MGIMO Textbook on Political Geography Published by Peter Lang

18 January 2021

In Brussels, the international academic publisher Peter Lang released a textbook on Political Geography by the Director of MGIMO’s Center for Spatial Analysis in International Relations I.Okunev.

— Contents

Political geography is a discipline concerned with the spatial dimensions of politics. This subject offers an introduction to the study of political science, international relations and area studies, providing a systemic approach to the spatial dimension of political processes at all levels. It covers their basic elements, including states, supranational unions, geopolitical systems, regions, borders, capitals, dependent, and internationally administered territories. Political geography develops fundamental theoretical approaches that give insight into the peculiarities of foreign and domestic policies. The ability to use spatial analysis techniques allows determining patterns and regularities of political phenomena both at the global and the regional and local levels.

The Russian version of this textbook, approved by the Editorial and Publishing Council of MGIMO, has already gone through two reprints. The textbook has been approved by the professional community and a number of leading universities in Russia and CIS countries use it as the main textbook for their Political Geography courses. The Russian International Affairs Council included the book in the 2019 reading list for International Affairs students and experts. The book was translated into English by the MGIMO lecturers M.Ananyeva, N.Panich and N.Simakov. The preface to the English edition was written by Professors S.Cross and M.Ilyin.

Peter Lang is one of the leaders in academic publishing, specializing in the humanities and social sciences worldwide. It has offices in Bern, Berlin, Brussels, Oxford, New York, Warsaw, Vienna, Dublin and Istanbul. Scientific journals planning to publish a review of the textbook can contact the publisher to receive a free copy.

MGIMO's English-language course on political geography, based on the published textbook, will soon be uploaded onto the Coursera platform. This course was created within the framework of the University's partnership with HSE, RANEPA and the Russian Academy of Science aimed at creating a world-class "Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Human Potential".