The relationship between social movements and geography: A critical geopolitical analysis of the cases of Iran, Egypt, Hungary and France

This thesis aims to analyze the multi-layered relationship between social movements and structures of power through the lens of critical geopolitics. In order to determine the boundaries of the study while examining the relationship between critical geopolitics and social movements, women's movements and economy-motivated movements that emerged in Iran, Egypt, Hungary and France in 2000 and after were selected as examples. The geopolitical position and foreign policy orientation of states not only shape their international interactions but also have a significant impact on their domestic political structures and social dynamics. In this context, women's movements and economically motivated social movements constitute key sites of resistance by producing counter-narratives and alternative political visions against the hegemonic discourses generated by governments in both domestic and international arenas. These movements have emerged as central actors in the struggle for power within the domestic sphere. The theoretical framework of the study is built upon critical geopolitics, feminist geopolitics, and Marxist geopolitics. These approaches offer a conceptual foundation for analyzing the spatial organization of movements, their symbolic forms of resistance, and their confrontational relationships with state power. The countries selected in this study possess different types of political regimes, social structures, and cultural codes. This provides an opportunity to comparatively examine the similarities and differences in the relationship between women's movements, economically motivated movements, and structures of power across various contexts. In examining these movements, the study seeks to reveal how the prevailing social, political, economic, and cultural structures in the countries where they emerged have shaped both the possibilities and constraints of their activism, as well as the attitudes of governments toward these movements. In doing so, it is aimed to understand the effects of place and space on the relationship between social movements and power structures within the framework of the perspective offered by critical geopolitics.