Introduction to Geopolitics

Activity
Identify which of the “historical-geographic understandings,” described at the begin-
ning of this section (p. 125), best fit the way the nationalism of your country is
portrayed.
• Think of current and past conflicts in which your country has been involved. 
• Do the reasons and justifications of these conflicts follow the expectations of
the framework? Why?

---

Further reading
Cox, K.R. (2002) 
Political Geography: Territory, State, and Society
, Oxford: Blackwell
Publishers.
Parts of this textbook provide useful explorations of the state, including the local state.
Dahlman, C. (2005) “Geographies of Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing: The Lessons of Bosnia-
Herzegovina” in Flint, C. (ed.) 
The Geography of War and Peace
, Oxford: Oxford
University Press, pp. 174–97.
This chapter explores questions that define a new field of inquiry, the geography of
genocide.
Dijkink, G. (1996) 
National Identity and Geopolitical Visions: Maps of Pride and Pain
,
New York: Routledge.
Makes connections between the national identity and foreign policy using a number of
extended case studies.
Dowler, L. (2005) “Amazonian Landscapes: Gender, War, and Historical Repetition” in 
Flint, C. (ed.) 
The Geography of War and Peace
, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 
pp. 133–48.
An example of Dowler’s work examining the connections between nationalism, gender,
and conflict.
Enloe, C. (1990) 
Bananas, Beaches, and Bases: Making Feminist Sense of International
Politics
, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Enloe, C. (2004) 
The Curious Feminist: Searching for Women in a New Age of Empire
,
Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Cynthia Enloe is the preeminent feminist scholar of militarism and militarization.
Murphy, A.B. (2005) “Territorial Ideology and Interstate Conflict: Comparative Con-
siderations” in Flint, C. (ed.) 
The Geography of War and Peace
, Oxford: Oxford
University Press, pp. 280–96.
This essay was summarized in this chapter and provides the basis for the exercise in 
Box 5.3.
The following readings provide further exploration of nationalism:
Anderson, B. (1991) 
Imagined Communities, Second Edition
, London: Verso.
Billig, M. (1995) 
Banal Nationalism
, London: Sage Publications.
Smith, A.D. (1993) 
National Identity
, Reno, NV: University of Nevada Press.
Smith, A.D. (1995) 
Nations and Nationalism in a Global Era
, Cambridge: Polity Press.
The following readings provide further information on the conflict in Chechnya:
BBC News (2004) “Timeline: Chechnya,” June 30, 2004. www.news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/
europe/country_profiles/2357267.stm. Accessed July 2, 2004. 
Evangelista, M. (2002) 
The Chechen Wars: Will Russia Go the Way of the Soviet Union?
,
Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
German, T.C. (2003) 
Russia’s Chechen War
, London: Routledge.
1111
2
3
41
5
6
7
8
91
10
1
2
31111
4
5
6
7
8
9
20
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
30
1
2
3
4
51
6
7
8
9
40
1
2
3
4
5111
E M B E D D I N G   G E O P O L I T I C S   W I T H I N   N A T I O N A L   I D E N T I T Y
129

---

Knezys, S. and Sedlickas, R. (1999)