GEOG 220 Lecture Notes - Lecture 30: Errol Morris, Asian Values, Relativism
Document Summary
Classical geopolitics: world as patchwork of states, politics as a zero sum power game between nations, becomes self-fulfilling prophecy, geopolitics: Deeply discredited until later became attractive(when it is used as a way to understand complex issues and how it works) Critical geopolitics: questioning of assumptions put into making of the world, asking critical questions about common-sense concepts. Territorial models of geopolitics that we tend to operate with. Assumptions that the world is a patchwork of states(natural) Critical geopolitics doesn"t say that world is not divided: this is true, argues that to start from this basis is an intellectual straitjacket. Constrains what we see, resulting in deeply problematic situations. States are important, but highlighting nations without states(unrecognized states: about 200 unrecognized nations in world; eventually will become states, borders are different, but territorial understanding is the same. In terms of theory: geopolitical knowledge =model based view of world. Idea that you can simplify complex models(especially models of state based maps)