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Regular version of the site
Bachelor 2020/2021

Political Geography

Category 'Best Course for Career Development'
Category 'Best Course for Broadening Horizons and Diversity of Knowledge and Skills'
Category 'Best Course for New Knowledge and Skills'
Area of studies: Public Policy and Social Sciences
When: 1 year, 1 module
Mode of studies: offline
Instructors: Andrei Skriba
Language: English
ECTS credits: 4
Contact hours: 44

Course Syllabus

Abstract

This course is concerned with the ways in which political practice is bound up with geographical definition: with spatially defined conceptions of inside and outside, center and margin, core and periphery systems that are regulated by international law and governed by such concepts as sovereignty and national self-determination.
Learning Objectives

Learning Objectives

  • To understand the development of group identities such as nations and examine the linkages between these identities and the political organization of territory.
  • To examine states emergence with an emphasis on how internal and external forces work centripetally and centripetally on the integrity of state territories.
  • To develop an appreciation for the effects of boundaries on economic, political, and social processes.
  • To study in relevant details theoretical concepts and challenges underpinning the study of geography and politics.
  • To identity the political, economic, and environmental forces that are undermining the modern nation-state system.
  • To have a working familiarity with the most current research topics in political geography.
Expected Learning Outcomes

Expected Learning Outcomes

  • To study the concept of territoriality and sovereignty and be able to trace the connection between historical process of state formation and modern developments
  • To be able to analyse and interpret the key stages in the formation of the modern nation-state
  • To understand the origins of political systems and be able to draw on the examples of different regions to explain the diversity of world orders today
  • To develop the understanding of the main reasons and potential consequences of regional conflicts
  • To be able to apply geopolitical theory to analysing the phenomenon of failed states and its implications for the international politics
  • To develop a critical view on the process of globalisation by engaging with the contemporary challenges of the deepened interdependence and interconnectedness of the international arena
  • To understand the politics of integration and be able to articulate potential challenges to the conventional understanding of sovereignty
  • To understand the mechanism of territorial enlargement and legal clauses which underpin the process
Course Contents

Course Contents

  • Sovereignty and state on the world map
    State as an independent political body, autonomy of power over a territory; history of sovereignty and formation of political borders
  • Nation and nation-state
    Nation, nationality and identity under the roof of the same government; origins and sources of power; nation-state in terms of territorial allocation of people and power
  • Political geography of state government
    Origins of different political systems and evolution of sovereign statehood; internal regional dynamics; diverse forms of state government on the world political map
  • Sovereignty: The limits and beyond
    Limits of states' territories and political jurisdiction, status of other territories
  • Political geography of instability
    Why states fail; origins and processes of such a phenomenon; regional dynamics of conflicts; historical and geographic factors leading to regional instability
  • Political geography as a discipline
    Key elements on the world political map, their objective and subjective characteristics
  • State in the age of globalisation and beyond
    Union building and preservation of sovereign goodwill exercised in a cooperation; forms of international and regional integration; integration in terms of sovereignty, regional institutional structures and their members
  • Sovereignty not for all
    How a state could enlarge the horizons of its sovereign territory by law
Assessment Elements

Assessment Elements

  • non-blocking Seminar Attendance and Participation
    Medical certificate or any proof of academic activity (e.g. conference) should be handed in to the Administration Office if a student wants to make up for the missed opportunity to get credits. It is obligatory to notify the tutor or the assistants to ask for a special task for the related topic. The tutor should be notified by a student via e-mail during a student’s absence and a medical certificate (or any document explaining the valid reason) should be handed in not later than 2 days after a student has return to studying. Unless these steps are accomplished, a student will get the mark “0” for all seminars they missed.
  • non-blocking In-Class Quizzes
  • non-blocking Map Test
Interim Assessment

Interim Assessment

  • Interim assessment (1 module)
    0.2 * In-Class Quizzes + 0.2 * Map Test + 0.6 * Seminar Attendance and Participation
Bibliography

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

  • Conversi, D. (2016). Sovereignty in a Changing World: From Westphalia to Food Sovereignty. Globalizations, 13(4), 484–498. https://doi.org/10.1080/14747731.2016.1150570
  • Fisher, C. A. (2015). Essays in Political Geography. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1240134
  • Flint, C., & Taylor, P. J. (2014). Political Geography : World-economy, Nation-state and Locality (Vol. 6th ed). Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=nlebk&AN=782852
  • Grotenhuis, R. (2016). Nation-Building as Necessary Effort in Fragile States. Web server without geographic relation, Web server without geographic relation (org): Amsterdam University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.10746755
  • Jones, M., Dixon, D., Hannah, M., Whitehead, M., Jones, R., & Woods, M. (2015). An Introduction to Political Geography : Space, Place and Politics (Vol. Second edition). New York: Routledge. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=905853
  • Kofman, E., Knight, D. B., & Johnston, R. J. (2015). Nationalism, Self-Determination and Political Geography. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=861912
  • Martí Henneberg, J. (2017). The Development of European Waterways, Road and Rail Infrastructures: A Geographical Information System for the History of European Integration (1825-2005). Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.F401C6CB
  • Minghi, J. (2017). The Structure of Political Geography (Vol. First edition). London: Routledge. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1588493
  • Perry, P. J. (2018). Political Corruption and Political Geography. London: Routledge. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1990105
  • Reeder, B. W. . V. (DE-588)1164035878, (DE-576)50810131X, aut. (2018). The political geography of rebellion : using event data to identify insurgent territory, preferences, and relocation patterns / Bryce W. Reeder, University of Missouri. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edswao&AN=edswao.511784449
  • Waterman, S., & Kliot, N. (2016). Pluralism and Political Geography : People, Territory and State. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1100935

Recommended Additional Bibliography

  • Bae, Y. J. (2019). Globalization. New York: Greenhaven Publishing. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=2006847
  • Boraine, A. (2014). What’s Gone Wrong? : On the Brink of a Failed State. New York: Jonathan Ball. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=789749
  • Edkins, J., & Zehfuss, M. (2019). Global Politics : A New Introduction (Vol. Third edition). Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=2003604
  • J.S. Frankel. (2016). Integration. Lincoln: Finch Books. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1459655
  • Koss, D. (2017). Political geography of Empire : Chinese varieties of local government / Daniel Koss. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edswao&AN=edswao.490607667
  • Kumar, C., Riamei, L., & Gupta, S. (2017). Understanding Global Politics. New Delhi: KW Publishers. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1630583
  • Ritzer, G., & Dean, P. (2018). Globalization : The Essentials (Vol. Second edition). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1991330