Presentation

Because vital functions – eating and drinking – depend on the availability of water and land, the latter are two essential resources in terms of human security, political stability, and inter-state relations. They are all the more so as demographic pressure and climate change are at work.  In this class, our approach to the question of water and land resources is clearly geopolitical and twofold: one is based on the articulation between the power policy of States (versus security) and their geographical environment; the other on the analysis of power rivalries in territories.

This class aims, first of all, to analyze how these resources are used to reinforce the power policies of certain States but also to control their space. On the other side of geopolitics, the class will focus on land-related conflicts that have shaped the course of contemporary history and current political affairs in many countries. We will also look at the hydro-political tensions that exist in certain regions of the world characterized by highly constrained geographical environments.

Educational formula

Lecture using many concrete examples. The class makes extensive use of maps.