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Geopolitics and Geostrategy in the 21st Century

1.130

Dozenten

apl. Prof. Dr. Dr. Klaus-Peter Saalbach

Beschreibung

Geopolitical and geostrategic thinking is experiencing a comeback in times of dwindling resources and growing insecurity in politics, raising the question of what is understood by geopolitics and geostrategy in the 21st century and how this is reflected in practice. In the past, the focus was mainly on land control, today an integrated geostrategic approach dominates with the factors space (land and sea) and time (resources and demography). After an introduction to the theory the geostrategic practice will be shown.

The course will be held in English. The literature reference list will be uploaded before course start.

The topics of the course include:

Theoretical basics:
Using established concepts (realism, neorealism, classical and critical geopolitics), it will be shown how the concepts of geopolitics and geostrategy have evolved.
Although the focus is still on spatial power politics, the theoretical and practical perspective has changed substantially: it is no longer about an either-or of rule-based institutions or selfish power politics, but about trying to exert power in the existing global institutional settings. Institutional and realistic perspectives and arguments are presented comparatively.
The earlier notion of a deterministic role of space or of an objective logic of power is not only, but in particular questioned by the concept of critical geopolitics. Other problems, e.g. the presentism issue will also be discussed.
Modern geo-strategy is considered by the major powers as an integrated concept, which also aligns with foreseeable changes, ie questions about the energy reserves, food security, the long-term availability of raw materials and of course also the demographic chnage. These aspects are therefore considered in more detail.

Practical exercises:
At the beginning, the complex interaction of geopolitics with the rule-based global institutional framework is examined using the example of the United Nation Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), especially in the South Chinese Sea, where attempts to create facts collide with norms of sea and international law.
Subsequently, the great powers, their geo-strategies and geopolitical ambitions are presented in the context of the so-called Grand Strategies and then the relationships between the actors: USA, China and Russia are analyzed.
The following part looks at the European Union, beginning with a brief outline of how the Common Security and Defense Policy formulates pan-European interests and what tools the EU has to exert influence outside Europe, e.g. by the European External Action Service (EEAS), contracts with small states, the European Neighborhood Policy, the global reach of the Euro (especially Africa) and the EU's military missions. This presentation is limited to the main features due to the high complexity and scope of European security policy.
Subsequently, religion is discussed as a strategic influence factor of politics using the example of the Near and Middle East.
The next part deals with the geo-strategy in cyberspace: After a long-term dominance of the perspective of the cyberspace as a virtual world, security experts are gaining a more and more physical understanding: who controls the devices and the lines, also controls the data in them. This means: where do the chips come from, where are the servers, what data must stay in the country, who owns deep-sea cables, node computers and transmission towers? The result is an increasing fragmentation of the Internet.
A final part of the seminar is dedicated to the analysis and discussion of a current topic (Brexit or Venezuela, depending on future developments).

Weitere Angaben

Ort: 15/131
Zeiten: Termine am Freitag, 08.11.2019, Freitag, 15.11.2019, Freitag, 06.12.2019, Freitag, 24.01.2020, Freitag, 07.02.2020 14:00 - 18:00
Erster Termin: Freitag, 08.11.2019 14:00 - 18:00, Ort: 15/131
Veranstaltungsart: Blockseminar (Offizielle Lehrveranstaltungen)
ECTS-Punkte: 4/6