Geopolitics, International Relations and Political Geography: The Politics of Geopolitical Discourse

Abstract

Notes

1. M. Bassin, ‘The Two Faces of Contemporary Geopolitics’, Progress in Human Geography 285(2004) pp. 620–626.

2. Inspired by the German geographer Friedrich Ratzel (especially F. Ratzel, Politische Geographie oder die Geographie der Staaten, des Verkehres und des Krieges [München: Oldenbourg 1903]) and the Swedish political scientist Rudolf Kjellén (especially R. Kjellén, Der Staat als Lebensform [Leipzig: S. Hirzel 1917]), the person who coined the term Geopolitik; the German geopolitical school developed under the leadership of Klaus Haushofer (K. Haushofer, Geopolitik der Pan-Ideen [Berlin: Zentral 1931]; K. Haushofer [ed.], Macht und Erde [Leipzig: Teubner 1932]; K. Haushofer, Wehr-Geopolitik: Geographische Grundlagen einer Wehrkunde [Berlin 1932] in the journal Zeitschrift für Geopolitik (1924–44)).

For recent assessments of Geopolitik see M. Bassin, ‘Race Contra Space: The Conflict Between German ‘Geopolitik’ and National Socialism,’ Political Geography Quarterly 6(1987) pp. 115–134; M. Bassin, ‘Nature, Geopolitics and Marxism: Ecological Contestations in Weimar Germany,’ Transactions 21(1996) pp. 315–341; K. Dodds, and D. Atkinson (eds), Geopolitical Traditions, A Century of Geopolitical Thought (London: Routledge 2000); M. Korinman, Quand l’alemagne pensait le monde; grandeur et fécadence d’une géopolitique (Paris: Fayard 1990); G. Parker, Geopolitics: Past, Present and Future (London: Pinter 1998).

3. V. Mamadouh, ‘Geopolitics in the Nineties: One Flag, Many Meanings,’ GeoJournal 464(1998) pp. 237–253.

4. L. W. Hepple, ‘The Revival of Geopolitics,’ Political Geography Quarterly 54 (supple)(1986) pp. s21–s36; V. Mamadouh, ‘Geopolitics in the Nineties: One Flag, Many Meanings,’ GeoJournal 464(1998) pp. 237–253; V. Mamadouh, ‘Reclaiming Geopolitics: Geographers Strike Back,’ Geopolitics 41(1999) pp. 118–138.

5. Y. Lacoste, ‘Enquête sur le bombardement des digues du fleuve rouge (Vietnam, été 1972). Méthode d’analyse et réflexions d’ensemble,’ Hérodote(1) (1976); Y. Lacoste, La géographie, Ça sert, d’abord, à faire la guerre (Paris: François Maspéro the journal Hérodote (1976); Y. Lacoste, (ed.), Dictionnaire de Géopolitique (Paris: Flammarion 1993). In English see: P. Girot and E. Kofman (eds.), International Geopolitical Analysis, A Selection from Hérodote (London: Croom Helm / La Découverte 1987); Paul Claval ‘Hérodote and the French Left,’ in K. Dodds and D. Atkinson (eds.), Geopolitical Traditions, A Century of Geopolitical Thought (London: Routledge 2000) pp. 239–267; Leslie W. Hepple Géopolitiques de Gauche: Yves Lacoste, Hérodote and French Radical Geopolitics, in K. Dodds and D. Atkinson (eds.), Geopolitical Traditions, A Century of Geopolitical Thought (London: Routledge 2000) pp. 268–301.

6. The emblematic book here is: G. Ó Tuathail Critical Geopolitics, The Politics of Writing Global Space, (London: Routledge 1996).

7. A. B. Murphy M. Bassin D. Newman P. Reuber and J. Agnew ‘Is there a Politics to Geopolitics?,’ Progress in Human Geography 28, 5 (2004) pp. 619–640.

8. M. Bassin, ‘The Two Faces of Contemporary Geopolitics’, Progress in Human Geography 28, 5(2004) pp. 620–626.

9. D. Newman, ‘An Informed and Proactive Geopolitics,’ Progress in Human Geography 28, 5(2004) pp. 626–630.

10. P. Reuber, ‘The Political Representation of Space after the Cold War and in the New Millennium,’ Progress in Human Geography 28, 5 (2004) pp. 630–634.

11. S. Huntington, ‘The Clash of Civilizations?,’ Foreign Affairs 72(1993) pp. 22–49; S. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order (New York: Simon and Schuster 1996).

12. F. Fukuyama, ‘The End of History,’ The National Interest 16 (1989) pp. 3–18; F. Fukuyama, The End of History and the Last Man (New York: Free Press 1992).

13. T. P. M. Barnett, ‘The Pentagon's New Map,’ Esquire 1393(2003) pp. 174–181; T. P. M. Barnett, The Pentagon's New Map. War and Peace in the Twenty-first Century (New York: Penguin Books (2003).

14. J. Agnew, ‘Is ‘Geopolitics’ a Word that Should be Endowed only with the Meaning it Acquired in the Early Twentieth Century?,’ Progress in Human Geography 28, 5 (2004) pp. 634–637.

15. B. Latour, The Pasteurization of France (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1988).

16. M. Sparke, ‘Graphing the Geo in Geo-political: Critical Geopolitics and the Re-visioning of Responsibility,’ Political Geography 19 (2000) pp. 373–380.

17. This is also part of the feminist critique on critical geopolitics for example: L. Dowler and J. Sharp ‘A Feminist Geopolitics?,’ Space & Polity 5, 3 (2001) pp. 165–176; J. Hyndman, ‘Mind the Gap: Bridging Feminist and Political Geography through Geopolitics,’ Political Geography 23, 3(2004) pp. 307–322; M. Gilmartin and E. Kofman, ‘Critically Feminist Geopolitics,’ in L. A. Staeheli, E. Kofman and L. J. Peake (eds.), Mapping Women, Making Politics; Feminist Perspectives on Political Geography (New York: Routledge 2004) pp. 113–126; J. Sharp, Geography and Gender: Feminist Methodologies in Collaboration and in the Field,’ Progress in Human Geography 29, 3 (2005) pp. 304–309.

18. G. Toal, ‘Re-asserting the Regional: Political Geography and Geopolitics in World Thinly Known,’ Political Geography 22, 6 (2003) pp. 653–655.

19. J. P. Sharp, Condensing the Cold War, Reader's Digest and American Identity (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press 2000).

20. G. Toal, ‘Condensing Critical Geopolitics: Reflections on Joanne Sharp's Condensing the Cold War,’ Geopolitics 8, 2(2003) pp. 159–165.

21. K. Dodds and D. Atkinson (eds.), Geopolitical Traditions, A Century of Geopolitical Thought (London: Routledge 2000).

22. P. J. Taylor, ‘Geopolitics, Political Geography and Social Science,’ in K. Dodds and D. Atkinson (eds.), Geopolitical Traditions. A Century of Geopolitical Thought (London: Routledge 2000) pp. 375–379.

23. D. Criekemans, Geopolitiek, ‘Geografisch geweten’ van de buitenlandse politiek? Een kritische, genealogische studie naar de eigenheid en bruikbaarheid van de geopolitieke benaderingswijze in de studie van het buitenlands beleid: PSW (Antwerpen: Universiteit Antwerpen 2005).

24. H. Sprout and M. Sprout, Man-milieu Relationship Hypotheses in the Context of International Politics (Princeton, NJ: Center of International Studies 1956); H. Sprout and M. Sprout, The Ecological Perspective on Human Affairs, with Special Reference to International Politics (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press 1965).

25. Criekemans 2005 (see note 23) pp. 470 ff.

26. K. Dodds, Global Geopolitics, A Critical Introduction (Harlow: Pearson Education 2005). Especially Chapter 2: The nature of geopolitics and globalisation.

27. For a recent attempt to contrast neo-realism and strategic culture in case studies of national security strategies: J. Glenn, D. Howlett, and S. Poore (eds), Neorealism Versus Strategic Culture Aldershot: Ashgate 2004).

28. Quoted in Die Zeit 30 March 1990, quoted in G. Dijkink, National Identity and Geopolitical Visions, Maps of Pride and Pain (London: Routledge 1996) p. 1.

29. See for example Ó Tuathail's review of the work of David Campbell in G. Ó Tuathail, ‘Dissident IR and the Identity Politics Narrative: A Sympathetically Skeptical Perspective,’ Political Geography 15, 6–7(1996) pp. 647–653 or S. Dalby, ‘Critical Geopolitics: Discourse, Difference, and Dissent,’ Environmentand Planning D: Society and Space 1, 1 (1991) pp. 349–363.

30. B. McSweeney, ‘Identity and Security: Buzan and the Copenhagen School,’ Review of International Studies 22, 1(1996) pp. 81–94; Y. Lapid, and F. Krotochwil, The Return of Culture and Identity in IR Theory (Boulder: Lynne Riener 1996).

31. Compare about the gender bias of both approaches: J. P. Sharp, ‘Remasculinising Geo-politics? Comments on Gearoid Ó Tuathail's Critical Geopolitics,’ Political Geography 19(2000) pp. 361–364, and L. Hansen, ‘The Little Mermaid's Silent Security Dilemma and the Absence of Gender in the Copenhagen School, Millenium 29, 2 (2000) pp. 285–306.

32. M. C. Desch, ‘Culture Clash: Assessing the Importance of Ideas in Security Studies,’ International Security 23, 1(1998) pp. 141–170; J. S. Duffield, T. Farrell, R. Price, and M. C. Desch, ‘Isms and Schisms: Culturalism Versus Realism in Security Studies,’ International Security 24, 1 (1999) pp. 156–180.

33. P. Kelly, ‘A critique of critical geopolitics,’ Geopolitics 11, 1(2006) pp. 24–53.

34. P. Kelly, Checkerboards and Shatterbelts: The Geopolitics of South America (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press 1997).

35. G. Ó Tuathail, ‘Theorizing Practical Geopolitical Reasoning: The Case of the United States’ Response to the War in Bosnia,’ Political Geography 21, 5 (2002) pp. 601–628.

36. For example his own seminal volume G. Ó Tuathail, Critical Geopolitics, The Politics of Writing Global Space (London: Routledge 1996).

37. On film, newspapers, etc., see below for details.

38. G. Ó Tuathail, ‘Geopolitical Structures and Cultures: Towards Conceptual Clarity in the Critical Study of Geopolitics,’ in L. Tchantouridze (ed.), Geopolitics: Global Problems and Regional Concerns (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada: Centre for Defence and Security Studies 2004) pp. 75–102.

39. J. Agnew and S. Corbridge, Mastering Space, Hegemony, Territory and International Political Economy (London: Routledge (1995); J. A. Agnew, Geopolitics: Re-visioning World Politics (London/New York: Routledge 1998); J. Agnew, Geopolitics: Re-visioning World Politics, second edition (London/New York: Routledge 2003).

40. G. Dijkink, National Identity and Geopolitical Visions, Maps of Pride and Pain (London: Routledge 1996); G. Dijkink, ‘Geopolitical Codes and Popular Representations,’ GeoJournal 46, 4 (1998) pp. 397–403 (wrongly numbered 293–99).

41. David Newman, ‘Citizenship, Identity and Location: The Changing Discourse of Israeli Geopolitics,’ in K. Dodds, and D. Atkinson (eds), Geopolitical Traditions, A Century of Geopolitical Thought (London: Routledge 2000) pp. 302–331.

42. G. Kearns, ‘Imperial Geopolitics, Geopolitical Visions at the Dawn of the American Century,’ in J. Agnew, K. Mitchell, and G. Toal, (eds), A Companion to Political Geography (Oxford: Blackwell 2003) pp. 173–186. In a similar vein Roberts, Secor and Sparke speak of a neoliberal geopolitical vision in: S. Roberts, A. Secor, and M. Sparke, ‘Neoliberal Geopolitics,’ Antipode 35, 5 (2003) pp. 887–897.

43. See for example his own work on American policy making regarding the Bosnian crisis in the 1990s: G. Ó Tuathail, ‘Theorizing Practical Geopolitical Reasoning: The Case of the United States’ Response to the War in Bosnia, Political Geography 21, 5 (2002) pp. 601–628.

44. J. L. Gaddis, Strategies of containment: A Critical Appraisal of Postwar American National Security Policy (New York: Oxford University Press 1982).

45. P. J. Taylor, Britain and the Cold War: 1945 as a Geopolitical Transition (London: Pinter 1990); P. J. Taylor and C. Flint, Political Geography, World-economy, Nation-state and Locality, fourth edition (Harlow: Prentice Hall (Pearson) 2000).

46. Discourse analysis is often accused of lacking systematic methodologies. A recent book aiming at making explicit and justifying each step in discursive analysis is L. Hansen, Security as Practice: Discourse Analysis and the Bosnian War (London: Routledge 2006).

47. G. Dijkink, National Identity and Geopolitical Visions, Maps of Pride and Pain (London: Routledge 1996). There are many more example in chapters on national traditions in K. Dodds and D. Atkinson (eds.), Geopolitical Traditions, A Century of Geopolitical Thought (London: Routledge 2000). This collection also features examples of other approaches.

48. For a set of such analyses: G. Ó Tuathail, ‘Putting Mackinder in his Place; Material Transformations and Myth,’ Political Geography 11, 1(1992) pp. 100–118; G. Ó Tuathail, Critical Geopolitics, The Politics of Writing Global Space (London: Routledge. But also dealing with the work of Pentagon adviser Thomas Barnett: S. Roberts, A. Secor and M. Sparke, 1996). ‘Neoliberal Geopolitics,’ Antipode 35, 5 (2003) pp. 887–897.

49. H. Larsen, ‘The EU: A Global Military Actor?,’ Cooperation and Conflict 37, 3 (2002) pp. 283–302.

50. G. Ó Tuathail, ‘An Anti-geopolitical Eye: Maggie O’Kane in Bosnia, 1992–93,’ Gender, Place and Culture 3, 2(1996) pp. 171–185. For the notion of anti-geopolitics see P. Routledge, ‘Anti-geopoltics,’ in G. Ó Tuathail, S. Dalby and P. Routledge (eds.), The Geopolitics Reader (London: Routledge 1998) pp. 245–255 (second edition 2006).

51. K. Dodds, ‘The 1982 Falklands War and a Critical Geopolitical Eye: Steve Bell and the If … Cartoons,’ Political Geography 15, 6–7 (1996) pp. 571–592.

52. K. Dodds, ‘Licensed to Stereotype: Popular Geopolitics, James Bond and the Spectre of Balkanism,’ Geopolitics 8, 2(2003) pp. 125–156; K. Dodds, ‘Screening Geopolitics: James Bond and the Early Cold War Films (1962–1967),’ Geopolitics 10, 2(2005) pp. 266–289.

53. N. Gertz and G. Khleifi, ‘Palestinian ‘Roadbloack movies’, Geopolitics 102(2005) pp. 316–334. More on films in the special issue edited by Marcus Power and Andrew Crampton 2005 for Geopolitics 10, 2 with articles devoted to certain genres or specific films, see also on Black Hawk Down S. Carter, and D. P. McCormack, ‘Film, Geopolitics and the Affective Logics of Intervention,’ Political Geography 25, 2 (2006) pp. 225–245.

54. J. P. Sharp, ‘Publishing American Identity: Popular Geopolitics, Myth and The Reader's Digest’, Political Geography 1, 2 (1993); J. P. Sharp, ‘Hegemony, Popular Culture and Geopolitics: The Reader's Digest and the Construction of Danger,’ Political Geography 15, 6–7 (1996) pp. 557–570; J. P. Sharp, Condensing the Cold War, Reader's Digest and American Identity (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press 2000).

55. J. Dittmer, ‘Captain America's Empire: Reflections on Identity, Popular Culture, and Post-9/11 Geopolitics,’ Annals of the Association of American Geographers 95, 3 (2005) pp. 626–643.

56. V. Mamadouh, ‘11 September and Popular Geopolitics: A Study of Websites Run for and by Dutch Moroccans,’ Geopolitics 8, 3 (2003) pp. 191–216.

57. G. Myers, T. Klak and T. Koehl, ‘The Inscription of Difference: News Coverage of the Conflicts in Rwanda and Bosnia,’ Political Geography 15, 1 (1996) pp. 21–46.

58. G. Ó Tuathail, ‘Theorizing Practical Geopolitical Reasoning: The Case of the United States’ Response to the War in Bosnia,’ Political Geography 21, 5 (2002) pp. 601–628.

59. J. O’Loughlin, ‘Geopolitical Visions of Central Europe,’ in M. Antonsich, V. Kolossov and P. Pagnini (eds.), Europe between Geopolitics and Political Geography (Rome: Societa Geografica Italiana (2001) pp. 601–628.

60. T. McFarlane, and I. Hay, ‘The Battle for Seattle: Protest and Popular Geopolitics in The Australian Newspaper,’ PoliticalGeography 22, 2 (2003) pp. 211–232. See also P. Routledge, ‘Going Globile: Spatiality, Embodiment, and Media-tion in the Zapatista Insurgency,’ in G. Ó Tuathail, S. Dalby, (eds.), Rethinking Geopolitics (Routledge, London/New York 1998) pp. 240–260; P. Routledge, and ‘Our Resistance Will be as Transnational as Capital’: Convergence space and strategy in globalising resistance,’ GeoJournal 52 (2000) pp. 25–33; P. Routledge, ‘Convergence Space: Process Geographies of Grassroots Globalization Networks,’ Transactions 28, 3 (2003) pp. 333–349.

61. P. C. Adams, ‘The September 11 Attacks as Viewed from Quebec: The Small-nation Code in Geopolitical Discourse,’ Political Geography 23, 6 (2004) pp. 765–795.

62. J. O’Loughlin, G. Ó Tuathail and V. Kolossov, ‘A. ‘Risky Westward Turn’? Putin's 9–11 Script and Ordinary Russians,’ Europe-Asia Studies 56, 1 (2004) pp. 3–34; J. O’Loughlin, G. Ó Tuathail, and V. Kolossov, ‘Russian Geopolitical Storylines and Public Opinion in the Wake of 9–11: A Critical Geopolitical Analysis and National survey,’ Communist and Post-Communist Studies 37, 4 (2004) pp. 281–318; J. O’Loughlin, G. Ó Tuathail, and V. Kolossov, ‘Russian Geopolitical Culture and Public Opinion: The Masks of Proteus Revisited,’ Transactions 30, 3 (2005) pp. 322–335.

63. H. Van der Wusten, and G. Dijkink, ‘German, British and French Geopolitics: The Enduring Differences,’ Geopolitics 7, 3 (2002) pp. 19–38.

64. D. Campbell, ‘Writing Security: United States Foreign Policy and the Politics of Identity (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press 1992); G. Dijkink, National Identity and Geopolitical Visions, Maps of Pride and Pain (London: Routledge 1996); G. Dijkink, ‘Geopolitical Codes and Popular Representations,’ GeoJournal 46, 4 (1998) pp. 397–403 (wrongly numbered 293–99).

65. J. B. Mattern, Ordering International Politics: Identity, Crisis, and Representational Force (New York: Routledge 2005). See also Lothar Brock's book review in this issue.

66. M. Foucault, Discipline and Punish (London: Allen Lane 1977).

67. N. L. Fairclough, ‘Critical and Descriptive Goals in Discourse Analysis,’ Journal of Pragmatics 9, 6 (1985) pp. 739–763.

68. K. Young, and Kramer, ‘Local Exclusionary Politics in Britain: The Case of Suburban Defense in a Metropolitan System,’ in K. R. Cox (ed.), Urbanization and Conflict in Market Societies (London: Methuen 1978) pp. 229–249.

69. Globalisation is itself evidently a powerful geopolitical representation.

70. or the kidnapped west, as Kundera stated for Czechoslovakia in the 1980s. See Milan Kundera, ‘The tragedy of Central Europe’, New York Review of Books (26 April 1984) pp. 33–8. (The article was first published in French under the title ‘Un Occident kidnappé ou la tragédie de l’Europe centrale’ Le Débat, no. 27 (november 1983).

71. See also C. S. Browning, ‘Coming Home or Moving Home? ‘Westernizing’ Narratives in Finnish Foreign Policy and the Reinterpretation of Past Identities,’ Cooperation and Conflict 37, 1 (2002) pp. 47–72.