the world – the way that you read newspapers, walk through towns, visit new places, watch films, and listen to music. To get the most from this course, you will need to attend all the lectures and practical sessions and use the reading list. You will also need to read newspapers (or watch / listen to the news) and political magazines.

We enjoy teaching this course, and hope that you will enjoy it, too. But we also hope that it will disturb you. The world is a fascinating and wonderful place, but it is also an unfair and violent one, too, depending on who and where you are. Political geography not only teaches us how and why the world looks like it does, but provokes us to consider how it could be otherwise, and what we can do to change it.

Reading

In response to student concerns about text availability last year, we have produced a reader, available from the GPS office for around £15. It does not contain all the material that you will need, but key texts that are otherwise only available in hard copy format in the library (book chapters, older articles). As all the material is in the library, you do not need to purchase this, but it is recommended.

Reading lists for each lecture are provided as handouts at the lectures, and subsequently on BlackBoard.

For general textbooks, we recommend:

Blacksell, Mark. 2006. Political Geography. London: Routledge.

- a basic, clear introduction. Useful near the start or if you are struggling, but don’t depend on it.

Jones, Martin, Rhys Jones, and Michael Woods. 2004. An Introduction to Political Geography: Space, Place and Politics. London: Routledge.

-very good, with lots of examples. The introduction is poor, but it gets better, so don’t give up after two pages.

Taylor, Peter, and Colin Flint. 2007. Political Geography: World-Economy, Nation-State & Locality. 5th ed. London: Prentice Hall. (Earlier editions also useful).

- this is framed in a single ‘world systems’ approach, so has theoretical unity, which the others lack. This is an advantage and a disadvantage – it has a coherent and interesting take on a range of topics, but as it has an agenda it doesn’t always present a broad range of views.

Staeheli, Lynn, Eleonore Kofman, and Linda Peake. (eds) (2004) Mapping Women, Making Politics: Feminist Perspectives on Political Geography. Routledge, London.

- not a textbook as such, but useful interventions on a range of basic subjects in political geography.

Agnew, John, Kathryn Mitchell, K. and Gerard Toal. (eds) (2003) A Companion to Political Geography. Blackwell, Oxford.

-as above, but more comprehensive.

Glassner, Martin, and Chuck Fahrer. 2004. Political Geography. 3rd ed. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons.

- accessible and informative, enjoyable to read.

The Times Atlas of World History.

-take half an hour or so to read/look this. It won’t be necessary for any particular lecture, but is a beautiful and engaging book that will give a good idea of the historical political geography of the world.

Keep reading quality newspapers (the Independent, Guardian, and Financial Times, Times and Telegraph). The weekly magazine The Economist is also very good. The Economist is right-leaning in its politics; a good left-leaning alternative is the site Znet ( that collates articles from news sources around the world, and is worth a regular visit. If there is a specific news topic you want to research we advise you use the LexisNexis database, available at

If you cannot find material put on reading lists, try the following:

1)Look again! Last year there were many occasions when students could not find journal articles when they were actually available electronically.

2)Ask library staff to help.

3)Post a comment/request to the ‘I can’t find my book!’ discussion board on the course’s BlackBoard page. Other students may be able to help, and Nick and Alex will monitor and respond where appropriate. If you don’t do this we won’t know when there are problems.

Lecture outlines

Part I: Introduction

These two lectures will introduce the course. They provide an outline, and give the essential background to political geographical thought down the ages.

Lecture 1 /

Why political geography?

The first half of this lecture introduces the outline, aims and structure of the course. It will indicate the key texts and resources for the module and discuss the assessment requirements of the course. The second half outlines the development of political geographic thought from classical times to 1900.

Lecture 2 / Heroes and villains of political geography

This completes the background story of political geography, looking at the subject's fortunes (and misfortunes) in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

Part II: Space and sovereignty

The notion of sovereignty, or power over space, is at the heart of political geography. This section of the course will provide a historical overview of the emergence of modern state sovereignty (lectures 3-4), and the techniques though which such configurations of power are reproduced (for example through boundaries, lectures 7-8). In addition, the lectures will also examine the ways in which such sovereignty is contested, questioned and compromised at the sub-state level (lectures 5-6, 9) and at the international level (lecture 10).

Lecture 3 / Space and sovereignty I: origins
Lecture 4 /

Space and sovereignty II: American empire?

These lectures trace the development of forms of sovereignty in history, from ancient empires to the modern consolidation of the European nation-state. They conclude with a discussion on the nature of sovereignty at the start of the twenty-first century: is this a world of states, (American) empire, or something else?

Lecture 5 / Nations and nationalism

The aim of this lecture is to introduce the role of national identity in shaping and contesting existing divisions of the world. The lecture will introduce ‘nationalism’ or the processes through which nations attempt to claim political power. Key theories of nationalism will be discussed and a series of case studies offered for consideration.

Lecture 6 / Proto-states, quasi-states and ‘non-places’

Though political maps suggest the earth’s surface is comprised of a tapestry of states, the reality is not such a neat and organised division of political space. This lecture will explore the problems in defining places as states. In particular, the lecture will use a wealth of empirical examples to explore proto-state ‘anomalies’ on the world political map and discuss their implications for our understanding of sovereignty.

Lecture 7 / Dividing the world: making international boundaries
Lecture 8 / Identifying the state: living with international boundaries

These lectures examine one of the most marked features of the political geography of the modern world: international boundaries. How and why do we draw lines between territories, and what are the impacts on those living along them?

Lecture 9 / Indigenous sovereignties

This lecture will examine the claims of indigenous peoples over space, and the territorial practices through which such claims are communicated (such as maps, rituals and settlement patterns). The lecture will explore how such practices often come into conflict with or subvert state or colonial sovereignties.

Lecture 10 / Global sovereignty and the ‘international community’

To what extent has the process of globalization marked the emergence of global forms of sovereignty? This lecture will explore this question with particular reference to ‘the international community’, a phrase that has grown in prominence since the end of the Cold War.

Part III: Geopolitics, classical and critical

This bloc of lectures will look at geopolitics, or the role of space in inter-state relations. It will trace the progress from ‘classical geopolitics’ (the belief that space determines these relations) to ‘critical geopolitics’ (an investigation into the place of ideas about space in these relations). It will consider geopolitical ideas as espoused by intellectuals (formal geopolitics), used by statesmen and women (practical geopolitics), and reproduced in popular culture (popular geopolitics).

Lecture 11 / Geopolitics: was Sir Halford Mackinder right?

This lecture introduces the idea of geopolitics, using the work of Halford Mackinder as an example. It traces the movement from ‘classical geopolitics’ to ‘critical geopolitics’, outlining the key concepts for this bloc of lectures.

Lecture 12 / The Cold War, danger, and American identity

The post-World War II ‘Cold War’ stand-off between the USA and the USSR was one of the most dangerous moments in human history. Or was it? A critical examination of the identity politics of this period.

Lecture 13 / The post-Cold War world, 1991-2001: ‘post-phallic’ geopolitics?

After the Cold War, peace? How politicians, academics, think tanks, and popular culture constructed what Cynthia Weber calls the ‘post-phallic’ era as being full of new dangers.

Lecture 14 / The critical geopolitics of the ‘war on terror’

Geopolitics since the Al-Qaeda attacks in the USA on September 11, 2001 - what, exactly, is the ‘war on terror’? The lecture will conclude this bloc with critical reflection on critical geopolitics itself. Is critical geopolitics intellectually coherent, and can it help us make the world more peaceful?

Section IV: State and citizenship

This section of the course will shift attention to political geographies within the state: and in particular of the spaces of citizenship and political participation.

Lecture 15 / Whose state?

This lecture will explore the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. This is a key theme of the course, since in incorporates the cultural aspects of an individual’s identity with the political affiliation to the state. This lecture will particularly focus on exclusions from citizenship, how citizenship is not a universal right, but is conferred on some and withheld from others.

Lecture 16 / Electoral geographies

Voting is a crucial democratic right, when citizens collectively decide on who will govern their state. But how elections are arranged, the spatial units into which a state is subdivided has profound implications for the value of each vote. This lecture will explore this political geography of elections.

Lecture 17 / Migration

Globally, people are on the move as never before, in search of economic opportunities or fleeing oppression. At the same time, many states are increasingly seeking to control movement over their boundaries. This lecture asks how geographers can understand these processes, and poses a radical question: do we need migration controls at all?

Lecture 18 / Radical citizenships

This lecture will explore the concepts of ‘radical democracy’ and ‘radical citizenship’. These themes emerge out of practice and activism, rather than theory, and constitute attempts by individuals and groups to re-shape democratic practice in such a way as to include the voices of the marginalised, silenced and ignored.

Assessments / Practicals

Assessment 1: Letters to Newspapers

The purpose of this seminar is to directly relate skills and approaches learnt in the first semester of this course to real-world issues. The introduction will give some background to the British culture of letters columns in newspapers, with practical instruction on how to write letters that get published. During the week, students will be expected to read the national or local press and submit to a newspaper a letter on a topic pertaining to political geography, and then prepare another letter on another topic. At the practical seminar, students will report back on their experience of writing and submitting the first letter, and discuss in groups their second letter, to be submitted as soon s possible after the session.

ASSESSMENT: Students are to submit a report on their letter writing. The report must include

1)A hard copy (photocopy or original) of the newspaper article that they responded to

2)Their own letter, including a 1,200 word discussion of why they wrote it and how it relates to political geography, and a short conclusion reflecting on the exercise. Citations of relevant academic literature should be included.

3)Copy of the reply from the editor. If the letter got published, this should also be included, along with any subsequent correspondence with other readers.

This assessment will form 30% of the overall mark. There will be a prize presented for the best published letter. In 2006-07, half a dozen students managed to get their letters published in national and local newspapers.

To prepare for this assignment in advance : get into the habit of reading newspapers with an eye for stories that link to the course, and looking at the letters page, before the introductory session on November 27th. The assessment will be explained in full on that date.

Deadline: 12.00 noon JANUARY 28 2007. Hardcopy to GPS Office, electronic copy via TurnItIn software (please see Appendix)

Practicals: Film Showings

In Semester II we will be running two compulsory film viewings, the first the Oscar Winning Bosnian film ‘No Man’s Land’ (2001, Dir: Danis Tanovic) and the second the James Bond film ‘Die Another Day’(2002, Dir: Lee Tamahori). Over the course of the films and during the subsequent workshops you will be asked to complete a series of open-ended questions surrounding the geopolitical images, stories and ideas conveyed by the films. These exercises will be helpful in understanding the practice of critical geopolitics, and provide key examples for use in the assessed essay.

For each film there will be a showing with an introductory talk, and a separate follow-up seminar. Due to the size of the group it will be divided into two groups, A and B. This will be explained nearer the time. To prepare for this practical in advance: watch other films and as you do so ask yourself if there is any political geographical element to them.

Assessment 2: Course Essay

This 2,100 word essay will give you the chance to research and write about an issue in political geography that particularly interests you. A list of questions will be made available after the final lecture on March 13. To prepare for this assignment in advance: make sure that you are reading widely for each lecture as you go through the year.

Deadline: 12.00 noon May 5th 2008. Hardcopy to GPS Office, electronic copy via TurnItIn software (please see Appendix)

Assessments are there to reward, not catch you out. So be assured – if you work hard and take an interest in your world, you should do well. If you do fail, re-assessment of the module is by an unseen examination (100%).

Finally, a thought to ponder:

2006 was the centenary of the birth of late Poet Laureate, Sir John Betjeman. He wrote, after his first year at university, that he discovered that:

“wisdom was not memory tests

as I had long supposed;

nor first class marks,

nor swotting for exams:

but humble love

for what we sought and knew.”

Summoned by Bells

1