4.0

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Napoleon once famously remarked, the policy of all powers is in their geography. Yet geography does not determine, but conditions; the meaning of particular geographic features changes over time and depending on circumstances. This course explores how geography interacts with human elements to affect foreign policy. The content is organized thematically, from basic conceptual issues (e.g., determinism vs. possibilism, levels of analysis) to strategic spaces (e.g., land, sea, air) and the role of human factors (e.g., perception, technology). Each session will introduce major ideas on the influence of geography (e.g., “sea-power”) and apply them to relevant historical (e.g., Britain’s maritime strategy) and contemporary examples (e.g., U.S.-China relations). By the end of this course, students will be equipped with conceptual tools and real-world examples to think about world affairs geographically—with reference to geographic features underlying the course of daily political events.