Geopolitics of Latin America

This course focuses on international and global perspectives of Latin American Geopolitics. It is
designed to promote critical thinking skills through emphasis on the enduring problems and
emerging challenges that produce international relations and economic globalization. The course
surveys some important aspects of the sub-discipline of Political Geography and conventional topics
in International Affairs. The course does not engage in a systematic inventory of regional issues and
local conflicts. Instead, contemporary developments in the world’s region of South America is used to
illustrate concepts from lectures and readings.
 
The class considers geopolitics using conventional and critical perspectives. Historically, the course
surveys the 19th century ‘grand chessboard’ and ‘classical’ geopolitics before considering newer
forms of power. In the second part, current thinking on topics including ethno-nationalism, uneven
development, civil war, resource conflict, state failure, food security, trans-boundary disputes, world-
systems analyses, and neoliberal urbanization will be the focus.  Overall, readings, lectures, and
recitations are designed to introduce, conceptualize, and criticize key ideas, practices, and processes
affecting global affairs and linking them to uneven geographic outcomes.