Week 3: Critical geopolitics

Question 1

Taylor (1981)

Answer 1

• spoke about world system theory
• there are 3 different scales-
  1) Local scale - scale of experiences
  2) National scale - scale of ideologies
  3) Global scale - scale of realities

Question 2

Painter and Jeffrey (2009)

Answer 2

Critical geopolitics is concerned with exposing the power/knowledge relationships within which geopolitical ideas are embedded

Question 3

Michael Faucolt

Answer 3

Idea of “power/knowledge”

Question 4

Guatarri (1972)

Answer 4

De-territorialisation and Re-territorialisation

Question 5

McGrew 1995

Answer 5

‘globalisation brings into question the significance of political boundaries’

Question 6

Harvey (1985)

Answer 6

Geopolitical strategies aren’t just about state power/ their territorial control but also managing the global flows of capital

Question 6

Harvey (2003)

Answer 6

“whoever controls the middle east controls the global oil spigot and whoever controls the global oil spigot controls the world”

Question 7

MacKinder (1919)

Answer 7

“whoever controls the heartland controls the world island and whoever controls the world island controls the world”

Question 8

Michael Mann (2003)

Answer 8

America has strong military capabilities but they lack political and economic strength when carrying out imperialist/ interventionalist policies in the middle like Iran

Question 9

Gregory (2004)

Answer 9

Colonial narratives continue to inform contemporary western policy in Iran
- examines how construction of Eastern people as “other” justifies Western imperialism

Question 10

Dodds (2007)

Answer 10

• MacKinder believed whoever controlled heartland had the potential to rule the world. He overestimated the significance of the Russian ‘heartland’ and underestimated the emerging power of the US

Question 11

Agnew (2003)

Answer 11

Nations would expand onto the territory of inferior peoples until they reached natural borders - race has been important element in many geopolitical visions