Sea Blindness - JPB289

• Title: Sea Blindness
• Czech title: Námořní slepota
• Form of teaching: lecture+seminar
• Guaranteed by: Department of Political Science (23-KP)
• Faculty: Faculty of Social Sciences
• Actual: from 2025
• Duration in semesters: 1
• Semester: winter
• E-Credits: 6
• Examination process: winter s.:
• Hours per week, examination: winter s.:2/0, Ex [HT]
• Capacity: unlimited / unknown (25)
• Maximum number of enrolled students: 25
• Min. number of students: unlimited
• 4EU+: no
• Virtual mobility / capacity: no
• State of the course: taught
• Language: English
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Repeated enrollment: 2 / 2 / 1 / 2
• Note: course can be enrolled in outside the study plan; enabled for web enrollment; priority enrollment if the course is part of the study plan
• Guarantor: PhDr. Michael Romancov, Ph.D.
• Teacher(s): PhDr. Michael Romancov, Ph.D.

Teaching methods

Due to the teaching method (lecture), because no seminar paper is required, and due to the evaluation method (multiple choice answers test), the use of AI tools is unnecessary and not permitted.

Last update: Romancov Michael, PhDr., Ph.D. (26.09.2025)

Syllabus

Sea Blindness JPB289

 

In the academic year 2025/2026, the Sea Blindness course is included in the curriculum for the first time. The main motivation for its creation was the effort to provide students with the broadest possible view of the so-called water dimension of the world, which plays a fundamental, but not entirely visible, role in our history and lives. Hence the name Sea Blindness. Since this is the first year of teaching, I would like to point out that some of the expected lecture topics may be expanded or narrowed. Everything will gradually emerge from discussions with students who enroll in the course.

The purpose of this course is threefold. Firstly, to present the world ocean as a communication zone that connects humanity and represents one of the most important places in world history. Secondly, as a space of (in)visible economic activities. Thirdly, as an environmental zone, the state of which will have a fundamental impact on climate change.

 

Indicative list of topics covered (Attention, this is not a list of individual lectures, but thematic areas).

1. What is the world ocean, how and why is it divided.

2. International law and the world ocean. UNCLOS regime.

3. Fishing.

4. Maritime transport and SLOC.

5. Extraction of raw materials from the seabed.

6. Environmental dimensions of the world ocean.

7. Maritime nations and their footprint in human history - antiquity, the Middle Ages, the modern era.

8. World War I and II in the waters of the world ocean.

9. The Cold War in the waters of the world's oceans.

10. Piracy.

11. Thalassokracy.

12. Typology of ships, naval forces and categories of naval powers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Preliminary List of Recommended literature:

Abulafia, David (2019): The Boundless Sea. A Human History of the Oceans. Lonon. Penguin Books.

Abulafia, David (2011): The Great Sea: A Human History of the Mediterranean, Oxford. Penguin Books.

Frankopan, Peter (2015): The Silk Roads. A New History of the World. London. Bloomsbury.

Glassner, Martin (1990): Neptunes Domain. Political Geography of the Sea. New York. Routledge.

Dalrymple. William (2024): The Golden Road. How Ancient India Transformed the World. London. Bloomsbury.

Mearsheimer, John (2001):  The Tragedy of Great Power Politics. Chicago. W. W. Norton and Comp.

Romancov, Michael (2022): Námořní slepota. Praha. N média (In Czech language only).

 

Course completion and classification

This course concludes with an written exam, which will be in the form of a test with 20 multiple choice questions. To successfully pass the test, you will need to obtain at least 12 points (see grading scale below). No seminar paper or mid-term test is expected.

 

Grading scale:

20, 19 correct answers (A), 18/17 (B), 16/15 (C), 14/13 (D), 12 (E). Below 12 (F).

 

Last update: Romancov Michael, PhDr., Ph.D. (15.09.2025)