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Political Geography

Class at Faculty of Social Sciences |
JTM294

Syllabus

Name: Political Geography

Lecturers:Dr. Pauli Bauer and Kryštof Kozák PhD.   

Course description:

The course Political Geography has two principle objectives - first, to introduce general theoretical approaches regarding the relationship between territoriality and political, social and historical developments. Second, to apply these concepts in specific locations and highlight the spatial aspects of political and social controversies.  

 Requirements:

Active participation (10%)

Students are required do read the mandatory texts for each class and be prepared to answer questions related to it in the class. Repeated failures to answer questions in class will lower student’s score.  

Protocol to the texts presentation (20%)

What will be expected: 15 mn presentation:

-        A brief general presentation of the text: subject, date, author.

-        Situate the text in the social and political context, public debates, scientific fields, discipline, and approach.

-        Present the main bibliographical references used by the author. Try to determine the sources used by the authors (primary or secondary sources).

-        Present the argumentation and discuss it. Highlight the structure of the text

-        Highlight key lessons and main conclusion.

-        Limit of the text: point out the strengths and weaknesses.

-        Confront with the proposition of another author, another case study, research, texts.  

Paper based on the texts presentation (20%)

Students will write a short paper about the chosen text. The paper shall follow the structure of the presentation.   Minimum length: 6400 characters with spaces.

Please send the paper via the Moodle teaching platform 

Due date for the paper: May 31th, 2024. No late submissions accepted!  

Final exam (50%):

Final exam will cover topics from classes, mandatory readings as well as student presentations. The final exam will take place on May 13th 2024.

Course program:  18.2. 2024

Introduction, course requirements, concept of geography, territoriality, political geography, human geography, physical geography 

KK + PB   25.2. 2024 Kozák 

Political Geography and Geopolitics

Sara Smith - Political Geography_ A Critical Introduction-Wiley-Blackwell (2020).epub, Chapter 9: Geopolitics   3.3. 2024 Kozák 

Political Geography and the Logic of Geography

Scott, David. "The Great Power ‘Great Game’ between India and China: ‘The Logic of Geography’" Geopolitics 13.1 (2008).   11.3. Kozák 

Political Geography and Resources

Philippe Le Billon: The Geopolitical economy of 'resource wars', Geopolitics, Volume 9, Number 1, March 2004 , pp. 1-28(28).   18.3. Kozák 

Political Geography and Nation-states

John A. Agnew, Katharyne Mitchell, Gerard Toal - A Companion to Political Geography (Blackwell Companions to Geography)-Wiley-Blackwell (2007).pdf, section Nation-states by Michael J. Shapiro, pp. 271-289.    25.3. Kozák

Political Geography and the Environment

John A. Agnew, Katharyne Mitchell, Gerard Toal - A Companion to Political Geography (Blackwell Companions to Geography)-Wiley-Blackwell (2007).pdf, section Green geopolitcs by Simon Dalby, pp. 440-155.   8.4. P. Bauer

Political Geography and Landscape: 

Denis Cosgrove LANDSCAPE AND LANDSCHAFT Lecture delivered at the “Spatial Turn in History” Symposium, German Historical Institute, February 19, 2004   15.4. P. Bauer

Borders and frontiers

John Agnew, "No Borders, no Nations: making Greece in Macedonia, Annals of the Association of American Geographers vol.97, n°2, pp.398-422.  https://www.jstor.org/stable/4620269?Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=au%3A&searchText=%22John+Agnew%22&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3Fsi%3D1%26amp%3BQuery%3Dau%253A%2522John%2BAgnew%2522&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_SYC-4946%2Fcontrol&refreqid=search%3Adaa09fa5de229eb7a3888183a209fa1c&seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

Jocelyn Parot, "Outer Borders, inner boundaries in Finland. The reconstructed Russian Border and the Changing Geography of memory", in Paul Bauer, Mathilde Darley (Eds), Border of the European Union: strategies of Crossing and Resistance, Prague: Cefres, pp.40-62. Thao    22.4. P. Bauer 

Critical political Geographies & Post modern Geographies 1/2  

Edward Soja Post-modern geography: The Reassertion of Space in Critical Social Theory see, radical Thinkers, 2011. See article on Los Angeles.

David Harvey, The Right to the City, New Left Review, 2008,  https://newleftreview.org/issues/II53/articles/david-harvey-the-right-to-the-city    29.4. P.Bauer 

Critical political Geographies & Post modern Geographies 2/2

Henri Lefebvre, State, Space, World, selected essays, Neil Brenner and Stuart Elden (eds.); translated by Gerald Moore, Neil Brenner, and Stuart Elden. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, c2009.

Michel Foucault, "Questions on Geography", in Jeremy W. Crampton and Stuart Elden (eds.), Space, Knowledge and Power: Foucault and Geography, Georgia State University and Durham University: Ashgate, 2007, pp.174-182.    6.5 Conclusion: Bauer & Kozák

 Recommended:

Demographic aspects of geography - population growth, urbanization, population density, biopolitics

Harm deBlij: Geography Matters, Oxford University Press, 2005, kapitola Russia: Trouble on the Eastern Front

Harm deBlij: Geography Matters, Oxford University Press, 2005, kapitola Future Demography of Human Population

Recommended:Russia´s demographic problem: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y93ip0lMNJ8  

Politics of urbanism, geography of modern city, slums, satellite villages, Paris, Brasília  

Readings: Jan Gehl: Life Between Buildings. Using Public Space. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1987 (excerpt).  

Text presentation:   

UN: The Challenge of Slums, 2003, pp. 17-31.  

 Recommended Literature:  

The Times concise atlas of the world [kartografický dokument] London : Times Books, 2001 1 atlas (384 s.) : barev., [000212921] Signatura: H (přísně prezenčně)

Political geography / Martin Ira Glassner New York : Wiley, c1996 xii, 716 s. : il., mp. ; 26 cm., [000204495], PL-5127

World regional geography : the new global order / Michael Bradshaw Boston : McGraw-Hill, 2000, XVII, 622 s. : fot., mp., [000216665], DM-236

Environmental geography : science, land use, and earth systems / William M. Marsh, John Grossa, Jr., New York : Wiley, c2005, 455 s. : il., mapy ; 29 cm, [000393196], EK-2006

An historical geography of Europe / edited by R.A. Butlin and R.A. Dodgshon Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1998, xvi, 373 s. : il., mp. ; 26 cm., [000195014], DM-276

Physical geography of the global environment / H.J. de Blij, Peter O. Muller New York : John Wiley & Sons, 1993, 576 s. : il., mp., graf., fotogr., [000204106] EK-1183  

Annotation

The course Political Geography has two principle objectives - first, to introduce general theoretical approaches regarding the relationship between territoriality and political, social and historical developments. Second, to apply these concepts in specific locations and highlight the spatial aspects of political and social controversies.