Critical geopolitics, a platform on the interface between International Relations and Political Geography, has privileged the spatial over the temporal dimension in its understanding of geopolitics. This has entailed the neglect of the politics of time (chronopolitics) and thereby inhibited a full understanding of the functioning of geopolitical texts. On the few occasions when critical geopolitics has addressed the issue of time, it has either problematically equated it with ‘speed’ or approached it through a useful but incomplete focus on the ‘modern’ temporality at work in geopolitics. This thesis argues for the fourfold departure from this literature. After suggesting a conception of time as constituted not outside but through narrative, it traverses the dichotomous understanding of space and time found in critical geopolitics. Furthermore, it urges the theoretical platform to take account of the hetero-temporality and micro-temporality of modern geopolitical discourse. With the help of this improved theoretical toolbox, it is possible better to distinguish between different geopolitical narratives and unpack the relationship between spatiality, temporality and security. A number of case studies, all investigating the relationship between the European Union and the post-Soviet space, will illustrate these changes. The study will zoom in specifically on the discourse in and around Brussels on Russia, German narratives of Russian gas and Belarusian geopolitical constructions of Europe. What emerges is an image of the boundary between Europe and its East that is inscribed by a number of conflicting spatiotemporalities and patterns of security interaction.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:625710 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Klinke, I. T. |
| Publisher | University College London (University of London) |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1335837/ |
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