Geography and Strategy

East Asia Globe IWP 634
Two credits

This eight-week seminar demonstrates the importance of geography to international politics, economics, national security, and strategy. It introduces students to the geographic and geopolitical factors that have shaped the field of world politics. It is required for all M.A. degree candidates.

The course explores how geography has helped influence aspects of world history and how it is likely to do so in the future. After discussing the relationship between physical geography and strategy, the course covers physical geography, maritime geography and the geography of space. It concludes by examining geopolitics - the analytical method that stresses the importance of geography and in determining national interests and international relations.

Students should have read a strategic atlas, such as the one on the required reading list, prior to the start of class.

Required Texts

Battling the Elements: Weather and Terrain in the Conduct of War, Harold Winters
Essential Atlas of The World, Dorling Kindersley Publishing
Class Reader: "Geography & Strategy"

Semester Available

Fall Semester
Spring Semester

Principal Professor

Marek Jan Chodakiewicz

Professor of History, The Kościuszko Chair in Polish Studies {read more}

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FEATURED FACULTY

Hashem Mekki

Adjunct Language Professor

History of American Foreign Policy

This course surveys the record of American foreign policy from the beginnings to the present day, including the war on terrorism and speculations on the future of world order. Each section will discuss the thematic features which characterized foreign policy for succeeding time periods, including separate assessments of how policy met expectations and how it served national interests.

Principal Professor

John J. Tierney, Jr.