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).

‘Dirty Wars’ Washington premier at E Street cinema

Posted on June 8, 2013 by Dr Gerard Toal

Because the initial showing sold out E Street switched the show to Theatre 4, their largest, and it was almost full by showtime. Despite the topic, the US corn industry had a good night as people were shoveling the stuff … Continue reading →

Posted in Current affairs, Dirty Wars, drones, Jeremy Scahill, Obama, Somalia, war on terror, Washington D.C., Yemen | 3 Comments

The Bordering of South Ossetia

Posted on June 5, 2013 by Dr Gerard Toal

Having grown up in a contested border region during the Northern Ireland Troubles, I’m familiar with the trepidation and tragedy that often accompanies projects to harden borders, to militarize them in the name of state security. As our recent article … Continue reading →

Posted in Current affairs | Leave a comment

Inside South Ossetia article published

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Dr Gerard Toal

The article “Inside South Ossetia: a survey of attitudes in a de facto state” has just been published by Post-Soviet Affairs (now owned by Taylor & Francis). This article is based on a research field trip conducted in 2010 and … Continue reading →

Posted in August War, Caucasus conflict, Current affairs, De Facto States, ethnic cleansing, Five Day War, forced displacement, Geography, Geopolitics, George Bush, Georgia, nationalism, Political Geography, Saakashvili, South Ossetia, World political map | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The Endless Everywhere War? America’s War of Terror, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0….

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Dr Gerard Toal

Asked at a Senate hearing yesterday how long the war on terrorism will last, Michael Sheehan, the assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict, answered: “At least 10 to 20 years…”  A spokeswoman later clarified that Sheehan … Continue reading →

Posted in CIA, Current affairs, drones, Geography, Geopolitics, George Bush, war on terror, Washington D.C., Yemen | Tagged , | Leave a comment

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 →

Posted in Current affairs | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

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