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"Critical Geopolitics" published on by Oxford University Press.

An entirely new form of virtual weaponry is transforming the dynamics of geopolitics. The threat of cyber warfare is not new. The Internet was a product of the Cold War built in the 1960s by US military scientists to protect American communications infrastructure against a Soviet nuclear strike. Nearly a half century later, those threats remain. Today, however, cyber weapons are not only in hands of enemy and rogue states, but are being exploited by isolated individuals ranging from bored teenagers to wild-eyed terrorists. Today the impact of Web 2.0 goes beyond political mobilisation inside countries and digital diplomacy between states. It now includes virtual weaponry that has brought an entirely new form of warfare which is transforming the dynamics of geopolitics. We call this new global reality Geopolitics 2.0, which is –broadly speaking– characterised by three significant shifts: (1) states to individuals; (2) real-world to virtual mobilisation and power; and (3) old media to new media. Forced to react to the impact of these three Geopolitics 2.0 shifts, states are alternatively censoring or deploying Web platforms to achieve their goals and assert their influence –and in some cases, they are doing both–.

This paper reviews recent work concerning the impact of geopolitics on wildlife conservation (and vice versa), and identifies future priorities in conservation geopolitics research. Geopolitics is understood as both: (i) an analytical focus on geopolitical practices, especially concerning the behaviour of countries with respect to territory and national security, and (ii) a set of theories that have been developed to explain and predict those behaviours. We develop a typology of core geopolitical practices of relevance to conservation, including territorial practices of colonisation and the management of migrations and borders, and security practices relating to military, economic, and environmental security. We proceed by identifying research that considers how these practices affect conservation situations and outcomes, noting the recent emergence of conceptual developments such as 'environmental geopolitics' and 'geopolitical ecology' that draw on multiple fields within the social sciences to theorise the links between geopolitics and environmental management. A 'geopolitical perspective' is defined as a focus on geopolitical practices combined with an explicit engagement with geopolitical theory, and we identify areas where this perspective has been, and could be more effectively brought to bear. In conclusion, we suggest four pressing priorities in conservation research to which the geopolitical perspective might contribute: how political and economic differences between countries affect biodiversity outcomes, how geopolitical practices to address those differences might facilitate or frustrate conservation efforts, how national borders and human and wildlife movements might be better managed for the benefit of both, and how conservation strategies might be best selected to suit existing (and future) geopolitical realities.

"Classical Geopolitics Revisited" published on by Oxford University Press.

"Definitions of Geopolitics" published on by Oxford University Press.

"Geopolitics, Geography, and War" published on by Oxford University Press.