Geopolitics at 25: An Editorial Journey through the Journal’s History

Abstract

Geopolitics is 25 years old. In this Forum former editors reflect on the journey the journal has taken in those 25 years and the wider discipline (or disciplines) in which the journal sits. Alongside a recounting of how the journal came into existence and its name change to just 'Geopolitics', the editors reflect on the resurgence and increasingly interdisciplinary nature of geopolitics as a field of study which the journal played a role in and all meticulously chronicled in its pages (or bytes); the meanings and importance of the "geo" in geopolitics; the dynamics and politics of international publishing, the academic publishing industry, metrics, citation and the move online; as well as the continued Anglophone nature of political geography within a supposedly internationalising academy. This is coupled with suggestions for future avenues of research, including a plea to consider physical geography more concretely.

More than words: Geopolitics and language

“…The recognition and critique of Anglocentric ‘linguistic privilege’ (Müller, 2021) dovetails broader debates about decolonising a discipline whose roots are very much entangled with imperial histories. The ‘anglophone squint’ (Whitehand, 2005) is still prevalent in academia across disciplines, disadvantaging voices from beyond the ‘Anglosphere’ (Agnew et al, 2020; Belina, 2005; Desforges & Jones, 2001; Müller, 2021). Also key here is the power and privilege of translation, both in terms of who gets heard and the politics and idiosyncrasies that can be revealed in translation (Araújo & Araújo & Germes, 2016).…”