Biography
After studying Geography and the Middle East at the School of Oriental and African Studies and the University of Durham in the early 1980s, Richard Schofield spent a couple of years running an oriental bookshop in London, simultaneously writing up his master's thesis on the Shatt al Arab (Iran-Iraq) dispute for publication.
Thereafter, he collaborated with Gerald Blake in a major archival research project on Arabian Boundaries, the success of which allowed for the institution of Durham’s International Boundaries Research Unit in 1989.
Richard then joined the SOAS Geography Department part-time to help run its Geopolitics Research Centre. Most other time was spent in dusty government archives, either compiling lengthy and detailed documentary anthologies on Britain’s colonial boundaries or researching historical aspects of live boundary cases in International Law.
Richard founded the highly-rated 'Geopolitics (and International Boundaries)' journal in 1996 and took up a full-time post during 1997 in SOAS Geography to launch and convene the master's programme in International Boundary Studies. This survives at King’s in modified and expanded form to constitute Geography’s well-regarded Geopolitics, Territory and Security programme.
Research
- Territorial policy in decolonisation
- The unique geopolitics of island sovereignty dispute
- Delimitation questions in complex territorial dispute settlement
- Historiography in boundary and border geographies
- Multi-disciplinarity and dispute settlement
Richard has long been interested in the treatment of international boundaries and territorial definition within political geography and the social sciences more generally, as reflected in his founding of the 'Geopolitics' journal in 1996.
He is a specialist in archival sources for the study of boundary and territorial disputes, particularly those of the Arabian Peninsula and Persian Gulf, the regional focus of his research interests.
Teaching
Undergraduate
- 5SSG2040 Territory, State and Nation
- 7SSG5212 Critical Geopolitics
Postgraduate
- Geopolitics, Territory and Security MA
- 7SSG5090 Boundaries, Sovereignty and the Territorial State
- 7SSG5091 Territorial and Boundary Dispute Resolution
- 7SSG5092 Geopolitics of Natural Resource Disputes
- 7SSG5153 Critical Geographies of Terrorism
PhD supervision
Richard welcomes students looking to research:
- The evolution of disputed international boundaries
- Imperial territorial policy and boundary-making.
- Emerging territorialities at the state and sub-state level
- Developing borderland geographies
- Territorial disputes as symbols of national and regional rivalries
- Political geography/Geopolitics of the Arabian Peninsula/Persian Gulf
Further details
See Richard's research profile
-
Joffé, E. G. H. . (ed.) & Schofield, R. N. (ed.), 2021, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. 217 p. (History and society in the Islamic world) Research output: Book/Report › Book
-
Joffé, G. & Schofield, R., 26 Oct 2020, Geographic Realities in the Middle East and North Africa: State, Oil and Agriculture. Taylor and Francis, p. 1-7 7 p. Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
-
Schofield, R., 26 Oct 2020, Geographic Realities in the Middle East and North Africa: State, Oil and Agriculture. Taylor and Francis, p. 11-24 14 p. Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
-
Agnew, J., Dalby, S., Flint, C., Mamadouh, V., Schofield, R. & Newman, D., 15 Jul 2020, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Geopolitics. 25, 5, p. 1199-1227 28 p. Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1080/14650045.2020.1789802
-
Schofield, R., 26 May 2020, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Mediterranean Politics. 25, 3, p. 394-411 18 p. Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1080/13629395.2020.1743574
-
Schofield, R., 15 Jun 2018, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Egypte/Monde Arabe. 18, 2, p. 149-161 13 p. Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.4000/ema.4279
-
Schofield, R., 3 Jul 2018, In: Geopolitics. 23, 3, p. 608-631 Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1080/14650045.2017.1374246
-
Schofield, R. N., 24 Oct 2016, Orients Strategiques: Les Frontieres dans le Monde Arabe: Quel Enjeux de Pouvoirs Aux Marges des Etats. 4 ed. Paris: L'Harmattan, Vol. 2016. p. 61 75 p. Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
-
Schofield, R. N., 1 Jan 2016, From the Gulf to Ararat: Imperial Boundary Making in the Late Ottoman Empire by G.E. Hubbard. Hubbard, G. E. (ed.). I. B. Tauris, p. xii-xxiii 11 p. Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
-
Schofield, R. N., 1 Jan 2017, Routledge Library Edition ed. London: Routledge. 256 p. (History of the Middle East) Research output: Book/Report › Book › peer-review