Gearóid Ó Tuathail

Ó Tuathail is a professor of geography at Virginia Tech, where he has taught since 2014. He earned his PhD in geography from Syracuse University in 1989. His 1996 book Critical Geopolitics: The Politics of Writing Global Space is a foundational text in the subfield of critical geopolitics, which examines how geopolitical knowledge is produced and used by states and intellectuals. He co-edited The Geopolitics Reader (1998) with Simon Dalby, a widely used anthology.

Since the 2000s, Ó Tuathail has focused on the geopolitics of the post-Soviet space, especially the Caucasus and the Balkans. He has conducted extensive fieldwork in Georgia, Azerbaijan, and the disputed territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. His book Near Abroad: Putin, the West, and the Contest over Ukraine and the Caucasus (2017) analyzes Russia's interventions in its near abroad, drawing on interviews with political elites and ordinary citizens. He has also written on the 2008 Russo-Georgian War and the 2014 Ukraine crisis.

Ó Tuathail's early work engaged with the writings of Michel Foucault and Jacques Derrida, applying poststructuralist theory to geopolitics. He has also written under the name Gerard Toal, and his Irish-language name reflects his heritage. He has been a vocal critic of the concept of 'geopolitics' as a neutral science, arguing that it is inherently political. His 2023 book Geopolitics and the Post-Soviet Condition (co-authored with John O'Loughlin) examines the everyday geopolitics of borderlands. He has also contributed to public debates on NATO enlargement and the war in Ukraine.

Ó Tuathail's work has been influential in political geography and international relations, shaping how scholars study the discursive construction of world politics. His concept of 'critical geopolitics' has been adopted across disciplines, and his empirical studies are praised for their methodological rigor. He has received grants from the National Science Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation. His research has been cited in policy circles, and he has testified before the U.S. Helsinki Commission on the situation in Georgia.

Critical geopolitics

An approach that deconstructs geopolitical narratives and examines how power shapes geographical knowledge.

Near abroad

A Russian term for the former Soviet republics, which Russia considers its sphere of influence.