1 - Geopolical Beginnings Flashcards
What is the initial reason for the term ‘geopolitics’ being established?
To emphasise the relationship between space and power at the global level
In which century did early thinkers on geopolitics emerge?
Mid 19th century
What was geography in the 19th century primarily focused on?
Navigation, map-making, exploration, and closely intertwined with imperialism
According to Ratzel’s 1897 book ‘Politishe Geographie’, what does each state represent?
An ‘organism’ struggling with survival - powerful states could push aside others for living space(Lebensraum) and that conflict is inevitable
Who coined the term ‘geopolitics’ in 1899?
Rudolf Kjellen
What did Kjellen emphasise in his concept of geopolitics?
The tension between geography (nature) and politics (culture) while striving for a ‘science’ of spatial and political processes(Marklund, 2014)
What does Semple’s 1903 book ‘Influences of Geographic Environment’ indicate about geography?
‘The scientifc geographer[…] finds that geographic conditions have condemned India to isolation’ - indicates geography influences social sciences
In Mackinder’s 1904 publication of the Heartland thesis, what did he attempt to illustrate about future struggles over space?
Sea power was on the wane while land power was increasing
What are the three lines outlined by Mackinder in his 1919 publication ‘Democratic Ideals and Reality’?
Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland
Who rules the Heartland commands the world-island
Who rules the world-island commands the world
Why did Mackinder fail to foresee the USA becoming the world’s leading superpower?
The USA have control through methods of soft power e.g. trade, rather than the ideas of ‘command’ that Mackinder was accustomed to, due to the imperialist and colonialist world he resided in
Name two examples of decolonial voices in classical geopolitics.
Petr Kropotkin(1914) - connected plight of peasanty in Siberia to imperial oppression as their resources had been exploited extensively
WEB Du Bois(1915) - aimed to point the role of imperial expansion as a force that creates racialised violence & was interested in race and how white supremacy was being rearticulated and reimposed
How did the division between geography and geopolitics come into place?
The geopolitical schools of thought in Nazi Germany differed greatly from those in the USA - this meant that Isaiah Bowman believed that geopolitics was skewed and violent by attempted to distance himself from other political geographers, such as Haushofer.
