Overview
In Geography, the notion of ‘place’ is central and location and proximity drive world events – for example, how do Earth system characteristics enable humanitarian crises? What are the results of national wrangling around pandemics? With geographical critical analysis tools, you will explore contemporary global power shifts that affect conflict and cooperation; trade and agriculture; climate and environment; migration and tourism. You will engage with differing theoretical viewpoints to encourage a deeper reflection on world events in the Anthropocene.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
Completion of 18 credit points
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 1 - 2026
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of 'pass' in order to pass the unit. If any 'pass/fail' tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully ('pass' grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the 'assessment task' section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback - Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from Uni coordinator observation.
The learning content needs to be less reliant on resources such as journal articles.
The unit coordinator is to work on some multimedia to engage students.
- Explain the concepts of geopolitics that underpin international relationships
- Analyse the role of place in geopolitics
- Demonstrate how geographical concepts can be used to explore international events.
N/A
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 1 - Annotated bibliography - 10% | |||
| 2 - Annotated bibliography - 35% | |||
| 3 - Case Study - 35% | |||
| 4 - Oral Examination - 20% | |||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 1 - Communication | |||
| 2 - Problem Solving | |||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | |||
| 4 - Information Literacy | |||
| 5 - Team Work | |||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | |||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | |||
| 8 - Ethical practice | |||
| 9 - Social Innovation | |||
| 10 - First Nations Knowledges | |||
| 11 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | |||
Textbooks
There are no required textbooks.
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
- Zoom access for the oral defence of the Case Study in the exam week.
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: Vancouver
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
p.hodge@cqu.edu.au
a.johnson2@cqu.edu.au
Week 1
Begin Date: 09 Mar 2026Module/Topic
Geopolitics Defined I
Chapter
The Moodle site for this unit will contain the study guide, references and learning material for each week of the term.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 2
Begin Date: 16 Mar 2026Module/Topic
Geopolitics Defined II
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 3
Begin Date: 23 Mar 2026Module/Topic
Classical Geopolitics I
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 4
Begin Date: 30 Mar 2026Module/Topic
Classical Geopolitics II
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 5
Begin Date: 06 Apr 2026Module/Topic
Post-classical Geopolitics
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 6
Begin Date: 13 Apr 2026Module/Topic
Critical Geopolitics I
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Vacation Week
Begin Date: 20 Apr 2026Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 7
Begin Date: 27 Apr 2026Module/Topic
Critical Geopolitics II
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 8
Begin Date: 04 May 2026Module/Topic
Environmental Geopolitics I
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 9
Begin Date: 11 May 2026Module/Topic
Environmental Geopolitics II
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 10
Begin Date: 18 May 2026Module/Topic
Case Studies
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 11
Begin Date: 25 May 2026Module/Topic
Work on Case Study assessment
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 12
Begin Date: 01 Jun 2026Module/Topic
Work on Case Study assessment
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Exam Week
Begin Date: 08 Jun 2026Module/Topic
An oral defence of the Case Study will be arranged per student in this week.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Oral Defence of the Case Study Due: Exam Week Friday (12 June 2026) 11:45 pm AEST
Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence agents (Gen AI):
You may use AI for planning, idea development, and research. Your final submission should show how you have developed and refined these ideas.
WORD COUNT for written assignments:
The word count is considered from the first word of the introduction to the last word of the conclusion. It excludes the cover page, abstract, contents page, reference page and appendices. It includes in-text referencing, direct quotations and words contained within tables in the body of the assignment.
1 Annotated bibliography
The annotated bibliography (AB) will contain two entries that critique one learning reading item from week one and week 2. The Moodle site for the unit includes instructions on undertaking an AB. The entries must be in sentence (not dot-point) format and contain no less than 300 and no more than 400 words.
Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence agents (Gen AI)
Within this assessment, the use of Gen AI agents is as follows: Gen AI content can only be used to generate ideas and general structures.
Week 4 Monday (30 Mar 2026) 9:00 am AEST
Week 6 Monday (13 Apr 2026)
The extent to which the annotated bibliography (AB):
- Covers the content of the reading item - aim, scope, result relevancy and impact.
- Is cogent in construction from argument progression, grammar, spelling, and referencing format.
- Illustrates insightful and incisive understanding of the learning item.
- Explain the concepts of geopolitics that underpin international relationships
2 Annotated bibliography
The annotated bibliography (AB) will contain seven entries that critique one learning reading item each week for the weeks three to nine of the unit. The Moodle site for the unit contains instructions on undertaking an AB. The entries must be in sentence (not dot-point) format and contain no less than 300 and no more than 400 words.
Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence agents (Gen AI)
Within this assessment, the use of Gen AI agents is as follows: Gen AI content can only be used to generate ideas and general structures.
Week 10 Monday (18 May 2026) 9:00 am AEST
Week 12 Monday (1 June 2026)
The extent to which the annotated bibliography (AB):
- Covers the content of the reading item - aim, scope, result relevancy and impact.
- Is cogent in construction from argument progression, grammar, spelling, and referencing format.
- Illustrates insightful and incisive understanding of the learning item.
- Explain the concepts of geopolitics that underpin international relationships
3 Case Study
The Case Study assessment applies the unit learning to the analysis of a specific geopolitical situation of 2,500 words. The student may select a Case Study topic from a list provided by the lecturer. The report format for the descriptive case study is detailed on the unit Moodle site.
Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence agents (Gen AI):
Within this assessment, the use of Gen AI agents is as follows: Gen AI content can only be used to generate ideas and general structures.
WORD COUNT for written assignments:
The word count is considered from the first word of the introduction to the last word of the conclusion. It excludes the cover page, abstract, contents page, reference page and appendices. It includes in-text referencing, direct quotations and words contained within tables in the body of the assignment.
Exam Week Monday (8 June 2026) 9:00 am AEST
Vacation/Exam Week Friday (19 June 2026)
The assessment criteria is the extent to which the submission is:
- Informed by the unit learning material and scholarly sources.
- An inciteful analysis of a Geopolitics scenario.
- Engaging, clearly structured, and logically advances the discussion from the introduction to the conclusion.
- Adheres to written communication conventions, uses scholarly sources, and cites references correctly.
- Analyse the role of place in geopolitics
- Demonstrate how geographical concepts can be used to explore international events.
4 Oral Examination
The oral defence presentation will consist of around 7 minutes of prepared speaking, followed by 7 minutes of answering questions posed by the lecturer, probing only the Case Study assessment submission. The oral defence will be conducted by Zoom, with the student required to be visible and audible (camera/microphone). It will be undertaken during Exam Week at a date/time mutually agreed upon between the student and lecturer.
Exam Week Friday (12 June 2026) 11:45 pm AEST
The session will take place no later than Friday of Exam Week.
The extent to which the oral defence confirms that the student:
- has a thorough understanding of their Case Study;
- has sufficient unit knowledge to allow them to answer topical questions in real-time; and
- indicates their authorship of the Case Study assessment.
No submission method provided.
- Analyse the role of place in geopolitics
- Demonstrate how geographical concepts can be used to explore international events.
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
