Political Geography 4712, terms and concepts for weeks 1-2

T&F 1-48

Mini-system

World empire

World economy

Single world market

Multiple state system

Error of developmentalism

3 tier structure – core, semi-periphery and periphery

Kondratieff cycles

Logistic waves

Scale of experience (locality)

Scale of ideology (state/country)

Scale of reality (world-system/global)

Economist ROAD TO 2050

Francis Fukuyama and the “end of history” thesis

Samuel Huntington and the “clash of civilizations” thesis

Globalization as a threat to the state

O’Tuathail THINKING CRITICALLY

Critical geopolitics

4 geopolitics discourses

Geopolitics as power/knowledge (Figure 1)

Discussion questions (written responses will not be collected this week)

Is a multi-state system a necessary prerequisite for geopolitical representations? How does the world economy relate to geopolitics?

Which of the 4 geopolitical discourses identified by Toal best describes Stratfor's statements? Which intellectuals does Stratfor consider?

Does the Stratfor article overstate the importance of geopolitics in US decision-making?