Author Archives: Dr Gerard Toal

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About Dr Gerard Toal

Irish born academic living in Washington DC researching geopolitical competition and territorial conflicts in post-Communist Europe. Author of CRITICAL GEOPOLITICS (1996), BOSNIA REMADE (w C Dahlman) and NEAR ABROAD: PUTIN, THE WEST AND THE CONTEST OVER UKRAINE AND THE CAUCASUS (Oxford University Press, 2017).

The Irish-Japanese Axis

Posted on May 3, 2013 by Dr Gerard Toal

At a session on De Facto state regimes at last month’s ASN, Tom de Waal wittily remarked on how there appears to be an Irish-Japanese axis of researchers studying these oddities of the world political map. Looking at the presenters … Continue reading →

Posted in Abkhazia, August War, De Facto States, ethnic cleansing, Five Day War, Geopolitics, Nagorno-Karabakh, Nagorny Karabakh, nationalism, Political Geography, South Ossetia, World political map | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Mapping Europe’s Borderlands

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Dr Gerard Toal

I was one of three discussants of Steven Seegel’s tremendously impressive book Mapping Europe’s Borderlands: Russian Cartography in the Age of Empire at the Association for the Study of Nationalities conference in New York on 18th April. Larry Wolfe in … Continue reading →

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The Improvised State

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Dr Gerard Toal

Alex Jeffrey is a lecturer in Geography at Cambridge University in the (maybe not so) United Kingdom (what say you Scotland?). He is the author of a theoretically innovative new book called The Improvised State: Sovereignty, Performance and Agency in … Continue reading →

Posted in Bosnia, Bosnian war, Critical Geopolitics, Current affairs, Democracy, ethnic cleansing, ICTY, nationalism, Radovan Karadzic, state theory | Leave a comment

International Conference on the Future of Turkey and the Kurds

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Dr Gerard Toal

CALL FOR PAPERS:International Conference:The PKK, Kurdish Nationalism and the Future of Turkey Thursday, November 7, 2013 Virginia Tech National Capital Region 1021 Prince Street , Alexandria, VA 22314 Organized and Sponsored bySchool of Public & International Affairs, Virginia Tech, National Capital Region.Ottoman … Continue reading →

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Geography’s Oscars: John O’Loughlin’s Distinguished Scholarship Award

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Dr Gerard Toal

The Association of American Geographers gathered in the Crystal Ballroom of the Biltmore Hotel on 13th of April 2013 for an awards luncheon. The location was an appropriate one to dispense awards as it was the site of a series … Continue reading →

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Conference Season

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Dr Gerard Toal

Each year different tribes of academic laborers have their trade shows. This laborer is attending two virtually back to back, the Association of American Geographers meeting in Los Angeles and then the Association for the Study of Nationalities conference in … Continue reading →

Posted in Caucasus conflict, Critical Geopolitics, Current affairs, De Facto States, ethnic cleansing, Five Day War, Nagorno-Karabakh, Nagorny Karabakh, nationalism, Political Geography, South Ossetia | Tagged | 2 Comments

Unfinished Business in Northern Ireland

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Dr Gerard Toal

“Happy Saint Patrick’s Week.” That was the conclusion of the speech by the Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Enda Kenny at the Westin Park Hotel on Tuesday night. The once religious holiday has become a week long series of breakfasts, lunches, … Continue reading →

Posted in Current affairs, Democracy, Northern Ireland | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Climate Refugees of Bangladesh

Posted on March 19, 2013 by Dr Gerard Toal

There was some debate at CARFMS on the category of ‘climate refugees,’ whether this is a useful construct or a problematic conceptualization and narrative. Ted Itani, a deeply experienced former United Nations official now affiliated with the Pearson Centre at … Continue reading →

Posted in Bangladesh, Climate Change, Global Warming, Rights | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Reversing Ethnic Cleansing: Is It Possible Peacefully?

Posted on March 19, 2013 by Dr Gerard Toal

On 10 March I gave the closing keynote at the 6th Annual Conference of the Canadian Association for Refugee and Forced Migration Studies (CARFMS). The topic of my talk was Reversing Ethnic Cleansing: Bosnia’s Experience and Protracted Displacement in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Abkhazia, August War, Bosnia, Bosnian war, Caucasus conflict, Current affairs, ethnic cleansing, forced displacement, genocide, Georgia, nationalism, Pinheiro Principles, restitution, South Ossetia, World political map | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The Rhetorical Politics of Milorad Dodik

Posted on February 14, 2013 by Dr Gerard Toal

My essay on the former prime minister and current president of Republika Srpska has just been published in the Discussion section of the journal Nationalities Papers, a Taylor and Francis journal (41, 1: 160-204). I’m grateful to the departing editor … Continue reading →

Posted in Bosnia, Bosnian war, Current affairs, Democracy, nationalism, Rhetoric, World political map | Tagged , | Leave a comment