Professor Government and International Affairs
Virginia Tech, VTRC Office 6-020,900 North Glebe Road,Arlington, VA 22203, USAPopular Categories
Abkhazia August War Bosnia Bosnian war Caucasus conflict Critical Geopolitics Current affairs De Facto States Democracy ethnic cleansing Five Day War forced displacement genocide Geography Geopolitics Georgia Nagorno-Karabakh Nagorny Karabakh nationalism Obama Political Borders Political Geography Putin Radovan Karadzic South Ossetia Syria Uncategorized war crimes Washington D.C. World political mapBlogroll
- Duck of Minerva US IR scholars on contemporary international affairs
- Geographical Imaginations 2020 Historic posts on war & space by Derek Gregory
- Political Geography Specialty Group Political Geography Specialty Group, Association of American Geographers
- Political Violence at a Glance
- Progressive Geographies Thinking about place and power
Professional Affiliation
- Government and International Affairs The Government and International Affairs program at Virginia Tech
- The School of Public and International Affairs School of Public and International Affairs at Virginia Tech
Research Projects
- The De Facto States Project The De Facto States Project
Critical Geopoltiics- New Publication: What Did the Donbas Want? The attitudes of ordinary people on the eve of the invasion.
- Will Ukraine Be Forced to Give Up Territory?
- Territorial Taboo or Territorial Trading in the Russian War against Ukraine?
- Oceans Rise Empires Fall is published in the USA
- Text of remarks for Kennan Institute’s “Why Ukraine Matters” series.
- On my new book: Oceans Rise Empires Fall
- Short Public Affairs Articles in 2023.
- Public Opinion in Frontline Ukrainian Cities in 2022
- Six months of bloody war in Ukraine
- New Research: Ukrainian attitudes toward territorial compromises.
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Category Archives: World political map
Chemical Warfare and Place: Lessons from Halabja
As the United States and France consider military strikes in retaliation against the Assad regime it is worth recalling the use of chemical weapons by Saddam Hussein’s regime in Halabja, north east Iraqi Kurdistan on 16 March 1988. It is … Continue reading
Posted in Beslan, Critical Geopolitics, Current affairs, genocide, Halabja, Iraq, Kurdistan, Political Geography, Syria, war crimes, World political map
Tagged chemical weapons, Halabja, place
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“The Map is not the Territory”: Parallel Paths: Palestinians, Native Americans, Irish
Friday September 6 from 6 to 8 pm is the gala opening at the Jerusalem Fund Gallery Al-Quds (2425 Virginia Avenue, NW, Washington DC) of an exhibition of 64 original paintings, photographs, prints, drawings, artist books and films by 39 … Continue reading
‘Cartographic Exhibitionism’ article on Armenia & Karabakh published
The journal Problems of Post-Communism (POPC) has just published an article I wrote with Laurence Broers entitled ‘Cartographic Exhibitionism? Visualizing the Territory of Armenia and Karabakh‘ (vol. 60, no. 3, May–June 2013, pp. 16–35). Laurence’s part time day job is … Continue reading
Inside South Ossetia article published
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 de facto states, south ossetia
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The Irish-Japanese Axis
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
Reversing Ethnic Cleansing: Is It Possible Peacefully?
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
The Rhetorical Politics of Milorad Dodik
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 Milorad Dodik, referendum
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Does global warming auger increased levels of violent conflict?
There has been a lot of speculation on the likely impacts of global warming on violent conflict across the globe. In a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), my former adviser and research … Continue reading
Posted in Africa, Climate Change, Current affairs, Geography, Global Warming, World political map
Tagged East Africa, global warming, violence
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The Third Debate: Politics is the Enemy of Strategy
The third debate introduced US citizens, and an international audience to a geographic variant of a staple political attack. And, you know, Governor Romney, I’m glad that you agree that we have been successful in going after Al Qaida, but … Continue reading
Posted in Current affairs, Geography, Iran, Israel, Obama, Rhetoric, Romney, the bomb, World political map
Tagged Goldwater, group think, Lessons in Disaster
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