Matthew Sparke

Matthew Sparke is a leading academic in critical geography, focusing on the intersections of geopolitics, geoeconomics, and capitalist development. His work interrogates the dialectical relationships between spatial fixity and capitalist expansion, emphasizing how hegemonic shifts in global power structures—particularly the rise of China and the decline of Western dominance—redefine geoeconomic and geopolitical discourses. Sparke's scholarship synthesizes Gramscian and conjunctural analysis to reveal how territorial visions, cultural power, and economic statecraft interweave in global conflicts.

• Key Contributions: Dialectical analysis of geopolitics/geoeconomics, critical theory of globalization, and conjunctural methodologies.
• Research Themes: US-China competition, Belt and Road Initiative, neoliberalism, and security-driven economic policies.

His articles highlight the instrumentalization of geoeconomic concepts by state actors and the need for critical approaches to counter discursive determinism. Sparke's work bridges urban, regional, and international scales, offering a multidisciplinary lens on global capitalist tensions.