Syllabus
The course Political Geography of Central Europe is presenting basic theoretical approaches to the relationships between the territorial and political, socioeconomic and historical development and is trying to apply these concepts on the region of Central Europe, on some of its specific locations and to highlight the area aspects of political and social disputes.The main focus is being laid on relationships between core and periphery locations at different spatial scales (local, regional, national, macroregional, global).
Introductory information for the Winter semester 2017/2018:
Dear students, welcome in the course Political Geography of Central Europe. I hope you will like the topics, reading and tasks I picked up for you.
The tutorial is going to take place ... (to be specified).Your attendance at the tutorial is mandatory.
Detailed instructions and both manadatory and optional study materials for this course will be uploaded on Moodle. (https://dl1.cuni.cz/course/index.php?categoryid=44&lang=en → Subcategories: Institut mezinárodních studií → Subcategories: Political Geography of Central Europe). The login is the same as for the SIS (student identification number and password).
Seminar papers (50 % of the grade): 1. The analysis and interpretation of one of the mandatory or optional texts in the reader (the texts suitable for this analysis are clearly marked), min. 5 pages (min. 9000 characters in total, including spaces - 1,800 characters on a page – that means approx. 60 characters on a row and 30 rows on a page, usually we use Times New Roman 12 and row space 1.5) (= 25 % of the grade)
Choose any of the mandatory or optional texts suitable for analysis and analyze it into details. The first page should contain an introduction of the main ideas of the analysed text. The second page should assess the main ideas in a broader context of your knowledges about the issue. The third page should focus on the conclusions of the analysed text and thier impact on our understanding of the issue. The forth page should be critical and deal with imperfections and deficiencies of the analysed text and your recommendations how it might be possible to enhance it. The fifth page should include your personal attitude to the main ideas of the text, supported by giving reasons and/or some evidence.
Especially when assessing the text in a broader context, do not forget to make references to other authors dealing with the same issue (and use citations properly).The paper should be submitted to my e-mail address until November XXth, 2017. 2. The analysis of a changing location in Central Europe, min. 7 pages (min. 12 600 characters including spaces) (= 25 % ofthe grade)
Choose a apecific location in Central Europe (a town, a city district, a clearly defined small region, river, island, mountain area, an oil or gas pipeline, a mining area or a place of the following revitalization, a deindustrialised landcape, a border area, etc.), which is recently going through a significant change of the landscape (and often also of its demographic and socioeconomic features). Analyze this change.
In the introduction, please explain why have you chosen this specific location and what its current change is based on. Insert maps and satellite pictures and comment on the geographic location and specification of the place/space. Comment also on the (strategic, political, economic, ecological etc.) importance or problematic nature of this location. Focus on the political aspects of the development of this location (different players and their interests, strategies and goals), then on the socioeconomic aspects (different players and their interests, difficulties, strategies and goals) and last, but not least on the environmental aspects (opportunities and risks/threats, various players and their interests, strategies and goals). In the conclusion, please try to predict how the situation in this location will look like in 5 and then in 20 years. Support your prediction by reasons and evidence. Do not forget to make references to the literature and sources you use.
The paper should be submitted to my e-mail address until December XXth, 2017.
General instructions for these seminar papers:
- After the first assessment, the seminar paper might be improved and resubmitted, if necessary. The second version is assessed as the final version.
- In individual cases it is possible to postpone the deadline. Student has to ask for the postponement at least one day before the original submission deadline.- If the submission deadline is postponed, the submitted paper is directly assessed as a final version.
- Please, be aware that you must provide references for all the information which is not commonly known in your research field. Every reference in your main text must appear in the bibliography at the end of your paper, and every item in the bibliography must be mentioned in your main text. You can copy only small parts of a text written by other authors. Be sure to put it into quotation marks and cite it. (recommended citation style is Chicago style: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html)
Final test (= 50 % of your grade) The final test is based on mandatory texts from the reader, information provided in the tutorial and a list of expected knowledges (places, terms, facts - the list will be at your disposal in Moodle on the beginning of December at latest). The test is going to comprise also blank maps of Central Europe.
If anything is not clear, do not hesitate to ask me.
See you soon,
Petra Baštová
Annotation
The course Political Geography of Central Europe is presenting basic theoretical approaches to the relationships between the territorial and political, socioeconomic and historical development and is trying to apply these concepts on the region of Central Europe, on some of its specific locations and to highlight the area aspects of political and social disputes.
The main focus is being laid on relationships between core and periphery locations at different spatial scales (local, regional, national, macroregional, global).
