Interrogating Contemporary Global Geopolitical Shifts

A Certificate of Participation is awarded to participants who contribute constructively to weekly discussions and exercises/learning activities for the duration of the course.

This tutor-led, cohort-based online course is 7-weeks in duration and is made up of 5 teaching units.

Unit 1 - Introduction to Geopolitics

Learning objectives:

• To provide an understanding of the core debates, both ‘conventional’ and ‘critical’ on geopolitics.

• To acquire an understanding of the major geopolitical thinkers and their approaches towards the interrelationship between the territorial ‘space’ and ‘power’.

• To recognise historical and contemporary statecraft of land.

Unit 2 - Maritime Geopolitics and Resource Geopolitics

Learning objectives:

• To gain the ability to locate contemporary debates on maritime access and ownership of resources as situated within the international law.

• To understand the importance of transboundary rivers in delimiting territorial space and the centrality of geopolitical thinking in the politics of natural resources.

• To understand the link between geopolitical practices and policies.

Unit 3 - Human Geopolitics and Outer-Space Geopolitics

Learning objectives:

• To provide an understanding of an emergence of diaspora institutions and strategic competition over migrants and human rights. 

• To gain the ability to evaluate how the space race has affected great power competition with implications for the outer space assets and outer space domain control. 

• To gain the ability to recognise and evaluate the emerging ‘grey areas’ in the study of geopolitics.

Unit 4 - Cyber Geopolitics and AI Geopolitics

Learning objectives:

• To understand the niche areas of the 5th dimension of cyberspace and its impact on contemporary geopolitical strategies.

• To be able to critically question the impact of generative AI on contemporary geopolitics. 

• To gain the ability to recognise and evaluate the emerging ‘grey areas’ in the study of geopolitics. 

Unit 5 - Geoeconomics and What is Next in Geopolitics

Learning objectives:

• To gain a clear understanding of the relationship between ‘geoeconomics’ and ‘geopolitics’.

• To be able to identity how states control and influence economic power to produce beneficial geopolitical results.

• To appreciate the emerging dimensions of the study in geopolitics and future horizons due to technological innovations.