Ioannis Th. Mazis

Professor

yianmazis[at]turkmas.uoa[dot]gr

3 hours per week + 8 hours Cartography laboratory

Course Objectives

The course is offered to both directions of the Faculty's programme of studies. It aims to educate students with regard to the economic and geographical presentation of the geo–complex of the Greater Middle East and its interactions with the ethnic and social formation of Turkey, on a geopolitical and geostrategic level.

Course Structure

1. Epistemological analysis of the concept of science, in the context of Positivism and Neo–positivism.

2. Presentation of the scientific field of Economic Geography and of the remaining branches of Geography: The object of Geography: Space. Primary and Secondary spaces, Special spaces and their geographies.

3. Introduction to the theories of dependence: Neo–marxist positions and liberal oppositions.

4. Introduction to the Methodology of Systemic Geopolitical Analysis.

5. The concept of System and its application in the analysis of international affairs. Methodology of Modern Systemic Geopolitical Analysis. A critique of Critical Geopolitics (Geròid Thuathail).

6. Traditional European Schools of Geopolitics and Geo–strategy: “A Geography in the service of the state” or of the “planet”? Definitions of Geopolitics and Geo–strategy.

7. The emergence of Geopolitics: Politische Geographie, and Friedrich Ratzel. German Classical School of Geopolitics and Geo–strategy [F. Ratzel, R. Kjellen, K. Haushofer].

8. Anglo–Saxon Geography, the Classical School of Geopolitics and Geo–strategy (Sir Halford Mackinder, Nicholas Spykman).

9. Modern Anglo–Saxon Geographers (New Geographers) – Geopoliticians (Sir Halford Mackinder, Nicholas Spykman). The Anglo–Saxon Critical School of Geopolitics: The misunderstanding of Geopolitics and its confusion with Geo–strategy (Géròid Thuathail: Critical Geopolitics).

10. Classical and Modern French School of Geography and Geopolitical Analysis (Vidal de la Blache, Jacques Ancel, Alain Démangeon, Yves Lacoste).

11. Geographies and Spaces: Proposals for the formation of a New Systemic Approach to Modern Geopolitical Analysis.

12. Geography and Geopolitics of Energy in the International System.

13. On writing a research paper. Structure of the paper in general and, more specifically in the fields of International Relations and Geopolitics.

Assessment

Assessment is through written examination (50%) and submission of a thesis (5,000-7,000 words, 50%).

Bibliography

Α. Basic

1) Ι.Θ. Μάζης, Μεταθεωρητική Κριτική Διεθνών Σχέσεων και Γεωπολιτικής. Το νεοθετικιστικό πλαίσιο, Παπαζήσης, Αθήνα 2012.

2) Ι.Θ. Μάζης, Γεωπολιτική προσέγγιση για ένα νέο ελληνικό αμυντικό Δόγμα, Παπαζήσης, Αθήνα 2006.

The following works are also proposed for complementing the picture on the Classical School of the German and Anglo–Saxon Geographers and Geopoliticians:

1) F. Ratzel, Ο Ζωτικός Χώρος, Προσκήνιο/Σιδεράτος, Αθήνα 2001.

2) Sir Halford Mackinder, Δημοκρατικά Ιδεώδη και Πραγματικότητα, Παπαζήσης, Αθήνα 2006

3) Yale Ferguson & Richard Mansbach, Η Ουτοπική Αναζήτηση, Εισαγωγή-Επιμέλεια: Ι. Θ. Μάζης, Μτφση: Παναγιώτης Κριμπάς, [έκδοση στα ελληνικά 2009], Παπαζήσης, Αθήνα, 2009 (for an epistemological critique of the so–called Theory of International Relations, by elaborating on the approaches of K. Popper, Imre Lakatos & Thomas Kuhn).

1)http://www.geographie.ens.fr/Le-Master-Geopolitique-de-Paris-1.html?lang=fr

1α) epi.univ-paris1.fr/05684778/0/fiche___pagelibre/&RF=epi-163

2) www.geog.umontreal.ca/programmes/cycle_1/index.html

3) www.fondchanoux.org/masterdegeopolitiqueaoste-sorbonne_1_0_576.aspx

4) www.ileri.fr/Cursus/Formations

5) www.alexandredelvalle.com/biographie.php

6) www.hei-hep.com/programmes-bachelor-1.php [HEI - HEP - Hautes Etudes Internationales - Hautes Etudes Politiques]

7) www.sant.ox.ac.uk/GEOPOLITICSOFENERGYSEMINARTRINITY2011.pdf, etc.