Introduction to

Geopolitics

 The predominant ways world

politics has been represented
A defining element of modernity

KEY CONCEPTS IN
GEOPOLITICAL IMAGINATION
1. Visualizing the world as a whole
2. Definition of geographical areas as advanced or
primitive
3. State as the highest political organization
4. The pursuit of primacy by competing states

VISUALIZING THE WORLD

AS A WHOLE
Imaginative ability to transcend the spatial
limits and visualizes the world as a picture
Global Visualization - the conception of the
world as a single physical-political entity
(beginning in late 15th and early 16th
century)
Magellan (1522) the first circumnavigation of
the Earth

VISUALIZING THE WORLD

AS A WHOLE
Ptolemys world map was the most dominant
model of the world during Renaissance
Discoveries were important to fill in new
information to the maps
The world appears as a meaningful whole any
part of it could be understood only in relation
to the whole

VISUALIZING THE WORLD

AS A WHOLE

DEFINITION OF GEOGRAPHICAL
AREAS AS ADVANCED OR PRIMITIVE
Translating / turning / converting time into
space
Primitive/
Backward

vs.

Advanced/
Modern

Attributes of different times (primitive &

advanced) define the blocks of space
identified in world map expression of time in
spatial terms (started with Columbus
discovery and developed during colonialism)

DEFINITION OF GEOGRAPHICAL
AREAS AS ADVANCED OR PRIMITIVE

DEFINITION OF GEOGRAPHICAL
AREAS AS ADVANCED OR PRIMITIVE
Expression of time in spatial terms during the
20th century
FIRST WORLD Advanced Capitalist World
SECOND WORLD Communist World
THIRD WORLD Former Colonized World

STATE AS THE HIGHEST

POLITICAL ORGANIZATION

POWER :
WHO GETS WHAT, WHERE
AND HOW

STATE AS THE HIGHEST

POLITICAL ORGANIZATION
Power the ability to make others do something
you desire
19th century - power is associated with territorial
states (usually nation-states)
Statism nothing can override the power of a
sovereign state
Peace of Wesphalia 1648 the beginning of
Westphalian modern state system recognition
of each others sovereignty over a given state
territory

STATE AS THE HIGHEST

POLITICAL ORGANIZATION
Three assumptions that produce state-centred
view of power:
1.States have exclusive power within their
territory = Sovereignty
2.Separate realms of domestic (political
science) and foreign affairs (I.R.)
3.Boundaries of the state define the
boundaries of society (state as container of
society)

National Political Systems

Unitary Nation-States
e.g. Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Great Britain, The
Netherlands, Japan, Poland, Romania, the
Scandinavian countries, Spain, and many of the
Latin-American and African countries
basically a single tier of government with varying
degrees decentralization - some are
decentralized so much as to resemble federal
states, some allow limited regional rule, others
have only token decentralization

National Political Systems

Federal Systems
e.g. Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada,
India, Russia, and the United States, Austria,
Germany, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria,
Switzerland, and Venezuela
political authority is divided between two
autonomous sets of governments, one
national and the other sub-national, both of
which operate directly upon the people

World Governments in 1900

World Governments in 1950

World Governments in 2000

World Governments in 2050

?!?!?

THE PURSUIT OF PRIMACY BY

COMPETING STATES
In reality, states are inequal there is a
hierarchy of states
Imperialism and arms races are examples of
the pursuit to become Great Powers
The state system is inherently conflictual at
all times anarchic state of nature
Only primacy / dominant global position can
guarantee the survival of the state

THE PURSUIT OF PRIMACY BY

COMPETING STATES
Hegemonic strategy a state increases its
relative power
Balance-of-power strategy another state
tries to imitate the superior state or balance
against it by forming allies

THE PURSUIT OF PRIMACY BY

COMPETING STATES
Realism world politics is the contest of
nations to gain power (Morgenthau)
3S
Statism
Survival
Self-help

CLASSICAL / TRADITIONAL
GEOPOLITICS
Focused on expansion, strategy and power
acquisition closely related to political
realism

Alfred Thayer Mahan: 1890

Sea power necessary to facilitate trade and
peaceful commerce
The country that possessed power would be
one that could control the sea
Development of a strong navy was essential
ingredient to a powerful state as was the
countrys location
Most powerful country would have accessible
and large coastline and good harbors

Mahan

Friedrich Ratzel
Organic Theory of
States
lebensraum

ORGANIC STATE THEORY:

1897
* Founded by Friedrich Ratzel
The state is an organism conforming to
natural laws and forced to grow & expand
into new territories in order to secure
resources needed for survival.
State requires lebensraum
Translates to living space
Adolf Hitler used this theory to invade surrounding
countries and build German nationalism
Must devour other territories to achieve this goal

HEARTLAND THEORY
Founded by Sir Halford Mackinder
World power is based on the assumption that the
land based state controlling the EURASIAN
heartland has the key to world domination.
Advent of railroads
released countries from
dependence on navy to
move to army
Warfare would move from
the water to land
Railroads would make
heartland easy to defend
and hard to conquer

Heartland Theory Contd.

Summary:
Believed the physical geographical quantities
(land) are the most important aspect of state
Criticized for oversimplifying the complexity of
factors that shape global geopolitics

Containment Theory
Extension of Mackinder
Isolation of Soviets after 1917
George Kennan (State Dept)
resurrects after WWII
Encircle USSR with military
bases, treaties, alliances

Rimland Theory

Nicolas Spykman
Control land around
Increase naval presence
Greater global intervention

DOMINO THEORY
Cold War and Eastern Europe
Destabilization from any cause in 1 country can result in the collapse of
order in a neighboring country leading to a chain of events that affect
adjoining states in turn.

Korea (1950)
Vietnam (1964)
Afghanistan (1980)

CRITICAL GEOPOLITICS
More thorough examination about the ideologies
behind crafting states and policies that reinforce
their political behaviours
Emerged in 1990s rejecting classical
geopolitical reasoning
Tries to delegitimize classical geopolitics by
placing it in historical context

CRITICAL GEOPOLITICS
Tries to delegitimize classical geopolitics by
placing it in historical context
Associated with poststructuralism, feminism
and postcolonialism