How John Agnew Transformed Geographic Thinking: The Territorial Trap and Beyond - Michael Shin

This book explores the intellectual legacy of John Agnew, one of geography’s most influential thinkers of the past 50 years. It examines Agnew’s transformative thinking on geopolitics, territory, place, and context, demonstrating how his ideas reshaped political geography and continue to inform contemporary scholarship across geography, political science, and international relations.

Through a comprehensive understanding of Agnew’s contributions to geographic thought and their enduring relevance, the book offers reflections on key concepts such as the territorial trap, critical geopolitics, context, and place-based politics, showing how Agnew challenged conventional wisdom and encouraged new ways of thinking about geographical concepts. The chapters also subtly reveal how the practices of scholarly collaboration, academic mentorship, and the ways of conducting research have changed and evolved over recent decades. By connecting Agnew’s ideas across these changing contexts, this volume serves as both retrospective appreciation and forward-looking resource for geographic inquiry.

This volume is essential reading for scholars and students in political geography, human geography, international relations, political science, and political sociology. It will appeal to those interested in geographic theory, geopolitical analysis, territory, context, and the concept of place. It also reveals how research unfolds within and across disciplinary boundaries, offering insights into collaborative scholarship at the intersection of space, power, and politics.