Week 7 - Traditional to critical geopolitics

Imperialist geopolitics (1870-1945)

• after treaty of Westphalia / during European colonial expansion / industrial modernisation

• dominated by various colonial empires

Halford Mckinder (Imperialist Geographer)

‘the geographical pivot of history’ = stated territory was critical to oppose the German empire

• created ‘Heartland theory’ = political relations centred in one area (known as the pivot area) = whoever controlled the pivot controlled the world

Karl Haushofer = (imperialist geographer) - german military photographer

• Created ‘theory of pan regions’ - saw the world divided into 4 industrial mega regions

• all 4 regions - needed their natural resources to economically dominate the world

• believed germany should carve out its own ‘pan region’

Cold War Geopolitics (1945-1991)

• Nazism defeated + Germans demilitarised

• Increasing antagonism between the US and the Soviet Union as the cold war = 2 different forms of maps emerged

• US bloc / USSR - represented different ideological / spatial territories

• ‘Iron curtain’ - imaginary line which represented the Western and Eastern divide - now the european greenbelt

Geopolitics of the new world order (1991-)

• fall of the soviet union

• O’Tuathail and Dalby, 1998 = called this ‘geopolitical vertigo’

• realisation that old geopolitical maps were over simplistic of geopolitics

• Huntington, 1996 = ‘The clash of civilisations: remaking of the world order’ = a map that focused on different cultures (looked like tectonic plates) - along these tectonic plates would be conflict

Critical Geopolitics (1990s)

• critiqued traditional geopolitics - stated it was oversimplified

• John Agnew - one of the first to call out traditional geopolitics

feminist geopolitics

• critiqued traditional geopolitics / early critical geopolitics for not going far enough = stated constructions were gender blind

Cynthia Enloe (2000) - Feminist geopolitical scholar

• linked international relations to everyday gender relations

  • Focused on domestic labour / migrants

Jennifer Hyndman

• needs “embodied, partial perspectives” grounded in place / practice

• Geopolitics should examine how people feel / experience conflict in everyday life

“Anti Geopolitical eye” - Gearoid O Tuatail (1996)

• challenges traditional geopolitics focused on maps / detached analysis

• focuses on human suffering / lived experiences

• example: Maggie O’Kane reporting on Bosnia War

  • showed everyday impacts of violence

  • emotional reporting

Pain & Smith (2008) - the ‘Double Helix’

• everyday life and geopolitics are tightly connected

• linked through events / encounters / movements / actions etc.

• “Geopolitics isn’t something that happens somewhere else” -Keir Starmer

Nigel Thrift - “parallel agenda for critical geopolitics”

• criticised critical geopolitics for focusing too much on discourse / texts

• traditional geopolitics ignores:

  • o bodies

  • objects

  • animals

Coverage of Gaza - through critical geopolitical lens

• some outlets focus on Israeli security - Reuters (2025) “Israel says Hamas command centres located in civilian areas”

  • Some outlets focus on Palestinian suffering - e.g Al Jazeera (2025) had documented the war focusing on death tolls / children being harmed

Coverage of Gaza - Anti Geopolitical eye perspective

• Focuses on civilians / homes / hospitals / fear

Coverage of Gaza - Feminist / everyday politics perspective

Shows how war impacts bodies / families / healthcare / movement

Brexit - Critical Geopolitics perspective

• Media and politicians used ideas like ‘take back control’

• = shaped view that Britain as separate from Europe / borders needing protection = reinforces argument that narratives shape how people understand the world

Brexit - Anti Geopolitical eye perspective

• Focuses on ordinary people / emotional impacts = looks at stress for local communities / uncertainty for migrants

Brexit - everyday politics perspective

• brexit physically changed everday spaces e.g new border checks / delays at Dover

• Reinforces Pain & Smith’s ‘double helix’