John Agnew

John Agnew is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Geography at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he also holds a professorship in Italian. He received his B.A. (Hons.) in Geography and Politics from the University of Exeter in 1970, Certificate in Education from the University of Liverpool in 1971, M.A. in Geography from Ohio State University in 1973, and Ph.D. in Geography from Ohio State University in 1976. Agnew taught at Syracuse University from 1975 to 1996, earning the Chancellor’s Award for Distinguished Scholarship in 1996 and the Wasserstrom Award for Graduate Teaching in 1995. Since joining UCLA in 1996, he has been a leading scholar in political geography, serving as President of the American Association of Geographers from 2008 to 2009 and founding editor-in-chief of the journal Territory, Politics, Governance. He has held numerous visiting professorships, including at the University of Chicago, University of Siena, Queen’s University Belfast, and University of British Columbia.

Agnew’s research focuses on political geography, geopolitics of the world economy, territoriality and sovereignty, European urbanization, and place and politics in modern Italy. His influential publications include the highly cited article “The Territorial Trap: The Geographical Assumptions of International Relations Theory” (1994), books such as Geopolitics: Re-visioning World Politics (second edition, 2003), Hegemony: The New Shape of Global Power (2005), Globalization and Sovereignty: Beyond the Territorial Trap (second edition, 2018), Place and Politics: The Geographical Mediation of State and Society (1987), and Mapping Populism: Taking Politics to the People (2019, with Michael Shin). He has received prestigious honors, including a Guggenheim Fellowship (2003-2004), the UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award (2007), the Distinguished Scholarship Award from the American Association of Geographers (2006), the Vautrin-Lud Prize (2019), the Charles P. Daly Medal (2024), Fellowship of the British Academy (2017), and an honorary doctorate from the University of Oulu (2017). Agnew’s scholarship has significantly impacted the field by redefining concepts of territory, sovereignty, and power in global politics.

Professional Email: jagnew@geog.ucla.edu