GEOPOLITICS

6 ECTS credits

The main purpose of the course is to serve as an introduction to the discipline of geopolitics and familiarize students with the relationship between geopolitics, geostrategy, and international relations. The course will introduce students to the importance of the physical aspects of politics, the impact of space and position on the formation of policy, significant geopolitical ideas in the history of political ideas (Aristotle, Akvinski, Machiavelli, Montesquieu, Duverger and others), various geopolitical doctrines, and contemporary issues in geopolitics with a special emphasis on the importance of geostrategic factors in international politics, the post-Cold War division of spheres of interest, the formation of a new political map of the world following 1989, the relationship between the US and the Middle East, Russia, and Europe, and the rising influence of China and India. The course will also consider the new geopolitical map of Southeastern Europe and its gradual accession to the European Union.