GEG6130 - Geopolitics post-9/11: War, Security, Economy - 2022/23

This module traces the connections between the prosecution of the war on terror, late-modern capitalism and contemporary geopolitical concerns in the West (specifically the US and the UK). Subsequent to the introductory lecture, the module is divided into three sections. The first main section provides historical and political background to the war on terror and considers how this has come to shape not only military, but also legal and governmental discourse and practice. The second section invites students to consider, in light of a series of intellectual debates, a shift in the nature of war politics itself. It will consider, amongst other things, the transformation of the military, the rise of international human rights regimes, and the growing overlap between the politics of security and domestic and international concerns. The third section examines how, as a result of some of these changes, the war on terror has come to influence a wide range of social and political concerns back in the ‘homeland’ territories: from the management of immigration to the failed response to Hurricane Katrina. All of the above will be examined with reference to a number of contemporary theoretical ideas and debates.