Course Details in 2026/27 Session

Module Title	LH Geopolitics and global challenges. Middle East | Russia | Cities
School	School of Geog Earth & Env Sci
Department	Geography
Module Code	03 36270
Module Lead	Sara Fregonese
Level	Honours Level
Credits	20
Semester	Semester 2
Pre-requisites
Co-requisites
Restrictions	None
Exclusions
Description	This specialist module explores concepts and case studies related to the geopolitics of current global challenges. The module draws on political geography, critical geopolitics, and cognate areas, to explore some of the most important geopolitical processes of our time, focusing on the Middle East, Russia and Cities. The module adopts a deliberately wide notion of geopolitics encompassing a variety of scales and their interactions, from the regional and transnational through the national to the urban, the everyday and intimate. The module has three strands of lectures and seminars: on the Middle East, on Russia and on urban geopolitics. These will equip students with a broad knowledge of current global geopolitical challenges and concepts, applying them to relevant examples. The module blends lectures and seminars, where students will deepen their knowledge of and engage in learned debate about a range of specific cases and/or ideas. The module is subdivided in lecture blocs/strands: Strand 1. Imaginative Geographies and the Middle East This first strand looks at the Middle East in the 21st Century, from the ‘war on terror’ through the Arab Spring to the war in Syria. In particular, we’ll be interested in how understandings and representations of the region have influenced policies and interventions led by western powers since the turn of the century. Specific points of focus will be the ‘war on terror’, the ‘Arab Spring’ and the Syria war. Suggested reading: Said, E. (1979) Orientalism. London: Verso Strand 2. Geopolitics, Identity, and Russia This strand examines how Russia is interpreted through the lens of geopolitics. It will introduce and critique both classical and critical geopolitics in order to explore Russia’s fraught relationship with the West, its contested borders, relations with its neighbours, and the influence of Eurasianism in defining Russia’s place in the world. Suggested readings: Toal, G. (2017) Near Abroad: Putin, the West and the Contest Over Ukraine and the Caucasus. Oxford: Oxford University Press; Richardson, P. (2018) At the Edge of the Nation: The Southern Kurils and the Search for Russia’s National Identity. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press Strand 3. Cities, global politics, and conflict This strand explores why and how cities are geopolitically significant in contemporary global challenges. We will study how and why cities have become strategic terrains as well as targets of regular and irregular warfare, and with what legacies. Suggested readings: Graham, Stephen, ed. (2004). Cities, War, and Terrorism: Towards an Urban Geopolitics. Studies in Urban and Social Change. Oxford: Blackwell; Fregonese, S. (2019) War and the city: urban geopolitics in Lebanon. London: Bloomsbury.
Learning Outcomes	By the end of the module students should be able to: Identify and critically evaluate the main and geopolitical challenges in a number of crucial settings (e.g. Russia, the Middle East and cities) in the 20th and 21st century. Master a conceptual and policy-relevant vocabulary to address and communicate aspects, concepts and dynamics of geopolitics and more widely political geography across a variety of scales. Demonstrate in-depth empirical and policy-relevant understanding of contemporary global geopolitical challenges. Develop analytical skills to understand complex issues and be able to write about, discuss, and communicate geopolitical issues for a range of target audiences.
Assessment	36270-01 : Take Home Examination : Exam (Centrally Timetabled) - Open Book (100%)
Assessment Methods & Exceptions	Assessment: Take-home online paper (non-centrally timetabled) set over 48 hour period, 3600 word maximum limits across all questions (100%)
Other
Reading List