Geopolitics

Prepared by Dr. Mehssen Macary

“Geopolitics may be defined, crudely, as the influence of

geography upon politics: how distance and terrain and
climate affect the affairs of states and men. Because of
geography, for example, Athens was a thalassocracy - a
sea empire - whereas Sparta was a land power.”
Sir Halford Mackinder
Contents

 Definitions
 Theories
 Maps
What is Geopolitics?
 Geopolitics is derived from Greek word:
“Ge” means earth and “Politike” means Politics. Hence
geopolitics is the study of the effects of geography on
international politics and relations.

 Arguments about the political effects of geography

particularly climate, topography, arable land, and
access to the sea, have appeared in Western political
thought since at least the ancient Greek era and were
prominent in the writings of philosophers as diverse
as Aristotle (384–322 BC) and Montesquieu (1689–
1745).
 The best-known body of geopolitical writings is the
extensive literature of the late 19th and early 20th
centuries, much of which focused on the impact on
World Politics of the new technologies of
the Industrial Revolution.
 Alfred Thayer Mahan, Halford Mackinder, John
Seeley, Karl Haushofer, Friedrich Ratzel, H.G. Wells,
Nicholas Spykman, Homer Lea, Frederick
Teggart, Frederick Jackson Turner, James
Burnham,E.H. Carr, Paul Vidal de la Blache etc.
 2nd World War is the base which divides the views on
geopolitics into two parts-
1. before 2nd World War- classical geopolitical views:-
 a) Friedrich Ratzel
 b) Rudolf Kjellen
 c) Halford Mackinder
 d) Alfred Thayer Mahan
 e) Nicholas Spykman
2. After 2nd World War- contemporary geopolitical views
What is Geopolitics?
 Geopolitics
 The study of power relationships past, present,
and future
 The study of the relationship among politics and
geography, demography, and economics,
especially with respect to the foreign policy of a
nation.
 A branch of political geography that considers the
strategic value of land and sea area in the context
of national economic and military power and
ambitions
 The state’s power to control space or territory and
shape the foreign policy of individual states and
international political relations
 Geopolitics is concerned with how geographical
factors, including territory, population, strategic
location, and natural resource endowments, as
modified by economics and technology, affect the
relations between states and the struggle for world
domination.

 Geopolitics is defined as a branch of geography

that promises to explain the relationships between
geographical realities and international affairs.
Alfred Thayer Mahan (1840-1914)
Alfred Thayer Mahan

 Was a United States naval officer and

historian, whom John Keegan called "the
most important American strategist of the
nineteenth century.
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 seas
Development of a strong navy was an essential
ingredient to a powerful state as was the country's
location
Most power would be held by a country with
accessible relative location and connected with a long
coastline and good harbors
Power held north of the Suez and Panama Canals.
Mahan
 He said by mastering the seas, countries could also gain
huge benefits from trade. To him, sea was a great
highway, a wide common over-bridge.

 Six fundamental elements of sea-power-

1. Geographical Location
2. Physical Conformation
3. Extent of Territory
4. Size of Population
5. National Character
6. Political Leadership and its Policies
Friedrich Ratzel 1844-1904
Friedrich Ratzel

 Friedrich Ratzel was a German geographer

and a zoologist, also known as ‘father of
modern geography’.
Friedrich Ratzel

 Studied the behavior of states

 The state ‘resembles’ a biological organism
whose life cycle extends from birth through
maturity, decline and death, possibly even
rebirth
 State requires nourishment
 Nourishment is provided through
acquisition of less powerful competitors’
territories and their cultural components
 One could determine the general well-
being of the state by regarding its size as
measured according to its geographic
expansion or contraction over time
 Must devour other territories to achieve this
goal
Friedrich Ratzel

 The Organic Theory holds that a nation

would behave and function as an
organism.
 Contributed to expansionist Nazi
philosophies of the 1930’s
 For a time after association with Nazi
powers, geopolitics was a negative term;
over time has emerged as a positive term
Sir Halford Mackinder 1861-1947, Britain
Sir Halford Mackinder

 Sir Halford John Mackinder (15 February 1861 – 6

March 1947) was an English geographer, academic,
politician, the first Principal of University Extension
College, Reading (which became the University of
Reading) and Director of the London School of
Economics, who is regarded as one of the founding
fathers of both Geopolitics and Geostrategy.
Sir Halford Mackinder
 Created to justify the strategic value of
colonialism and explain the dynamic
processes and possibilities behind the new
world map created by imperialism
 Theory highlighted the importance of
geography to world political and economic
stability and conflict
 Eurasia was the most likely base from
which a successful campaign for world
conquest could be launched
 Considered Eurasia’s closed heartland the
‘geographical pivot’, the location central to
establishing world control
 Maritime exploration was coming to a
close, and land based transportation
technology would reinstate land based
powers as essential to political dominance
 Envisioned the world as dominated by a
global superpower
Sir Halford Mackinder
 At this time, Russia controlled a large portion of the
Eurasian continent protected from British sea power
 Suggested that the empire of the world would be in sight if
one power or a combination of powers (Russia/Germany
or China/Japan) came to control the heartland

He who rules East Europe commands the Heartland

Who rules the Heartland commands the World Island
Who rules the World Island rules the world

 Originally when this was proposed it was not applicable

because Russia was weak and Eastern Europe fractured.
However, after the emergence of the Soviet Union and
WWII, the theory was taken seriously.
Mackinder
Mackinder
With its vast industrial and agricultural resources, the Heartland
could conquer Europe, the Middle-East, India and the Far-East.
The other landmasses would follow later.
These landmasses included the following:
Inner or Marginal Crescent:
This included the rest of Europe, India, South-East Asia and East
Asia.
Outer or Insular Crescent:
These included North and South America, Australia, Africa south of
Sahara, Great Britain and Japan.
Secondary Heartland:
This was represented by Sub-Saharan Africa connected to the
main Heartland through a main bridge (Saudi Arabia).
Karl Haushofer (1869 –1946)
Karl Haushofer

 Was a German general, geographer and

politician. Through his student Rudolf Hess,
Haushofer's ideas influenced the
development of Adolf Hitler's expansionist
strategies, although Haushofer denied direct
influence on the Nazi regime.
Hauschofer: about 1914
 Proponent of Mackinder's Heartland Theory
 Identified three pan regions
 Pan regions were north/south situated blocs
of power
 Anglo America/Latin America
 Europe (German dominated)/Africa and
India
 Japan/Southeast Asia
Hauschofer: about 1914
Nicholas Spykman (1893-1943)
Nicholas Spykman

 Was an American political scientist who was

one of the founders of the classical realist
school in American foreign policy, transmitting
Eastern European political thought into the
United States.
Nicholas Spykman
 Argued the Eurasian rim held the key to global power
 The rim-land is a fragmented zone and unlikely to fall
under one superpower as the heartland might
 These continental margins contained dense
populations, abundant resources, and had controlling
access both to the seas and to the continental interior
 The rim-land had tended throughout history to be
politically fragmented and Spykman concluded that it
would be to the advantage of both the US and USSR
if it was kept that way
 A divided rim-land was the key to the world’s balance
of power
Nicholas Spykman
Who controls the Rimland rules Eurasia
Who rules Eurasia controls the destinies of the world

 2004: Four Potential Superpowers

 Russia
 China
 Europe
 United States

Post WWII: Communism and Capitalist

What superpower has emerged post 9/11?
What does the power arrangement look like today?
Spykman
Alexander P. de Seversky (1894-1974)
A.P. Seversky

 Was a Russian-American aviation pioneer,

inventor, and influential advocate of strategic
air power.
A.P. Seversky
 Air Power made land battles obsolete
 Whoever controls the skies would be the
world power
 U.S. and the U.S.S.R.
 An area of intersection was the “area of
decision”
 Whoever controlled this area would be
dominant
Immanuel Wallerstein (1930)
Immanuel Wallerstein

 Is an American sociologist, historical social

scientist, and world-systems analyst,
arguably best known for his development of
the general approach in sociology which led
to the emergence of his world-systems
approach.
Immanuel Wallerstein: 1970’s
 A world system: is a social system, one that has
boundaries, structures, member groups, rules of
legitimization, and coherence.

 Three geographic areas

 Core:
 Advanced areas

 Strong state structures and a national culture

 Economic powers connected by trade and

technology
 Exploiters of the periphery
 Periphery:

Weak states
 Dependent on core

 Colonial states or states with a low

degree of autonomy

 Semi Periphery:
 Act as a buffer between the core and the

periphery
 Emerging somewhat but still dependent

on the core
Immanuel Wallerstein: 1970’s

 Thank you