Popular Geopolitics

Long derided as an inferior form of geography, there is now a recognition that if we want to understand geography and war, we can no longer depend on elite texts and elite actors. There has been an acceptance and expectation that there is some form of relationship between civil society and policy formation (and therefore decisions over war and peace) but the exact nature of this relationship has been difficult to determine. A summary of attempts to better understand this through television, cinema, cartoons and comics will be presented. However, the case will be made that this does not go far enough. Accordingly, new work from Japan will be presented, as will a case study on the use of Twitter to show how modern social media break down the traditional elite/pluralist divides.