Geopolitics is how the geography of a country affects the decisions a state makes, with relation to the politics of the state. It’s alliances, it’s strategic competitors and what resources is has at it’s disposal. Geopolitics is also the study of rural areas, smaller demographics, it’s not just the study of large states. I’d also like to think geopolitics as a study of immigration and smaller communities as they all play a part in shaping the politics of a nation state.
Dave Lee
Brief History Of Geopolitics
Rudolf Kjellen first coined the term Geopolitics in the late 1800’s, after learning from the work of Friedrich Ratzel (early 1800’s) and Carl Ritter (the first geopolitics expert). Carl Ritter saw countries as ever evolving organic entities with dynamic borders.
Alfred Thayer Mahan (late 1800’s) developed the sea power theory. The antithesis to Alfred Thayer Mahan’s sea power theory is land power, which was developed by Halford Mackinder (early 1900’s) he developed the theory of land power. Which he thought was a far more dominant strategy than using the sea and a strategy to control the world through the use of land power.
The term comes from Greek words γη-γώνη or γη-πόλις meaning land–city or land–power. The theory is based on the understanding that geopolitics is the study of the interaction among different human communities. Primarily states, as a means of shaping international relations and international political economy.
Geopolitics is the study of how control and interests in international relations create and maintain the geographical patterns of political and national relationships. The origins of geopolitics can be found in the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, and the Mediterranean. As well as the ancient Greek and Roman approaches to geography and the role of geography and geography and natural resources in the Great.
Geopolitics is a broad field that encompasses several geographies all around the globe. The subfield of geopolitics documents the international interactions of various nations, surveying international interventions and examining the motivations behind them. The foundations of geopolitics work as a textbook for the subject, providing an overview from an American standpoint, giving a general understanding of geopolitics.
Here are a few other geopolitical analysis articles I’ve written:
