Kuus, Merje
Merje Kuus' research focuses on political geography and geopolitics-particularly on policy-making processes in complex bureaucratic structures. In broad terms, it investigates how political practices are underpinned by spatially defined categories like center and margin, inside and outside, self and other. These categories are central to the processes by which complex political issues come to be defined and managed in a particular manner. Within that problematic, Dr. Kuus' interests converge on the question of how specifically spatial categories function in daily politics at various sites-for example, within foreign policy bureaucracies. By virtue of her ‘regional' expertise, Dr. Kuus is also keenly interested in the ways in which places and regions are ‘written onto' our mental maps on a daily basis.
Listing Details
Current position(s), Institution
Professor, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia
Fields of expertise
Political geography and geopolitics
Security and state sovereignty
Policy processes
Borders
Identity and nationalism
Security and state sovereignty
Policy processes
Borders
Identity and nationalism
Research Groups
Projects relevant to the cluster
“How to Bound Open Spaces: Borders and Security in the European Neighbourhood Policy”. This three year project investigates the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), a European Union policy designed to project EU influence beyond its external borders. That policy is animated by a key political dynamic of our day—the pursuit of tight borders that close off space in an effort to secure it, simultaneously with attempts to forge open and inclusive spaces that facilitate cross-border flows of goods, people, and ideas.
Publications related to European/EU Studies
Kuus, M. Geopolitics and Expertise: Knowledge and Authority in European Diplomacy, Wiley-Blackwell, 2014
Kuus, M. ‘Europe’, in R. Kitchin and N. Thrift. (Editors-in-Chief) The International Encyclopedia of Human Geography. Elsevier, 2009.
Kuus, M. ‘All We Need is NATO? Frontiers of Security Cooperation in Europe’. In Klaus Dodds and Alan Ingram, eds. Spaces of In/Security: New Geographies of the War on Terror. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2009.
Kuus, M. ‘Švejkian Geopolitics: Subversive Obedience in Central Europe’. Geopolitics. vol. 13, no. 2, 2008, pp. 257- 277.
Kuus, M. ‘The Ritual of Listening to Foreigners: Appropriating Geopolitics in Central Europe’, in N. Parker (ed.) The Geopolitics of Europe's Identity: Centers, Boundaries, and Margins. New York: Palgrave, 2008, pp. 177-194.
Kuus, M. Geopolitics Reframed: Security and Identity in Europe’s Eastern Enlargement. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.
Kuus, M. ‘‘Love, Peace and Nato’: Imperial Subject-Making in Central Europe’. Antipode, vol. 39, no. 2, 2007, pp. 269-290.
Kuus, M. ‘Intellectuals and Geopolitics: The ‘Cultural Politicians’ of Central
Kuus, M. ‘Multiple Europes: Boundaries and Margins in European Union Enlargement’. Editorial introduction to a discussion forum on EU enlargement Geopolitics, vol. 10, no. 3, 2005, pp. 567-570. Contributors to the forum: John Agnew, Michael Heffernan, Alexander Murphy, Anssi Paasi.
Kuus, M. ‘Europe’, in R. Kitchin and N. Thrift. (Editors-in-Chief) The International Encyclopedia of Human Geography. Elsevier, 2009.
Kuus, M. ‘All We Need is NATO? Frontiers of Security Cooperation in Europe’. In Klaus Dodds and Alan Ingram, eds. Spaces of In/Security: New Geographies of the War on Terror. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2009.
Kuus, M. ‘Švejkian Geopolitics: Subversive Obedience in Central Europe’. Geopolitics. vol. 13, no. 2, 2008, pp. 257- 277.
Kuus, M. ‘The Ritual of Listening to Foreigners: Appropriating Geopolitics in Central Europe’, in N. Parker (ed.) The Geopolitics of Europe's Identity: Centers, Boundaries, and Margins. New York: Palgrave, 2008, pp. 177-194.
Kuus, M. Geopolitics Reframed: Security and Identity in Europe’s Eastern Enlargement. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.
Kuus, M. ‘‘Love, Peace and Nato’: Imperial Subject-Making in Central Europe’. Antipode, vol. 39, no. 2, 2007, pp. 269-290.
Kuus, M. ‘Intellectuals and Geopolitics: The ‘Cultural Politicians’ of Central
Kuus, M. ‘Multiple Europes: Boundaries and Margins in European Union Enlargement’. Editorial introduction to a discussion forum on EU enlargement Geopolitics, vol. 10, no. 3, 2005, pp. 567-570. Contributors to the forum: John Agnew, Michael Heffernan, Alexander Murphy, Anssi Paasi.
Institution
University of British Columbia, Department of Geography
Department Phone Number
604-822-3443
E-mail
Website
Other important publications
Dr. Kuus serves as a review editor (together with Marcus Power) for the journal ‘Geopolitics’. She also co-edits a book series, titled ‘Critical Geopolitics’ for Ashgate.
Kuus, M. “Critical Geopolitics”. Essay for the Compendium of International Studies. (In press, expected in print by the end of 2009).
Kuus, M. ‘Political Geography and Geopolitics’. (Contribution to a special series of articles on the direction of Canadian geography.) The Canadian Geographer (TCG) / Le Géographe Canadien (LGC) 53 (1) 2009: 86-90.
Kuus, M. “Critical Geopolitics”. Essay for the Compendium of International Studies. (In press, expected in print by the end of 2009).
Kuus, M. ‘Political Geography and Geopolitics’. (Contribution to a special series of articles on the direction of Canadian geography.) The Canadian Geographer (TCG) / Le Géographe Canadien (LGC) 53 (1) 2009: 86-90.
Education and professional achievements
Doctor of Philosophy, Geography, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, USA. 1999.
Master of Science, Geography, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA, USA. 1994.
Diploma (equivalent of B.A.), Geography, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia. 1992..
Master of Science, Geography, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA, USA. 1994.
Diploma (equivalent of B.A.), Geography, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia. 1992..
Courses taught
GEOG 391 - Geography of Europe (undergraduate lecture), GEOG 453 - Political Geographic (undergraduate seminar), GEOG 493 - Contemporary Europe: Identity and Geopolitics (advanced undergraduate lecture), EOG 533 - Political Geography: Territoriality, Identity, Agency (graduate seminar)
Fluent spoken languages
English
Fluent written languages
English
