Critical geopolitics
Encyclopedia
The basic concept behind Geopolitics is that intellectuals of statecraft construct ideas about places, these ideas have influence and reinforce their political behaviors and policy choices, and these ideas affect how we, the people, process our own notions of places and politics.
Critical Geopolitics sees the geopolitical as comprising four linked facets: popular geopolitics, formal geopolitics, structural geopolitics, and practical geopolitics. Critical Geopolitical scholarship continues to engage critically with questions surrounding geopolitical discourse
s, geopolitical practice (i.e. foreign policy
), and the history of Geopolitics
.
s.
This poststructuralist orientation holds that the realities of global political space do not simply reveal themselves to detached, omniscient observers. Rather, geopolitical knowledges are seen as partial and situated, emergent from particular subject positions. In this context, geopolitical practices result from complex constellations of competing ideas and discourse
s, which they in turn modify. Geopolitical practice is not, therefore, unproblematically 'right' or 'natural'.
Further, since geopolitical knowledge is seen as partial, situated and embodied, nation-states are not the only 'legitimate' unit of geopolitical analysis within Critical Geopolitics. Instead, geopolitical knowledge is seen as more diffuse, with 'popular' geopolitical discourse
considered alongside 'formal' and 'practical' geopolitics
. These three 'strands' of geopolitical thought are outlined below:
is concerned with the ways in which 'lay' understandings of geopolitical issues are produced and reproduced through popular culture
. Popular geopolitics
studies are, therefore, premised on the idea of a recursive relationship between popular culture
and popular conscience. The complexity of popular culture
's relationships with 'formal' and 'practical' geopolitical cultures has been studied with reference to a range of popular cultural products. Specifically, critical studies of newspapers, films, cartoons and magazines have all been published in leading peer-reviewed Geography journals.
is defined as contemporary geopolitical tradition.
refers to the geopolitical culture of more 'traditional' geopolitical actors. Critical accounts of formal geopolitics
therefore pay attention to the ways in which formal foreign policy actors and professionals - including think-tanks and academics - mediate geopolitical issues such that particular understandings and policy prescriptions become hegemonic, even common-sense.
describes the actual practice of geopolitical strategy (i.e. foreign policy
). Studies of practical geopolitics
focus both on geopolitical action and geopolitical reasoning, and the ways in which these are linked recursively to both 'formal' and 'popular' geopolitical discourse
. Because Critical Geopolitics is concerned with geopolitics
as discourse
, studies of practical geopolitics
pay attention both to geopolitical actions (for example, military deployment), but also to the discursive strategies used to narrativize these actions.
The "critical" in Critical Geopolitics therefore relates to two (linked) aims. Firstly, it seeks to 'open up' Geopolitics
, as a discipline and a concept. It does this partly by considering the popular and formal aspects of geopolitics
alongside practical geopolitics. Further, it focuses on the power relations and dynamics through which particular understandings are (re)constructed. Secondly, Critical Geopolitics engages critically with 'traditional' geopolitical themes. The articulation of 'alternative' narratives on geopolitical issues, however, may or may not be consistent with a poststructuralist methodology. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0962-6298(96)00035-2
which came to prominence when the French geographer Yves Lacoste
published 'La géographie ça sert d'abord à faire la guerre' ('geography is primarily for waging war') (1976) and founded the journal Hérodote
. The subject entered the English language Geography literature in the 1990s thanks in part to a special "Critical Geopolitics" issue of the journal Political Geography in 1996 (vol. 15/6-7), and the publication in the same year of Gearóid Ó Tuathail's seminal Critical Geopolitics book.
The subdiscipline is most commonly associated with a group of 'dissident' academics including John Agnew
, Simon Dalby
and, primarily, Ó Tuathail. Ó Tuathail's 1996 book Critical Geopolitics defined the state of the subdiscipline at the time, and codified its methodological and intellectual underpinnings. Subsequently, the definition of Critical Geopolitics has been broadened such that the project is no longer associated solely with the works of a small number of scholars.
Elsewhere, Critical Geopolitics-derived studies have been published in journals specializing in popular culture
, security studies
, border
studies (such as in the Journal of Borderlands Studies) and history, reflecting the breadth of subject matter subsumed under the Critical Geopolitics headline.
- are fundamental.
Popular engagement with the geopolitical, as (re)presented in popular culture
, is a major area of research within the Critical Geopolitics literature:
Critical Geopolitics sees the geopolitical as comprising four linked facets: popular geopolitics, formal geopolitics, structural geopolitics, and practical geopolitics. Critical Geopolitical scholarship continues to engage critically with questions surrounding geopolitical discourse
Discourse
Discourse generally refers to "written or spoken communication". The following are three more specific definitions:...
s, geopolitical practice (i.e. foreign policy
Foreign policy
A country's foreign policy, also called the foreign relations policy, consists of self-interest strategies chosen by the state to safeguard its national interests and to achieve its goals within international relations milieu. The approaches are strategically employed to interact with other countries...
), and the history of Geopolitics
Geopolitics
Geopolitics, from Greek Γη and Πολιτική in broad terms, is a theory that describes the relation between politics and territory whether on local or international scale....
.
Key ideas and concepts
Rooted in poststructuralism, Critical Geopolitical inquiry is, at its core, concerned with the operation, interaction, and contestation of geopolitical discourseDiscourse
Discourse generally refers to "written or spoken communication". The following are three more specific definitions:...
s.
This poststructuralist orientation holds that the realities of global political space do not simply reveal themselves to detached, omniscient observers. Rather, geopolitical knowledges are seen as partial and situated, emergent from particular subject positions. In this context, geopolitical practices result from complex constellations of competing ideas and discourse
Discourse
Discourse generally refers to "written or spoken communication". The following are three more specific definitions:...
s, which they in turn modify. Geopolitical practice is not, therefore, unproblematically 'right' or 'natural'.
Further, since geopolitical knowledge is seen as partial, situated and embodied, nation-states are not the only 'legitimate' unit of geopolitical analysis within Critical Geopolitics. Instead, geopolitical knowledge is seen as more diffuse, with 'popular' geopolitical discourse
Discourse
Discourse generally refers to "written or spoken communication". The following are three more specific definitions:...
considered alongside 'formal' and 'practical' geopolitics
Geopolitics
Geopolitics, from Greek Γη and Πολιτική in broad terms, is a theory that describes the relation between politics and territory whether on local or international scale....
. These three 'strands' of geopolitical thought are outlined below:
Popular geopolitics
Popular geopoliticsGeopolitics
Geopolitics, from Greek Γη and Πολιτική in broad terms, is a theory that describes the relation between politics and territory whether on local or international scale....
is concerned with the ways in which 'lay' understandings of geopolitical issues are produced and reproduced through popular culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
. Popular geopolitics
Geopolitics
Geopolitics, from Greek Γη and Πολιτική in broad terms, is a theory that describes the relation between politics and territory whether on local or international scale....
studies are, therefore, premised on the idea of a recursive relationship between popular culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
and popular conscience. The complexity of popular culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
's relationships with 'formal' and 'practical' geopolitical cultures has been studied with reference to a range of popular cultural products. Specifically, critical studies of newspapers, films, cartoons and magazines have all been published in leading peer-reviewed Geography journals.
Structural Geopolitics
Structural geopoliticsGeopolitics
Geopolitics, from Greek Γη and Πολιτική in broad terms, is a theory that describes the relation between politics and territory whether on local or international scale....
is defined as contemporary geopolitical tradition.
Formal geopolitics
Formal geopoliticsGeopolitics
Geopolitics, from Greek Γη and Πολιτική in broad terms, is a theory that describes the relation between politics and territory whether on local or international scale....
refers to the geopolitical culture of more 'traditional' geopolitical actors. Critical accounts of formal geopolitics
Geopolitics
Geopolitics, from Greek Γη and Πολιτική in broad terms, is a theory that describes the relation between politics and territory whether on local or international scale....
therefore pay attention to the ways in which formal foreign policy actors and professionals - including think-tanks and academics - mediate geopolitical issues such that particular understandings and policy prescriptions become hegemonic, even common-sense.
Practical geopolitics
Practical geopoliticsGeopolitics
Geopolitics, from Greek Γη and Πολιτική in broad terms, is a theory that describes the relation between politics and territory whether on local or international scale....
describes the actual practice of geopolitical strategy (i.e. foreign policy
Foreign policy
A country's foreign policy, also called the foreign relations policy, consists of self-interest strategies chosen by the state to safeguard its national interests and to achieve its goals within international relations milieu. The approaches are strategically employed to interact with other countries...
). Studies of practical geopolitics
Geopolitics
Geopolitics, from Greek Γη and Πολιτική in broad terms, is a theory that describes the relation between politics and territory whether on local or international scale....
focus both on geopolitical action and geopolitical reasoning, and the ways in which these are linked recursively to both 'formal' and 'popular' geopolitical discourse
Discourse
Discourse generally refers to "written or spoken communication". The following are three more specific definitions:...
. Because Critical Geopolitics is concerned with geopolitics
Geopolitics
Geopolitics, from Greek Γη and Πολιτική in broad terms, is a theory that describes the relation between politics and territory whether on local or international scale....
as discourse
Discourse
Discourse generally refers to "written or spoken communication". The following are three more specific definitions:...
, studies of practical geopolitics
Geopolitics
Geopolitics, from Greek Γη and Πολιτική in broad terms, is a theory that describes the relation between politics and territory whether on local or international scale....
pay attention both to geopolitical actions (for example, military deployment), but also to the discursive strategies used to narrativize these actions.
The "critical" in Critical Geopolitics therefore relates to two (linked) aims. Firstly, it seeks to 'open up' Geopolitics
Geopolitics
Geopolitics, from Greek Γη and Πολιτική in broad terms, is a theory that describes the relation between politics and territory whether on local or international scale....
, as a discipline and a concept. It does this partly by considering the popular and formal aspects of geopolitics
Geopolitics
Geopolitics, from Greek Γη and Πολιτική in broad terms, is a theory that describes the relation between politics and territory whether on local or international scale....
alongside practical geopolitics. Further, it focuses on the power relations and dynamics through which particular understandings are (re)constructed. Secondly, Critical Geopolitics engages critically with 'traditional' geopolitical themes. The articulation of 'alternative' narratives on geopolitical issues, however, may or may not be consistent with a poststructuralist methodology. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0962-6298(96)00035-2
The emergence of Critical Geopolitics
Critical Geopolitics is an ongoing projectProject
A project in business and science is typically defined as a collaborative enterprise, frequently involving research or design, that is carefully planned to achieve a particular aim. Projects can be further defined as temporary rather than permanent social systems that are constituted by teams...
which came to prominence when the French geographer Yves Lacoste
Yves Lacoste
Yves Lacoste is a French geographer and geopolitician. He was born in Fes, Morocco. In 1976 he established the French geopolitical journal "Hérodote"...
published 'La géographie ça sert d'abord à faire la guerre' ('geography is primarily for waging war') (1976) and founded the journal Hérodote
Hérodote
Hérodote is a French journal about geography and geopolitics. Founded in 1976 by Yves Lacoste, it has been influential in reviving the use of the term geopolitics in France. "Hérodote" is the French version of the name of the ancient Greek historian, Herodotus....
. The subject entered the English language Geography literature in the 1990s thanks in part to a special "Critical Geopolitics" issue of the journal Political Geography in 1996 (vol. 15/6-7), and the publication in the same year of Gearóid Ó Tuathail's seminal Critical Geopolitics book.
The subdiscipline is most commonly associated with a group of 'dissident' academics including John Agnew
John A. Agnew
John A. Agnew is a prominent British-American political geographer. Agnew was educated at the Universities of Exeter and Liverpool in England and Ohio State in the United States.-Life and career:...
, Simon Dalby
Simon Dalby
Simon Dalby is an Irish born academic, currently a Professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at Carleton University. Dalby is a leading figure in the disciplines of environmental security and critical geopolitics...
and, primarily, Ó Tuathail. Ó Tuathail's 1996 book Critical Geopolitics defined the state of the subdiscipline at the time, and codified its methodological and intellectual underpinnings. Subsequently, the definition of Critical Geopolitics has been broadened such that the project is no longer associated solely with the works of a small number of scholars.
Critical Geopolitics texts
Critical Geopolitics-based work has been published in a range of Geographical and trans-disciplinary journals, as well as in books and edited collections. Major journals in which Critical Geopolitics work has appeared include:- Annals of the Association of American Geographers
- Antipode
- Geopolitics
- Political Geography
Elsewhere, Critical Geopolitics-derived studies have been published in journals specializing in popular culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
, security studies
Security Studies
This article refers to the discipline within the field of International Relations. For the study of security management see security management studiesSecurity Studies is an academic sub-field of the wider discipline of International Relations...
, border
Border
Borders define geographic boundaries of political entities or legal jurisdictions, such as governments, sovereign states, federated states and other subnational entities. Some borders—such as a state's internal administrative borders, or inter-state borders within the Schengen Area—are open and...
studies (such as in the Journal of Borderlands Studies) and history, reflecting the breadth of subject matter subsumed under the Critical Geopolitics headline.
Texts in Critical Geopolitical theory
Critical Geopolitics 'theory' is not fixed or homogeneous, but core features - especially a concern for discourse analysisDiscourse analysis
Discourse analysis , or discourse studies, is a general term for a number of approaches to analyzing written, spoken, signed language use or any significant semiotic event....
- are fundamental.
- Introduction to Critical Geopolitical theory: Ó Tuathail's (1996) Critical Geopolitics (London: Routledge) details the aims, scope and intellectual context of Critical Geopolitics. It also provides a genealogical account of the history of GeopoliticsGeopoliticsGeopolitics, from Greek Γη and Πολιτική in broad terms, is a theory that describes the relation between politics and territory whether on local or international scale....
, placing Critical Geopolitics in its temporal and disciplinary context.
- Relationship between 'classical' and Critical Geopolitics: There are thematic concerns in common between classical and Critical geopoliticsGeopoliticsGeopolitics, from Greek Γη and Πολιτική in broad terms, is a theory that describes the relation between politics and territory whether on local or international scale....
, leading to the question of whether 'mainstream' International RelationsInternational relationsInternational relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...
theory and geopoliticsGeopoliticsGeopolitics, from Greek Γη and Πολιτική in broad terms, is a theory that describes the relation between politics and territory whether on local or international scale....
can be reconciled with the Critical project. In a 2006 article in the journal Geopolitics (vol. 11/1), Phil Kelly of Emporia State UniversityEmporia State UniversityEmporia State University is a university in the city of Emporia in Lyon County, Kansas, just east of the Flint Hills.- History :...
argues that it is possible.
Popular engagement with the geopolitical, as (re)presented in popular culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
, is a major area of research within the Critical Geopolitics literature:
- Newspapers: The framing of geopolitical events in mass circulation newspapers has been addressed by a number of authors. Thomas McFarlane and Iain Hay's (2003) article in Political Geography, 'The battle for Seattle: protest and popular geopolitics in The AustralianThe AustralianThe Australian is a broadsheet newspaper published in Australia from Monday to Saturday each week since 14 July 1964. The editor in chief is Chris Mitchell, the editor is Clive Mathieson and the 'editor-at-large' is Paul Kelly....
newspaper', is a highly-cited example. Further, it exemplifies how Critical Geopolitics research can use both qualitative and quantitative approaches to discourse analysisDiscourse analysisDiscourse analysis , or discourse studies, is a general term for a number of approaches to analyzing written, spoken, signed language use or any significant semiotic event....
.
- Magazines: Joanne Sharp's analysis of the ways in which the Reader's DigestReader's DigestReader's Digest is a general interest family magazine, published ten times annually. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, its headquarters is now in New York City. It was founded in 1922, by DeWitt Wallace and Lila Bell Wallace...
(re)presented a sense of US national identity during the Cold War started life as a 1993 article in the journal Political Geography. Subsequently, it spurred her 2001 book Condensing the Cold War: Reader's DigestReader's DigestReader's Digest is a general interest family magazine, published ten times annually. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, its headquarters is now in New York City. It was founded in 1922, by DeWitt Wallace and Lila Bell Wallace...
and American Identity. Further, Sharp's methodology prompted an in-depth debate (2003) about the practice of popular geopolitics, in the pages of the journal Geopolitics (vol.8/2).
- Cartoons: An early (1996) and frequently-cited popular geopolitics study by Klaus DoddsKlaus DoddsKlaus Dodds is Professor of Geopolitics at Royal Holloway, University of London.He was educated at Wellington College and the University of Bristol where he completed degrees in geography and political science...
considers the geopolitical content and effect of cartoons by GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
cartoonist Steve BellSteve Bell (cartoonist)Steve Bell is an English political cartoonist, whose work appears in The Guardian and other publications. He is known for his left-wing views and distinctive caricatures.-Early life:...
during the Falklands WarFalklands WarThe Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...
; 'The 1982 Falklands WarFalklands WarThe Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...
and a critical geopolitical eye: Steve BellSteve Bell (cartoonist)Steve Bell is an English political cartoonist, whose work appears in The Guardian and other publications. He is known for his left-wing views and distinctive caricatures.-Early life:...
and the If cartoons' was published in Political Geography (vol. 15/6). Jason Dittmer has explored the cartoon Captain AmericaCaptain AmericaCaptain America is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Captain America Comics #1 , from Marvel Comics' 1940s predecessor, Timely Comics, and was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby...
as an illustration of a "nuanced and ambiguous" geopolitical script in popular culture. 'Captain America's Empire: Reflections on Identity, Popular Culture, and Post-9/11 Geopolitics' was published in the Annals of the Association of American Geographers (vol.95/3).
- Films: Hollywood has been the subject of numerous popular geopolitics studies, both from explicitly 'geographical' perspectives, but also from academics from a range of backgrounds. Studies of film range from those that deal explicitly with the intertextualityIntertextualityIntertextuality is the shaping of texts' meanings by other texts. It can include an author’s borrowing and transformation of a prior text or to a reader’s referencing of one text in reading another. The term “intertextuality” has, itself, been borrowed and transformed many times since it was coined...
between 'war films' and 'real' wars, to those that deal more broadly with issues of identity formation and representation.
- Radio: In more recent years, scholars of critical geopolitics have shown an increased interest in radio broadcasting as both a domestic and international form of geopolitical communication. Alasdair Pinkerton and Klaus Dodds laid out their agenda for the study of Radio Geopolitics in Progress in Human Geography (vol. 33/1) during 2009. Pinkerton has also written about the crucial role of radio during the Falklands Conflict. His paper 'Strangers in the Night': The Falklands Conflict as a Radio War was published in Twentieth Century British History (vol. 19/3) and was awarded the TCBH Essay Prize 2007.
External links
- "Five minutes for critical geopolitics: A slightly provocative introduction" A clear and concise overview of critical geopolitics
See also
- Political geographyPolitical geographyPolitical geography is the field of human geography that is concerned with the study of both the spatially uneven outcomes of political processes and the ways in which political processes are themselves affected by spatial structures...
- GeostrategyGeostrategyGeostrategy, a subfield of geopolitics, is a type of foreign policy guided principally by geographical factors as they inform, constrain, or affect political and military planning...
- GeopolitikGeopolitikGeopolitik is the branch of uniquely German geostrategy. It developed as a distinct strain of thought after Otto von Bismarck's unification of the German states but began its development in earnest only under Emperor Wilhelm II...
- RealpolitikRealpolitikRealpolitik refers to politics or diplomacy based primarily on power and on practical and material factors and considerations, rather than ideological notions or moralistic or ethical premises...
- LebensraumLebensraumwas one of the major political ideas of Adolf Hitler, and an important component of Nazi ideology. It served as the motivation for the expansionist policies of Nazi Germany, aiming to provide extra space for the growth of the German population, for a Greater Germany...
- BorderBorderBorders define geographic boundaries of political entities or legal jurisdictions, such as governments, sovereign states, federated states and other subnational entities. Some borders—such as a state's internal administrative borders, or inter-state borders within the Schengen Area—are open and...
- BalkanizationBalkanizationBalkanization, or Balkanisation, is a geopolitical term, originally used to describe the process of fragmentation or division of a region or state into smaller regions or states that are often hostile or non-cooperative with each other, and it is considered pejorative.The term refers to the...
- Petroleum politicsPetroleum politicsPetroleum politics have been an increasingly important aspect of diplomacy since the rise of the petroleum industry in the Middle East in the early 20th century...
- Theopolitics