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Geopolitics

Geopolitics . AP Human Geography 2014. What is geopolitics?. It attempts to explain why some countries have power and other countries do not. It combines ideas from geography, political science, and international relations to explain how states acquire and maintain power.

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Geopolitics

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  1. Geopolitics AP Human Geography 2014

  2. What is geopolitics? • It attempts to explain why some countries have power and other countries do not. • It combines ideas from geography, political science, and international relations to explain how states acquire and maintain power.

  3. Organic theory (German) Heartland theory (British) Rimland theory (American) What are the classic geopolitical theories?

  4. Alfred Thayer Mayan The Influence of Sea power Upon History (1890) Believed that the country that possessed power would be the one that could control the seas The development of a strong navy was essential for global power Relative location and long coastline and good harbors = global power

  5. Organic Theory • The Germans were the first to develop the field (geopolitik) • In 1897, a German professor, Friedrich Ratzel developed his “organic theory” • theorized that a state is comparable to a biological organism.

  6. Organic theory • Like a biological organism, a state has a life cycle from birth to death, with predictable rise and fall of power. • The theory contends that the state needs nourishment to thrive which is obtained by acquiring territories from less powerful states. • Like all living organisms, the state needs lebensraum- living space • Ratzel argued that the state will atrophy if it does not expand.

  7. Organic theory • Hitler and others used Ratzel’s theory as a justification for Nazi’s territorial expansion in Europe

  8. Heartland Theory • Sir Halford Mackinder, a British propose the heartland theory in 1904. • He was concerned with power relationships surrounding Britain’s global empire. • Naval power was responsible for British power, but Mackinder believed that a land-based power, not sea power would ultimately rule the world.

  9. The Heartland Theory • With the development of the railroads, countries no longer needed the navy to move large armies • Mackinder believed that the focus of warfare would be shifted from the sea to the interiors (heartland). • Mackinder developed a “pivot area”which was the northern and interior parts of Eurasia. • “He who controls the heartland, controls the World Island (Eurasia & Africa); he who controls the World Island, controls the world.”

  10. Mackinder’s Heartland

  11. The Rimland Theory • Proposed by Nicholas Spykman, an American • Challenged Mackinder’s theory in his book, The Geography of Peace written in 1944. • Argued that the Eurasian rim, not its heart held the key to global power • Believed that both sea and land power were crucial

  12. What is the rimland? • The region included Western Europe, the Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Far East. • “Who controls the rimland, rules Eurasia; who rules Eurasia controls the destinies of the world.” • Cold War policy makers used the rimland theory as justification for the policy of containment

  13. World System Theory • Immanuel Wallerstein developed World System Theory in the 1930s • A sociologist and not a geographer

  14. 3 Basic tenets of World Systems Theory • The world economy has one market and a global division of labor • Although the world has multiple states, almost everything takes place within the context of the world economy. • The world economy has a three-tier structure.

  15. World Systems Theory • Wallerstein believes that the world economy was developed in Europe during the 16th century and was made possible by a division of labor that was not merely functional, but geographical. • There are 3 geographic areas: core, periphery, and semi-periphery.

  16. World Systems Theory • Core states are advanced areas of the world economy; they have strong state structures and have been exploiters of the periphery • Peripheral areas are weak states either colonial states or states with a low degree of autonomy • Semi-peripheral areas- states that act as a buffer zone between the core and the periphery.

  17. Criticisms of World systems theory • Reflects a deterministic point of view • Wallerstein believed since the world system had been fully developed by the 1950’s, no country would be able to enter the system and successfully compete. • Countries in the periphery would probably never be able to catch up economically with those in the core. • Did not factor the prior dominance of China

  18. Irredentism • The policy of a state wishing to incorporate within itself territory inhabited by people who have ethnic or linguistic links with the country but that lies within a neighboring state. • Examples: Unification of Germany (Franco-Prussian War), the anchuluss of Austria (Hitler), Somalia desire to incorporate the Ogaden

  19. Irredentism

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