Geopol: definitions

definition of subaltern geopolitics

‘bringing in the voices of those usually rendered marginal and silent in other accounts’ (Sharp, 2011)

definition of decolonial geopolitics

a worldmaking project; focusing on creating a better world while being critical of structural issues (e.g. Pan-Africanism) (Moore and Joudah, 2022)

the colour line

term used by W.E.B. DuBois to figuratively describe how geopolitics splits the world into the ‘coloured’ and ‘non-coloured’ peoples, and how capitalism and imperialism operate in tandem to retain this (Moore and Joudah, 2022)

epistemic exclusion

the subconscious or intentional exclusion of non-Western geopolitical thinking, even in decolonial studies, by referring to more-Westernised canons (e.g. Edward Said) ((Go, 2020) in Moore and Joudah, 2022)

how can geopolitics be embodied in Ladakh?

desire and bodily actions are constrained by geopolitical forces of control over space and ethnicity; ‘headcounting’ becomes crucial to understand ethno-religious power translated to political; the state/society creates or rejects space for love to exist, through the creation of a discipline surrounding love (i.e. the offspring someone has is seen as important) (Smith, 2011)

outline the significance of disembodiment of inter-ethnic marraiges in Ladakh

a woman interviewed literally ‘rejected’ her daughter as a person after she was socially ostracised for her inter-ethnic marriage; (Smith, 2011)

outline the possible power of the body in Ladakh to act as a geopolitical counter-movement

using inter-ethnic marriages to reduce hostility between Muslims and Buddhists in Ladakh by demonstrating a literal, embodied interconnectedness, though this is curbed by societal norms (Smith, 2011)

outline the Peace of Westphalia and the precedent it set

ended the 30 Year’s War (1648); recognition of the Dutch Republic; set the precedent for the nation-state: the state is the primary tool for international diplomacy, states are set equal before international diplomacy, a state is sovereign and self-governing: universalism against a ‘balance of power’ (Dixon, 2016)

example of DuBois’ being a victim of geopolitical suppression

the Pan-African Congress (1929) in Tunis being vetoed by the French Government (Moore and Joudah, 2022)

outline the use of domino theory ‘language’ in demonstrating geopolitics as performative

the notion of a country as ‘fallen’ asserts naturally that Communism is some bad thing (O Tuathail, 1986)

outline O Tuathail’s (1986) economic argument for US intervention in Central America and its critiques.

the economic (Marxist) argument: defense of Caribbean imports (50% of refined crude oil entering the US travels through the Caribbean) and trade routes; critiqued for the apparent lack of domino-theory economic effect on US imports from Cuba, US direct investment in Central America was only 2.4% of Latin American investment, economic stress caused by US-backed-coups mean US investment has fled the region (O Tuathail, 1986)

outline O Tuathail’s (1986) statist argument for US intervention in Central America and its critiques.

the statist (states are autonomous and act in political interest, not capital) argument: the US is concerned about the spread of Communism through domino theory and Soviet expansionism - can explain the use of rhetoric amongst US politicians; critiqued for failing to look deeper into root causes, very surface-level and idealist (O Tuathail, 1986)

O Tuathail’s (1986) argument for why the US acts as such in Central America

to preserve the American ‘way of life’ by electing a harsher president (Reagan) who will act to preserve US interests in the face of GNP declining relative to the rest of the world; this action is created through a language of self-protection and distance from the state; this language can be deconstructed to show what its trying to hide (e.g. domino theory) (O Tuathail, 1986)

outline framing theory

how discourses indirectly guide policy by framing certain worldviews positively or negatively (Kuus, 2007)

examples of internal framing in China’s ‘Arctic Silk Road’ initiative

the white paper asserting China as a ‘near-Arctic state’, assuming its importance in the region, while discussing UNCLOS and guaranteeing its legality, and by presenting the initiative as a joint effort with receiving countries in Europe; description in some papers of the Arctic as the ‘new Middle East’, harking back to Cold-War militaristic tendencies (Woon, 2020)

examples of external framing in China’s ‘Arctic Silk Road’ initiative

sensationalisation of China’s use of the term ‘near-Arctic state’ in the West, despite the UK describing itself as ‘the Arctic’s closest neighbour’, and China only spends US$4mn on an Arctic budget annually

what characterises alter-geopolitics?

it is done from all sides and weaves together scales by acting locally and globally (any examples: extinction rebellion, Greenpeace, etc.?) and embodies geopolitics deeply through use of peoples bodies (e.g. as an ‘unarmed bodyguard’ to oppressed people); it is according to Koopman, also non-violent, by doing away with an ‘other’ and trying to bring in all sides (Koopman, 2011)

what example of alter-geopolitics does Koopman (2011) highlight

the Peace Brigades International (PBI) using ‘unarmed bodyguards’ to make space for peace; e.g. in San Jose, Colombia, using peaceful resistance following massacres by the Colombian military in 1996-7, remaining peacefully resistant and engaging in appeals on a global scale despite continued attacks and oppression (Koopman, 2011)

how does Clark (2016) use embodiment to further geopolitical understandings of the Middle East?

e.g. female Arab photographers’ photographs of yoga in the occupied West Bank, unsettling male-dominated Middle Eastern correspondents (24% in 2015) and unsettling Orientalist perspectives.

what is anti-geopolitics?

a form of geopolitics that critiques the political institutions in which peoples lives are embedded and looks for an anti-geopolitical (anti-Westphalian?) eye (Sharp, 2011)

how does orientalism relate to the geopolitics of beauty?

the ‘exotification’ that Afghan women experience is related to orientalist ideas that may morally justify interventions through ‘likeness’ to a European race (Faria and Fluri, 2022)

how does the geopolitics of beauty relate to nationalism?

the relationship between representations of women, femininity and the nation - e.g. beauty pageants and Miss America as disciplined bodies (Faria and Fluri, 2022)

how have neoliberal imperatives related to the geopolitics of beauty?

the use of beauty in landscape and in bodies as ‘comparative advantages’ of certain areas, as beautific ideals are rooted in certain worldviews (Faria and Fluri, 2022)

how is beauty related to urbanisation?

urban blight, perceptions of a ‘poverty of culture’ and squatter settlements, etc. (Faria and Fluri, 2022)

what is geopolitics?

‘the theory and practice of politics’ (Oxford Reference, 2026)

what is violence?

a multi-faceted and multi-scalar force that is ‘endemic and intimately interwoven with other relations’ (Pain and Staeheli, 2014)

what is a possible downside of the sanctuary cities movement?

by normalising a difference between immigrants and residents; through creating a self-fulfilling sense of ‘pastoralism’; through a neoliberal approach to ignore the structural boundaries that immigrants face (Brauer, 2017)

how is indigeneity used as a concept in Gaza?

understanding Gaza through notions of indigineity that precede settler-colonialism: embodied representations of indigeneity; notions of the ‘state’ clouding judgement of people (Nagel and Lizotte, 2025)

what is the moral economy in the Mali insurgency?

resource dispossession and the political ecological context of the Sahel creating discontent and moral anger (Benjaminsen and Ba, 2024)