Geopolitics and Geostrategy

Recommended Prerequisites

Basic knowledge of English. 

Teaching Methods

The seminar-based format of the curricular unit presupposes active participation by the students. Besides the lecturer providing a conceptual framework from the outset, critical analysis and discussion of key texts and case studies are privileged throughout the sessions.

Learning Outcomes

Main learning outcome:

- Familiarize students with the field of geopolitics, analyzing the evolution of currents of thought, from classical to critical geopolitics; promote practical applications of these approaches to contemporary international dynamics.

Specific learning outcomes and skills:

- Identify the main theoretical approaches to geopolitics and their most relavant contributions to reading the international system;

- Apply these conceptual frameworks to different contemporary issues;

- Critically analyze the relevance and limitations of geopolitics in the current international context.  

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

Part I. Geostrategy and Classical Geopolitics

1. Concepts and approaches

2. Startegy and Geostrategy

3. From Political Geography to Geopolitics

4. Classical Geopolitics

5. The determinist and possibilitist approaches

6. Theories of national and global power

7. Challenges and relevance of classical geopolitics

 

Part II. Critical Geopolitics

8. The New geopolitics

9. Critical approaches

10. Topics in critical geopolitics

11. Critical Geopolitics and contemporary security (practical cases)

12. Challenges and relevance of critical geopolitics.

Head Lecturer(s)

Fernanda Barreto Alves

Assessment Methods

Assessment
In-class participation: 20.0%
Written essay: 30.0%
Test: 50.0%

Bibliography

CORREIA, Pedro Pezarat. Manual de geopolítica e geoestratégia - Vol. 1. Coimbra: Almedina/CES, 2010. BP [327 COR  vol.1 c.3]

ABREU, Francisco. Estratégia: o grande debate: Sun Tzu e Clausewitz. Nova ed. rev. e ampliada, reimp.. Lisboa: Esfera do Caos, 2006. [ BP 32 ABR ]

FLINT, Colin. Introduction to Geopolitics. London: Routledge, 2016.

GEOPOLITICS (The) reader. Ed. Gearóid Ó Tuathail, Simon Dalby and Paul Routledge. London: Routledge, 1998. [BP 327 GEO ]

GEOPOLITICAL Traditions: a Century of Geopolitical Thought. Ed. Klaus Dodds, David Atkinson. London: Routledge. 2000 [ 327 GEO ]

THE ROUTLEDGE Research Companion to Critical Geopolitics. Ed. Merje Kuus, Klaus Dodds. London: Routledge, 2016.