Introduction to

Geopolitics

 The study of how geography impacts

politics, demography, and economics,
especially with respect to developing
foreign policy and international conflicts.

 Geopolitics describes the

geographical distribution of power
around the world. It serves to explore
how societies exert their influence
over their own people and over
other societies.

Definitions
A branch of geography which considers
the strategic value of land and sea area in
the context of the national economic and
military power and ambitions.
The study of the interplay between
international political relations and the
territorial/environmental context in which
they occur.

Definitions
Another name for political
geography.
The study of how geographic
considerations influence long-run
international relations.
The use of geographic information
and concepts to attain political goals.

 Examples of how Politics and Geography

are related:
Geographical factors can cause political changes
e.g. When Switzerland restricts immigration because
it, as a nation, already has a high enough population.

Political factors can cause Geographical changes

e.g. An increase in oil prices has led to an expanded
search for oil in the Arctic and North sea, thus
causing Geographical changes.

 Geopolitics studies the two-way

relationship between political beliefs and
actions on one side and any of the usual
concerns of geography on the other.

What is POWER?
Power must be understood by example.
Brainstorm: What are the different ways in
which an individual or a society can exert
influence over other individuals or societies?

Which of these forms of power

can be wielded by a country?

Military (conventional, non-conventional)

Cultural (historical, popular media, religious,

population)

Economic (supply of resources, goods,

services, demand for same, population,
technological)

Geopolitics

A term used to describe how nations or

groups of people interact with or exert
their influence over other peoples or
surrounding nations

Refers to one nations sphere of influence

over its neighbors

A key to understanding geopolitics is

understanding that political attitudes and
actions in the past are important factors in
determining the current world condition.

These attitudes develop in large part in

response to the nations geographic situation
in the world.

Many mechanisms can be used by a

nation to exert its influence over another
country.
Military force
Trade
Foreign aid
Mass media
Religion
Economic sanctions and Industrial Development
**
Energy and Pollution
**
Population Policies

Rudolf Kjelln
Swedish professor of political sciences
1899 created the word: Geopolitics (also
National Socialism)
The first book in 1916 in Swedish, in 1917 in
German:
The State as a Living Form
Competition and age of states,
changing balance between states
Changing borders between states

 Geopolitics is Realist because:

Accepts the wars as interaction between
states
Chaos in the International Relations
Relation between states (and border
situation) depend on the power of states
International organisations have
importance only if they are military
organisations

What defines a:
State?
Nation?
Nation-State?

The creation of territory is the basis for

political organization and action.
The political partitioning of space leads
to the most basic of human
geographic divisions - the sovereign
state.

A State:
A state refers to a legal/political entity that is
comprised of the following:
a) a permanent population
b) a defined territory (borders)
c) a recognizable government
d) the capacity to enter into relations with other
states.
Individuals are therefore tied to a state and
subject to its rules.

Borders = Sovereignty

A state has political autonomy,

that is, it is able to create
policies and enforce laws within
its borders without interference
from other states.

Borders mark the limit of a

nations laws and security while
branding a specific geographical
area with a national identity.

Canadas sovereignty is
currently being challenged in the
Arctic Why?

A Nation:
A nation is a group of people who share the same
culture, language, institutions, religion, and history
usually a group of people larger than a tribe or
community.
A Nation is largely imaginary
Really, you can belong to whatever nation you
CHOOSE.
The same thing cannot be said for the idea of a state

Example: Kurdistan

The Kurdish
people occupy
parts of
Turkey, Iraq,
Iran, Syria and
Armenia

A Nation-State:
When a nation of people has an
independent State of their own it is often
called a nation-state.
The Kurds are a nation without a State.
France, Germany, and Japan are
examples of nation-states.

The Nation-State
Is a relatively new idea
Previously, states were organized based on territory,
not on the people that lived there.
Eg. Pre-WWI, Austria-Hungary contained not only
Austrians and Hungarians, but Serbians, Bosnians
and many other ethnicities.
After WWI, the idea of self-government became
more common and accepted.
Most states in Africa were redefined as nation-states
from 1950-1975 as colonies were dismantled.

How did the

idea of the
nation-state
arise?
It required the
concept of
nationalism, which
is the belief that the
nation and the state
should be the same
or congruent, and
that there is no other
appropriate way to
delimit a nation
state. It is therefore
the natural political
unit.

 Nationalism is the loyalty of a people to

their values, traditions, and geography.

 Nationalism develops in an area that has

common customs, language, and history.

Despite this rise of nationalism, the world has lots

of examples of multinational and binational states.
For example: African countries whose boundaries
were drawn by Europeans without considering
African national cultural groups. Many multinational
states are unstable, especially in Africa, but not all,
e.g., the US, Switzerland.
Binational states include Canada and Belgium,
both of which suffer internal stresses due to
differing political desires of dominant cultural
groups.

Belgium:
This state includes three communities Flemish, French and German-speaking - and
three regions: Flanders in the north where the
official language is Dutch; Wallonia in the
south where French is the official tongue and
Brussels, the capital, where French and Dutch
share official language status.
Tensions between the two main language
communities sometimes run high, and the
issue has brought down several governments,
creating frequent political instability.
Opinion polls suggest most Belgians want to
maintain the federation, but separatist parties
often score well in Flanders.
Source: Belgium Country Report BBC.co.uk

National Sovereignty
More accurately should be called Nation-State sovereignty.
Sovereignty means independence, that the authority of state
is not subject to control by any other state.
Eg. Canada claims the waters in the Arctic as Canadian
territory, while other countries such as Russia, and USA
claim it should be international territory. This is an example
of an encroachment on national sovereignty.
Usually, violating a countrys sovereignty means military
conflict.
Canada has started expanding its military presence in the
Arctic.

National Sovereignty
Eg. Mid-1990s, Yugoslavia
UN votes against becoming involved in Yugoslavias internal
conflicts.
Even though there were reports of genocide, the UN felt that
national sovereignty was a principle that should not be violated.
Is this appropriate?
With a partner or small group, brainstorm possible
situations that would call for the violation of national
sovereignty.
??
??
??

What is an Ideology?
An Ideology is a set of ideas and beliefs that a nation
uses as the basis for its way of life, its political system
and economic systems, and its social goals.
Today, the countries of the world subscribe to one of
two basic ideologies: Democracy, Authoritarian.
Question: What are the main characteristics of
democracy? Brainstorm the key elements that you
believe are fundamental for a democracy.

Green = Fully functional Democracy

Yellow = Limited Democracy
Purple = Authoritarian State

In your notes,
define
the most
significant
Types
of nation
states
attributes of the various forms of Ideologies
found on page 344:
A. Democratic States
B. Authoritarian States:

Absolute Monarchy,
One-Party Nation State,
Military Authoritarianism,
Religious Nation State

C. Communist States

Subnationalism:
When the entire population of a state is not bound by
the same sense of nationalism but is split among
local primary allegiances, then that state is said to
suffer from cultural subnationalism.
This can lead to civil war or even international
disputes (e.g., India helping the 18% Tamil
population of Sri Lanka).

Subnationalism is one of the centrifugal forces that pull

nations apart, as compared to centripetal forces (like a
strong sense of nationalism) which tend to act to bind a
state together.
Subnationalism has led to strong authoritarian rulers in
some states, especially in Africa, who argue that
authoritarianism is the only alternative to tribalism tearing
the countries apart.
How these countries got this way is a function of
colonialism.

Pre-colonial tribal areas

Countries - 1998

Globalization
has given rise to a number of forces that are
weakening the concept of national
sovereignty.

What do you mean, weakening?

What things, by virtue of increasing
globalization, can we no longer really
control as a state?