Syllabus
American geopolitical thinking: overview
French and German geopolitical thinking in 20th century
British geopolitical thinking and its development over the 20th century
East or Central? Geopolitics of Central Europe and central European states in 20 century
The EU: geopolitical player in disguise?
NATO and beyond: changing indeational foundations of the North-Atlantic Security pact
The West and the rest: formation of the concept of "Western world" and its meaning over the 20 century
Annotation
The course will begin with the discussion about the origins of the European and American geopolitical thinking and will follow different ideas of building pan-European geopolitical entity and development of US approach to geopolitical reality including the US traditions of isolationism and internationalism. The meaning of both world wars and the cold war will be discussed with the view to examine their transatlantic dimension.
Key geopolitical concepts and traditions will be presented in contexts with their real meaning for the international relations. This discussion will be followed with the presentation of the United States, EU and NATO role in shaping global international order after the end of the cold war.
Current geopolitical challenges for euro-atlantic space will be elaborated with the view of the development of other major geopolitical players. One course will be dedicated to current geoeconomics of transatlantic space and another to the geopolitics of energy.
The course will conclude with the discussion about the hybrid threats and new challenges generated by new technological means. At the end, students will introduce their individual presentations on the agreed topic, which will serve at the same time as a topic of a final essay.