Gerard Toal (; born 1962 in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

Hague, Euan (2004): Gearóid Ó Tuathail (Gerard Toal). In: Hubbard, Phil, Rob Kitchin and Gill Valentine (Eds.): Key thinkers on space and place. London: Sage Pubn Inc. pp. 226–230.) is Professor of Government and International Affairs at

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...

Career

Toal holds a B.A. in

History History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

and

Geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

from

National University of Ireland, Maynooth Maynooth University (MU) (), is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland in Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland. Maynooth University was formerly known as National University of Ireland, Maynooth (NUIM; ). It was Ireland ...

, an M.A. in Geography from the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...

(1984), and a Ph.D. in

Political Geography Political geography is concerned with the study of both the spatially uneven outcomes of political processes and the ways in which political processes are themselves affected by spatial structures. Conventionally, for the purposes of analysis, ...

from

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

(1989). He served for ten years as an Assistant Professor of Geography at

Virginia Tech The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...

in Blacksburg, before establishing the Government and International Affairs program in th
School of Public and International Affairs.
He has held fellowships at the Copenhagen Peace Research Institute, and the Center for International Studies at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

. Toal has authored, co-authored, and/or edited eight books. ''Bosnia Remade: Ethnic Cleansing and Its Reversal'', co-authored with Dr Carl Dahlman, won the Julian Minghi Book Prize from the Political Geography Specialty Group. ''Near Abroad: Putin, the West, and the Contest over Ukraine and the Caucasus'' won th
ENMISA Distinguished Book Award
from the International Studies Association in 2019. He has served as an associate editor for the academic journals ''

Geopolitics Geopolitics () is the study of the effects of Earth's geography on politics and international relations. Geopolitics usually refers to countries and relations between them, it may also focus on two other kinds of State (polity), states: ''de fac ...

'' and '' Eurasian Geography and Economics.'' He currently serves on the editorial board of ''

'', '' Eurasian Geography and Economics'', ''

Nationalities Papers ''Nationalities Papers'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by Cambridge University Press for the Association for the Study of Nationalities. The editor-in-chief is Harris Mylonas (George Washington University). It publishes articles o ...

'' and '' Communist and Post-Communist Studies''. His research specializations include critical geopolitics,

nationalism Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, I ...

political geography Political geography is concerned with the study of both the spatially uneven outcomes of political processes and the ways in which political processes are themselves affected by spatial structures. Conventionally, for the purposes of analysis, ...

post-Communism Post-communism is the period of political and economic transformation or transition in post-Soviet states and other formerly communist states located in Central-Eastern Europe and parts of Latin America, Africa, and Asia, in which new governments ...

globalization Globalization is the process of increasing interdependence and integration among the economies, markets, societies, and cultures of different countries worldwide. This is made possible by the reduction of barriers to international trade, th ...

territorial disputes A territorial dispute or boundary dispute is a disagreement over the possession or control of territories (land, water or airspace) between two or more political entities. Context and definitions Territorial disputes are often related to the ...

, and

discourse analysis Discourse analysis (DA), or discourse studies, is an approach to the analysis of written, spoken, or sign language, including any significant semiotic event. The objects of discourse analysis (discourse, writing, conversation, communicative sy ...

. He has published on various field research projects in

Bosnia-Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to the north a ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...

, and

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. In 2005, Toal testified before the United States Congress on political developments in

Selected books

* G. Toal, ''Near Abroad: Putin, the West, and the Contest over Ukraine and the Caucasus'' Oxford University Press, 2017. * G. Toal, C. Dahlman, ''Bosnia Remade: Ethnic Cleansing and its Reversal.'' Oxford University Press, 2011. * G. Ó Tuathail, S. Dalby and P. Routledge, ''The Geopolitics Reader''. Second edition. Routledge, 2006. * J. Agnew, K. Mitchell and G. Toal, eds. ''A Companion to Political Geography''. Blackwell, 2004. * S. Dalby and G. Ó Tuathail, eds., ''Rethinking Geopolitics''. Routledge, 1998. * G. Ó Tuathail, S. Dalby and P. Routledge, ''The Geopolitics Reader''. First edition. Routledge, 1998. * A. Herod, G. Ó Tuathail and S. Roberts, eds. ''An Unruly World? Geography, Globalization and Governance''. Routledge, 1998. * G. Ó Tuathail, ''Critical Geopolitics: The Politics of Writing Global Space''. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press (Volume 6 in the Borderlines series) and London: Routledge, 1996.

References

External links

Gerard Toal's blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Toal, Gerard 1962 births 20th-century Irish people 21st-century Irish people People from County Monaghan Geopoliticians Irish geographers Living people Political geographers Virginia Tech faculty Alumni of St Patrick's College, Maynooth

Career

Selected books

Further reading

References

External links