GEOPOLITICS AND GEOECONOMICS

The course provides a geographical perspective on the geopolitical and geoeconomic transformations of the contemporary world, providing an understanding of how geopolitical and geoeconomic risks are made the object of political, economic and military strategies.

In this intensive course we will examine the geopolitical and geoeconomic transformations of the contemporary world, and the increasingly important entanglements between the two. We will focus, in particular, on the ways in which political and economic risk is being ‘secured’ today, and the new domains of the geopolitical and geoeconomic strategies of states and international actors such as the European Union. Upon completing the course, students will be able to critically assess current geopolitical transformations and their implications for states, markets and individuals.

There are no specific pre-requisites but since the course engages with contemporary political and geopolitical events, I expect you to be up-to-date with current affairs.

We will spend the first two weeks of the course, in Section I, building the bases for a ‘geopolitical’ understanding of contemporary transformations, reviewing key concepts in geopolitical thought and ways of ‘envisioning’ the world. We will then proceed, in Section II, to discuss how geopolitical and geoeconomic risks are being understood today and made the object of political, economic and military strategies. Section III of the course will focus on a key shift in the geopolitics and geoeconomics of global risk – the so-called ‘weaponization of everything’, from supply chains to physical and digital infrastructures. In the final part of the course, Section IV, we will apply the insights gained in the preceding weeks to assess how various objects of risk are being secured: from infrastructure, to critical technology like microchips, to agricultural goods and raw materials. In these last 5 sessions of the class, you will take a direct role. Working in small groups, you will be asked to prepare a presentation assessing a geopolitical or geoeconomic 'challenge' in today's world.

COURSE SCHEDULE:
SECTION I: MAPPING KEY CONCEPTS AND IDEAS
Session 1: Introduction: Why geopolitics matters (but not in the way you think!)

Session 2: Mapping political and economic relations I: Imperial Geopolitics and its Enduring Echoes

Session 3: Mapping political and economic relations II: Cold Wars, Then and Now

Session 4: Mapping political and economic relations III: New Geographies of Insecurity


SECTION II: SECURING POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC RISKS IN A DANGEROUS WORLD
Session 5: An EU Geopolitics?: The EU’s Transformation as a Geopolitical Actor

Session 6: Securing New Risks: Military and Strategic Visions

Session 7: Securing the Waters: Seapower Today


SECTION III: WEAPONISING INTERDEPENDENCE
Session 8: ‘Weaponizing Interdependence’: Everything is (potentially) dangerous

Session 9: The New ‘Economic Security State’ and Economic Warfare

Session 10: Energy Security and the Green Transition: New Dependencies?

SECTION IV: TODAY'S GEOECONOMIC AND GEOPOLITICAL CHALLENGES
Session 11: Topic to be confirmed (based on student choice)

Session 12: Topic to be confirmed

Session 13: Topic to be confirmed

Session 14: Topic to be confirmed

Session 15: Course wrap-up

There is no assigned textbook for the course; all readings will be available on Moodle.

Session 1:
Dodds, K. (2019). Geopolitics: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press (3rd edition). Ch.1: ‘It’s Smart to be Geopolitical!
Borrell, J. (2020). Embracing Europe’s Power. Project Syndicate and European External Action Service, February 2020.

Session 2:
Mackinder H. (1904). The Geographical Pivot of History (extract)
*Gray, C. (2004). In Defence of the Heartland: Sir Halford Mackinder and His Critics a Hundred Years On. Comparative Strategy.
*Bassin, M., & Aksenov, K. E. (2006). Mackinder and the Heartland Theory in Post-Soviet Geopolitical Discourse. Geopolitics.

Session 3:
Kennan, G. (1947). The Sources of Soviet Conduct. Foreign Affairs July 1947.
*Motyl, A. (2014). The Sources of Russian Conduct. Foreign Affairs November 2014.
*Jisi, W. (2023). America and China Are Not Yet in a Cold War: But They Must Not Wind Up
In Something Even Worse. Foreign Affairs November 2023.
*Wested, O.A. (2024). Sleepwalking towards War: Will America and China Heed the
Warnings of Twentieth-Century Catastrophe? Foreign Affairs July/August 2024.

Session 4:
*Barker, K. (2015). Biosecurity: Securing Circulations from the Microbe to the Microcosm. Geographical Journal.
Bialasiewicz, L. (2021). The Unhealthy Geopolitics of a Sovereign Europe. Green European Journal Vol. 22
*Leonard, Mark (2021). The Age of Unpeace: How Connectivity Causes Conflict. London: Bantam (extracts)

Session 5:
European Commission (2016). Shared Vision, Common Action: A Stronger Europe. A Global Strategy for the European Union’s Foreign and Security Policy.
European Council on Foreign Relations (2020). Sovereign Europe, dangerous world: Five agendas to protect Europe’s capacity to act.
*Bachmann, V. and JD Sidaway (2009). Zivilmacht Europa: a critical geopolitics of the European Union as a Global Power. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers.
*Haroche, P. (2023). ‘A Geopolitical Commission’: Supranationalism Meets Great Power Competition. Journal of Common Market Studies.

Session 6:
NATO (2022). Strategic Concept 2022.
European Commission (2023). A Strategic Compass for Security and Defence.
European Commission (2024). European Defence Industrial Strategy.
*Stoltenberg, J. (2024). What NATO means to the world. Foreign Affairs July 2024.
*Droin, M et al. (2024). NATO’s missing pillar: The Alliance Needs a More Powerful Europe. Foreign Affairs July 2024.

Session 7:
Mahan, A.T. (1890). Discussion of the Elements of Sea Power (extract)
*Parry, C. (2014). Sea Power Today (Chapter 3) in Super Highway. Sea Power in the 21st Century. London: Elliott and Thompson Limited (extract)

Session 8:
*Farrell, H. And A. Newman (2019). Weaponized Interdependence: How Global Economic Networks Shape State Coercion. International Security.
*DeGoede, M. and C. Westermeier (2022). Infrastructural Geopolitics. International Studies Quarterly.
*Bueger, C., T. Liebetrau and J. Stockbruegger (2023). Theorizing Infrastructures in Global Politics. International Studies Quarterly.

Session 9:
*Gehrke, T. and F. Medunic (2024) Fortune Favors the Bold.Upgrading the EU’s Geoeconomic Strategy. European Council on Foreign Relations, Policy Brief.
*Farrell, H. And A. Newman (2023). The New Economic Security State. Foreign Affairs November/December 2023.
Stein, J. and F. Cocco (2024). The Money War I: How Four US Presidents Unleashed Economic Warfare Across the Globe. Washington Post, July 25.

Session 10:
*Leonard, M. et al. (2021). The Geopolitics of the EU Green Deal. Bruegel and ECFR.
*Vela Almeida, D. et alia (2023). The ‘Greening’ of Empire: The European Green Deal as the EU EU First Agenda. Political Geography.

The course assessment will be made up of two components:
Group presentation in Section IV of the course: 40% of the total mark
3 CARQ Reports, to be completed during the course: 20% each, 60% of the total mark

A detailed explanation of what is a ‘CARQ’ report is provided in the section below; you will be free to choose any three readings of the ones indicated to complete your report. This will allow you to select readings and topics that are closest to your interests, making for a more interesting report.

Group presentation instructions:
In the first week of the course, you will be assigned to presentation groups of 3 people. These groups will also be created on Moodle.

As noted in the course description, in Section IV of the course, the second segment of 45minutes will be devoted to your presentations on a specific 'challenge'. Each session will feature 3 separate group presentations on the topic, focussing on different examples (we will make sure to coordinate this as we set up the groups).

You will be asked to prepare a 9 minute presentation to deliver to the class, with the support of PowerPoint/Canva/Prezi or your presentation software of choice.

written and oral

The minimum passing grade is 18/30 and the maximum grade is 30/30, with a possible 'lode'.

The course will be strucured around interactive lectures, scheduled three times a week (twice in the first two weeks). Since this is an MA level class, I will expect your active participation: all sessions will feature both a frontal lecture component as well as discussion moments where I will ask you to engage with the material presented. I hope this will make the course much more interesting and relevant, allowing all of you to also bring your unique insights and experience to the classroom.

The course will be assessed in on-going fashion in order to support your full engagement and contribution to class discussions.

CARQ Reports Instructions:
A ‘CARQ report’ is a useful scheme for the critical reading and processing of academic texts which goes beyond a simple summary. The acronym stands for Citation, Argument, Relations and Questions (CARQ)

Your CARQ reports should include the following elements:
Citation
Select one or two citations that, according to you, represent the core of the argument made in the text (please provide full citation details, including page number).
Argument
Using the core citation(s), outline the main argument of the text, and describe how the author(s) substantiate the claims they are making. I encourage you to be critical, to identify flaws, biases, or false assumptions in the author(s) argumentation.
Relations
Describe here how the specific text relates (or not!) to the other readings of the course and the course lectures. Is it in line with some of the perspectives outlined in the lectures and other readings, or does it present a different interpretation? Does it pose new questions?
Question
Formulate one or two key questions related to the text that could be used to stimulate discussion in class.

The total length of the report should be between 850-1000 words. The readings that can be selected for the report are marked with a star * on the syllabus.

Your reports can be submitted at any point during the course, but all 3 must be submitted before the end of the last week (Friday, October 18th by 17:00)

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "International cooperation" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development