Teaching Geography and Geopolitics

A History Institute for Teachers

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Sponsored by the Marvin Wachman Fund for International Education
A division of the Foreign Policy Research Institute

On April 20-21, 2002, FPRI’s Marvin Wachman Fund for International Education and Center for the Study of America and the West sponsored a weekend-long history institute on “Teaching Geography and Geopolitics.” Knowing geography, appreciating how it influences political and military events and sets limits to what politicians, economists, and business leaders can do in a given region, is more essential than ever for our young people, who need to understand the world in order to shape fruitful lives in it. To prepare educators to serve that need, this program was specially designed for secondary school teachers, curriculum supervisors, and junior college faculty and featured a series of lectures by leading scholars in several fields. Related papers are provided below.

This History Institute was held in honor of the late Robert Strausz-Hupé, who founded FPRI in 1955. His book Geopolitics: The Struggle for Space and Power, published by Putnam in 1942, is said to have introduced the term “geopolitics” into the American vocabulary. A former U.S. ambassador, five times over, Strausz-Hupé was a much-beloved professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

You can find the complete list of topics and speakers as well as other information about the event itself from the original event announcement.

Papers

The following papers were published in the Spring 2003 issue of Orbis, FPRI’s journal of world affairs.

Classroom Lesson

A Geography Lesson (39K Microsoft Word document)
Paul Dickler and James Sanzare