V. Geopolitics
• Considers the strategic value of land and sea
area in the context of national economic and
military power and ambitions
– power relationships: past, present, and future
• Manifest Destiny, Monroe Doctrine, “Greater
East-Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere”
Geopolitics – German School
Ratzel’s Organic Theory
a) Held that a nation which is an aggregate of
organisms would itself function and behave as an
organism
b) Nourishment of organism provided by acquisition
of territories and people
c) Territory is essential to life.
d) Nazi expansion policies based on some of Ratzel’s
ideas.
Geopolitics – British/American School
Sir Halford Mackinder Heartland Theory
a)Believed a land-based power, not a sea power,
would ultimately rule the world
b)Pivot area extended from Eastern Europe to
eastern Siberia
Mackinder – Heartland Theory
• The Heartland is impenetrable
• Resource rich
• Provided a base for world conquest
Mackinder – Heartland Theory
–“Who rules East Europe commands
the Heartland”
–“Who rules the Heartland commands
the World Island”
–“Who rules the World Island
commands the World”
Geopolitics
Nicholas Spykman - Rimland Theory
• Critic of Mackinder
• Argued that the Eurasian rim, not its
heart, held the key to global power
Spykman-Rimland
• Fragmented zone
• Divided rimland key to balance of world
power
• Dense population, abundant resources,
controlling access to both the sea and
the interior
Spykman-Rimland
• “Who controls the Rimland controls
Eurasia”
• “Who rules Eurasia controls the destiny
of the world”
Recent Geopolitical Developments
Bipolar World
• Post WWII – Heartland = U.S.S.R
• U.S. practiced Containment
• Confining the U.S.S.R by means of
alliances with Rimland
NATO
• Military intervention
CENTO
• Domino Theory
SEATO
Geopolitics Today
• Current world events have rendered older
geopolitical ideas obsolete
• End of the Cold War, Nuclear Technology, and
Japan, China, Western Europe becoming
world powers
• Unilateralism – United States dominance
Will this last???
U.S. Foreign Policy
Strategies/Principles
1.
2.
3.
4.
Isolationism-state tends to domestic affairs only
Realism-take active role in international affairs
Neo-isolationism-keep foreign involvement to a
minimum (only when necessary)
Idealism-foreign involvement for good of all
countries