Theory Flashcards
learn the important points made by each geopolitical theorist
READING 2: Heartland and Rimland in Eurasian History - Donald W. Meining
New heartland theory: (heartland = eurasian steppe and desert belt), (continental rimland = the rest of the land on the continent of the heartland), (maritime rimland = mostly seen in europe starting 19th cen), (extrainsular = outwardly oriented island states), (intrainsular = inwardly oriented island states).
New dynamic where the heartland is held captive by the surrounding rimland powers, but Russia is taking over the rimland quickly.
READING 1: The Origins and Evolutions of Geopolitics - Ladis K. D. Kristof
1960
A lil history on geopolitics.
Maps aren’t unbiased.
Organic State Theory -> Autarky and Lebensraum
Working def of GEOPOLITICS: politics geographically interpreted for its geographical content: Aims to show that the political man and the enviro are separate but do interrelate and interact.
Industrialization -> new man mastery over enviro and “AIR AGE” -> new geographical and geopolitical thinking.
Geopolitics has been misused (prone to propagandists)
READING 3: Distance and Foreign Policy: a Political Geography Approach - Alan K. Henrikson
Modern world + globalization + tv = far things feel closer, BUT physical distance still matters.
Acheson Gap (distance-related misunderstandings) still exits.
3 types of distance:
1. Gravitational (poli power fades with physical distance, but mass of the country can decrease this effect), spheres of influence
2. Topological (2 countries seem farther apart if there are more countries inbtw them), shatterbelts and buffer zones
3. Attributional (countries that are similar in poli/culture feel closer geographically), transnational partnerships and multinational institutions
READING 4: The Geopolitical Pivot of History and Early Twentieth Century Geopolitical Culture - Pascal Venier
MacKinder’s theory fits right into the UK foreign policy of the time: predicted shift from sea power dom to land power dom & predicted that Russia was to be more of a threat BUT neglected the threat of GR.
H. J. MacKinder
Born @ peak Brit Empire
Evolved his theory 3 times (1904- after Trans-Siberian railroad/1919/1943)
“The Geographical Pivot of History” lecture 1904 - MacKinder worried that dominance was moving back to land power from sea power which was bad news for the UK (naval power). Russia = “the pivot state”. Inner crescent = areas that can be reached by sea or land. Outer crescent = areas that can only be reached by sea. GR holds a central strategic position but is a minor threat. Risk of alliance btw RF and GR (2 main continental powers).
History is divided into 3 segments: pre-columbian (mobility = strength in expansion), columbian (sea is the new steppe), post columbian (transiberian railroad made areas only accessible by sea acessible thru the hinterland)
“Democratic Ideals and Reality” 1919.
Theory of position supremacy.
Heartland - Inner Crescent - Outer Crescent
Heartland
MacKinder: a portion of the Eurasian interior that using 20th cen tech could be developed into a resource and manpower base for the potential global superpower. Surrounded by an Inner and then Outer Crescent
Gravitational Distance
Political power fades with physical distance, but the mass of the country can decrease this distance. “Distance decay effect” for power exerted over other countries.
Power cores = concentrations of natural resources, tech, labor, $, organizational skills -> modifies the gravitational field of international relations.
Larger political bodies (GPs) exert a strong influence and thus seem closer than other small powers: satellite states orbiting.
The cost of an empire are highest at the margins.
Topological Distance
2 countries seem farther apart if there are more countries in btw them. Mitigated by alliances.
“sandwich system of international politics” = you are suspicious of your nextdoor neighbor and thus allies with the 1 on the other side (and this continues).
Buffer states are the functional equivalents of comforting distance.
Shatterbelt = politically fragmented area of competition
Attributional Distance
Countries that are similar in politics and culture feel closer geographically. “Political region”. Democracies feel closer to each other than they do to a dictatorship.
Mental maps of policy makers.
Most quick to change.
Acheson Gap
Distance-related misunderstandings. Foreign policy is not the same as domestic politics because of distance. Tech in communication and transport have shrunk it but it will never be eliminated.
German School of Geopolitics
Late 1800s - early 1900s
Started by transportation innovation making the world much smaller.
Unification of Germany -> Germany as the Belated Nation that had an unfairly small portion of power bc it was so new to the game.
Germany was the fastest to industrialize bc natural resources and huge scientific base.
Germany as the challenger ready to fight a noble war against UK/FR.
Organic state theory and & Lebensraum.
Friedrich Ratzel, Rudolf Kjellen, Karl Haushofer
Friedrich Ratzel (1844-1904)
German School of Geopolitics
Organic State Theory -> Lebensraum (scientific basis for state expansionist doctrines)
Rudolf Kjellen (1864-1922)
Coined “geopolitik”
Organic state theory fan
5 key concepts of the state:
1. Reich (territorial concept of Raum) - 2. Volk: racial component of the state - 3. Haushalt: call for autarky based on land (econ self-efficiency from having tons of territory filled with natty resources and a homogenous pop) - 4. Gesellschaft: social aspect of a nation’s organization and cultural appeal - 5. Regierung - the form of goc whose bureaucracy and army would contribute to the people’s pacification and coordination
Anglo-Saxon School of Geopolitics
Britain = dominating power & only global player (the status quo maintaining actor).
UK power came from maritime dominance.
USA = rising power (not cool with the status quo) (observer).
Alfred Thayer Mahan, Halford J. Mackinder
Alfred Thayer Mahan (1840-1914)
“The Influence of Sea Power upon History”
Choke point (UK didn’t try to control the whole ocean, but only the choke points like Suez canal and Gibraltar)
Fought in American civil war
Eurasian centered perspective: “The Problem of Asia”, btw Russia and UK was the “critical zone of conflict” that Russian can penetrate from the North by land and UK from the East by sea.
France and Russia - tellurocrat
US, Japan, UK, and Germany - thalassocrat.
“blue water navy” = naval force capable of global reach (only UK).
Studied the British rise to power and wanted to apply this to US
Mackinder 1919
“Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland; Who rules the Heartland commands the World Island; Who rules the World Island commands the World”
expanded pivot area to include cen europe and renamed it the heartland
CZ, Romania, Yugo, Hungary, Austria, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia added to hearland
Thought that heartland expansion reflects Allies failed naval projection and the Royal Navy in general
Karl Haushofer (1869-1946)
German Geopolitcian that advised Hitler: Autarky, Pan-regions, Land power/sea power dichotomy
GR could defeat FR if UK was occupied elsewhere and the USSR joined GR
1939-41 everything was going to Haushofer’s plan.
4 zones of influence: -1- USA zone -2- GR zone -3- USSR zone -4- Japanese zone… and that they were all about to unite against the BR empire -> to change the distribution of power.
For GR to rise UK must be defeated (by cooperation with the zones of influence)
Alexander De Seversky
Pioneer of airpower in geopolitics
Russian escaped to the US
Student of Giolio Douhet.
1941 - published about the problem of air war in the US (post pearl harbor he got loads of attention).
Argued that the US political elite think that they are safe bc of hemisphereic isolation, but actually its only a matter of time till Japan, GR, or USSR have bomber planes that can conquer these distances.
Argued that the next war would begin by surprise attack from a plane across the North Sea.
Giolio Douhet
Most prominent theoretician of the geopolitics of air
almost always wrong but he was asking the important questions
Wrote all of his theory pre-WWII.
You can’t defend yourself from the power that is coming from the air.
Industrial rev in weaponry in 1935 making the airforce the most important part of the navys + radio singnal transmission + new tanks that were more powerful
Mackinder 1943
Added the Midland Ocean Basin (N America + Carribean , W Europe, North most Africa), South Atlantic Ocean Basin (S America, Sub-Saharan Africa, “Asiatic Monsoon Lands”), and 2 “Mantles of Vacancies” (the artic + a diagnol from the Amazons thru the Sahara the MENA to Siberia)
Midland Ocean = Western World
Map showed importance of US/Can aid going to the W Europe thru the Mediteraean sea and the overall importance of this sea
