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Bert Chapman - Geopolitics. A Guide To The Issues (2011) (A) PDF
Bert Chapman - Geopolitics. A Guide To The Issues (2011) (A) PDF
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Contemporary Military, Strategic, and Security Issues
Bert Chapman
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction 1
Chapter 1 History of Geopolitics and Biographies of
Key Personalities (20th Century) 7
Chapter 2 Selected Countries and Their Recent Historical
and Current National Government
Geopolitical Practices 29
Chapter 3 Current and Emerging Geopolitical Hot Spots 54
Chapter 4 U.S., Foreign, and International Government
Organization Geopolitical Information Resources 92
Chapter 5 Monographic Scholarly Literature 140
Chapter 6 Indexes and Scholarly Journals 156
Chapter 7 Gray Literature: Dissertations, Theses, Technical
Reports, Think Tank Publications, Conference
Proceedings, and Blogs and Social
Networking Utilities 172
Chapter 8 Current Geopolitical Scholars 202
Appendix: Maps 213
Glossary 229
Index 251
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Acknowledgments
Personal and national economic health, prosperity, and physical security are
profoundly affected by geography. Whenever energy-producing nations raise
natural gas and oil prices, we pay higher prices when we ll up our cars or
purchase other goods and services using energy commodities and their by-
products. We live in a globalized economy where tremendous amounts of
money are electronically transferred from one corner of the world to another
by governmental and private-sector sources for legitimate purposes or to facil-
itate drug trading and terrorism nancing. The U.S. subprime mortgage mar-
ket crash in 2008 had serious domestic and global repercussions on economic
performance and personal prosperity. Political unrest and instability in one
country or region can have profound effects throughout the world, as crisis
regions such as Afghanistan, Egypt, North Korea, and Somalia demonstrate.
Jet air travel makes it possible for us to reach most areas of the world in
a few hours, including Australia, as I found out during my 2010 summer va-
cation. This expedited travel and transportation also makes it possible to
transmit human diseases germs globally and invasive species to unfamiliar
ecosystems with serious public health and environmental consequences.
Events such as the 2010 Icelandic volcanic eruption and maritime piracy
near Somalia and elsewhere can cause signicant disruption to personal
travel and international maritime trade. Instantaneous communications such
as the Internet and satellite television make us aware of these events and
allow us to form and express personal analysis of their signicance, but dis-
ruption of these communication channels through technical malfunction or
cyber or terrorist attacks can do severe damage to personal and international
economic well-being.
However, these technological advances do not alter the climactic, eth-
nographic, geographical, and sociopolitical realities of conducting naval
2 Geopolitics
and military operations in areas as diverse as the South China Sea, the
U.S.-Mexican border, and Afghanistan. Instead, they require boots on the
ground and long-term historical and cultural understanding of the factors
shaping conicts in these regions, along with a sustained commitment to
forging cooperative relationships with individuals and groups in these regions
if these problems are to have a chance of somewhat successful resolution. In
fact, they increase the importance of understanding how geographical factors
shape ongoing and emerging historical and cultural conicts and mandate
increasing the importance of geography and its political aspects at all educa-
tional levels from primary through postgraduate.1
Political aspects of geography such as geopolitics, which in this work em-
phasizes international economic, environmental, diplomatic, and security
relationships between nation-states, international governments, and non-
governmental organizations, involve
Critical geopolitics often uses such obtuse rhetoric that it is difcult for
it to advance its inuence beyond a narrow sector of academic adherents.
However, it wields signicant inuence on many journal editorial boards and
in articles published in journals such as Geopolitics and Political Geography and
is also reected in works published by some scholarly monographic publishers
such as the University of Minnesota Press.
While it may be hyperbolic to say geographic knowledge is a critical na-
tional security ingredient,7 we cannot ignore geographys affect on our per-
sonal economic well-being and national and international prosperity and
poverty, how climatic changes affect our lives, and how access to or the in-
ability to access natural resources such as water and oil can have drastic im-
pacts on our lives. We also must become more aware of the multiple cultural,
economic, historical, military, and political developments and grievances in
other countries and global regions and how they can affect our security and
living standards in an increasingly globalized and interconnected multipolar
world.8
This increased understanding of how geography affects our nation and
world needs to occur at all levels of the educational system by replacing the
vague and diffuse phrase social studies with systematic long-term study of
economics, geography, history, and political science. The 2001 National As-
sessment of Education Progress found, in a slight improvement over 1994 test
results, that only 20 percent of 4th-grade students, 30 percent of 8th-grade
students, and 25 percent of 12th-grade students reached procient levels in
geographic scores, with the typical or average student only scoring at the
basic level.9
Students in a country with the United States power, responsibility, and
interests, which remain so heavily dependent on cultural, economic, politi-
cal, and strategic developments in other countries, must do much better than
this. Enhancements in geographic and geopolitical education must stress the
importance of knowing how to correctly read and interpret maps. This in-
cludes not just traditional highway maps of cities and states or political maps
of countries. It also needs to include topographic maps describing elevation
changes in geographic areas; bathymetric maps describing ocean oor con-
tours; historical maps showing changes in population movement and crop
production; and maps showing natural resource locations, sizes, and exploita-
tion practices. It should include the ability to interpret geospatial imagery
from aerial or satellite photography; an understanding of how nations and
organizations can use maps to argue their political positions to support their
agendas for gaining proper political or territorial boundaries and denigrate
those of opposing opponents or groups; an understanding of the topographic,
physical, and political features of critical strategic choke points where en-
ergy supplies must pass through and be vulnerable to cutoff or attack such
Introduction 5
Notes
1. See Harm de Blij, Why Geography Matters: Three Challenges Facing America:
Climate Change, the Rise of China, and Global Terrorism (New York: Oxford Univer-
sity Press, 2005): 323; and Robert D. Kaplan, The Revenge of Geography, Foreign
Policy, 196 (May/June 2009): 96105.
2. Colin S. Gray, A Debate on Geopolitics: The Continued Primacy of Geogra-
phy, Orbis, 40 (2)(Summer 1996): 248.
6 Geopolitics
3. Saul B. Cohen, Geography and Politics in a World Divided, 2nd ed. (New York:
Oxford University Press, 1973): 2933.
4. Leslie W. Hepple, The Revival of Geopolitics, Political Geography Quar-
terly, 5 (4, suppl.)(October 1986): S21S36.
5. Mackubin Thomas Owens, In Defense of Classical Geopolitics, Naval War
College Review, 52 (4)(Autumn 1999): 73.
6. See Simon Dalby, Critical Geopolitics, in Dictionary of Geopolitics, ed. John
OLoughlin (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994): 5658; Gerard Toal, Critical
Geopolitics (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1996).
7. De Blij, Why Geography Matters, 21.
8. See George A. Van Otten, Educating Military Intelligence Professionals to
Meet the Challenges of Changing Global Political Realities and Modern Asymmet-
ric Warfare, Military Intelligence Professional Bulletin, 28 (3)( JulySeptember 2002):
3336; Milan N. Vego, Russia and the Return of Geopolitics, Joint Force Quarterly,
45 (April 2007): 815; Kaplan, The Revenge of Geography; and Iveta Solova and
William C. Brehm, Education and Geopolitics in a Changing Europe: Forty Years
of Scholarship in European Education, European Education, 41 (2)(Summer 2009):
730.
9. U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics,
Fourth-and Eighth-Grader Scores Higher in NAEP 2001 Geography, http://nces.
ed.gov/pressrelease/rel2002/6_21_02.asp.
10. See Mary Lynette Larsgaard, Map Librarianship: An Introduction, 3rd ed.
(Littleton, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 1998); Edoardo Boria, Geopolitical Maps:
A Sketch History of a Neglected Trend in Cartography, Geopolitics, 13 (2)(Sum-
mer 2008): 278308; Mark Monmonier, Spying with Maps: Surveillance Technologies
and the Future of Privacy (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002); and Mark
Monmonier, Rhumb Lines and Map Wars: A Social History of the Mercator Projection
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004).
CHAPTER 1
History of Geopolitics
and Biographies of
Key Personalities
(20th Century)
The term geopolitics is generally regarded as being rst used by Swedish politi-
cal scientist Rudolf Kjelln (18641922) in an 1899 article in the Swedish
geographical journal Ymer, and Kjelln used the German term Geopolitik in a
1905 article in the German journal Geographische Zeitschrift. Kjelln dened
geopolitics as describing the role of geographical factors in determining na-
tional behavior and was also a Swedish nationalist sympathetic to German
World War I efforts.1
Political geography is also used to describe the relationship between physical
environment and politics and has both domestic policy and international im-
plications, but geopolitics, as used in this work, will refer to the international
economic, environmental, diplomatic, and security relationships between
nation-states, international government organizations, and nongovern-
mental organizations. While geopolitics has been practiced by nation-states
throughout history, its rise as a scientic discipline and formalized govern-
mental policy-making instrument begins in the early 20th century. Key em-
phases of geopolitics include the belief that states have boundaries, capitals,
communication lines, consciousness, and culture; the belief that a states size
and resources can determine its strength; and the belief that states are in
continual competition and that larger states seek to expand to consolidate
their power. It is also an interdisciplinary subject encompassing topics such
as demographic movement, economic development, land use, and natural
resource distribution.2
U.S. geopolitical theory and practice during this time were heavily inu-
enced by Alfred Thayer Mahan (18401914), who contended that nations
with superior sea power consisting of a navy, merchant marine, maritime-
oriented populaces, well-distributed bases, and control of narrow waterways
8 Geopolitics
they bring to this topic, which still resonate with contemporary geopolitical
issues.
Eurasia, and Mackinders World Island, consisting of Eurasia and Africa, and
effectively to dominate the world. He criticized early cold war containment
policy as being excessively defensive in The Coming Defeat of Communism
(1949) and Containment or Liberation? (1951) and urged U.S. adaptation of
policies to undermine Soviet power in Eastern Europe by exploiting inherent
Communist structural vulnerabilities.
Burnham consulted for the Central Intelligence Agency and increasingly
began writing for conservative publications such as William Buckleys Na-
tional Review, in which he analyzed a variety of geopolitical issues. Burnhams
last major work, Suicide of the West (1964), warned that Western civilization
was killing itself due to religious decline and excessive material luxury and
was becoming tired and worn out pursuing material gain. He received the
Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Reagan in 1983 and should be
remembered as an inuential gure in conservative American geopolitical
thought and analysis.10
like Alfred Thayer Mahan, considered sea power synonymous with national
power.11
alchemists who added somber fanaticism to their ideas. Goblet also wrote
Political Geography and the World Map (1955) and was very interested in Irish
geopolitics, on which he wrote extensively. His interests in regionalism and
small states rights became increasingly irrelevant in the bipolar postWorld
War II European security environment.13
Pacic eets during the 1930s, became rear admiral in 1941 after the German
invasion, and distinguished himself in several World War II commands. In
1956, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev (18931971) appointed him to lead
the Soviet Navy and to implement nuclear weapons into this force and its
doctrine. Gorshkov began this process and is also best known for transform-
ing the Soviet Navy from a coastal force to a blue water maritime striking
power with aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines capable of challenging
U.S. naval supremacy in many global arenas.
Gorshkov wrote about his geopolitical philosophy in works such as Red
Star Rising at Sea (1974) and Seapower of the State (1983) as well as various
articles in the journal Military Thought. He wanted to achieve parity with
U.S. and NATO navies and sea control in the world ocean and expanded
the size of the Soviet shipbuilding industry to build various surface vessels,
including aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines. His incentive to build this
force was heavily inuenced by the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis demonstrating
the Soviets did not have the long-range eet to thwart the U.S. quarantine
of Cuba. Gorshkov was also involved in Soviet efforts to build naval bases in
friendly developing countries like Angola, Cuba, and Vietnam; believed in
the importance of aircraft carriers and tactical aviation to achieve balanced
eet forces; and sought to strengthen discipline in the Soviet Navy to enable
it to achieve its geopolitical aspirations of counterbalancing U.S. maritime
power.
High nancial costs made it impossible for the Soviet Navy to sustain its
large size, and Gorshkovs eet was losing its strength at the time of his death.
The Russian Federation has not been able to rebuild its eet to its halcyon
days under Gorshkov, although it is seeking to increase its assertiveness in the
Arctic Ocean and other areas. Gorshkov should be remembered as a signi-
cant military leader and strategist who was able to launch the Soviet Navy
on a trajectory of at least partial parity with the United States during the cold
war.15
use that regions resources to dominate the world. It stressed factors such as
Asiatic inuences on Europe dating back to the Mongols; the importance of
river water drainage on national economies and international security; how
settlement patterns and agronomy inuence political and economic develop-
ment; the importance of climate and railroads in determining human settle-
ment and inhabitation; Russias geographically advantageous position, which
makes it possible to strike out in all directions and be attacked from all direc-
tions except the north; and Chinas and Japans possible future potential to
challenge Russia.19
Another signicant exposition of Mackinders geopolitical thinking was
reected in Democratic Ideals and Reality (1919). This work was written hast-
ily for the Versailles Conference and expanded his geographical pivot ideas.
Analyzing the weakness of the emerging postwar order, he contended that
power was becoming centralized in large states and that mass political move-
ments were emerging but that populations would be susceptible to manipu-
lation by organizers controlling state machinery. He favored creating new
nation-states from the defeated German and Austro-Hungarian empires but
saw that countries such as Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland would be
vulnerable to aggression and subversion from Germany and Russia.
It also supported national self-determination and the League of Nations
and established the concept of the Heartland, which included all of Eastern
Europe, and that Germany and Russia would vie for control of this region,
contending that
the Chilean armed forces in 1933 and taught at Chiles war college on geo-
politics and was credited with writing works such as Military Geography: Mili-
tary Interpretations and Geographical Factors (1980) and Geopolitics (1984).
Pinochet argued that Chile had three regions, Andean, Pacic, and Ant-
arctic, and he desired a closer integration of the core central valley with geo-
graphically peripheral and less-developed areas and sought to build land and
maritime highways to reach remote southern territories without having to
cross into Argentina. He established the Chilean Pacic Ocean Institute and
a national ocean policy to emphasize the importance of oceans in Chilean
national policy. He also sought to promote geographic education in all levels
of Chilean society and emphasized Chilean claims in Antarctica.
Additional attributes of Pinochets geopolitical thinking included bolster-
ing Chiles presence in the Antarctic and Beagle Channel; negotiating with
Bolivia to give that country a Pacic access corridor; advocating exchanging
maritime land for space and guaranteeing a security zone in cooperation with
Peru; and preventing Argentina, Bolivia, and Peru from encircling Chile.
Pinochet also wanted to increase Chiles merchant marine and enhance na-
tional port facilities, promote increased use of oceanic food and mineral re-
sources, and enhance Chiles interior industrial manufacturing capabilities.
He was concerned the United States lacked the will to contain communism
in South America; favored national self-reliance and an independent bloc of
third world nations to restrain great power actions; and believed Chile was
entering a Pacic era that would bring increased wealth from the Antarctica
and the Orient.24
Haushofer was one of Ratzels most inuential followers and helped spread
his beliefs throughout German academic and governmental circles. Ratzel
published The Sea as a Source of the Greatness of a People (1900) as a writ-
ten demonstration of Germanys commitment to Weltpolitik as a maritime
and expansionist foreign policy. Besides space and distance, Ratzel was con-
cerned with the importance of environmental inuences, including climate,
resources, terrain, and vegetation. He believed that the world is inherently
conict ridden; that competition for living space is part of a nation-states life
cycle; that powerful states must become larger over time; that Grossraum (large
space states) is the worlds future; and that Germany had to compete for leb-
ensraum to become a world power. These beliefs would be reected in The
Geography of States, Trafc, and War (1903) and solidify Ratzels legacy as a
proponent of Wilhelmine nationalism, which would eventually be adopted
by the Nazis for their own political purposes.25
of airspace overlapping Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and North
America could achieve global dominance and that the United States needed
to make its heartland an invincible base so it could project offensive power
to all corners of the world.
Seversky criticized the importance of armies and navies and was a tireless
advocate of air power, although he exaggerated the extent of its effectiveness.
Nevertheless, he helped expand geopolitics to a subject that must include the
application and projection of aerospace power along with land and maritime
power.26
advance U.S. interests. FPRI is now independent of this university, but one of
its enduring publications is the scholarly journal Orbis, established in 1957.
Strauz-Hup criticized the belief that foreign assistance and state building
could benet developing countries, warned that the guilt complex developed
in these countries by Western benefactors created a large psychological gulf
enabling them to attack the free-market West even as they desired its material
benets, and asserted that there would always be a gap between these coun-
tries rising expectations and the amount of assistance the West could provide
them. He remained inuential in Republican administrations, serving as U.S.
ambassador to countries such as Belgium, Sri Lanka, Sweden, and Turkey
through the 1980s. He also served as U.S. ambassador to the NATO Council
and gained U.S. military access to the United Kingdom Indian Ocean mili-
tary base Diego Garcia, which has been used in numerous military operations
in that part of the world and advocated deploying Pershing II ballistic missiles
in Western Europe to counter Soviet SS-20 missiles in Eastern Europe.
He concluded his career at FPRI and began writing on geopolitical issues
such as urging improved relations with Russia to curtail China; advocating
enhanced U.S. relations with India; favoring Turkish membership in the Eu-
ropean Union; and urging the Arabs, Israelis, and Turks to work together to
enhance Middle East water supplies.28
Notes
1. See Sven Holdar, The Ideal State and the Power of Geography: The Life-
Work of Rudolf Kjelln, Political Geography, 11 (3)(May 1992): 3079, 31920; and
Greg Russell, Theodore Roosevelt, Geopolitics, and Cosmopolitan Ideals, Review of
International Studies, 32 (3)( July 2006): 54344.
2. See Klaus Dodds and David Atkinson, eds., Geopolitical Traditions: A Cen-
tury of Geopolitical Thought (London: Routledge, 2000); Harm De Blij, Why Geogra-
phy Matters: Three Challenges Facing America: Climate Change, the Rise of China, and
Global Terrorism (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005): 9; and Russell, Theo-
dore Roosevelt, 54244.
3. Alfred Thayer Mahan, The Inuence of Sea Power upon History, 16601783
(New York: Dover, 1987).
4. Brian W. Blouet, The Political Career of Sir Halford Mackinder, Political
Geography Quarterly, 6 (4)(October 1987): 35567.
5. See Norman Levine, Gerhard Ritters Weltanschauung, The Review of Poli-
tics, 30 (2)(April 1968): 20927; David Thomas Murphy, The Heroic Earth: Geopoliti-
cal Thought in Weimar Germany, 19181933 (Kent, OH: Kent State University Press,
1997); and Marcel Stoeltzer, The State, the Nation, and the Jews: Liberalism and the
Antisemitism Dispute in Bismarcks Germany (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press,
2008).
6. See Henning Heske, German Geographical Research in the Nazi Period:
A Content Analysis of the Major Geography Journals, Political Geography Quarterly,
5 (3)( July 1986): 26781; Leslie W. Hepple, The Revival of Geopolitics, Political
Geography Quarterly, 5 (4 Suppl.)(October 1986): S2136; Hepple, Karl Haushofer:
His Role in German Geopolitics and in Nazi Politics, Political Geography Quar-
terly, 6 (2)(April 1987): 13544; and Geoffrey Parker, French Geopolitical Thought
in the Interwar Years and the Emergence of the European Idea, Political Geography
Quarterly, 6 (2)(April 1987): 14550.
7. Hepple, The Revival of Geopolitics.
8. Robert D. Kaplan, The Revenge of Geography, Foreign Policy, 196 (May
June 2009): 96105.
9. See Geoffrey J. Martin, The Life and Thought of Isaiah Bowman (Hamden, CT:
Archon Books, 1980); and Neil Smith, Isaiah Bowman: Political Geography and
Geopolitics, Political Geography Quarterly, 3 (1)( January 1984): 6976.
10. See Francis P. Sempa, Geopolitics and American Strategy: A Reassessment,
Strategic Review, 15 (2)(1987): 2638; Daniel Kelly, James Burnham and the Struggle for
the World: A Life (Wilmington, DE: ISI Books, 2002); Philip Abott, Big Theories
and Policy Counsel, James Burnham, Francis Fukuyama and the Cold War, Journal of
Policy History, 14 (4)(October 2002): 41730; Francis Sempa, Americas Global Role:
Essays and Review on National Security, Geopolitics, and War (Lanham, MD: University
Press of America, 2009): 5962.
History of Geopolitics and Biographies of Key Personalities 27
22. Literature on Mackinder and his signicance, besides that already cited, in-
cludes Arthur Butler Dugan, Mackinder and His Critics Reconsidered, Journal of
Politics, 24 (2)(May 1962): 24157; Brian W. Blouet, The Political Career of Sir
Halford Mackinder, Political Geography Quarterly, 6 (4)(October 1987): 35567;
Gearid Tuathail, Putting Mackinder in His Place: Material Transformations
and Myth, Political Geography, 11 (1)( January 1992): 10018; Mackubin Thomas
Owens, In Defense of Classical Geopolitics, Naval War College Review, 52 (4)(Au-
tumn 1999): 6077; and Gerry Kearns, Geopolitics and Empire: The Legacy of Halford
Mackinder (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009).
23. See Richard W. Turk, The Ambiguous Relationship: Theodore Roosevelt and
Alfred Thayer Mahan (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1987); Robert Seager II,
Mahan, Alfred Thayer, in American National Biography, ed. John A. Garraty and
Mark C. Carnes (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999): 14: 33638; and Jon
Sumida, Alfred Thayer Mahan, Geopolitician, Journal of Strategic Studies, 22 (23)
(1999): 3961.
24. See Stephen M. Gorman, The High Stakes of Geopolitics in Tierra Del
Fuego, Parameters, 7 (2)( June 1978): 4556; Kelly, Checkerboards and Shatterbelts,
11416; and Mary Helen Spooner, Soldiers in a Narrow Land: The Pinochet Regime in
Chile, updated ed. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999): 22.
25. See Woodruff D. Smith, Friedrich Ratzel and the Origins of Lebensraum,
German Studies Review, 3 (1)(February 1980): 5168; J. M. Hunter, Perspectives on
Ratzels Political Geography, (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1983);
Stephen Kern, The Culture of Time and Space 18801918 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press, 1983): 22426; Klaus Kost, The Conception of Politics in Political
Geography and Geopolitics in Germany until 1945, Political Geography Quarterly,
8 (4)(October 1989); Henning Heske, Ratzel, Friedrich, in OLoughlin, Diction-
ary of Geopolitics, 205; Geoffrey Parker, Ratzel, the French School and the Birth of
Alternative Geopolitics, Political Geography, 19 (8)(November 2000): 95769; and
Sebastian Conrad, Globalization Effects: Mobility and Nation in Imperial Germany,
18801914, Journal of Global History, 3 (1)(March 2008): 4366, for assessments of
Ratzel and the rise of German nationalism.
26. See Neil Smith, De Seversky, Major Alexander P, in OLoughlin, Dictionary
of Geopolitics, 6263; Philip S. Meilinger, Proselytiser and Prophet: Alexander P. de
Seversky and American Airpower, Journal of Strategic Studies, 18 (1)(March 1995):
735; and David L. Butler, Technogeopolitics and the Struggle for Control of World
Air Routes, 19101928, Political Geography, 20 (5)( June 2001): 63558.
27. See Geoffrey R. Sloan, Geopolitics in United States Strategic Policy 18901987
(New York: St. Martins Press, 1988): 1619; and Jan Nijman, Spykman Nicholas,
in OLoughlin, Dictionary of Geopolitics, 22223.
28. See Walter McDougall, The Wisdom of Robert Strausz-Hup, FPRI Wire,
7 (4)(1999); and Harvey Sicherman, Robert Strausz-Hup: His Life and Times,
Orbis, 49 (2)(Spring 2003): 195216.
29. See Geoffrey Parker, Vidal de la Bache, Paul, in OLoughlin, Dictionary of
Geopolitics, 23233; and Parker, Ratzel, the French School, and the Birth of Alterna-
tive Geopolitics, Political Geography, 19 (8)(November 2000): 959.
CHAPTER 2
Australia
This continental country in the southern hemisphere plays a signicant
role in regional Asia-Pacic and even global geopolitics, despite having a
population of less than 23 million.2 As an island country, Australia is sur-
rounded by the Pacic Ocean, Indian Ocean, and Timor and Arafura seas
and is located near many strategically important maritime areas such as the
South China Sea and Straits of Malacca. Although its initial primary non-
indigenous settlers were British convicts, Australia has become a multicul-
tural Anglocentric parliamentary democracy with historical legacy ties to
the United Kingdom, critically important economic and security ties to the
United States, and growing trade ties and security interests with countries
as diverse as China, Indonesia, and other Oceanic island states. All these
30 Geopolitics
Brazil
Brazil has emerged as South Americas premier geopolitical power, with a
population of 193 million,6 and in 2009 was ranked as the worlds 10th lead-
ing economic power, with an estimated gross domestic product (GDP) ex-
ceeding $2 trillion.7 Within its borders, Brazilian geopolitics have historically
focused on territorial expansion, including international controversy over its
development of the mineral-rich Amazonian north; attempts to develop the
agricultural but drought-prone northeast extending into the Atlantic Ocean;
and developing additional agricultural, high-tech, mineral, and industrial re-
sources in the southeast, south, and central west.8
Selected Countries and Their Geopolitical Practices 31
Canada
Canadian geopolitical interests have been motivated by the desire to serve
in United Nations peacekeeping operations as a way of bolstering a posi-
tive international image; longtime participation with the United States in
the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) to detect
and prevent ballistic missile attacks against North America; increased North
American economic and defense cooperation with the United States and
Mexico as part of the Security Partnership of the Americas; the desire to
preserve Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic region, although this has seldom
been backed up nancially or with sufcient military resources and has com-
plicated the U.S.-Canadian security relationship; concern over how climate
change in the Arctic Ocean may affect its northern populations; and con-
cern over the possibility of increased international trade trafc in the Arctic
and competition for natural resources with other Arctic nations, which could
produce confrontations.12
32 Geopolitics
China
One century ago, China was a weak and divided country highly vulnerable
to foreign exploitation. Its international power strengthened after the 1949
Communist revolution and after developing nuclear weapons in the 1960s.
A critically important indicator of Chinas growing importance and eco-
nomic prosperity was its 1978 decision to begin moving from an exclusively
governmentally directed to a more market-oriented economy. This resulted
in a quadrupling of Chinas GDP over the next two decades and an increase
in its international trade from 10 percent of GDP in 1978 to 36 percent of
GDP two decades later.15
Chinas economic growth has accelerated over the past decade. Its es-
timated 2009 GDP is $8.789 trillion, ranking it third internationally; its
2009 annual GDP growth rate is estimated at 8.7 percent, ranking it fourth
Selected Countries and Their Geopolitical Practices 33
France
Although France concentrates most of its defense policies through the Euro-
pean Union (EU), it still possesses signicant geopolitical interests for various
reasons, including a desire to remain independent of American and NATO
military structures and retain historical aspects of its mission civilatrice. It re-
tains a consultative relationship with NATO, which has increased slightly
during President Nicholas Sarkozys administration; continues maintaining a
nuclear weapons deterrent consisting of air and submarine launched ballistic
missiles; has historical and ongoing security ties with former colonies in Af-
rica, the Caribbean, and South Pacic; possesses a signicant foreign arms ex-
port market; and often decides to intervene directly when security situations
in these countries deteriorate. France participates in the NATO-led forces in
Afghanistan; faces challenges dealing with North African immigrants within
its borders, which has produced riots and controversial legislation to prevent
Muslim women from publicly wearing burkas; and believes that threats to
vital national interests stem more from instability on the European periphery,
such as Irans nuclear program, than from other European countries.23
The 2008 French White Paper on Defence and National Security mentions
that France can be threatened by environmental damage, pandemics, terror-
ists, ballistic missile proliferation around Europe, and attacks on information
and communication systems. It goes on to say that France desires to be in a
position where it does not have to submit to uncertainty but has the ability
to anticipate, inuence, and respond to international developments. It notes
the decline in European armed conicts and the EUs enhancement while
also noting that globalization and communication advances increase the pos-
sible spread of diseases and economic, nancial, and political crises and the
growing role of nonstate actors such as computer networks, media, and inter-
national criminal organizations and private military organizations.24
Selected Countries and Their Geopolitical Practices 35
Germany
Germany has a complicated historical relationship with the word geopolitics
because of 20th-century Germanys historical military aggression, rhetorically
symbolized by the term lebensraum (living space), and geopolitics abuse by
Nazi theoreticians and policy makers. Reunited Germany still faces difculty
in developing a coherent and effective national geopolitical strategy that
can command the support of domestic public opinion. However, as the EUs
largest economy with global economic interests, early-21st-century Germany
is gradually developing an appreciation of the critical role geography plays
in fullling national economic, political, and security objectives and can-
not escape the reality that geopolitics will continue inuencing its national
development.26
Since its 1990 reunication as a democracy, Germany has sought to in-
crease its integration into EU and NATO security architectures while also
tentatively beginning to formulate a renewed national geopolitical identity.
An early example of Germany demonstrating a unique national geopolitical
identity was its December 23, 1991, decision to unilaterally recognize Croa-
tias and Slovenias independence before most of the international community
thought those countries were ready for independence.27 Early characteristics
of reunied German geopolitical thinking include rhetorical attempts to
transcend Germanys middle position in Europe, whether Germany will at-
tempt to reposition itself within a globalized international system instead of
by spatial boundaries, Germanys relationships with Eastern Europe and the
EU, and how Germanys military will adapt to these changing roles.28
Emerging issues in German geopolitics, some of which are addressed in
the 2006 German Defense White Paper, include playing a leadership role in
handling European economic crises, as demonstrated by Chancellor Angela
Merkel during the spring 2010 Greek nancial crisis; maintaining good bilat-
eral relations with Russia while looking for alternative energy supply sources
36 Geopolitics
India
In its more than six decades of independence, India has gone from an im-
poverished country that barely survived its separation from Pakistan to an
increasingly important player in the global economy and is developing an
increased military capability to expand its inuence beyond the South Asian
subcontinent. Indias estimated July 2010 population is 1.173 billion, making
it the worlds second most populous country; its population is growing at a
faster rate than China and is projected to surpass Chinas population in 2025
to become the worlds highest.30
Its increasingly liberalized economy has experienced 7 percent average an-
nual growth rates since 1997; its annual per capita GDP was $3,900 in 2009,
ranking it 164th globally; it possesses the worlds second largest labor force,
and its military expenditures were 2.5 percent of GDP in 2006, ranking it
62nd in the world, just ahead of the United Kingdom.31 India is a nuclear
weapons power and has a nuclear agreement with the United States giving
it access to nuclear fuel and technology, including reprocessing U.S. nuclear
material under International Atomic Energy Safeguards. It also possesses a
wide variety of geopolitical challenges, including its relationships with Paki-
stan and their bilateral dispute over Kashmir; relationships with China, Af-
ghanistan, Tibet, Bangladesh, and the South Asian Association for Regional
Cooperation (SAARC); and hydropolitics concerns with neighboring coun-
tries over rivers such as the Ganges and Indus.32
Indias increasing willingness to assert its maritime presence in the Indian
Ocean will become an increasingly important geopolitical issue and could
lead to enhanced rivalry with China as that country increases its oil and
natural gas imports from the Middle East and Africa. It is likely that security
cooperation between India and United States will increase to hedge against
possible Chinese efforts to acquire military supremacy in the Indian Ocean
and to maintain the security of sea lanes against maritime piracy emanating
from sources as far-ung as the Horn of Africa and Straits of Malacca. India
has increased its security cooperation with Singapore. The Indian Navy has
made port visits to countries such as Japan, the Philippines, South Korea,
Selected Countries and Their Geopolitical Practices 37
Indonesia
Indonesia is a vast national island archipelago serving as a buffer between
China and Indonesia, located near countries such as Brunei, East Timor, Sin-
gapore, and Thailand, and is also located near strategically important wa-
terways such as the South China Sea and Straits of Malacca. It also is the
worlds largest Islamic country, with a July 2010 population of nearly 243
million, ranking it the worlds fourth most populous country. Its economy
grew 6 percent in 20072008 and an estimated 4 percent in 2009, joining
China and India as the only G20 nations posting economic growth during
38 Geopolitics
the international economic crisis, and its estimated 2009 GDP purchasing
power parity is $969.2 billion, ranking it 16th in the world.36
Indonesian geopolitical concerns include unresolved maritime and bound-
ary problems with East Timor after that country separated from Indonesia
in 2002; some maritime disputes with Malaysia; immigration problems with
Papua New Guinea; addressing how China will use hard and soft power in
bilateral and Southeast Asian regional relations; periodic bouts with Islamist
terrorism such as the October 12, 2002, bombings in Bali, killing over 200,
including many Australians; Malacca Strait piracy; the Islamist separatist
rebellion in Aceh province; the rise of the Jemaah Islamiya terrorist group
responsible for the Bali bombings and subsequent bombings of Jakartas Mar-
riott Hotel and Australian Embassy; efforts to achieve mutually satisfactory
security relationships with Australia over security cooperation and illegal
aliens attempting to reach Australia by boat; and developing and sustaining
democratic governance after the Suharto governments 1998 collapse.37
How Indonesia addresses and resolves these matters, particularly Islamist
terrorism, will have an important impact on Southeast Asian regional and
maritime economic and geopolitical stability and U.S. relations with the
Islamic world. The United States began a comprehensive partnership with
Indonesia in 2009, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates met his Indonesian
counterpart in Singapore on June 4, 2010, to discuss ways of enhancing this
relationship. Indonesias most recent defense white paper mentions the im-
portance of enhancing professionalism among its military forces; how piracy,
human smuggling, drug trafcking, and transnational criminal networks
have become national security threats; that Indonesias strategic location will
cause it to face traditional and nontraditional security threats; and that ter-
rorism and communal conict are also national security threats that must be
addressed by national power and international cooperation.38
Israel
Since its modern 1948 establishment, Israel has faced numerous geopolitical
challenges despite being one of the Middle Easts most prosperous and demo-
cratic countries. It has had to ght major wars for survival with its major Arab
neighbors in 1948, 1956, 1967, and 1973, along with conventional combat
and antiterrorist operations at various times in locales as diverse as Lebanon,
Iraq, Tunisia, and Uganda, which have produced mixed results. It conducts
intelligence operations against a wide variety of enemies and in 2010 received
international opprobrium for its secret service Mossad falsifying the passports
of civilians from countries as diverse as Australia, France, and the United
Kingdom in order to kill a Hamas terrorist leader in Dubai.39
Israel continues facing a variety of geopolitical problems entering the
21st centurys second decade. One of these includes maintaining good re-
Selected Countries and Their Geopolitical Practices 39
lations with the United States, its principal supporter, at a time when there
are differences between the Obama administration and Prime Minister Ben-
jamin Netanyahus government over the Middle East peace process. Israel
faces continual challenges maintaining its national security from Palestinian
terrorist attacks originating in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon. Such at-
tacks have compelled Israel to build an internationally controversial wall
to prevent unauthorized individuals from entering Israel. It also has had to
impose an economic blockade on Gaza to prevent arms shipments from being
smuggled into that community by Iran and terrorist organizations such as
Hamas to be used in attacks against Israel. It has also conducted military op-
erations in Lebanon against Iranian-supported groups such as Hezbollah.
Additional geopolitical problems facing Israel include a once cooperative
but steadily deteriorating relationship with Turkey, which was exacerbated by
the May 31, 2010, Israeli storming of a boat with Turkish nationals purport-
edly carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza; concern over Irans nuclear program
and the growing belief that it represents an existential threat to Israel and
may require risky unilateral or multilateral military action to disable or de-
stroy; its four-decade-long dispute with Syria over the Golan Heights; and
increasing concerns over water scarcity in this region covering areas such as
the Dead Sea and Jordan River and whether Israel and its neighbors can man-
age this problem without resorting to conict. Israel has also faces problems
in its relationships with European countries that have attempted to crimi-
nally prosecute Israeli ofcials or prevent them from entering their coun-
tries for dubious international law reasons because of Israeli policies toward
Palestinians.40
Japan
As an island nation, Japan faces many geopolitical issues, with particular em-
phasis on maintaining maritime security due to its heavy dependence on im-
porting natural resources to sustain its economy, which includes its being the
worlds second largest oil importer and largest importer of liqueed natural
gas. At the same time, Japan has been reluctant to use its general economic
prosperity to promote expanded military power as a result of its defeat in
World War II and its postwar constitution prohibiting Japanese defense forces
from engaging in operations other than self-defense. Consequently, it has de-
pended on the United States for most of its national security requirements.41
This Japanese reticence to build and project military power has slowly
begun to change in the 21st century. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Japan
deployed its Maritime Self Defense Force to the Indian Ocean to support
U.S. and coalition operations in Afghanistan; dispatched 600 troops to Iraq
in 2004 to participate in humanitarian reconstruction operations; changed its
International Peace Cooperation Law in 2001 limiting its Self Defense Force
40 Geopolitics
Russia
The Russian Federation remains an important player in international and
Eurasian geopolitical matters due to its military strength and signicant oil
Selected Countries and Their Geopolitical Practices 41
United Kingdom
Geopolitics has played a critical role in the United Kingdoms rise from an
isolated northwestern European island state to the worlds greatest empire,
spanning 25 percent of the globe and the worlds population, where it ex-
tended the English language and parliamentary democracy to global areas as
42 Geopolitics
diverse as Africa, Hong Kong, India, Oceania, and the United States. Brit-
ain lost its empire in the wake of the costs of two world wars and granting
independence to most of its former colonies. However, it remains a nuclear
weapons power with signicant conventional military assets and a military
presence in Afghanistan.48
British geopolitical interests have been bisected by two competing intel-
lectual strands. An idealistic strand seeks to promote democratization and
human rights and cooperate with international government organizations,
while a more realistic strand emphasizing assertive and even unilateral diplo-
matic, economic, and military assertion of national power was best personied
on March 1, 1848, by Prime Minister Viscount Palmerston (17841865), who
declared, We have no allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our inter-
ests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow.49
Regardless of existing geopolitical global situations, the domestic economic
British economic situation, or the real or perceived value of its military power
and its allies, the British have sought to follow a number of consistent prin-
ciples in their application and use of national power, which has been demon-
strated in all global areas. These include maintaining unrestricted access to
the seas and the freedom of international maritime trafc due to the superior
power of the Royal Navy or this force being allied with the U.S. Navy and
ensuring that no power or combination of powers could dominate Europe or
other critical global regions such as India and the Middle East to endanger
British national interests. Britain has used these principles to promote its
highest national ideals, commercial interests, and national survival at consid-
erable cost in blood and treasure throughout the centuries with differing de-
grees of emphasis, regardless of the political preferences of its governments.50
The past three decades have seen Britain ght a 1982 war to reclaim
the Falkland Islands from Argentina; ght counterinsurgency campaigns in
Northern Ireland; participate in peace-keeping operations in the Balkans
and Sierra Leone; actively participate in U.S.-led antiterrorism wars in Af-
ghanistan and Iraq. Conservative and Labour governments have had to face
criticism that they are to subservient to U.S. geopolitical interests; decide on
how closely Britain should ally itself with the EU; attempt to balance its spe-
cial relationship with the United States and relationships with NATO and
the EU; determine how much resources it can allocate to national security
and armed forces (including maintaining and enhancing its nuclear missile
submarines as recommended by a 2006 Defense White Paper) at a time of
acute nancial constraints; and have periodic diplomatic disputes with Ar-
gentina and Spain over the Falkland Islands and Gibraltar. These issues will
also continue and impact emerging concerns, including determining how to
integrate its growing Muslim population, which has shown radical tenden-
cies, as demonstrated by the July 7, 2005, London mass transit bombings, and
Selected Countries and Their Geopolitical Practices 43
United States
In its rise from a small western Atlantic seaboard revolutionary upstart to
the worlds preeminent military power, the United States has experienced
tremendous and ongoing evolution in its geopolitical aspirations and prac-
tices. This has occurred from the George Washington to Barack Obama presi-
dential administrations and reects continually evolving national economic,
foreign policy, and national security beliefs and realities.52
The United States gradually gained control of the North American conti-
nent; became a global presence with its 1898 Spanish-American War victory;
and became the worlds preeminent global power after its victorious leader-
ship in two world wars. Following 1945, the subsequent four and half decades
of the cold war saw it involved in a nuclear stalemate with the former Soviet
Union, in which it used various strategies, including containment, dtente,
the maintenance of a strong nuclear weapons deterrent, and the Reagan Doc-
trine supporting anti-Communist liberation movements, to weaken and ulti-
mately defeat the Soviet Union.53
Victory over the Soviet bloc briey produced the illusory view that this
triumph of liberal democratic capitalism represented the end of history.54
Despite the United States military preeminence, the cold wars end would
cause long-suppressed conicts to reappear in the Balkans and the Middle
East, which would require the attention of U.S. geopolitical strategists and
policy makers during the 1990s. These strategists and policy makers would
also debate when and if U.S. military forces should be deployed to defend
national interests.55
The September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks shattered U.S. beliefs in im-
munity from international troubles and prompted a series of foreign military
interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq that are ongoing and controversial
and that have achieved mixed success. In 2002, the George W. Bush admin-
istration released its controversial national security strategy that advocated
taking preemptive action against potential military threats; working collab-
oratively with nations and international law as needed but being willing to
44 Geopolitics
combat maritime piracy and seek to maintain freedom of the seas and the
security of strategic choke points against terrorist attacks that could disrupt
energy supplies and international trade.
It will also seek to develop more environmentally and energy-effective
technologies to lessen dependence on unreliable and hostile foreign energy
sources; improve international environmental cooperation in addressing cli-
mate change; seek to prevent Venezuelas Chavez regime from destabilizing
Latin America and the Southern Caribbean; seek to constructively engage
China, where possible, but also hedging against a rise of Chinese hostil-
ity by strengthening security cooperation with Australia, India, Indonesia,
Japan, and South Korea; attempt to engage constructively with Russia while
strengthening security with European and other nations if Russian foreign
policy turns hostile; support Israels security while trying to advance the Mid-
dle East process; and seek to promote international recovery and economic
growth while wrestling with its own scal proigacy, which has created a pub-
lic debt of nearly $13.25 trillion as of July 22, 2010, and an anticipated 2010
federal budget decit of $1.3 trillion, representing 9.2 percent of GDP. These
domestic economic problems are increasing and will also affect the United
States ability to meet its international geopolitical interests and obligations
and may require it to surrender some of these interests or delegate them to
other countries or groups of countries.59
Notes
1. See Jeremy Black, Maps and History: Constructing Images of the Past (New
Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997); and Walter Goffart, Historical Atlases: The
First Three Hundred Years, 15701870 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003).
2. Australian Bureau of Statistics, Population Clock, http://www.abs.gov.au/.
3. See Frank Broeze, Island Nation: A History of Australians and the Sea (St. Leon-
ards, NSW: Allen and Unwin, 1998); Dennis Rumley, The Geopolitics of Australias
Regional Relations (Dordrecht, Netherlands: Kluwer, 1999); Sean McDonald and
Bruce Baughn, Australias Strategic Posture: A Spatial Orientation under the How-
ard Government, Geographical Bulletin, 43 (1)(May 2001): 1627; Bilveer Singh, De-
fense Relations between Australia and Indonesia in the PostCold War Era (Westport, CT:
Greenwood Press, 2002); and Clive Schoeld, Australian Interventionism Grows in
the South Pacic, Janes Intelligence Review, 17 (5)(May 2005): 4043.
4. Geoffrey Blainey, The Tyranny of Distance: How Distance Shaped Australias His-
tory (Sydney: Pan Macmillan, 2001): 369.
5. See Simon Dalby, Continent Adrift: The Changing Strategic Parameters of Aus-
tralian Discourse (Canberra: Australian Defence Studies Centre, 1995); Klaus Dodds,
Geopolitics in Antarctica: Views from the Southern Oceanic Rim (New York: John Wiley,
1997): 77106; Nicholas Thomas, ed., Re-orienting Australia-China Relations: 1972
to the Present (Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2004); Australia, Department of Defence,
46 Geopolitics
Defence 2000: Our Future Defence Force (Canberra: Department of Defence, 2000);
Australia, Department of Defence, Australias National Security: A Defence Update
2007 (Canberra: Department of Defence, 2007); Australia, Department of Defence,
Defending Australia in the Asia-Pacic Century: Force 2030 (Canberra: Department of
Defence, 2009); John Mortimer and David Stevens, Presence, Power Projection and
Sea Control: The RAN in the Gulf 19902009 (Canberra: Department of Defence
Sea Power Centre, 2009); Sam Bateman and Anthony Bergman, Our Western Front:
Australia and the Indian Ocean (Barton, ACT: Australian Strategic Policy Institute,
2010); and Richard Leaver and Karl Ungerer, A Natural Power: Challenges for Austra-
lias Resources Diplomacy in Asia (Barton, ACT: Australian Strategic Policy Institute,
2010).
6. Brazil, Institute of Geography and Statistics, homepage, http://www.ibge.gov.
br/english/.
7. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), World Factbook 2009, https://www.cia.
gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/br.html.
8. Philip Kelly, Checkerboards and Shatterbelts: The Geopolitics of South America
(Austin: University of Texas Press, 1997): 4851.
9. See Klaus-John Dodds, Geopolitics, Cartography, and the State in South
America, Political Geography, 12 (4)( July 1993): 37477; Kelly, Checkerboards and
Shatterbelts, 1997, 5154; Arie M. Kacowicz, Geopolitics and Territorial Issues: Rel-
evance for South America, Geopolitics, 5 (1)(Summer 2000): 81100; Luis Biten-
court, Security Issues and Challenges to Regional Security Cooperation: A Brazilian
Perspective, in Perspectives from Argentina, Brazil, and Colombia (Carlisle, PA: U.S.
Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, 2003): 1334; and Leslie W. Hepple,
South American Heartland: The Charcas, Latin American Geopolitics and Global
Strategies, Geographical Journal, 170 (4)(December 2004): 35967.
10. Brazil, Ministry of Defense, National Strategy for Defense: Peace and Security
for Brazil (Brasilia: Ministry of Defense, 2008): 8, http://merln.ndu.edu/whitepapers/
Brazil_English2008.pdf.
11. Ibid., 10, 1213, 17, 21, 25.
12. See J. L. Granatstein, A Friendly Agreement in Advance: Canada-U.S. Defense
Relations Past, Present, and Future (Toronto, ON: C. D. Howe Institute, 2002); Brian S.
MacDonald and David S. McDonough, eds., The New World of Robust International
Peacekeeping Operation: What Roles for NATO and Canada? (Toronto, ON: Royal Ca-
nadian Military Institute, 2005); Donald McRae, Arctic Sovereignty? What Is at Stake?
(Toronto, ON: Canadian Institute of International Affairs, 2007); Security and Pros-
perity Partnership of North America, homepage, http://www.spp.gov/; Gerry Madi-
gan, Canada First-Defence Strategy: A Retrospective Look. Too Much? To Little?
Or Just Right? Canadian Military Journal, 10 (3)(Summer 2010): 2736; and Charles
Emmerson, The Future History of the Arctic (New York: Public Affairs, 2010).
13. Canada, Department of National Defence, Canada First Defence Strategy (Ot-
tawa, ON: Department of National Defence, 2008): 4, 6.
14. Ibid., 8, 1112, 2122.
15. Mark A. Groombridge, Chinas Long March to a Market Economy: The Case for
Permanent Normal Trade Relations with the Peoples Republic of China (Washington, DC:
CATO Institute, 2000): 3.
Selected Countries and Their Geopolitical Practices 47
Avery Goldstein, Deterrence and Security in the 21st Century: China, Britain, France,
and the Enduring Legacy of the Nuclear Revolution (Stanford, CA: Stanford University
Press, 2000); Joseph Philippe Gregoire, The Bases of French Peace Operations Doctrine:
Problematical Scope of Frances Military Engagements within the U.N. or NATO Frame-
work (Carlisle, PA: U.S. Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, 2002); Sten
Rynning, Potent or Paralyzing? Nuclear Weapons in Contemporary French Military
Strategy, Defense and Security Analysis, 19 (1)(March 2003): 5568; Daniel Keohane,
Defensive Realignment, ISS Opinion (SeptemberOctober 2008): 3840; and Tom
Sauer, A Second Nuclear Revolution: From Nuclear Primacy to Post-existential De-
terrence, Journal of Strategic Studies, 32 (5)(October 2009): 74567.
24. France President, The French White Paper on Defense and National Security
(Paris: President of the Republic, 2008): 2224.
25. Ibid., 3016.
26. See David Murphy, The Heroic Earth: Geopolitical Thought in Weimar Germany,
19181933 (Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1997); and Guntram H. Herb,
Double Vision: Territorial Strategies in the Construction of National Identities
in Germany, 19491979, Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 94 (1)
(March 2004): 14064.
27. Alan Hanson, Croatian Independence from Yugoslavia, 19911992, in
Words over War: Mediation and Arbitration to Prevent Deadly Conict, ed. Melanie C.
Greenburg, John H. Barton, and Margaret E. McGuinness (New York: Carnegie Com-
mission on Preventing Deadly Conict, 2000): 78.
28. See Jonathan Bach and Susanne Peters, The New Spirit of German Politics,
Geopolitics, 7 (3)(Winter 2002): 118; Vassilis K. Fouskass, Germany and the Pas-
sage from War to Peace in Eurasia, Debatte: Review of Contemporary German Affairs,
15 (2)(August 2007): 195210; and Louis Simon and James Rodgers, The Return of
European Geopolitics, RUSI Journal, 155 (3)( June/July 2010): 5864.
29. See Francis T. Miko, Germanys Role in Fighting Terrorism: Implications for U.S.
Policy (Washington, DC: Library of Congress, Congressional Research Service, 2005);
Hanns W. Maull, ed., Germanys Uncertain Power: Foreign Policy of the Berlin Republic
(New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006); Germany, Federal Ministry of Defense, White
Paper 2006 on German Security Policy and the Future of the Bundeswehr (Berlin: Federal
Ministry of Defense, 2006); Paul Belkin, German Foreign and Security Policy: Trends
and Transatlantic Implications (Washington, DC: Library of Congress, Congressional
Research Service, 2009); Nik Hynek, Vit Stricky, Vladimir Handl, and Michael
Koran, The US-Russian Security Reset: Implications for Central-Eastern Europe
and Germany, European Security, 18 (3)(September 2009): 26385; and Gerrit Wies-
man, Voters Accept Bitter Medicine, Financial Times, May 25, 2010: 10.
30. See CIA, World Factbook 2009, http://www.cia.gov/library/publications/
the-world-factbook/geos/in.html; and U.S. Census Bureau, International Data Base:
Country Rankings, http://sasweb.ssb.census.gov/idb/ranks.html.
31. CIA, World Factbook 2009, http://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-
world-factbook/geos/in.html.
32. See Graham P. Chapman, The Geopolitics of South Asia: From Early Em-
pires to the Nuclear Age, 2nd ed. (Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2002): 24180; David
van Praagh, The Greater Game: Indias Race with Destiny and China (Montreal, QC:
Selected Countries and Their Geopolitical Practices 49
and Operation CAST LEAD (Fort Leavenworth, KS: Combat Studies Institute Press,
U.S. Army Combined Arms Center, 2009); Clive Lipchen, Deborah Sandler, and
Emily Cushman, eds., The Jordan River and Dead Sea Basin: Cooperation Amid Conict
(Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer, 2009); Gian P. Gentile, Learning, Adapting, and
the Perils of the New Counter-Insurgency, Survival, 51 (6)(December 2008January
2009): 189202; United Nations, Human Rights Council, Human Rights in Palestine
and Other Occupied Arab Territories: Report of a United Nations Fact Finding Commis-
sion on the Gaza Conict (New York: United Nations, 2009); U.S. Congress, House
Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia,
Update on Lebanon (Washington, DC: Government Printing Ofce, 2009); Alexan-
der Murinson, Turkeys Entente with Israel and Azerbaijan: State Identity and Security
in the Middle East and Caucasus (New York: Routledge, 2010); Damien McElroy and
Tom Whitehead, Britain to Prevent Abuse of War Crime Warrants, London Daily
Telegraph, March 4, 2010: 19; and F. Stephen Larrabee, Turkeys New Geopolitics,
Survival, 52 (2)(AprilMay 2010): 15780.
41. See Yoriko Fukushima, Japanese Geopolitics and Its Background: What Is
the Real Legacy of the Past? Political Geography, 16 (5)(1997): 40721; Toward a
True Alliance: Restructuring U.S.-Japan Security Relations, ed. Mike M. Mozizuki
(Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 1997); and U.S. Energy Information
Administration, Country Analysis Brief Japan (Washington, DC: EIA, 2008).
42. Naoko Sajima and Kyochi Tachikawa, Japanese Sea Power: A Maritime Nations
Struggle for Identity (Canberra: Department of Defence Sea Power Centre, 2009): 83.
43. See ibid., 85; and Kenneth B. Pyle, Abe Shinzo and Japans Change of Course
(Seattle, WA: National Bureau of Asian Research, 2006): 3, 6.
44. See William E. Rapp, Paths Diverging? The Next Decade in the U.S.-Japan Secu-
rity Alliance (Carlisle, PA: U.S. Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, 2003);
Peter J. Wooley, Geography and Japans Strategic Choices: From Seclusion to Internation-
alization (Washington, DC: Potomac Books, 2005); Peter J. Katzenstein, Rethinking
Japanese Security: Internal and External Dimensions (New York: Routledge, 2008); and
U.S. Department of State, Background Note: Japan, http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/
bgn/4142.htm.
45. Japan, Ministry of Defence, Defense of Japan 2009: Annual White Paper (Tokyo:
Ministry of Defense, 2009): 118, 121, 123, 126, 164.
46. See Ertan Efegil, Struggle for Power in Central Asia after the September 11
Attacks, Turkish Review of Eurasian Studies, 5 (2005): 525; Younkyoo Kim and Gu-Ho
Eom, The Geopolitics of Caspian Oil: Rivalries of the US, Russia, and Turkey in the
South Caucasus, Global Economic Review, 37 (1)(March 2008): 85106; Pavel K. Baev,
Troublemaking and Risk-Taking: The North in Russian Military Activities, in Russia
and the North, ed. Elana Wilson Rowe (Ottawa, ON: University of Ottawa Press, 2009):
1734; and George Joff, The EU and Natural Gas: The New Security Agenda, Is-
sues, 31 (March 2010): 5.
47. The vast literature on potential trends in Russian geopolitics includes Wil-
liam C. Green, The Historic Russian Drive for a Warm Water Port: Anatomy of a
Geopolitical Myth, Naval War College Review, 46 (2)(Spring 1993): 80102; Dmitri
Trenin, The End of Eurasia: Russia on the Border between Geopolitics and Globaliza-
Selected Countries and Their Geopolitical Practices 51
tion (Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2002); Andrej
Kreutz, The Geopolitics of Post-Soviet Russia and the Middle East, Arab Studies
Quarterly, 24 (1)(Winter 2002): 4961; Mark Brassin, Classical Eurasianism and
the Geopolitics of Russian Identity, Ab Imperio, 2 (2003): 25766; Richard Weitz,
Why Russia and China Have Not Formed an Anti-American Alliance, Naval War
College Review, 54 (4)(Autumn 2003): 3961; A. P. Tsygankov, Mastering Space in
Eurasia: Russias Geopolitical Thinking after the Soviet Break-Up, Communism and
Post-Communist Studies, 36 (1)(March 2003): 10127; Fatih Oabay and Bulent Aras,
Polish-Russian Relations: History, Geography, and Geopolitics, East European Quar-
terly, 42 (1)(March 2008): 2742; Andrei Kazantsev, Russian Policy in Central Asia
and the Caspian Sea Region, Europe-Asia Studies, 60 (6)(August 2008): 107288;
Arming the Arctic, Janes Defence Weekly, 47 (12)(March 24, 2010): 2425; and
Stephen Blank and Richard Weitz, eds., The Russian Military Today and Tomorrow:
Essays in Memory of Mary Fitzgerald (Carlisle, PA: U.S. Army War College, Strategic
Studies Institute, 2010).
48. See Trevor Owen Lloyd, The British Empire, 15581983 (New York: Oxford
University Press, 1983); Lawrence Friedman, Martin S. Navias, and Nicholas J.
Wheeler, Independence in Concert: The British Rationale for Possessing Strategic Nuclear
Weapons (College Park, MD: Center for International Security Studies, School of
Public Affairs, 1989); Goldstein, Deterrence and Security, 2000; Niall Ferguson, Em-
pire: The Rise and Demise of the British World Order and the Lessons for Global Power
(New York: Basic Books, 2003); Des Browne and Stephen Carter, Afghanistan: The
Change We Need, RUSI Journal, 154 (3)(June 2009): 3034.
49. See Edward Heath, Realism in British Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, 48 (1)
(October 1969: 3950); and Hansards Parliamentary Debates, 3rd ser., 97 (March 1,
1848): Column 122.
50. See Ferguson, Empire, 22190; Eric Grove, The Royal Navy Since 1815: A New
Short History (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005); Nicholas Saratakes, One Last
Crusade: The British Fleet and Its Impact on the Anglo-American Alliance, English
Historical Review, 121 (491)(April 2006): 42966; and James Kraska, Grasping the
Inuence of Law on Sea Power, Naval War College Review, 62 (3)(Summer 2009):
11335.
51. See Max Hastings and Simon Jenkins, The Battle for the Falklands (New York:
W. W. Norton, 1983); David Dimbleby and David Reynolds, An Ocean Apart: The
Relationship between Britain and America in the Twentieth Century (New York: Ran-
dom House, 1988); Jeremy Stocker, Britains Role in U.S. Missile Defense (Carlisle, PA:
United States Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, 2004); United King-
dom, Ministry of Defense and Foreign and Commonwealth Ofce, The Future of the
United Kingdoms Nuclear Deterrent, Command Paper 6994 (London: MOD, 2006);
Melanie Phillips, Londonistan: How Britain Is Creating a Terror State Within (London:
Gibson Square, 2008); Alex Carlile, Report on the Operation in 2008 of the Terrorism
Act 2000 and Part I of the Terrorism Act 2006 (London: TSO, 2009); United Kingdom,
Parliament, House of Commons, Defence Select Committee, The Strategic Defence and
Security Review: Uncorrected Evidence (London: House of Commons Defence Select
Committee, July 21, 2010); and Thomas Hardings, Britain No Longer Has the Cash
52 Geopolitics
to Defend Itself from Every Threat, says Liam Fox, London Daily Telegraph, July 22,
2010.
52. See Ira Katznelson and Martin Shefter, eds., Shaped by War and Trade: Interna-
tional Inuences on American Political Development (Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univer-
sity Press, 2002); John Lewis Gaddis, Strategies of Containment: A Critical Appraisal of
American National Security Policy during the Cold War (New York: Oxford University
Press, 2005); Peter W. Rodman, The Emerging Pattern of Geopolitics (Carlisle, PA:
United States Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, 2007); Simon Bromley,
American Power and the Prospects for International Order (Cambridge: Polity, 2008);
and Francis B. Sempa, Americas Global Role: Essays and Reviews on National Security,
Geopolitics, and War (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2009).
53. See Joseph S. Roucek, The Development of Political Geography in Geo-
politics in the United States, Australian Journal of Politics and History, 3 (2)(1958):
204 17; Jay Winik, On the Brink: The Dramatic, Behind-the-Scenes Saga of the Reagan
Era and the Men and Women Who Won the Cold War (New York: Simon and Schuster,
1996); Katzelson and Shefter, Shaped by War and Trade: International Inuences on
American Political Development (2002); D. W. Meining, The Shaping of America: A Geo-
graphical Perspective on 500 Years of History, vol. 4, Global America, 19152000 (New
Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2004); Gaddis, Strategies of Containment, 2005; and
Alfred McCoy and Francisco Scarano, eds., Colonial Crucible: Empire in the Making of
the Modern American State (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2009).
54. Francis Fukuyama, The End of History and the Last Man (New York: Free Press,
1992).
55. See Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of
World Order (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996); President of the United States,
A National Security Strategy for a Global Age (Washington, DC: White House, 2000);
Stephen J. Flanagan, Ellen L. Frost, and Richard L. Kugler, Challenges of the Global
Century: Report of the Project on Globalization and National Security (Washington, DC:
National Defense University Institute for National Strategic Studies, 2001); and
Frederick H. Fleitz, Peacekeeping Fiascoes of the 1990s: Causes, Solutions, and U.S.
Interests (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2002).
56. Ibid.; President of the United States, The National Security Strategy of the
United States (Washington, DC: White House, 2002).
57. See John Lewis Gaddis, Surprise, Security, and the American Experience (Cam-
bridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2004); Chalmers Johnson, The Sorrows of Em-
pire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic (New York: Metropolitan Books,
2004); Robert G. Kaufman, In Defense of the Bush Doctrine (Lexington: University
Press of Kentucky, 2007); Patrick M. Cronon, ed., Global Strategic Assessment 2009:
Americas Security Role in a Changing World (Washington, DC: National Defense Uni-
versity, 2009); and President of the United States, National Security Strategy (Wash-
ington, DC: White House, 2010).
58. See United States Government Manual, 20092010 (Washington, DC: Na-
tional Archives and Records Administration, 2009): 151; U.S. Department of De-
fense, The World with Commanders Areas of Responsibilities, http://www.defense.
gov/home/features/0109_uniedcommand/images/unied-command_world-map.jpg;
and U.S. Strategic Command, http://www.stratcom.mil/.
Selected Countries and Their Geopolitical Practices 53
to think like Victorians. This is what must be our guide and inform our
newly rediscovered realism. Geographical determinists must be seated at
the same honored table as liberal humanists, thereby merging the analo-
gies of Vietnam and Munich. Embracing the dictates and limitations of
geography will be especially hard for Americans, who like to think that
no constraint, natural or otherwise, applies to them. But denying the
facts of geography only invites disasters that, in turn, make us victims of
geography.2
Keeping this insight in mind, this chapter will provide succinct overviews
of current and emerging geopolitical hot spots that may produce U.S. or
other national and international military or nancial intervention. It makes
no attempt to propose solutions to these problems and is not necessarily com-
prehensive. However, it seeks to introduce readers to the issues involved and
direct them to other resources in this book and on the Internet that provide
more detailed analysis and statistics on these areas.
Afghanistan/ Pakistan
As of this writing in summer 2010, no geopolitical issue has more attention
in the United States and many other countries than the challenging security
situation in Afghanistan/Pakistan. Under the leadership of the United States
and NATOs International Security Assistance Force (NATO/ISAF), nearly
120,000 troops from 46 nations are in all regions of Afghanistan ghting
tenacious Taliban and al-Qaeda forces seeking to return to power after they
were ousted by U.S.-led forces in 2001 and trying to build a governmental
and economic infrastructure that is economically and politically sustainable
and less corrupt.3
A number of factors complicate this situation and enhance its geopoliti-
cal importance. Afghanistan is located next to geopolitically contentious
areas such as Iran, Pakistan, and central Asian republics such as Uzbekistan
and Tajikistan. While some progress has been made ghting the Taliban and
al-Qaeda due to recent and ongoing increases in U.S. force levels, there is
acute concern in Washington and other ISAF capitals about the corruption
of Afghan president Hamid Karzais government; restrictive rules of engage-
ment many ISAF countries have placed on their military forces, and the op-
erational quality of Afghan military and police forces; lingering questions
about the extent of support and sanctuary provided to Taliban and al-Qaeda
by renegade elements of Pakistans government in that countrys tribal re-
gions such as Waziristan, particularly the Interservices Intelligence Agency;
and how serious Pakistan is about ghting its own home-grown Taliban in-
surgency. Additional concerns cover the ourishing opium trade that helps
nance Taliban operations; the security of Pakistans nuclear weapons arsenal
against terrorist inltration and targeting; civilian casualties in Afghanistan
56 Geopolitics
The Arctic presents a good news, bad news situation for oil and natural
gas development. The good news is that the Arctic holds about 22 percent
of the worlds undiscovered conventional oil and natural gas resources,
based on the USGS [ U.S. Geological Survey] mean estimate. The bad
Current and Emerging Geopolitical Hot Spots 57
news is that: (1) the Arctic resource base is largely composed of natural
gas and natural gas liquids, which are signicantly more expensive to
transport over long distances than oil; (2) the Arctic oil and natural gas
resources will be considerably more expensive, risky, and take longer to
develop than comparable deposits found elsewhere in the world; (3) un-
resolved Arctic sovereignty claims could preclude or substantially delay
development of these oil and natural gas resources where economic sov-
ereignty claims overlap; and (4) protecting the Arctic environment will
be costly. The high costs and long lead-times of Arctic oil and natural gas
development undercut the immediate importance of these sovereignty
claims, while at the same time diminishing the economic incentive to
develop these resources.7
The potential of these Arctic natural resources has caused the aforemen-
tioned countries to take increase interest in asserting national sovereignty in
this region. The most recent Canadian defense policy document maintains
that its forces will be resourced and equipped to have the ability conduct
daily domestic and continental operations in the Arctic to monitor air and
maritime threats to national security and demonstrate a visible presence in
this resource-rich region.8 Russia and its military have become particularly
interested in staking national claims in this region. Increasing oil prices have
heightened this already oil-rich countrys interest in Arctic Ocean reserves,
which helped inuence a Russian mission to plant its national ag on the
ocean oor seabed below the North Pole in August 2007 and to increase
Russian aerial and naval activity to buttress national territorial and natural
resources claims.9
The Obama administration, in its May 2010 National Security Strategy doc-
ument, declares that the United States is an Arctic nation with broad and
fundamental interests in this region, where it will seek to meet its national
security needs, protect the environment, manage resources, and strengthen
international cooperation.10 This followed up a comparable policy document
issued a year earlier by the outgoing George W. Bush administration stressing
the Arctics increasing importance to U.S. national security policy making
and stressing that the United States would seek to preserve the global mobil-
ity of its civilian and military vessels in this area; project a sovereign national
maritime presence to support vital national interests; increase U.S. ability to
protect its Arctic air, land, and sea borders; and work to peacefully resolve
international disputes.11
Ownership of the Northwest Passage has been an area of particular dispute.
Canada contends it is in Canadian territorial waters. However, the United
States and European Union (EU) contend the passage should be considered
part of international waters. In 2009, Russia announced that it was going to
spend $578 million on a nuclear powered icebreaker by 2015, and Russia, the
58 Geopolitics
United States, Canada, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark plan to increase the
their military presence and exercises in the Arctic Ocean.12
Caspian Sea
The Caspian Sea is an area of geopolitical interest because it possesses oil
reserves estimated as being between 17 and 44 billion barrels and natural gas
reserves of 232 trillion cubic feet. Countries surrounding the Caspian Sea
include Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan, and addi-
tional countries seeking access to its mineral resources and control of the
infrastructure transporting these resources include Afghanistan, Armenia,
China, EU countries, Georgia, India, Pakistan, Turkey, the United States,
and Uzbekistan. Uncertainty over the territorial and seabed demarcations of
the Caspian seabed and control of infrastructure such as oil and natural gas
pipelines have resulted in disputes between these littoral powers and could
produce additional conicts if not resolved.13
China in Africa
In its quest for energy sources to meet increasing demand for natural resources
to fuel its growing economy, which can no longer domestically supply its
natural resource requirements, China is also expanding its political and eco-
nomic inuence in African countries. It is doing this without imposing politi-
cal democratization, economic development, and human rights conditions
often imposed by Western countries. Chinese interest in Africa dates from
the 1960s and 1970s, when it began supporting national liberation forces
such as UNITA in Angola and ZANU in Zimbabwe, which were seen as
anti-Soviet. These relationships continued to develop after movements like
ZANU came to power. China has also sought to develop energy, transporta-
tion, and military ties with countries as diverse as Algeria, Angola, Ethiopia,
Nigeria, South Africa, Sudan, and Zimbabwe. Along with increased U.S.
interest in cultivating military ties and access to African natural resources,
this could produce potential tension, if not conict, with China and these
African countries during the 21st century, although general cooperation has
been the norm so far.17
China / Taiwan
Another unique East Asian geopolitical challenge is the relationship be-
tween China and Taiwan and how the United States and other Asia/Pacic
powers would respond if China were to attempt to forcibly incorporate Tai-
wan, which it considers a renegade province. Taiwan has been a sovereign
country since the defeated remnants of Chinas anti-Communist nationalist
regime ed the mainland following the victorious 1949 Communist revolu-
tion. In the ensuing six decades, there have been near military confrontations
between these two countries that were deterred by the threat of U.S. military
power. The most recent of these was in 1996, when U.S. aircraft carriers were
deployed to prevent Chinese missile tests in the Strait of Taiwan from serving
as a prelude to a direct Chinese assault on this country.
Most of the worlds countries have ofcial diplomatic relations with China
and unofcial diplomatic relations with Taiwan out of a desire to accept Chi-
nas one China policy between these countries and out of recognition of
Chinas growing international diplomatic, political, and military power. The
United States is pledged to defend Taiwan under the 1979 Taiwan Relations
Act if it is militarily attacked by China, and U.S. administrations have to
walk a diplomatic tightrope in their desire to maintain good bilateral rela-
tions with China while also maintaining good economic relations with Tai-
wan and selling arms to this country when the United States believes such
sales are necessary to maintain the cross-straits military balance.
62 Geopolitics
Climate Change
Climate change, whether from natural or human-caused forces, is being fac-
tored into national and international security policy making and its literature,
foreign policy, economic development, and natural resources policy making
in countries around the world. Regardless of ones position on whether cli-
mate change is exclusively caused by carbon dioxide emissions, other forms of
human activity, or natural climatological activity, and regardless of individu-
als positions on potential governmental climate change policy responses such
as developing clean energy technologies, carbon trading policies, reducing
dependence on fossil fuels, or enhancing national energy independence, cli-
mate change is affecting and may continue affecting international economic
development, international relations, and international security in a variety
of ways.
Examples of these affects could include the emergence of year-round ice-
free waters in the Northwest Passage, which could create a new international
trade route and affect ecosystems in countries such as Canada, Russia, and
the United States; water shortages which may affect public access to this vital
liquid and agricultural production in areas such as Australias Murray-Darling
Basin, the American West, and the Middle East; increased natural disasters
such as hurricanes and tsunamis in the Gulf of Mexico, Pacic Ocean, and
Indian Ocean; volcanic eruptions such as the spring 2010 plumes over Ice-
land disrupting European and transatlantic air trafc for several days; rising
ocean waters in certain areas of the world such as the South Pacic; and
human-caused disasters such as the summer 2010 British Petroleum oil spill
in the Gulf of Mexico, which was an undesired side effect of global efforts to
nd fossil fuel resources such as petroleum and natural gas to promote eco-
nomic growth. All these factors also have the potential to produce regional
and widespread international conict between nation-states trying to acquire
dependable access to these resources.25
Current and Emerging Geopolitical Hot Spots 63
Cyberwarfare
The information revolution and the Internets ongoing growth and evolution
have made it a critical part of the global economy and international security
system. This criticality has also made individual Internet nodes, particularly
those built and maintained by government agencies, vulnerable to hostile
attacks from disgruntled individuals, criminal and other terrorist groups, and
hostile military and intelligence agencies. Such attacks can disable or knock
out military command and control systems, critical civilian and military infra-
structures such as power grids, telecommunications assets including satellites,
electronic nancial transactions, utilities such as water supply plants, and
transportation assets such as trafc lights. The U.S. military established U.S.
Cyber Command (CYBERCOM) within its Strategic Command (STRAT-
COM) on June 23, 2009, to direct the full spectrum of U.S. military defensive
and offensive cyberspace operations.26
Private-sector agencies, worldwide militaries, and government agencies at
all levels must invest signicant personnel hours and nancial resources to
maintain the security and integrity of their computer systems against hostile
attack. Countries like China and North Korea are particularly interested in
using asymmetric means of warfare such as cyberwarfare to exploit the vul-
nerabilities of countries such as the United States as a means of achieving
economic, political, and security objectives they would be unable to achieve
with conventional military assets.27
resources and emerging natural resources such as solar and wind power from
producing conict will be a major challenge for national governments and
international government organizations during the 21st century.28
Failed States
The term failed state can be dened in many ways. It generally refers to sov-
ereign governments that are seen as failing to meet basic conditions and re-
sponsibilities such as defending national territorial integrity, providing some
level of political stability and governmental functionality, and meeting some
of their populations basic socioeconomic needs. This can cause internecine
strife within these countries that is often ethnically based and make them
vulnerable to foreign intervention and exploitation such as supporting rebel
groups or pirates in the case of Somalia, becoming support bases for terrorist
groups such as al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and increasing their
susceptibility to natural and human-caused disasters that may require neigh-
boring states or the international community to intervene.29
Somalia is probably the most blatant example of a failed state, being with-
out a functional government for nearly two decades. Other examples of failed
states may include Afghanistan, Bolivia, Democratic Republic of the Congo,
East Timor, North Korea, Yemen, and Zimbabwe, depending on the meth-
odologies used to classify failed states.30 A vast corpus of literature on this
concept exists in political science and government literature.31
Globalization
Globalization can be described as the process of increasing the interconnec-
tivity of world markets and businesses. This has been accelerated by techno-
logical advances, making it easier for people to travel and conduct business
internationally, and by telecommunication advances such as the Internet.
Globalization proponents contend that increased opportunities, compe-
tition, and service availability enhance product efciency and consumer
choice. Globalization opponents maintain that there are individuals, groups,
and countries that cannot function successfully in an increasingly competi-
tive global economic environment, which can include some labor and busi-
ness organizations and farm groups. Antiglobalization protests, which can
become violent, are regular occurrences at most international political and
economic gatherings such as the G20 summits. The increasing globalization
of the world economy makes it easier for geographically far-ung countries to
be affected by economic turmoil in remote countries, as demonstrated by the
nancial downturn of 2008 to present times.35
Global Pandemics
A globalized world also makes it easier to carry bacteria, germs, and viruses,
which do not respect national borders, to all corners of the world, where they
can affect animals and humans. This can occur through civilian jet airplane
travel, international trade cargos, and the deployment of military forces into
areas where these forces are not immunized against local diseases. AIDS has
had a signicant impact on the economy, public health, and national security
of many African countries, and diseases such as SARS, dengue, mad cow
disease, various forms of inuenza, malaria, and other conditions can also
reach pandemic proportions in individual countries and internationally if the
causes and carriers are not quarantined or regulated effectively. Consequently,
66 Geopolitics
world governments and military forces must develop and implement effective
epidemiological practices into their policies and operational planning as they
interact with other countries and military forces.36
India / China
As the worlds most populous nations, India and China have a periodically
contentious relationship. The countries fought a 1962 war in the Himalayan
Mountains that resulted in India losing some territory. Indias nuclear weap-
ons arsenal is used to deter China and Pakistan; the two countries disagree
over the status of Tibet; India is concerned about developments in neighbor-
ing countries such as Nepal, Bangladesh, and Myanmar that might adversely
threaten its interests; and India is also increasing the size of its navy and its
cooperation with the United States, which could be used counteract Chinas
string of pearls strategy and restrict or eliminate Chinese access to Middle
Eastern and African oil and natural gas resources in the event of maritime or
other security crises in the Indian Ocean region.37
India / Pakistan
India and Pakistan are both nuclear weapons states and have had a com-
plicated and sometimes contentious bilateral relationship that has produced
wars and near military confrontations between these two countries during
their six decades of independence. Both countries have border disputes over
the Kashmir region. Although the countries cooperate in many areas, their
relationship was exacerbated by the November 2629, 2008, Pakistani Mus-
lim terrorist attacks in Indias Mumbai, which resulted in at least 173 deaths.
Pakistan has traditionally had closer diplomatic and security ties with China,
while India, after initially having close ties with the former Soviet Union, has
increased its ties with the United States, including increasing its economic
and security collaboration with the United States through a bilateral nuclear
agreement giving India access to nuclear fuel and technology, including re-
processing U.S. nuclear material under International Atomic Energy Agency
safeguards. Balancing its relationships with India and Pakistan and helping
these countries build secure nuclear deterrence and command and control
structures are ongoing mission critical objectives of U.S. foreign policy in this
geopolitically sensitive region.38
Iran
Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution overthrowing the pro-American Shah
and its replacement by an aggressively anti-American and dictatorial Islamist
Current and Emerging Geopolitical Hot Spots 67
regime, Iran has become a subject of geopolitical and strategic concern to the
United States and the broader Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean regions. Its
aspirations to achieve nuclear weapons have produced acute concern within
the broader international community but have only produced modest rhe-
torical condemnation and sanctions of questionable economic effect.
Iran has actively supported terrorist groups such as Hamas against Israel
and anti-American forces attempting to destabilize Iraqs U.S.-installed and
nascent democratic government. It has also sought to build ties with oppo-
nents of U.S. policies such as Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, it has made
some attempts to gain political inuence in South American countries such
as Argentina and Bolivia, and the political inuence of its military over na-
tional policy making appears to be increasing. Iranian president Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad has incurred international fury for his desire to wipe Israel off
the map, denying the Holocaust, and crushing antigovernment demonstra-
tions after his 2009 reelection.
Its failure to genuinely cooperate with international efforts to monitor and
determine the exact status of its nuclear programs may eventually result in
military attacks against this arsenal by the United States or Israel, which
would cause tremendous regional instability and threaten oil supplies from
this critical strategic region.39
Iraq
Despite the overthrow of Saddam Husseins regime and its replacement by
a nominally democratic government, Iraq remains a country struggling to
stabilize its economy, government, and society. It continues confronting sec-
tarian Islamic conict between its majority Shia and minority Sunni popula-
tions, which is aggravated by the presence of al-Qaeda terrorists; U.S. and
other international military forces are being withdrawn from Iraq but will still
play a critical support role in enhancing and supporting Iraqs domestic secu-
rity for years to come, Iran will continue trying to gain inuence within Iraq
and destabilize the government, ethnic conict between Iraqis and Kurds will
continue, political corruption will keep Iraqs government from achieving
optimal public support and economic efciency, and the countrys oil reserves
and strategic location will make it an area of interest and concern for global
energy supplies.40
Israel/ Palestine
Confrontation between Israel and Palestinians aspiring for some level of au-
tonomy or national independence has been a critical feature of Middle East
geopolitics for over six decades. Palestinians contend Israel took land from
them during its 1948 war of independence and the Six Days War of 1967. Is-
rael believes it is entitled to its existence under international law and as part
of its religious beliefs. Various diplomatic negotiations involving the United
States, EU, United Nations, and some regional Arab countries have achieved
mixed results. Israel has remained the target of missile attacks from Iranian-
supported groups such as Hamas in the Palestinian-held city of Gaza, and
Israel has build a fence separating its territory from Palestinian territory on
the West Bank of the Jordan River to prevent terrorist attacks inside Israel.
The MayJune 2010 controversy involving an Israeli raid on a Turkish boat
carrying what it said was humanitarian assistance to Gaza has exacerbated
an already strained relationship and created domestic contentiousness in Is-
rael and an international uproar, despite there being a history of arms smug-
gling to Gaza-based Palestinian terrorist groups. The Israeli-controlled Golan
Current and Emerging Geopolitical Hot Spots 69
Heights region has been disputed with Syria since 1967. This will remain a
front-burner issue in Middle Eastern geopolitics for the foreseeable future.42
Maritime Piracy
Maritime piracy or terrorism is no longer a historical relic and has resurfaced
as a major contemporary international security problem. The International
Maritime Bureau Piracy Reporting Centre announced in July 2009 that the
number of worldwide piracy attacks increased from 114 in the rst half of
2008 to 240 during the rst half of 2009 and that the attacking pirates in
the large majority of these incidents were heavily armed and committed
violence against crewmembers, including hostage taking, kidnapping, and
murder. This problem became particularly visible to Americans when the
U.S.-agged container ship MV Maersk Alabama was attacked 250 nautical
miles southeast of Somalia and seized by Somali pirates on April 8, 2009,
while carrying U.S. government food aid to Mombasa, Kenya. The captain
was taken hostage before U.S. military sharpshooters on the USS Bainbridge
killed his captors and secured his release. On April 14, 2009, the U.S.-agged
MV Liberty Sun, with 20 crew members on a similar mission, was attacked
285 nautical miles southeast of Mogadishu, Somalia, but the crew thwarted
the attack.44
While currently most prevalent in the Gulf of Aden, Red Sea, and Horn
of Africa, maritime piracy is a global problem occurring in waters adjacent
to Bangladesh, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, South America, and the Strait of
70 Geopolitics
This gang-related violence has had serious economic and security reper-
cussions in these Caribbean and Latin American countries, including many
civilian casualties. It has also spread to the United States as many of these
gangs have become involved in the U.S. drug trade in numerous cities, caus-
ing signicant casualties and problems for local, state, and federal law en-
forcement. This subject also inuences public debate over illegal immigration
as the ongoing controversy over Arizonas immigration law and charges of
lax federal border security indicate. Some of these gangs are also involved
in human smuggling across the U.S. border, and it has become necessary to
deploy U.S. National Guard units in the Mexican border region. It may also
Current and Emerging Geopolitical Hot Spots 71
become necessary for U.S. law enforcement or military units to conduct hot
pursuit missions into Mexico or other countries to apprehend or kill the
perpetrators of this violence, which would pose acute diplomatic problems.
However, the failure to effectively defeat this violence will have also have
serious domestic U.S. political repercussions.48
Persian Gulf
This region is home to major oil-producing countries such as Saudi Arabia,
Iraq, Iran, and other Persian Gulf countries. These countries supply oil to
the U.S. and Western European countries and to growing energy-consuming
powers like China and Japan. In 2006, an estimated 16.517 million bar-
rels of oil per day were transported through the Persian Gulf, which is only
21 miles wide at its narrowest point. Within this 21-mile-wide parameter,
shipping lanes consist of 2-mile-wide channels for inbound and outbound
tanker trafc along with a 2-mile-wide buffer zone. Sea mines were installed
in this body of water during the 1980s Iran-Iraq War, and it has been the
target of terrorist threats since 9/11.
If the Persian Gulf is closed off, alternative oil and natural gas delivery
would have to occur through pipelines crossing Saudi Arabia to the Red Sea
or to Turkey through Iraq. Delivery of oil would also be threatened if there
were a military confrontation with Iran over that countrys nuclear weapons
program or if any of this regions countries experienced catastrophic nancial
downturns. Consequently, this region has been a major focus of U.S. geopo-
litical strategic concern for several decades, and it is becoming increasingly
important to China and other countries as well as ensuring its critical nature
in international economic, energy, and strategic policy making.53
Sovereign Debt
Sovereign debt refers to the debt owed by governments, which is a phenomenon
that has occurred throughout history. National governments have chosen to
place themselves in positions where they have had to borrow money from
commercial banks, other national governments, or international government
organizations to nance wars, economic development projects, public works,
social assistance programs, or other real or perceived national needs. The
Current and Emerging Geopolitical Hot Spots 75
Terrorism
Perhaps no issue has broader geopolitical resonance with average citizens
and policy makers than terrorism. News reports regularly inform us of violent
attacks against civilians, law enforcement personnel, government ofcials,
and military personnel in reprisal for real or imagined injustices and to gain
76 Geopolitics
publicity for a cause and its adherents. Targets of terrorist attacks may also
include critical infrastructures such as bridges, electrical power stations, water
supplies, reneries, and computer networks.
These attacks can occur anywhere in the world and often without warning.
Examples of attacks in recent months include the attempted Christmas 2009
bombing of a Northwest Airlines ight approaching Detroit; a January 2, 2010,
attack in Aarhus, Denmark, that attempted to kill Danish cartoonist Kurt Wes-
tergaard, who drew the controversial Mohammed cartoons; the May 1, 2010,
attempted bombing in New York Citys Times Square; and the July 11, 2010,
attacks in Kampala, Uganda, against fans watching the World Cup champion-
ship by the al-Qaeda-allied terrorist group al-Shabab.63
Terrorisms impact has been felt in domestic and international economics
and with some restrictions on civil liberties in democratic countries. Much
more extensive and intrusive security is required to travel by airplane or mass
transit. We may have to submit to biometric photo identication, ngerprints
or DNA tests, polygraphs, and retinal eye scans to gain access to restricted
areas like government ofce buildings or military facilities or to receive cer-
tain kinds of information and services. Government expenditures on security
have increased and may contribute to the nancial problems many govern-
ment agencies are currently experiencing. The Internet and social network-
ing sites are targets of terrorist recruitment and activities such as cyberwarfare
against nations, military forces, and hated individuals and organizations,
including multinational corporations. Terrorist groups representing various
political, economic, secularist, and religious beliefs continually seek to con-
duct sabotage and bloody conventional terrorist attacks and also aspire to
acquire weapons of mass destruction such as biological, chemical, and nuclear
weapons to achieve their goals. Law enforcement, intelligence agencies, and
militaries must continually adopt tactics to deter and defeat terrorist objec-
tives. Public health providers such as hospitals must be prepared to treat mass
casualties from terrorist attacks and have limited resources and personnel to
do so.64
Turkey
Being at the intersection of Europe and Asia, Turkey has historically been an
important geopolitical arena. It is a member of NATO, aspires to become an
EU member, and, until recently, had close ties with Israel. It also controls the
strategic choke point of the Turkish Straits (consisting of the Bosporus and
Dardanelles straits), providing access between the Aegean and Mediterra-
nean seas and the Black Sea. In 2006, 2.4 million barrels of oil owed through
this 17-mile-long strait per day, which is 0.5 miles wide at its narrowest point,
Current and Emerging Geopolitical Hot Spots 77
from the Caspian Sea destined for western and southern Europe. Turkey has
the right to close the straits for environmental and safety concerns, and there
is no viable maritime alternative for this shipping route, although various
pipeline projects are being considered involving countries such as Albania,
Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, and Russia.65
For many decades, Turkey had a secularist government that was generally
allied with the United States, with its military playing a particularly strong
role in retaining this ideological and policy orientation. This has begun to
change in recent years as a more Islamist government led by Prime Minister
Recep Tayyap Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party were elected
and consolidated their power and sought to reduce the militarys power. Tra-
ditionally good U.S.-Turkish relations were strained in 2003 when Turkey
refused to allow U.S. forces to use it as a base to launch military operations
into Iraq.66
Turkish-U.S. relationships have become even more strained in recent
years. Turkey believes the U.S. overthrow of Iraqs Saddam Husseins cre-
ated instability on its southern border and emboldened the separatist Kurd-
ish Workers Party to increase its operations against the Turkish government.
Erdogans government has sought to improve Turkeys relationships with Syria
and Iran, which is contrary to U.S. desires. Persian Gulf countries see Turkey
as an attractive investment alternative and a regional power that can balance
Iran. Turkey has become increasingly involved in the Israeli-Palestinian dis-
pute and has vocally supported Hamas to Israels extreme displeasure, with its
outrage over Israels May 2010 assault on a Turkish ship bringing humanitar-
ian aid to Gaza representing the most vivid demonstration of this changing
Turkish policy. Turkey has become an increasingly important player in the
Caspian and Black Sea energy markets and has sought to improve its ties
with countries in this region, including Armenia, Azerbaijian, Georgia, and
Russia.67
One recent analysis of Turkish geopolitics sees four possible scenarios Tur-
key could follow. These include a pro-Western Turkey integrating into the
EU, which would also anchor Turkey to a broad Euro-Atlantic framework
desired by the United States; a more Islamicized Turkey, weakening its ties
to the West, strengthening its Muslim identity and ties to Muslim countries,
and weakening its commitments to secularism and Western values; a nation-
alist Turkey that, abandoning its efforts to obtain EU membership while still
maintaining strong economic and trade ties with the EU, maintains defense
ties with the United States but pursues more independent policies toward the
Middle East and central Asia and expands economic and security coopera-
tion with Russia; and a Turkey with escalating domestic political and social
tension, leading the Turkish military to intervene and seize power.68
78 Geopolitics
Notes
1. Robert D. Kaplan, The Revenge of Geography, Foreign Policy, 196 (May/June
2009): 96105.
2. Ibid., 105.
3. International Security Assistance Force, Key Facts and Figures, http://www.
isaf.nato.int/troops-numbers-and-contributions/index.php.
4. A veritable and continuing ood of literature exists on these topics, includ-
ing David Hume, Integration of Weaponized Unmanned Aircraft into the Air-to-Ground
System (Maxwell Air Force Base, AL: Air University Press, 2007); U.S. Government
Accountability Ofce, Securing, Stabilizing, and Reconstructing Afghanistan: Key Issues
Current and Emerging Geopolitical Hot Spots 79
11. President of the United States, National Security Presidential Directive 66,
http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2009/01/20090112-3.
html.
12. See Elizabeth B. Elliot-Meisel, Arctic Diplomacy: Canada and the United States
in the Northwest Passage (New York: P. Lang, 1998); Arming the Arctic, Janes De-
fence Weekly, 47 (12)(March 24, 2010): 2425; Rob Huebert, Polar Frontiers, Armed
Forces Journal, 147 (7)(March 2010): 2021, 36; and Gerard Cowen, Canada Pro-
ceeds with Construction of Naval Facility in Disputed NWP, Janes Defence Weekly,
47 (19)(May 12, 2010): 12.
13. See U.S. Energy Information Administration, Caspian Sea Region: Survey
of Key Oil and Gas Statistics and Forecasts, http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/cas
pian_balances.htm; U.S. Energy Information Administration, Caspian Sea Region:
Regional Conicts, http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/casp/caspconf.html; Michael P.
Croissant and Blent Aras, eds., Oil and Geopolitics in the Caspian Sea Region (West-
port, CT: Praeger, 1999); Adam N. Stulberg, Well-Oiled Diplomacy: Strategic Manipu-
lation and Russias Energy Statecraft in Eurasia (Albany: State University of New York
Press, 2007): 13376; and U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations,
Oil, Oligarchs, and Opportunity: Energy from Central Asia to Europe (Washington, DC:
Government Printing Ofce, 2008), http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS108989.
14. See Olga Oliker, U.S. Interests in Central Asia: Policy Priorities and Military
Roles (Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2005); Stephen Blank, Challenges and Opportuni-
ties for the Obama Administration in Central Asia (Carlisle, PA: U.S. Army War Col-
lege, Strategic Studies Institute, 2009), http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS114399;
Elizabeth Wishnick, Russia, China, and the United States in Central Asia: Prospects for
Great Power Competition and Cooperation in the Shadow of the Georgia Crisis (Carlisle,
PA: U.S. Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, 2009); U.S. Congress, Sen-
ate Committee on Foreign Relations, Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South and
Central Asian Affairs, Reevaluating U.S. Policy in Central Asia (Washington, DC:
Government Printing Ofce, 2010); and Anita Sengupta, Heartlands of Eurasia: The
Geopolitics of Political Space (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2009).
15. Andrew E. Kramer, Following Kyrgyz Vote a Victory Is Declared, New York
Times, June 28, 2010: A7; and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), World Factbook
2010, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/kg.html.
16. See U.S. Department of State, Background Notes, http://www.state.gov/r/
pa/ei/bgn/, for updates on U.S. foreign policy toward these countries; Havva Kok,
China and the Geopolitics of Oil in East Turkestan, Turkish Review of Eurasian Stud-
ies, vol. 4 (2004): 5572; Michael Clarke, China Strategy in Xinjiang and Central
Asia: Toward Chinese Hegemony in the Geographical Pivot of History, Issues and
Studies, 41 (2)(2005): 75118; Charles Hawkins and Robert Love, eds., The New
Great Game: Chinese Views on Central Asia: Central Asia Regional Security Issues, Eco-
nomic and Political Challenges (Fort Leavenworth, KS: Foreign Military Studies Ofce,
2006), http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS111770; Hasan H. Karar, The New Silk
Road Diplomacy: Chinas Central Asian Foreign Policy since the Cold War (Vancouver,
BC: University of British Columbia Press, 2009); Stulberg, Well-Oiled Diplomacy, 93
132, 177212; U.S. Congress, House Committee on International Relations, Sub-
committee on the Middle East and Central Asia, Assessing Energy and Security Issues
Current and Emerging Geopolitical Hot Spots 81
Sea with Chinese Characteristics, Orbis, 49 (4)(Fall 2005): 67794; U.S. Congress,
House Committee on Armed Services, Military Power of the Peoples Republic of China
(Washington, DC: Government Printing Ofce, 2007); Jinghao Zhou, Does China
Threaten the United States? Asian Perspective, 32 (3)(2008): 17182; James R. Hol-
mes and Toshi Yoshihara, Chinas Naval Ambitions in the Indian Ocean, Jour-
nal of Strategic Studies, 31 (3)(June 2008): 36794; and Andrew Erickson and Lyle
Goldstein, Gunboats for Chinas New Grand Canals? Probing the Intersection of
Beijings Naval and Oil Security Policies, Naval War College, 62 (2)(Spring 2009):
4376.
24. See U.S. Congress, House Committee on International Relations, Subcom-
mittee on Asia and the Pacic, Crisis in the Taiwan Strait: Implications for U.S. Foreign
Policy (Washington, DC: Government Printing Ofce, 1996); Michael OHanlon,
Why China Cannot Conquer Taiwan, International Security, 25 (2)(Fall 2000):
5186; U.S-China Economic and Security Review Commission, Hearing on Military
Modernization and Cross-Strait Balance (Washington, DC: Government Printing Of-
ce, 2004); Yoshihara and Holmes, Command of the Sea with Chinese Charac-
teristics, 68485; Murray Scot Tanner, Chinese Economic Coercion against Taiwan:
A Tricky Weapon to Use (Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2007); Shirley A. Kan, China/
Taiwan: Evolution of the One China Policy: Key Statements from Washington, Beijing,
and Taipei (Washington, DC: Library of Congress, Congressional Research Service,
2007); William S. Murray, Revisiting Taiwans Defense Strategy, Naval War College
Review, 61 (3)(Summer 2008): 1338; Paul J. Smith, China-Japan Relations and the
Future Geopolitics of East Asia, Asian Affairs: An American Review, 35 (4)(Winter
2009): 23740; Nancy Bernkopf Tucker, Strait Talk: United States-Taiwan Relations
and the Crisis with China (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009); and U.S.
Congress, House Committee on International Relations, Subcommittee on Asia, the
Pacic, and the Global Environment, Recognizing the 30th Anniversary of the Taiwan
Relations Act (Washington, DC: Government Printing Ofce, 2009).
25. The vast corpus of literature on this controversial subject includes Harm J. De
Blij, Why Geography Matters: Three Challenges Facing America: Climate Change, the
Rise of China, and Global Terrorism (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005); Bjrn
Lomberg, Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalists Guide to Global Warming (New York:
Alfred A. Knopf, 2007); Carolyn Pumphrey, ed., Global Climate Change: National Se-
curity Implications (Carlisle, PA: U.S. Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute,
2008); Nevelina I. Pachova, Mikiyasu Nakayama and Libor Jansky, eds., International
Water Security: Domestic Threats and Opportunities (Tokyo: United Nations Univer-
sity Press, 2008); Australia Murray-Darling Basin Authority, Murray-Darling Basin
Authority, http://www.mdba.gov.au/; Felix Dodds, Andrew Higham, and Richard
Sherman, eds., Climate Change and Energy Insecurity: The Challenge for Peace, Secu-
rity, and Development (London: Earthscan, 2009); U.S. Congress, House Committee
on Foreign Affairs, Climate Change and the Arctic: New Frontiers of National Security
(Washington, DC: Government Printing Ofce, 2009), http://purl.access.gpo.gov/
GPO/LPS113771; Rymn J. Parsons, Taking Up the Security Challenge of Climate Change
(Carlisle, PA: U.S. Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, 2009); and U.S.
Congress, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Climate Change and Global Secu-
Current and Emerging Geopolitical Hot Spots 83
York: Oxford University Press, 2008); Maria C. Haims, David C. Gompert, Greg-
ory F. Treverton, and Brooke Stearns Lawson, Breaking the Failed-State Cycle (Santa
Monica, CA: RAND, 2008); Robert H. Bates, When Things Fall Apart: State Failure
in Late-Century Africa (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008); Larry J. Woods
and Timothy R. Reese, Military Interventions in Sierra Leone: Lessons from a Failed State
(Fort Leavenworth, KS: Combat Studies Institute Press, U.S. Army Combined Arms
Center, 2008); and Tifany Howard, The Tragedy of Failure: Evaluating State Failure
and Its Impact on the Spread of Refugees, Terrorism, and War (Santa Barbara, CA: Prae-
ger Security International, 2010).
32. Arizona state information resources on this legislation can be found at Ari-
zona Governor, Arizona Border Security Information Center, http://www.azgover
nor.gov/AZBorderSecurity.asp. See U.S. Department of Justice, Citing Conict with
Federal Law, Department of Justice Challenges Arizona Immigration Law, http://
www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/July/10-opa-776.html, for the text of the U.S. govern-
ments lawsuit against Arizonas law and related documentation.
33. See Martin Tsamenyi and Chris Rahman, eds., Protecting Australias Maritime
Borders: The MV Tampa and Beyond (Wollongong, NSW: Centre for Maritime Policy,
University of Wollongong, 2002); David Marr and Marian Wilkinson, Dark Victory:
The Tampa and the Military Campaign to Re-elect the Prime Minister (Crows Nest, NSW:
Allen and Unwin, 2003); and Paul Kelly, The March of Patriots: The Struggle for Mod-
ern Australia (Carlton, VIC: Melbourne University Press, 2009): 54165.
34. See Niklaus Steiner, Arguing about Asylum: The Complexity of Refugee Debates
in Europe (New York: St. Martins Press, 2000); U.S. Congress, House Committee on
International Relations, Subcommittee on International Terrorism and Nonprolifera-
tion, Border Vulnerabilities and International Terrorism (Washington, DC: Government
Printing Ofce, 2006); Gordon H. Hanson, The Economic Logic of Illegal Immigration
(New York: Council on Foreign Relations, 2007); Edward H. Alden, The Closing of
the American Border: Terrorism, Immigration, and Security since 9/11 (New York: Harper,
2008); and Ariane Chebel dAppollonia and Simon Reich, eds., Immigration, Inte-
gration, and Security: America and Europe in Comparative Perspective (Pittsburgh, PA:
University of Pittsburgh Press, 2008).
35. See Emma Rothschild, The Last Empire: Security and Globalization in Histori-
cal Perspective (Newport, RI: U.S. Naval War College, 2003); Vaughan Higgins and
Geoffrey Lawrence, eds., Agricultural Governance: Globalization and the New Politics of
Regulation (London: Routledge, 2005); Jrgen Osterhammel and Niels P. Petersson,
Globalization: A Short History (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2005); and
Stephen M. Streeter, John C. Weaver, and William D. Coleman, eds., Empires and
Autonomy: Moments in the History of Globalization (Vancouver, BC: University of Brit-
ish Columbia Press, 2009).
36. See U.S. Centers for Disease Control, Emerging Infectious Diseases, http://
www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/; U.S. Congress, House Committee on International Rela-
tions, Infectious Diseases: A Growing Threat to Americas Health and Security (Washing-
ton, DC: Government Printing Ofce, 2000); CIA, Global Infectious Disease Threat
and Its Implications for the United States (Washington, DC: CIA, 2000); Executive Of-
ce of the President, Presidents Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, Re-
port to the President on U.S. Preparations for 2009-H1NI Inuenza (Washington, DC:
Current and Emerging Geopolitical Hot Spots 85
the Middle East (Westport, CT: Praeger Security International, 2008); Anthony H.
Cordesman and Adam Seitz, Iranian Weapons of Mass Destruction: The Birth of a Re-
gional Arms Race? (Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger Security International and Center
for Strategic and International Studies, 2009); U.S. Department of State, Country
Reports on Terrorism: Western Hemisphere Overview 2008, http://www.state.gov/s/
ct/rls/crt/2008/122435.htm; and U.S. Congress, House Committee on Foreign Af-
fairs, Subcommittees on the Western Hemisphere, Middle East and South Asia, and
Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade, Iran in the Western Hemisphere (Washington,
DC: Government Printing Ofce, 2009).
40. See U.S. Department of Defense, Report to Congress: Measuring Stability and
Security in Iraq (Washington, DC: Government Printing Ofce, 2005present); U.S.
Congress, House Committee on Government Reform, Subcommittee on National
Security, Emerging Threats, and International Relations, The Evolving National Strat-
egy for Victory in Iraq (Washington, DC: Government Printing Ofce, 2007); Steven
Metz, Iraq and the Evolution of American Strategy (Washington, DC: Potomac Books,
2008); Najim Abed Al-Jabouri, Iraqi Security Forces after U.S. Troop Withdrawal: An
Iraqi Perspective (Washington, DC: National Defense University, Institute for Na-
tional Strategic Studies, 2009); and U.S. Congress, House Committee on Armed Ser-
vices, Effective Counterinsurgency: How the Use and Misuse of Reconstruction Funding
Affects the War Effort in Iraq and Afghanistan (Washington, DC: Government Printing
Ofce, 2010).
41. See Robert Marquand, In Land of Few Burqas, France Debates a Ban,
Christian Science Monitor, July 6, 2010; Anna Marij van der Meulen, Far Right
Surges in Dutch Election, Wall Street Journal, June 11, 2010; The Swiss Mina-
ret Ban, The Economist, November 30, 2009; Melanie Phillips, Londonistan (New
York: Encounter Books, 2006); Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Indel (New York: Free Press, 2007);
Michael Emerson et al., eds., Islamist Radicalisation: The Challenge for Euro-Mediter-
ranean Relations (Brussels: Center for European Policy Studies, 2009); Christopher
Caldwell, Reections on the Revolution in Europe: Immigration, Islam, and the West
(New York: Doubleday, 2009); Amr Elshobaki and Gema Martin Muoz, Why Eu-
rope Must Engage with Political Islam (Paris: European Institute for Security Studies
and European Institute of the Mediterranean, 2010); and Phillip R. Cuccia, Implica-
tions of a Changing NATO (Carlisle, PA: U.S. Army War College, Strategic Studies
Institute, 2010): 9.
42. See U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Israels Disen-
gagement from Gaza and Several West Bank Settlements: Staff Trip Report (Washington,
DC: 2005); Joel Beinein and Rebecca L. Stein, eds., The Struggle for Sovereignty: Pal-
estine and Israel, 19932005 (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2006); U.S.
Congress, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Middle East and
South Asia, 853 Days: From Gaza Disengagement to De Facto Power (Washington,
DC: Government Printing Ofce, 2008); Kenneth Katzman, Iran: U.S. Concerns and
Policy Responses (Washington, DC: Library of Congress, Congressional Research Ser-
vice, 2009): 3031; James Kiteld, Gaza Flotilla: Strategic Blunder or Unavoidable
Confrontation, National Journal Expert Blog: National Security, June 7, 2010: 113,
http://security.nationaljournal.com/2010/06/gaza-otilla-strategic-blunde.php; Asad
Ghanen, Palestinean Politics after Arafat: A Failed National Movement (Bloomington:
Current and Emerging Geopolitical Hot Spots 87
Indiana University Press, 2010); and Efraim Karsh, Palestine Betrayed (New Haven,
CT: Yale University Press, 2010).
43. See Philip Kelly, Checkerboards and Shatterbelts: The Geopolitics of South Amer-
ica (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1997); Arie M. Kacowicz, Geopolitics and
Territorial Issues: Relevance for South America, Geopolitics, 5 (1)(Summer 2000):
81100; Leslie W. Hepple, South American Heartland: The Charcas, Latin Ameri-
can Geopolitics, and Global Strategies, Geographical Journal, 170 (4)(December
2004): 35967; Gabriela Marcela, American Grand Strategy for Latin America in the
Age of Resentment (Carlisle, PA: U.S. Army War College, Strategic Studies Insti-
tute, 2007); Jaime Suchlicki, The Cuba-Venezuela Challenge to Hemispheric Security:
Implications for the United States (Coral Gables, FL: University of Miami Center for
Hemispheric Policy, 2009), http://www6.miami.edu/hemispheric-policy/VenCubaSe
curityChallenges.pdf; and Hal Brands, Dealing with Political Ferment in Latin America:
The Populist Revival, the Emergence of the Center, and Implications for U.S. Policy (Car-
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44. U.S. Congress, House of Representatives, United States Mariner and Vessel Pro-
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ton, DC: Government Printing Ofce): 12.
45. Australia, Ofce of the Inspector of Transport Security, International Robbery
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Transport Security, 2010): 3.
46. See Graham Gerard Ong-Web, ed., Piracy, Maritime Terrorism, and Securing
the Malacca Straits (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies and International
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Cooperation in the Malacca Strait (Canberra: Sea Power Centre-Australia, 2008); U.S.
Department of Homeland Security, Small Vessel Security Strategy (Washington, DC:
Department of Homeland Security, 2008); Wu Shicun and Zou Keyuan, eds., Mari-
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(Farnham, UK: Ashgate, 2009); U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Armed Ser-
vices, Ongoing Efforts to Combat Piracy on the High Seas (Washington, DC: Govern-
ment Printing Ofce, 2009); U.S. Congress, House Committee on Foreign Affairs,
Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight, Inter-
national Efforts to Combat Maritime Piracy (Washington, DC: Government Printing
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terpiracy Mission in the Gulf of Aden and Beyond, in The PLA at Home and Abroad:
Assessing the Operational Capabilities of Chinas Military, ed. Roy Kamphausen, David
Lai, and Andrew Scobell, (Carlisle, PA: U.S. Army War College, Strategic Studies
Institute, 2010): 295376.
47. Max G. Manwaring, A Contemporary Challenge to State Sovereignty: Gangs
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48. See Howard Campbell, Drug War Zone: Frontline Dispatches from the Streets of
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88 Geopolitics
Drug Trade (Washington, DC: Government Printing Ofce, 2009); U.S. National
Drug Intelligence Center, National Gang Threat Assessment (Johnstown, PA: Na-
tional Drug Intelligence Center, 2009); U.S. Congress, House Committee on Home-
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cking, Violence, and Instability in Mexico, Colombia, and the Caribbean: Implications
for U.S. National Security (Carlisle, PA: U.S. Army War College, Strategic Stud-
ies Institute, 2010); and Hal Brands, Crime, Violence, and the Crisis in Guatemala:
A Case Study in the Erosion of the State (Carlisle, PA: U.S. Army War College, Stra-
tegic Studies Institute, 2010).
49. See U.S. Congress, House Committee on International Relations, Subcom-
mittee on Africa, Global Human Rights, and International Operations, Nigerias
Struggle with Corruption (Washington, DC: Government Printing Ofce, 2006); A. T.
Simbine, Security in the Niger Delta (Ibadan: Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic
Research, 2008); Judith Burdin Asuni, Blood Oil in the Niger Delta (Washington, DC:
U.S. Institute of Peace, 2009); and U.S. Energy Information Administration, Coun-
try Analysis Briefs: Nigeria, http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/Nigeria/pdf.pdf.
50. Edward Bruner, North Korean Crisis: Possible Military Options (Washington,
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51. Choe Sang-Hun, South Korea to Accuse North Korea of Sinking Ship, Of-
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52. See Daniel J. Orcutt, Carrot, Stick, or Sledgehammer: U.S. Policy Options
for North Korean Nuclear Weapons (Colorado Springs, CO: USAF Institute for Na-
tional Security Studies, 2004); David J. Bishop, Dismantling North Koreas Nuclear
Weapons Program (Carlisle, PA: U.S. Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute,
2005); U.S. Congress, House Committee on International Relations, Subcommittee
on Asia and the Pacic, North Korean Brinksmanship: Is U.S. Policy Up to the Chal-
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Nuclear Endgame: The Need for Engagement with North Korea (Westport, CT: Praeger
Security International, 2007); Kuk-Sin Kim, Transformation of the Japan-U.S. Alliance
and South Koreas Security Strategy (Seoul: Korean Institute for National Unication,
2008); Bruce W. Bennett, Uncertainties in the North Korean Nuclear Threat (Santa
Monica, CA: RAND, 2010); and U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Foreign Rela-
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2010).
53. See Gawdat Bahgat, American Oil Diplomacy in the Persian Gulf and the Cas-
pian Sea (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2003); Jon B. Alterman, Iraq and
the Gulf States: The Balance of Fear (Washington, DC: U.S. Institute of Peace, 2007);
U.S. Energy Information Administration, World Oil Transit Chokepoints, http://
www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/World_Oil_Transit_Chokepoints/pdf.pdf; and Jeffrey R.
Macris, The Politics and Security of the Gulf: Anglo-American Hegemony and the Shaping
of a Region (London: Routledge, 2010).
54. European Commission, Directorate General for Energy, Europes Energy Posi-
tion Markets and Supply (Luxembourg: European Union, 2010): 2122.
Current and Emerging Geopolitical Hot Spots 89
55. See Robert L. Larsson, Russias Energy Policy: Security Dimensions and Rus-
sias Reliability as an Energy Supplier (Stockholm: FOI Swedish Defence Research
Agency, 2006); Robert Winchester, European Energy Security: Wrestling the Russian
Bear for Caspian Natural Gas (Carlisle, PA: U.S. Army War College, 2007); Stul-
berg, Well-Oiled Diplomacy; U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations,
Oil, Oligarchs, and Opportunity: Energy from Central Asia to Europe (Washington, DC:
Government Printing Ofce, 2008); Marshall I. Goldman, Petrostate: Putin, Power,
and the New Russia (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010); and Keith C. Smith,
Russia-Europe Energy Relations: Implications for U.S. Policy (Washington, DC: Center
for Strategic and International Studies, 2010): 1.
56. See David D. Laitin, Identity in Formation: The Russian-Speaking Populations in
the Near Abroad (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1998); Kaare Dahl Martinsen,
The Russian-Belarussian Union and the Near Abroad (Oslo: Norwegian Institute for De-
fense Studies, 2002); Janusz Bugasjki, Cold Peace: Russias New Imperialism (Westport,
CT: Praeger and Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2004); Stephen M.
Saideman, For Kin or Country: Xenophobia, Nationalism, and War (New York: Colum-
bia University Press, 2008); and Peter B. Humphrey, The State of Play in Russias
Near Abroad, Joint Force Quarterly, 55 (2009): 4146.
57. Paul J. DAnieri, Economic Interdependence in Ukranian-Russian Relations (Al-
bany: State University of New York Press, 1999); Herman Pirchner, Reviving Greater
Russia? The Future of Russias Borders with Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, and
Ukraine (Washington, DC: American Foreign Policy Council and University Press
of America, 2005); Kestitutis Paulauskas, The Baltics: From Nation States to Mem-
ber States (Carlisle, PA: U.S. Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, 2006);
Christoph Zrcher, The Post-Soviet War: Rebellion, Ethnic Conict, and Nationhood in
the Caucasus (New York: New York University Press, 2007); Ruth Deyermond, Secu-
rity and Sovereignty in the Former Soviet Union (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2008);
Wishnick, Russia, China, and the United States in Central Asia; U.S. Congress, Senate
Committee on Foreign Relations, Subcommittee on European Affairs, Georgia: One
Year after the August War (Washington, DC: Government Printing Ofce, 2010); and
Ronald D. Asmus, A Little War That Shook the World: Georgia, Russia, and the Future
of the West (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010).
58. See Allan Shephard, Seeking Spratly Solutions: Maritime Tensions in the South
China Sea (Canberra: Australia Parliamentary Library, 1993); Lai Tao Lee, China and
the South China Sea Dialogues (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1999); U.S. Congress, Senate
Committee on Foreign Relations, Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacic Affairs,
Maritime Disputes and Sovereignty Issues in East Asia (Washington, DC: Government
Printing Ofce, 2009); and Justin Coreld, South China Sea, in Seas and Waterways
of the World: An Encyclopedia of History, Uses, and Issues, ed. John Zumerchik and
Steven L. Danver (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2010): 24547.
59. See Jim Cooney and Donald B. Freeman, The Straits of Malacca: Gateway
or Gauntlet? (Montreal, QC: McGill-Queens University Press, 2003); Chinese Oil
Dependency: Opportunities and Challenges (Carlisle, PA: U.S. Army War College,
2005); Bronson Percival, Indonesia and the United States: Shared Interests in Maritime
Security (Washington, DC: United States-Indonesia Society, 2005); Graham Gerard
90 Geopolitics
Ong-Webb, ed., Piracy, Maritime Terrorism, and Securing the Malacca Straits (Leiden,
Netherlands: International Institute of Asian Studies and Institute of Southeast
Asian Studies, 2006); Pehrson, String of Pearls, 4; Yun Yun Teo, Target Malacca
Straits: Maritime Terrorism in Southeast Asia, Studies in Conict and Terrorism, 30
(6)(2007): 54161; and U.S. Energy Information Administration, World Oil Transit
Chokepoints, 24.
60. BusinessDictionary.com, s.v. sovereign debt, http://www.businessdictionary.
com/denition/sovereign-debt.html.
61. See Thomas Melito, Developing Countries: U.S. Financing for Multilateral Debt
Reduction Initiative Experiencing a Shortfall (Washington, DC: Government Account-
ability Ofce, 2008); U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Build-
ing on International Debt Relief Initiatives (Washington, DC: Government Printing
Ofce, 2008); Peter Costello, with Peter Coleman, The Costello Memoirs: The Age of
Prosperity (Carlton, VIC: Melbourne University Press, 2008): 16887; U.S. Depart-
ment of the Treasury, The Debt to the Penny and Who Holds It, Treasury Direct,
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BDPLogin?application=np, for daily and recent
historical quantication of U.S. sovereign debt; and United Kingdom, Ofce for Na-
tional Statistics, Economy: Public Sector, http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.
asp?id=206.
62. See Paolo Manasse, Nouriel Roubini, and Axel Schimmelpfenning, Pre-
dicting Sovereign Debt Crises (Geneva, Switzerland: International Monetary Fund,
2003); Michael L. Levin, The Next Great Clash: China and Russia versus the United
States (Westport, CT: Praeger Security International, 2008); Wayne M. Morrison and
Marc Labonte, Chinas Holdings of U.S. Securities: Implications for the U.S. Economy
(Washington, DC: Library of Congress, Congressional Research Service, 2008); Gor-
don Platt, Greek Debt Crisis Morphing into Euro Problem, Global Finance, 24 (6)
(June 2010): 8586; Gavin Finch and John Glover, Europes Banks Face a Funding
Squeeze, Bloomberg Businessweek, 4184 (June 21, 2010): 5152; U.S.-China Eco-
nomic and Security Review Commission, U.S. Debt to China: Implications and
Repercussions, http://www.uscc.gov/hearings/2010hearings/hr10_02_25.php.
63. See U.S. Department of State, Ofce of the Coordinator for Counterter-
rorism, Country Reports on Terrorism, http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/crt/, for these
annual reports documenting terrorist incidents; U.S. National Counterterrorism
Center, Worldwide Incidents Tracking System, http://www.nctc.gov/wits/witsnex
tgen.html; and resources produced by the Memorial Institute for the Prevention of
Terrorism, Lawson Library, http://www.mipt.org/library, for access to terrorist incident
chronologies and other resources on terrorism.
64. See Joshua H. Goldstein, The Real Price of War: How You Pay for the War on
Terror (New York: New York University Press, 2004); U.S. Congress, House Commit-
tee on Government Reform, Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats,
and International Relations, Progress since September 11th: Protecting Health and
Safety of the Responders and Residents (Washington, DC: Government Printing Ofce,
2007); Robert Mandel, Global Threat: Target-Centered Assessment and Management
(Westport, CT: Praeger Security International, 2008); Bruce Clements, Disasters and
Public Health: Planning and Response (Amsterdam: Butterworth-Heinemann /Elsevier,
2009); U.S. Congress, House Committee on Homeland Security, Subcommittee on
Current and Emerging Geopolitical Hot Spots 91
Intelligence, Information Sharing, and Terrorist Risk Assessment, Assessing and Ad-
dressing the Threat: Dening the Role of a National Commission on the Prevention of Vio-
lent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism (Washington, DC: Government Printing
Ofce, 2009); U.S. Congress, House Committee on Homeland Security, Subcom-
mittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing, and Terrorist Risk Assessment, Using
the Web as a Weapon: The Internet as a Tool for Violent Radicalization and Homegrown
Terrorism (Washington, DC: Government Printing Ofce, 2009); President of the
United States, Summary of the White House Review of the Details of the December 25,
2009 Attempted Terrorist Attack (Washington, DC: White House, 2010); and U.S.
Congress, Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Terrorism, Tech-
nology, and Homeland Security, Protecting National Security and Civil Liberties: Strate-
gies for Terrorism Information Sharing (Washington, DC: Government Printing Ofce,
2010).
65. U.S. Energy Information Administration, World Oil Transit Chokepoints,
2, 79.
66. See Stephen J. Blank, Stephen Pelletiere, and William Thomas Johnson,
Turkeys Strategic Position at the Crossroads of World Affairs (Carlisle, PA: U.S. Army
War College, Strategic Studies Institute, 1993); U.S. Congress, House Committee on
Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Europe, U.S.-Turkish Relations and the Challenges
Ahead (Washington, DC: Government Printing Ofce, 2007); F. Stephen Larrabee,
Turkey as a U.S. Security Partner (Santa Monica, CA: RAND Project Air Force,
2008); and U.S. Department of State, Background Note: Turkey, http://www.state.
gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3432.htm.
67. See Graham E. Fuller, The New Turkish Republic: Turkey as a Pivotal State in
the Muslim World (Washington, DC: U.S. Institute of Peace, 2009); Bulent Aliriza,
Turkeys Evolving Dynamics: Strategic Choices for U.S. Turkey-Relations: Final Report of
the CSIS U.S.-Turkey Strategic Initiative (Washington, DC: CSIS, 2009); Jeffrey Fleish-
man, Turkey Holds Funeral for Gaza Flotilla Activists, Los Angeles Times, June 4,
2010: A1; and F. Stephen Larrabee, Troubled Partnership: U.S.-Turkish Relations in
an Era of Global Geopolitical Change (Santa Monica, CA: RAND Project Air Force,
2010).
68. Larrabee, Troubled Partnership, 11117.
69. See U.S. Congress, House Committee on Armed Services, Attack on the
U.S.S. Cole (Washington, DC: Government Printing Ofce, 2001); and U.S. Energy
Information Administration, World Oil Transit Chokepoints, 2, 6.
70. See Christopher Boucek, Collision Course: Yemens Converging Crises,
Janes Intelligence Review, 21 (10)(October 2009): 3437; Jack Freeman, The al Houthi
Insurgency in the North of Yemen: An Analysis of the Shabab al Moumineen, Stud-
ies in Conict and Terrorism, 32 (11)(November 2009): 100819; U.S. Department of
State, Background Note: Yemen, http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/35836.htm; U.S.
Department of State, Travel Warning: Yemen, http://www.travel.state.gov/travel/
cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_936.html; Barak A. Salmoni, Bryce Loidolt, and Madeleine Wells,
Regime and Periphery in Northern Yemen: The Huthi Phenomenon (Santa Monica, CA:
RAND, 2010); and U.S. Congress, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Yemen on
the Brink: Implications for U.S. Policy (Washington, DC: Government Printing Ofce,
2010).
CHAPTER 4
African Union
The African Union was established in 1999 to accelerate the process of con-
tinental integration and to address social, economic, and political problems it
sees as being caused by globalization. It is located in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,
Geopolitical Information Resources 93
and also seeks to promote unity among African countries and safeguard the
sovereignty and territorial integrity of member states.1 Its Web site, http://
www.africa-union.org/, contains information about organizational activities,
including the texts of documentary decisions, articles from the journal Af-
rican Integration Review (2007 to present), and reports such as Meeting the
Challenge of Conict Prevention in AfricaTowards the Operationalization of the
Continental Early Warning System (2006).
Australia
Australian Defence College
The Australian Defence College (ADC) was initially established in 1967
in Canberra and sought to unify existing armed service staff branches; its
rst courses began in 1970. Subsequent reorganizations have given ADC the
mission of promoting the growth and learning of leaders and managers in-
terested in national and international defense and security issues through
organizational components such as the Centre for Defence and Strategic
Studies, Australian Command and Staff College, and Australian Defence
Force Academy.3
ADCs Web site, http://www.defence.gov.au/jetwc/, provides information
about this institutions educational and research programs, with many of them
examining geopolitical matters, including Australian Defence Force Journal
(1976 to present); Piracy, Maritime Terror, and Regional Interests (2005); and
Is the Expansion of the Chinese Military a Threat to the Western Pacic? (2009).
94 Geopolitics
Department of Defence
Australias Department of Defence is responsible for implementing mil-
itary aspects of Australian foreign and national security policy. Its origins
date from the Australian federations beginning in 1901 and it and Austra-
lias armed forces has evolved over the subsequent century to try to meet the
countrys military requirements.6 Its Web site, http://www.defence.gov.au/,
provides access to a variety of information resources on Australian geopoliti-
cal interests and national security strategy including A History of Australian
Strategic Policy Since 1945 (2009) featuring Australian strategic policy docu-
ments from 19461976 and the Defence White Paper Defending Australia in
the Asia-Pacic Century: Force 2030 (2009).
Brazil
Ministry of Defense, Virtual Library
This Ministry of Defense resource provides access to technical and schol-
arly works on security and defense by Brazilian researchers.11 Its Web site,
http://www.defesa.gov.br/espaco_academico/index.php?page=biblioteca_vir
tual, provides access to theses, dissertations, articles, and book-length studies
on geopolitical and security issues. Although the text of these documents is
in Portuguese, it is possible to automatically translate their titles into English.
Examples of these works include Sovereignty and Interference in the Brazilian
Amazon (2003); Geopolitical Background and Employment of the Armed Forces
in South America (2004); and India, Brazil, and South Africa: Prospects for Co-
operation on Security (2006).
Canada
Canadian Forces College Papers
Located in suburban Toronto, Canadian Forces College (CFC) is Canadas
premier professional military educational institution. Its missions include
preparing senior military and civilian leaders to meet the futures complex
security challenges by educating them about war, peace, and security.14
A particularly useful information resource on this Web site are the research
papers prepared by CFC students, which are accessible from 1998 to present
at http://www.cfc.forces.gc.ca/en/cfcpapers/. Examples of these papers include
Climate Change and the Impact on the Northwest Passage: A Challenge to Ca-
nadian (Arctic) Sovereignty (2006); Developing a Coherent Plan to Deal with
Canadas Conundrum in the Northwest Passage (2007); NATO Enlargement and
Russia: The Need for a Dual Track Policy (2008); Chinas Role in Africa: Re-
considering the Facts in Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and
Sudan (2008); and The Effects of Climate Change on the Arctic: Implication and
Challenge for the Canadian Defence Strategy (2009).
China
Central Military Commission
The Central Military Commission (CMC) is Chinas central military or-
ganization responsible for commanding that countrys armed forces and serves
as its top military decision-making entity. Its organizational components in-
clude General Staff Headquarters, General Political Department, General
Logistics Department, General Armament Department, the Ministry of De-
fense, headquarters ofces for various armed forces branches, and regional
military commands.18 A limited amount of information can be found on
CMCs English-language Web site, http://www.gov.cn/english/links/cmc.htm,
including descriptions of center activities and the names of current members
(http://english.gov.cn/200803/content_921750.htm).
Ministry of Commerce
The Ministry of Commerce is responsible for implementing various do-
mestic and international economic activities, including promoting foreign
trade and international economic cooperation and handling a broad spec-
trum of bilateral and multilateral economic matters, including export control,
technology transfer, and trade.19 The ministrys English-language Web site,
http://english.mofcom.gov.cn/, provides selective information and statistics
about Chinas foreign trade, foreign economic assistance, foreign investment
policies, news releases, and relationship with the World Trade Organization
(WTO).
European Union
Common Foreign and Security Policy
The European Union (EU) Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP)
seeks to have member states cooperate in developing collaborative foreign
and security policies. CFSP components include identifying terrorism, weap-
ons of mass destruction, regional conicts, failed states, and organized crime
and major threats and conict prevention, rapid response, and assistance in
all stages of crisis situations.24
CFSPs Web site, http://ec.europa.eu/external_relations/cfsp/, provides in-
formation about its activities, descriptions of its relations with various global
regions, and selected publications, including EU-India: Global Partners Tack-
ling Global Challenges (2009) and The European and Ukraine: Towards Political
Association and Economic Cooperation (2010).
Energy Policy
EU energy policy has signicant economic and geopolitical import be-
cause more than 50 percent of member countries energy resources comes from
nonmember countries, and that percentage is growing. Russia is the lead-
ing energy supplier of EU countries, and there are often transit disputes be-
tween these countries that have caused supply disruptions. Consequently, the
EU has become interested in looking for alternative energy suppliers, with
particular emphasis on the Caspian Sea region.25 Information on EU energy
policy activities can be found at http://europa.eu/pol/index_en.htm. These
resources include the text of legislation, policy development overviews, and
statistics and publications such as Panorama of Energy: Energy Statistics to Sup-
port EU Policies and Solutions (2009) and Europes Energy Position: Markets and
Supply (2010).
France
Colleg Interarmes de Defnse
This organization (CID) serves as Frances premier professional military
educational institution; its name can be translated as the Joint Defense Col-
lege. It was originally founded on January 18, 1751, by Louis XV and assumed
its current organizational structure on September 1, 1993. Its mission is pre-
paring military ofcers to assume command staff and leadership positions to
execute national defense policy. CIDs four primary curricular and research
emphases are European and global geopolitical analysis, strategy and the art
of war, Ministry of Defense interactions with other government departments,
and defense acquisition and management.27 CIDs Web site, http://www.col
lege.interarmees.defense.gouv.fr/, although primarily in French, provides a
number of English-language resources about institutional activities and re-
search analysis of geopolitical and security matters. Examples of these, com-
prising translated titles, include How to Find the Path of European Strategic
Autonomy in the Choice of Sea Power? (2008), Strategic Surprises: Southeast Asia
and the Contemporary World (2008), After the French Nuclear Testing in the
South Pacic: The Bomb to Bounce (2010), and The Decline of Modern Societies:
Ideal for Strategic or Tragic? (2010).
Germany
Foreign Ministry
Germanys Foreign Ministry is responsible for conducting German foreign
policy. It began with Germanys 1871 establishment, has gone through nu-
merous political and ideological changes, moved to Bonn in 1951, and re-
turned to Berlin in 1999.28 The Foreign Ministry Web site, http://www.aus
waertiges-amt.de/, provides details on Germanys multilateral foreign policy
with organizations like the EU, United Nations, and NATO; information on
its bilateral relations with countries around the world such as Afghanistan,
where German military forces are involved as part of NATOs International
Security Assistance Force; and information on how it approaches various in-
ternational issues such as energy, environmental protection, the Greek nan-
cial crisis, globalization, human rights, nonproliferation, and terrorism.
India
Ministry of Defence
Indias Ministry of Defence (IMOD) is responsible for defending this
country and is responsible for implementing governmental defense policies.
102 Geopolitics
Israel
Israel Defense Force
The Israel Defense Force (IDF) is that countrys military services and is
responsible for defending Israel against conventional and unconventional
military.34 IDFs English-language Web site, http://dover.idf.il/, provides in-
formation about recent news stories involving the IDF, including its contro-
versial interception of a Turkish ship carrying supplies to Gaza.
Ministry of Defense
Israels Ministry of Defense (IMOD) is responsible for directing Israeli na-
tional security activities.35 IMODs Web site, http://www.mod.gov.il/, features
some English-language information, including press releases, details about
national export control policy, and defense budget information.
its ofcial foreign policy documentary series Israels Foreign Relations: Selected
Documents, dated from 1947 to 2001.
Japan
Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force
Japans Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) is responsible for defending
Japan by sea since that country is dependent on the ocean for over 90 percent
of the raw materials essential to its economic development and growth.37 The
MSDF Web site, http://www.mod.go.jp/msdf/, features information about this
forces capabilities and how it will respond to threats from ballistic missile
attacks and guerilla operations and will conduct warning and surveillance in
adjoining sea areas and airspace to prevent invasion of Japanese islands.
Pakistan
National Defence University
Pakistans National Defense University (PNDU) serves as that countrys
premier professional military educational institution and strives to be a center
of academic and research excellence on national and international security
in close consultation with the Pakistan government and military and defense
universities in allied countries.41 PNDUs Web site, http://www.ndu.edu.pk/,
provides information on university research activities, including the table
of contents for NDU Journal (20012008) and the Margalla Papers mono-
graphic series (20012008).
Romania
National Defense University Carol I, Centre for Defense and Security Strategic Studies
The Centre for Defense and Security Strategic Studies (CDSSS) at Na-
tional Defence University Carol I was founded in 2000 as a research insti-
tution for the Romanian militarys general staff. Its responsibilities include
developing expertise for Romanian political-military institutions, investi-
gating military-strategic environmental changes affecting Romanian inter-
ests, studying national societal developments inuencing the military, and
enhancing national security through international cooperation.42 CDSSSs
Web site, http://cssas.unap.ro/, includes articles from the journal Strategic
Impact (2002 to present) and the text of Romanian-language reports whose
translated titles include European Environmental Dynamics Security (2007) and
Outlook for Security and Defence in Europe (2009).
Russia
Foreign Intelligence Service
The Russian Federations Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) was estab-
lished on December 18, 1991, after going through various names and functions
106 Geopolitics
during the Soviet era of Russian history. SVR serves as part of Russias security
forces, and its mission is protecting Russia against external threats.43 SVRs
Web site, http://www.svr.gov.ru/, includes some translated public relations
oriented English-language resources. These include press releases from 2000
to present and descriptions of historical documentary collections on Soviet
intelligence operations.
Gazprom
Gazprom is a Russian joint stock company created in 1993 by the Russian
government and privatized in 1998. It serves as a major natural gas and
petroleum-producing and distribution company that is heavily inuenced by
the Russian government and delivers these commodities to Russian, Euro-
pean, and other international customers.44 Gazproms Web site, http://www.
gazprom.ru/, contains some English-language material on its operations, in-
cluding production nancial statistics, shareholder news, and press releases
from 2008 to the present. However, more detailed information, such as an-
nual reports, are in Russian and are dated from 1998 to the present.
Ministry of Defense
The Russian Federations Ministry of Defense is responsible for executing
national defense activities, as directed by the Federation president, and seeks
to exert its inuence and these policies in a variety of geographic regions.45
Its Web site, http://www.mil.ru/, provides some English-language resource on
Russian ministry and military activities, including biographical information
on the defense minister, press releases, a military encyclopedia of selected
facts and gures, selected recent articles from Red Star military newspaper,
and Russian-language issues of the magazine Russian Military Review (2006
to present).
Singapore
Ministry of Defence
Singapores Ministry of Defence (SMOD) and the countrys armed forces
are responsible for enhancing national peace and security through deterrence
and diplomacy and achieving swift and decisive victory over aggressors if mil-
itary conict occurs.48 SMODs Web site, http://www.mindef.gov.sg/, provides
information about the ministrys organizational structure and leadership and
the text of policy documents such as Defending Singapore in the 21st Century
(2008) and the scholarly journal Pointer.
South Africa
Department of Defence
South Africas Department of Defence is responsible for defending and
advancing that countrys national security interests.49 The departments
Web site, http://www.dod.mil.za/, features the text of departmental Annual
Reports (2002 to present), the text of relevant statutory laws, historic defense
white papers, and the news magazine SA Soldier (2007 to present).
Military Academy
South Africas military academy is located in Stellenbosch at Stellenbo-
sch University. Established in 1950, it serves as the South African National
Defence Forces training unit, providing military education and professional
military development for career ofcers.51 The academys Web site, http://
science.sun.ac.za/, features information about its curriculum and research
programs and the text of articles from its scholarly journal Scientis Militaria:
South African Journal of Military Studies from 2008 to present at http://www.
ajol.info/index.php/smsajms.
South Korea
Korea Institute for National Unication
The Korean Institute for National Unication (KINU) is a South Korean
government agency established in 1990 to advise governmental policy mak-
ers, develop a national political consensus for Korean Peninsula unication,
and conduct research promoting peace and prosperity in this geographic re-
gion.53 KINUs Web site, http://www.kinu.or.kr/, features information about
institute activities and the text of numerous reports and analyses, including
the journal International Journal of Korean Unication Studies (1992 to pres-
ent), Internal and External Perceptions of the North Korean Army (2008), The
US-ROK Alliance in the 21st Century (2009), and Kim Jong Ils China Visit and
Chinas Strategic Diplomacy (2010).
Taiwan
Mainland Affairs Council
Taiwans Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) is a governmental agency es-
tablished in 1988 to enhance peaceful political and economic contacts be-
tween Taiwan and China, coordinate Taiwanese government policy toward
Beijing, and seek to resolve differences between these two countries through
dialogue.56 MACs Web site, http://www.mac.gov.tw/, provides statistics on
economic and cultural exchanges between these two countries, the text of
laws governing Taiwanese relations with China and that countrys Special
Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau, and the text of policy
documents such as Easing Restrictions on Cross-Strait Securities Investments
(2008).
United Kingdom
Cabinet Ofce Intelligence, Security, and Resilience Committee
The British Cabinet Ofce Intelligence, Security, and Resilience Com-
mittee directs cross-governmental work to advise the prime minister and
other senior ministers on intelligence, security, and resilience preparedness
and response.58 This ofces Web site, http://www.cabinetofce.gov.uk/intel
ligence-security-resilience.aspx, provides information on British intelligence
and national security policy planning and documents such as HMG Security
Policy Framework (2009) and their most recent Annual Report to Parliament
(20092010).
Ministry of Defence
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is responsible for carrying out British
national security and military policies, and its activities cover areas such as
air, land, and maritime operations and assorted personnel and security mat-
ters.61 MODs Web site, http://www.mod.uk/, features a variety of information
resources on British national security and geopolitical interests, including
Geopolitical Information Resources 111
government defense white papers such as The Future of the United Kingdoms
Nuclear Deterrent (2006); Strategic Environmental Appraisal of the Strategic De-
fence Review (2007); and papers written by Royal College of Defence Studies
students, including Assess the Inuence of Brazil with Its Neighbours in Terms of
Hard and Soft Power (2010) and Assess the Inuence of China in Sub-Saharan
Africa (2010).
United States
Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security
The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) was most recently reorganized
in 2002, though it existed prior to that as the Bureau of Export Administra-
tion and under other names. BIS seeks to advance U.S. national security,
foreign policy, and economic objectives by developing an effective export
control and treaty compliance system, effectively regulating the export of
sensitive U.S. goods and technology, and ensuring that the U.S. industrial
base can fulll U.S. national and homeland security requirements.67 BISs
Web site, http://www.bis.doc.gov/, features information about the regulations
it enforces, including the Export Administration Regulations, details of its
enforcement activities, and publications such as its most recent Annual Re-
port and Annual Report on Foreign PolicyBased Export Controls.
Geopolitical Information Resources 113
Department of Defense
The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) was established in 1949 and is re-
sponsible for providing the military forces necessary to deter war and protect
the United States.68 The DOD Web site, http://www.defense.gov/, provides
information about departmental activities and policies and links to various
geopolitical information produced by organizational components and armed
services branches, which will now be described.
entities such as the Center for Strategic Intelligence Research and Center
for Science and Technology Intelligence. A Web site highlight is access to
National Intelligence College Press publications, including Intelligence Pro-
fessionalism in the Americas (2004), A Muslim Archipelago: Islam and Politics
in Southeast Asia (2007), and Registering the Human Terrain: A Valuation of
Cadastre (2008).
components such as the Center for Strategic Research and Center for Tech-
nology and National Security Policy as well as access to publications such as
Oil for the Lamps of China: Beijings 21st Century Search for Energy (2003),
Reassessing the Implications of a Nuclear Armed Iran (2005), Global Strategic
Assessment 2009: Americas Security Role in a Changing World (2009), and As-
sessing Chinese Military Transparency (2010).
maritime rise. Its research specialties include energy, global commerce, law
of the sea, maritime technologies, merchant marine, naval development
and diplomacy, and shipbuilding.84 CMSIs Web site, http://www.usnwc.edu/
ResearchGaming/China-Maritime-Studies-Institute.aspx, features a fac-
ulty roster; citations to books written by institute faculty for commercial pub-
lishers; the text of reports such as Comprehensive Survey of Chinas Dynamic
Shipbuilding Industry: Commercial Development and Strategic Implications (2008),
Chinese Mine Warfare: A PLA Assassinations Mace Capability (2009), and
Five Dragons Stirring Up the Sea: Challenge and Opportunity in Chinas Improving
Maritime Enforcement Capabilities (2010); and a video webcast of the April 15,
2010, lecture The South China Sea: Symbolic Conicts, Common Inter-
ests. CMSI-produced publications are valuable resources for understanding
Chinas increasing geopolitical importance and how the U.S.-Chinese mari-
time relationship is becoming increasingly important in 21st-century inter-
national relations.
During its nearly four decades, ONA has examined topics such as competitive
environments between the United States and former Soviet Union and top-
ics of geopolitical interest such as the revolution in military affairs, terrorism,
and U.S. national security policy. Since its inception, it has been directed by
Andrew Marshall, who is a highly secretive individual, as is this ofce due to
the absence of a publicly accessible Web site. This secrecy, regrettably, makes
Marshall and ONA the subject of considerable traditional print and Internet
speculation and conspiracy theorizing, although some credible information is
available on this individual and ofce.87
its open source program initiatives, video webcasts, and documents such as
The National Intelligence Strategy of the United States of America (2009), annual
unclassied reports for Congress on weapons of mass destruction and advanced
conventional munitions technology acquisition (2005 to present), the An-
nual Report to Congress on Foreign Economic Collection and Industrial Espionage
(1995 to present), and Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment (2010).
agreements; tariff and import quotas; and various domestic social assistance
programs, including Medicare.115 Its Web site, http://nance.senate.gov/, lists
the names of committee members and information about subcommittee ac-
tivities, including the Subcommittee on International Trade, Customs, and
Global Competitiveness. Access to committee reports and hearings on in-
ternational trade (including some video webcasts) is also provided. Repre-
sentative samples include Trade Promotion Authority Annotated (2007), Iran
Counter-proliferation Act of 2007 (2008), Doubling U.S. Exports: Are U.S. Sea
Ports Ready for the Challenge? (2010), and The U.S.-China Trade Relationship
Relationships: Finding a New Path Forward (2010).
Notes
1. See African Union, African Union in a Nutshell, http://www.africa-union.
org/root/au/AboutAu/au_in_a_nutshell_en.htm; U.S. Congress, Senate Committee
on Foreign Relations, Subcommittee on African Affairs, African Organizations and
Institutions: Cross-Continental Progress (Washington, DC: Government Printing Of-
ce, 2007); and Timothy Murithi, The African Union: Pan-Africanism, Peacebuilding,
and Development (Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2005).
2. Republic of Argentina, Ministry of Defense, National Defense School, Back-
ground, http://www.mindef.gov.ar/edna/antecedents.htm.
3. A History of the Australian Defence College (Canberra: Australian Defence
College, 2008): 13, http://www.defence.gov.au/adc/docs/ADC/History%20of%20
the%20ADC.pdf.
4. See Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, About ASIO Overview,
http://www.asio.gov.au/About-ASIO/Overview.html; and Frank Cain, Terrorism and
Intelligence in Australia: A History of ASIO and National Surveillance (North Mel-
bourne: Australian Scholarly Publishing, 2008).
5. See Australian Security Intelligence Service, About UsHistory, http://www.
asis.gov.au/history.html; Australian government, Report of the Inquiry into Australian
Intelligence Agencies (Flood Report) (Canberra: Department of the Prime Minister and
Cabinet, 2004): 14652, http://www.dpmc.gov.au/publications/intelligence_inquiry/.
130 Geopolitics
17. See Natural Resources Canada, NRCan: First and Fascinating Facts from
Its Illustrious Past, http://www.nrcan-rncan.gc.ca/com/deptmini/histhist/facfai-eng.
php; and G. Bruce Doern and Jeffrey S. Kinder, Strategic Science in the Public Interest:
Canadas Government Laboratories and Science-Based Agencies (Toronto, ON: Univer-
sity of Toronto Press, 2007).
18. See China Central Military Commission, The Central Military Commission,
http://www.gov.cn/english/links/cmc.htm; China Central Military Commission, Or-
ganizations of the Central Military Commission, http://english.gov.cn/2009509/02/
content_28477.htm; John Hill, China Reshufes Central Military Commission,
Janes Intelligence Review, 16 (12)(December 2004): 4245; and Li Nan and Christo-
pher Weuve, Chinas Aircraft Carrier Ambitions, Naval War College Review, 63 (1)
(Winter 2010): 1231.
19. See China, Ministry of Commerce, Main Mandate of the Ministry of Com-
merce, http://english.mofcom.gov.cn/mission.shtml; James Kynge, China Shakes the
World: A Titans Rise and Troubled Futureand the Challenge for America (Boston: Hough-
ton Mifin, 2006); and Stefan A. Halper, The Beijing Consensus: How Chinas Authori-
tarian Model Will Dominate the Twenty-rst Century (New York: Basic Books, 2010).
20. The People in the PLA: Recruitment, Training, and Education in Chinas Mili-
tary, ed. Roy Kamphausen, Andrew Scobell, and Travis Tanner (Carlisle, PA: U.S.
Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, 2008).
21. See Thomas J. Bickford, Trends in Education and Training, 19242007:
From Whampoa to Nanjing Polytechnic, in Kamphausen et al., The People in the
PLA, 33; and Paul H. B. Godwin, The Cradle of Generals: Strategists, Commanders,
and the PLA-National Defense University, in Kamphausen et al., The People in the
PLA, 327.
22. Loro Horta, Chinas National Defense University: A Case Study, Australian
Defence Force Journal, 181 (2010): 5253, 57.
23. Ibid., 56, 59.
24. See European Commission, Why: Key Challenges and EU Obligations,
http://ec.europa.eu/external_relations/peace_security/why_en.htm; Edward G. Gun-
ning, The Common European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP) (Colorado Springs,
CO: USAF Institute for National Security Studies, 2001); and Daniel S. Hamilton,
ed., The New Frontiers of Europe: The Enlargement of the European Union: Implica-
tions and Consequences (Washington, DC: Center for Transatlantic Relations, Paul H.
Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, 2005).
25. See European Union, Activities of the European Union: Energy, http://
europa.eu/pol/ener/index_en.htm; Nicole Gnesotto and Giovanni Grevi, The New
Global Puzzle: What World for the EU in 2025? (Paris: European Union Institute for
Security Studies, 2006): 5374; and Paul Belkin, The European Unions Security Chal-
lenges (Washington, DC: Library of Congress, Congressional Research Service, 2007),
http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA471184.
26. European Union Institute of Security Studies, About Us, http://www.iss.
europa.eu/about-us/.
27. See France, College of Joint Defense, The Center of Excellence for Mili-
tary Education Higher French, http://www.college.interarmees.defense.gouv.fr/spip.
132 Geopolitics
htm; and Jonathan Adams, The Rise of Israel: A History of a Revolutionary State (New
York: Routledge, 2008).
37. See Japan, Maritime Self Defense Force, Mission of JMSDF, http://www.
mod.go.jp/msdf/formal/english/; James E. Auer, The Postwar Rearmament of Japanese
Maritime Forces, 19451971 (New York: Praeger, 1973); and Naolo Sajima and Kyo-
ichi Tachikawa, Japanese Sea Power: A Maritime Nations Struggle for Identity (Can-
berra: Australia Department of Defense, Sea Power Centre, 2009).
38. See Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, About the Ministry, http://www.
mofa.go.jp/about/hq/org.html; Reinhard Drifte, Japans Foreign Policy for the 21st Cen-
tury: From Economic Superpower to What Power? 2nd ed. (New York: St. Martins
Press, 1998); and Kazuhiko Togo, Japans Foreign Policy, 19452009: The Quest for a
Proactive Policy, 3rd ed. (Boston: Brill, 2010).
39. Bert Chapman, Military Doctrine: A Reference Handbook (Santa Barbara, CA:
Praeger Security International, 2009): 124.
40. NATO Defense College, NATO Defense College Mission, http://www.ndc.
nato.int/about/statement.php?code=23.
41. See National Defence University, About NDU, http://www.ndu.edu.pk/
about_msnvsn.htm; and Hassan Abbas, ed. Pakistans Troubled Frontier (Washington,
DC: Jamestown Foundation, 2009).
42. Romania, Centre for Defense and Security Strategic Studies, History, http://
cssas.unap.ro/.
43. See Russia, Foreign Intelligence Service, The Names of Intelligence in Dif-
ferent Periods of Activity, http://www.svr.gov.ru/history/history.htm; Russia, Foreign
Intelligence Service, Aims Service, http://www.svr.gov.ru/svr_today/celi.htm; Vladi-
mir Plugin, Russian Intelligence Services (New York: Algora, 2000); and Richard F. Staar
and Corliss A. Tacosa, Russias Security Services, Mediterranean Quarterly, 15 (1)
(Winter 2004): 3957.
44. See Gazprom: 15 Years of Joint Stock Company Gazprom, http://www.gaz
promquestions.ru/index.php?id=41; and Jonathan P. Stern, The Future of Russian Gas
and Gazprom (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005).
45. See Russian Federation, Ministry of Defense, http://www.mil.ru/847/index.
shtml; Stephen Roseede, Russia in the 21st Century: The Prodigal Superpower (New
York: Cambridge University Press, 2005); U.S. Congress, House Committee on For-
eign Affairs, Russia: Rebuilding the Iron Curtain (Washington, DC: Government Print-
ing Ofce, 2007); Svante E. Cornell and S. Frederick Starr, eds. The Guns of August
2008: Russias War in Georgia (Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 2009); and Elana Wilson
Rowe, ed. Russia and the North (Ottawa, ON: University of Ottawa Press, 2009).
46. See Janusz Bugajski, Cold Peace: Russias New Imperialism (Westport, CT:
Praeger and Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2004); Bugajski, Expand-
ing Eurasia: Russias European Ambitions (Washington, DC: CSIS Press, 2008); Jeffrey
Mankoff, Russian Foreign Policy: The Return of Great Power Politics (Lanham, MD:
Rowland and Littleeld, 2009); and Marshall I. Goldman, Petrostate: Putin, Power,
and the New Russia (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010).
47. Security Council Russian Federation, History, Legal Status, Structure, and
Main Directions, http://www.scrf.gov.ru/documents/15.html.
134 Geopolitics
WhatWeDo/; Sir Ewen Broadbent, The Military and Government: From Macmillan to
Heseltine (Basingstoke, UK: Macmillan, 1988); and Paul Smith, ed., Government and
the Armed Forces in Britain, 18561990 (London: Hambledon, 1996).
62. See Great Britain, Parliament, House of Commons Defence Committee,
Commons Select Committee-Defence Committee, http://www.parliament.uk/busi
ness/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/defence-committee/; and Oonagh
McDonald, The Defence Select Committee, 19791992 (London: Brasseys for the Cen-
tre for Defence Studies, 1993).
63. Great Britain, Parliament, House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee,
Foreign Affairs Committee-Role, http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/
committees-a-z/commons-select/foreign-affairs-committee/role/.
64. United Kingdom, Royal Air Force Centre for Airpower Studies, homepage,
http://www.airpowerstudies.co.uk/.
65. See Great Britain, Secret Intelligence Service, About Us, http://www.
mi6.gov.uk/output/about-us.html; Great Britain Cabinet Ofce, National Intelligence
Machinery, 3rd ed. (London: Stationery Ofce, 2005); Gordon Corera, UK Makes
Changes to Secret Intelligence Service, Janes Intelligence Review, 17 (2)(February
2005): 4851; and Keith Jeffrey, The Secret History of MI6 (New York: Penguin Press,
2010).
66. See United Nations, Division for Ocean Affairs and Law of the Sea, The
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea: A Historical Perspective, http://
www.un.org/depts/los/convention_agreements/convention_historical_perspective.
htm; United States, National Intelligence Council, Law of the Sea: The Endgame,
http://purl.access.gpo.gov/Government Printing Ofce/LPS53876; Suzette V. Suarez,
The Outer Limits of the Continental Shelf: Legal Aspects of Their Establishment (Berlin:
Springer, 2008); and Scott Gerald Borgerson, National Interest and the Law of the Sea
(New York: Council on Foreign Relations, 2009).
67. See U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, United States Gov-
ernment Manual, 20092010 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Ofce, 2009):
132; Ian F. Fergusson, The Export Administration Act: Evolutions, Provisions, and Debate
(Washington, DC: Library of Congress, Congressional Research Service, 2009); and
U.S. Congress, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Terrorism,
Nonproliferation, and Trade, The Export Administration Act: A Review of Outstanding
Policy Considerations (Washington, DC: Government Printing Ofce, 2009).
68. U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, United States Govern-
ment Manual, 20092010 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Ofce, 2009):
147.
69. See U.S. Air Force Counterproliferation Center, About This Center, http://
cpc.au.af.mil/about.htm; and Charles R. Heebower, Laura J. Le Gallo, John P. Law-
rence, and Bert A. Cline, Counter WMD Concepts of Operations at U.S. and Allied
Air Bases (Maxwell Air Force Base, AL: USAF Counterproliferation Center, 2005),
http://purl.access.gpo.gov/Government Printing Ofce/LPS66908.
70. U.S. Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, About the Strategic
Studies Institute, http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/about/strategic-stud
ies-institute.cfm.
136 Geopolitics
71. Asia Pacic Center for Security Studies, About APCSS, http://www.apcss.
org/text/text_about.htm.
72. See United States, Department of Defense, International Security Affairs Of-
ce of the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, Responsibilities and Functions,
http://policy.defense.gov/sections/policy_ofces/isa.html; Chester J. Pach, Arming the
Free World: The Origins of the United States Military Assistance Program, 19451950
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1991); and Kendall D. Gott,
managing ed., Security Assistance: U.S. and International Historical Perspectives: The
Proceedings of the Combat Studies Institute 2006 Military History Symposium (Fort Leav-
enworth, KS: Combat Studies Institute Press, 2006).
73. National Archives and Records Administration, United States Govern-
ment Manual, 20092010 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Ofce, 2009):
35556.
74. U.S. National Defense Intelligence College, Welcome to the National De-
fense Intelligence College, http://www.dia.mil/college/#.
75. See U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency, Welcome to DSCA:
Strength through Cooperation, http://www.dsca.mil/brieng_slides/dsca1001/over
view_web_nal_1001.ppt; and United States, General Accounting Ofce, Nonpro-
liferation: Improvements Needed to Better Control Technology Exports for Cruise Missiles
and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (Washington, DC: Government Accountability Ofce,
2004).
76. See U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency, About Us, http://www.dtra.
mil/About/AboutHome.aspx; and United States, Defense Threat Reduction Agency,
Department of Defense, Defenses Nuclear Agency, 19471997 (Washington, DC: De-
fense Threat Reduction Agency, U.S. Department of Defense, 2002).
77. Institute for National Strategic Studies, About INSS, http://www.ndu.edu/
inss/index.cfm?pageID=2&type=page.
78. See Africa Center for Strategic Studies, History, http://africacenter.org/
about/history/; and Africa Center for Strategic Studies, About Us, http://africa
center.org/about/.
79. Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies, CHDS Strategic Program Over-
view, http://www.ndu.edu/chds/index.cfm?ID=265&pageID=91&type=section.
80. Center for the Study of Chinese Military Affairs, Mission Statement, http://
www.ndu.edu/inss/index.cfm?secID=83&pageID=4&type=section.
81. George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, The Marshall
Center Mission, http://www.marshallcenter.org/mcpublicweb/en/nav-mc-about-mis
sion.html.
82. Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies, Mission & Vision, http://
nesa-center.org/en/missionandvision.
83. See U.S. Naval War College, Mission/Vision, http://www.usnwc.edu/About/
MissionVision.aspx; Ronald H. Spector, Professors of War: The Naval War College and
the Development of the Naval Profession (Newport, RI: Naval War College Press, 1977);
and John B. Hattendorf, B. Mitchell Simpson, and John R. Wadleigh, Scholars and
Professors: The Centennial History of the U.S. Naval War College (Newport, RI: Naval
War College Press, 1984).
Geopolitical Information Resources 137
112. See Bert Chapman, Researching National Security and Intelligence Policy
(Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2004): 2324; and Frank John Smist, Congress Oversees
the United States Intelligence Community, 19471989 (Knoxville: University of Ten-
nessee Press, 1990).
113. See Donald R. Kennon, The Committee on Ways and Means: A Bicenten-
nial History, 17891989 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Ofce, 1989?); and
U.S. Congress, House Committee on Ways and Means, Oversight Plan, http://way
sandmeans.house.gov/media/pdf/111/Oversight_111.pdf.
114. See U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Armed Services, Committee Ju-
risdiction, http://armed-services.senate.gov/about.htm.
115. U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Finance, Jurisdiction, http://nance.
senate.gov/about/jurisdiction/.
116. See U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Committee on
Foreign Relations, 18162000 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Ofce, 2000);
and U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, History of the Com-
mittee, http://foreign.senate.gov/about/history/.
117. See Chapman, Researching National Security, 242; and U.S. Congress, Sen-
ate Select Committee on Intelligence, Jurisdiction Overview, http://intelligence.
senate.gov/jurisdiction.html.
118. See World Trade Organization, About the WTOA Statement by the Di-
rector-General, http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/wto_dg_stat_e.htm;
Kevin Buterbaugh and Richard Fulton, The WTO Primer: Tracing Trades Visible Hand
through Case Studies (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008); and Kyle Bagwell and
Robert W. Staiger, The Economics of the World Trading System (Cambridge, MA: MIT
Press, 2002).
CHAPTER 5
Ahrari, M. Esahan. Jihadi Groups, Nuclear Pakistan, and the New Great Game. Car-
lisle, PA: Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College, 2001. ISBN:
9781584870609. http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS14542.
This work describes the role played by Jihadist groups in Pakistan who seek to
wage holy war against what they see as non-Islamic inuences within that
country as they aspire to establish their vision of an Islamic state. Ahrari makes
this assessment with a great game framework for seeking inuence in central
Asia involving a number of states. This could lead to increased violence if
outside states such as the United States were pulled into this conict. Since
the work was published a month prior to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the authors
prediction of increased violence has been vividly vindicated, as ongoing con-
icts in Afghanistan and Pakistan demonstrate.
Anderson, Ewan W. Global Political Flashpoints: An Atlas of Conict. Chicago: Fitzroy
Dearborn Publishers, 2000. ISBN: 1-57958-137-4.
This atlas provides succinct overviews of over 120 international political ash
points or hot spots. These areas may be bilateral or multilateral sources of con-
tentiousness due to their possession of coveted natural resources, disputes over
boundary demarcations, problems serving as points of contention between nations
and transnational organizations, being located in geographically and economi-
cally critical transit areas, and for other reasons. Examples of ash points proled
in this work include the Basque Country, the Black Sea, Croatia, Golan Heights,
Strait of Hormuz, North Korea, Nigeria, South Lebanon, and the Spratly Islands.
Descriptive entries for each of these ash points feature an introductory over-
view describing the issues causing these regions to be geopolitically conten-
tious, a map of the affected region(s), the situations status at the time this
book was published, and bibliographic references. A global map depicting the
location each of these hot spots is also a valuable asset of this atlas.
Black, Jeremy. Maps and History: Constructing Images of the Past. New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1997. ISBN: 0-300-06976-6.
Historical study of the political and other roles played by historical atlases in
European and international history from the 16th century to the present. These
atlases have inuenced educational portrayals of national and international ter-
ritory, popular perceptions of international political issues, and sought to present
varying political agendas by using cartographic resources to document diplo-
matic, economic, environmental, ethnographic, military, and political changes.
Technological changes in map production are also covered from historical tech-
niques used to produce various kinds of paper maps to then emerging electronic
technologies such as CD-ROM and Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
Blouet, Brian W. Halford Mackinder: A Biography. College Station: Texas A&M Uni-
versity Press, 1987. ISBN: 0-89096-292-8.
Blouet presents a biographical portrait of one of the leading architects of what
has become known as geopolitics. Halford Mackinder (18611947), a key
142 Geopolitics
Broeze, Frank. Island Nation: A History of Australians and the Sea. St. Leonards, NSW:
Allen and Unwin, 1998. ISBN: 1-86448-424-1.
This work seeks to analyze the multifaceted roles played by the sea in sculpting
Australias cultural, diplomatic, economic, military, and political relationship
with the world and within Australian society and culture. The rst part of
Brazees work emphasizes how Australians have sought to use the sea to en-
hance their geopolitical interests, with particular emphasis on becoming self-
reliant in their defense capabilities. A second part stresses the use of the sea as
an international trade conduit to overcome geographic isolation and enhance
the material living standards of Australians through robust international trade.
The nal part accentuates how Australians have used the sea to develop a
distinct maritime culture and identity that has placed acute emphasis on and
romanticized the roles played by maritime workers and their trade unions in
building a unique Australian cultural identity.
Brzezinski, Zbigniew. The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic
Imperatives. New York: Basic Books, 1997. ISBN: 0-465-02725-3.
Brzezinksi describes how the Spanish-American War marked the U.S. emer-
gence as a major power into the international geopolitical arena. He goes on to
describe Eurasias importance in international political, economic, and military
affairs by noting that the worlds six largest economies and military weaponry
expenditures are by Eurasian nations,4 while also noting the multiple geostra-
tegic strengths and weaknesses of these countries. He also describes the geo-
political vacuum created in Eastern Europe, central Asia, and East Asia by the
Soviet Unions collapse; the critical importance of the United States being in-
volved in East Asian economic, political, and strategic affairs; and the need for
the United States to effectively balance its multiple global interests to enhance
its national interests and international stability.
Monographic Scholarly Literature 143
Chapman, Graham P. The Geopolitics of South Asia: From Early Empires to the Nuclear
Age. 2nd ed. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2002. ISBN: 0-7546-3442-6.
South Asia features the presence of India and Pakistan as nuclear weapons
powers, and both of these countries also have unresolved political disputes in
their bilateral relationship. The ongoing turmoil in Afghanistan involving
nonsouth Asian powers such as the United States and the NATOs Interna-
tional Security Assistance Force further enhances the geopolitical importance
of this region.
This work provides detailed historical overview and analysis of the multiple
religious, political, and geographic factors that have sculpted the regions con-
temporary international political and security environment. The rst section
describes the Hindu and Islamic religious inuences informing regional political
ideologies. A second section describes the role played by the British and other
colonial rivals such as the French in developing regional political and security
institutions. A third section addresses geopolitical developments since India
and Pakistan achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1947.
This last section scrutinizes developments such as the 1971 creation of Bangla-
desh, regions such as Jammu and Kashmir that remain sources of Indo-Pakistani
bilateral contentiousness, the role of hydropolitics in the Indus River basin,
and the historical and ongoing contemporary strategic interests of countries
such as the Soviet Union/Russia, United States, China, Pakistan, Afghanistan,
Bangladesh, India, and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
in this increasingly important part of the world.
Child, Jack. Geopolitics and Conict in South America: Quarrels among Neighbors. New
York: Praeger, 1985. ISBN: 0-03-001453-0.
Treatise examining the multiple factors inuencing geopolitical contentious-
ness in South America during the early 1980s. Divided into four broad sections,
including an introductory overview, descriptions of the nature and impact of
South American geopolitical thinking, case studies of geopolitics and conict,
and concluding observations. Examples of case studies proled include Argen-
tine and Chilean conict over the Beagle Channel Islands, disputes between
Chile, Bolivia, and Peru in the Central Andes, Argentine and Brazilian rivalry,
Argentinas conict with the United Kingdom over the Falklands Islands, con-
tentiousness between various powers over control of the South Atlantic and
Antarctica, and disputes between South American and Caribbean countries
over islands such as that between Nicaragua and Columbia over the San An-
dres and Providencia islands.
The author concludes that geopolitical thinking has been most concentrated
in countries, such as Argentina, Brazil, and Chile, that have large and sophis-
ticated military establishments and recent histories of military rule repressing
political opposition and that South American geopolitical thinking has been
inuenced by similar thinking in the United States and northern Europe, par-
ticularly Germany, during the Third Reich.5
144 Geopolitics
Collins, John M. Military Geography for Professionals and the Public. Washing-
ton, DC: National Defense University Press, 1998. ISBN: 1-57906-002-1.
https://digitalndulibrary.ndu.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/
ndupress&CISOPTR=37236&REC=4.
Detailed overview documenting the importance of geography in military plan-
ning and decision making. This work is broken up into four broad sections
covering physical geography, cultural geography, political-military geography,
and area analyses. Topics addressed in the physical geography section include
spatial relationships, lay of the land including geology and soils, oceans and
seashores including marine topography, earths atmosphere, regional peculiari-
ties such as mountainous regions, inner and outer space, and natural resources
and raw materials.
The cultural geography section addresses demography, urbanization, and lines
of communication such as railroads, seaports, harbors, and military bases. Ex-
amples of political-military geography include diversied viewpoints on se-
curity issues along with territorial limits, strategic friction, and theater and
tactical areas of responsibility. Area analyses emphasize the need for geographi-
cal databases to assist in planning and executing military operations and de-
scriptions and analyses of how geography inuenced military operations during
the Vietnam War.
Dalby, Simon. Continent Adrift: The Changing Geostrategic Parameters of Australian
Discourse. Working Paper 35. Canberra: Australian Defence Studies Centre,
1995. ISBN: 0-7317-0340-5.
Dalby presents an dissident ideologically leftist perspective on Australian
geopolitical or geostrategic interests. He believes Australian interests are best
served by emphasizing regional concerns and defense issues emphasizing Aus-
tralias role as a continental power geographically adjacent to Asias south in-
stead of as a North Atlantic power.
He contends that Australian academic analyses of international politics and
strategy have been inuenced by Anglo-American approaches and produced
by institutions such as Australian National University, which has a close rela-
tionship with the Australian government. Dalby pays particular attention to
criticisms of the AustralianNew ZealanderU.S. alliance, which he and other
dissident critics believe was motivated by guilt over European colonization and
its alleged racist foundations, the World War II failure of Britain to defend the
region after naval defeat at Singapore, and continuing Australian fears of a
resurgent Japan after World War II.
The author also criticizes the role of U.S. defense bases in Australia and the ex-
tent of U.S.-Australian intelligence cooperation. He goes on to mention how
dissident critics advocated Australia pursuing a policy of armed neutrality in
regional security matters, contending that Australia has been a greater security
threat to its neighbors than its neighbors, such as Indonesia, are to Australia,
and he ultimately believes that countries recognizing mutual vulnerabilities to
Monographic Scholarly Literature 145
LeDonne, John P. The Russian Empire and the World, 17001917: The Geopolitics of
Expansion and Containment, 17001917. New York: Oxford University Press,
1997. ISBN: 0-19-510926-0.
Historical review of Russian territorial expansion and international contain-
ment of this expansion spanning this time period and how geopolitical aspira-
tions and ideology inuenced this process. The rst part of this work stresses
how Russia sought to expand its geopolitical sphere of inuence west into Eu-
rope with the 1772, 1793, and 1795 partitions of Poland, with Austria-Hungary
and Prussia being particularly vivid demonstrations of such aggressiveness.
A second part examines Russian expansion to the south, with emphasis on
its interactions with the Ottoman Empire and Persia. A third part focuses on
Russian advances to the east and the conicts this would produce with China
and Japan. Part four looks at how Germanic powers sought to contain Rus-
sia, with particular emphasis on Bismarckian Germany. A concluding section
stresses how coastal powers such as Great Britain sought to restrict Russian
expansionism through conicts such as the Crimean War and their vigorous re-
sistance to Russian expansion in the Balkans as part of the Eastern Question in
19th-century European geopolitical skirmishing.
Lo, Bobo. Axis of Convenience: Moscow, Beijing, and the New Geopolitics. London:
Chatham House and Brookings Institution Press, 2008. ISBN: 978-0-8157-
5340-7.
Lo argues that the strategic partnership between China and Russia is based
on mutual convenience and does not threaten international stability or West-
ern vital interests. Topics examined in this assessment include the historical
origins and development of Sino-Russian relations, Moscows desire to use
Beijing to counterbalance purported U.S. international hegemony, Beijings
desire to use Moscow to supplement its relationships with the United States
and Europe, economic development in Russian Asia that favors China due to
that countrys geographic proximity and higher economic growth rate, and the
increasing inuence of energy resources in the economic, trade, and strategic
interests of both countries. Lo ultimately sees the relationship between these
countries as being a traditional great power interaction with the strengths and
weaknesses of these relationships throughout history.7
Macris, Jeffrey R. The Politics and Security of the Gulf: Anglo-American Hegemony and
the Shaping of a Region. London: Routledge, 2009. ISBN: 978-0-415-77871-8
(pbk).
Macris seeks to analyze British and American interests in the Persian Gulf
region and how both of these powers have sought to ensure the free ow of
petroleum and other commerce through this vital tributary. Topics covered
within this work include Britains legacy in the gulf, the World War II arrival
of the United States as a strategic player in this region, how Egyptian president
Gamal Nassers rebellion against the British in the 1950s strengthened U.S.
interests in having a strong security presence in this region, and the emergence
Monographic Scholarly Literature 149
and evolution of the United States strategic hegemony in this region in recent
decades.
Murphy, David Thomas. The Heroic Earth: Geopolitical Thought in Weimar Germany,
19181933. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1997. ISBN: 0-8733-
8564-0.
This study examines the development and evolution of German geopolitical
thought in the period between the end of World War II and the rise of the
Nazi regime. The emergence of geopolitics was reected in the emergence of
geographical institutes at German universities offering geopolitical lectures
and seminars, through radio broadcasts issued by prominent advocates of geo-
politics such as Karl Haushofer (18691946), and in the emergence of journals
such as Geopolitischer Typen-Atlas (Atlas of Geopolitical Types) and Geographis-
che Grundlagen der Geschichte (Geographic Foundations of History).
Specic chapters examine the emergence of German geopolitics in the quarter
century before World War I, how this conict transformed German geopoli-
ticsm, the emergence of demography and the clamor for lebensraum (living
space) becoming part of German political aspirations, the incorporation of geo-
politics into German educational curricula, how geopolitics began inuencing
Germanys reaction to its World War I defeat and its subsequent response to
this defeat in Weimarian foreign policy, and how Nazi abuse of geopolitics left
this eld with a poisoned and controversial legacy.
OLoughlin, John, ed. Dictionary of Geopolitics. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press,
1994. ISBN: 0-313-26313-2.
This work represents the most authoritative dictionary of this subject, although
it could use revision and updating. It begins with an introductory overview
of geopolitic as an academic discipline, with particular emphasis on Ameri-
can and German inuences. The main part of this work features 219 entries
describing key concepts, individuals, institutions, and publications that have
contributed to this subjects interdisciplinary development. Examples of these
entries include American exceptionalism, Brazilian frontier policy, environ-
mental security, geopolitical discourse, Colin Gray, Japanese geopolitics,
Friedrich Ratzel, World Island, and Zeitschrift fr Geopolitik.
Tuathail, Gearid. Critical Geopolitics. Borderlines Series. Minneapolis: University
of Minnesota Press, 1996. ISBN: 0-8166-2603-0.
This is the most important work of the methodological perspective of critical
geopolitics, which stresses that geography emphasizes power and that it repre-
sents a continually changing map of human struggle over borders, space, and
authority. Critical geopolitics seeks to use literary terms such as deconstruction
to skeptically examine and overturn established meanings of words to look for
allegedly hidden interpretive nuances and meanings. It seeks to maintain that
international political structures are used to enhance the dominance of what
the author and critical geopolitics adherents regard as Western democratic and
capitalist nations over the international political and security orders.
150 Geopolitics
toward England, and how they viewed Germany and Japans rising power in
the early decades of the 20th century. Correspondence between Mahan and
Roosevelt is also included to further illuminate their relationship and provide
insights into their perspectives on current geopolitical and military issues.
Woolley, Peter J. Geography and Japans Strategic Choices: From Seclusion to Internation-
alization. Washington, DC: Potomac Books, 2005. ISBN: 1-5748-8667-3.
This work emphasizes the critical importance of geography in determining any
countrys political and strategic behavior. Woolley stresses Japans location and
topography in comparison with other countries and examines how Japanese
leaders throughout its history interpreted and acted on Japans geographic
strengths and weaknesses. His work chronologically several distinct historical
eras, including the Tokugawa era (16031868), Japans opening to the West,
the Meiji Restoration, Japans rise and decline through World War II, postwar
occupation, the cold war, and the postcold war era, which is seeing Japan ad-
dress international security issues as varied as international terrorism, a rising
China, and the threat of a nuclear North Korea.
Notes
1. Jakub R. Grygiel, Great Powers and Geopolitical Change (Baltimore: Johns Hop-
kins University Press, 2006): 14.
2. Simon Dalby, Critical Geopolitics, in Dictionary of Geopolitics, ed. John
OLoughlin (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994): 5658.
3. Zbigniew Brzezinski, The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostra-
tegic Imperatives (New York: Basic Books, 1997): xiixiv.
4. Ibid., 31.
5. Jack Child, Geopolitics and Conict in South America: Quarrels among Neighbors
(New York: Praeger Press, 1985).
6. Philip Kelly, Checkerboards and Shatterbelts: The Geopolitics of South America
(Austin: University of Texas Press, 1997): 12.
7. Bobo Lo, Axis of Convenience: Moscow, Beijing, and the New Geopolitics (Wash-
ington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2008).
8. Dmitrii Trenin, The End of Eurasia: Russia on the Border between Geopolitics
and Globalization (Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace,
2002): 13.
9. Ibid., 31318.
CHAPTER 6
America: History and Life, produced by ABC-CLIO, indexes articles, book chap-
ters, books, and dissertations on American and Canadian history from 1450 to
the present. It will be available in many academic libraries, and general infor-
mation on it is available at http://www.abc-clio.com/.
Indexes and Scholarly Journals 157
Scholarly Journals
Articles on geopolitics, political geography, international relations, national
and international security, political theory, and similar topics can be found
in an interdisciplinary variety of scholarly journals from disciplines such as
geography, history, military science, and political science. These journals
publish articles that have gone through the peer review process in which the
journals editorial board, consisting of experts and scholars in the eld, review
the proposed articles to determine their suitability for publication. Scholarly
journals are distributed in print and electronic formats and are available in
varying degrees at U.S. and foreign academic libraries. Prevailing practices in
academic libraries, however, are emphasizing electronic access and holdings
as the preferred method for users to access these resources and for libraries to
retain them.2
A small number of these journals published by government agencies and
nonprot organizations may be freely available on the Internet. Most of these
journals, however, are published by commercial for-prot publishers and are
not freely available in print or electronic format. College or university librar-
ies that have print and electronic access to these journals have paid for this
access by negotiating contractual agreements with these periodicals publish-
ers. Such agreements may restrict electronic access to these journals to users
who are part of a university community such as faculty and students with
university identication numbers. These agreements may stipulate that only
computers in the university library or universitys IP range may be used to ac-
cess electronic journal contents.
A helpful directory of scholarly periodicals is Ulrichs Periodicals Directory.
This annual multivolume set, published by R. R. Bowker, is a key source in
many academic libraries for locating periodical information, and online ac-
cess to it may be provided in these libraries.
Two subscription-based projects that provide subscribing academic librar-
ies with numerous electronic journals on various subjects are JSTOR and
ExLibris MetaLib. JSTOR provides access to recent and historical issues of
scholarly journals in several social science disciplines, and information on
it is available at http://www.jstor.org/.3 ExLibris MetaLib is an international
information service provider delivering access to electronic journal articles in
multiple subjects at many academic and research institutions. General infor-
mation on this service is accessible at http://www.exlibrisgroup.com/catagory/
MetaLibFAQ.
An increasingly important aspect of scholarly journal publishing is the
growth of the open access movement. This initiative seeks to provide a coun-
terpoint to the sometimes restrictive access policies commercial publishers
place on their works. Open access movement proponents advocate that
Indexes and Scholarly Journals 159
scholars publish their work in journals that do not have restrictive public
access policies or do not charge high and continually rising international
subscription prices for their journals, which have become increasingly bur-
densome for the academic library community.4 Information on this increas-
ingly important scholarly publishing movement can be found at http://www.
publicknowledge.org/issues/openaccess/, and an international and multidis-
ciplinary directory of open access journals is freely available at http://www.
doaj.org/.
The following sections present a representative sampling of important
scholarly journals that produce articles on geopolitics. The information pro-
vided includes the journals name, publisher, paper and electronic Interna-
tional Standard Serial Numbers (ISSNs), publication frequency and history,
and general information about accessibility, including a URL if it is freely
available to the general public.
Comparative Politics
Comparative Politics is published quarterly by the City University of New
Yorks Political Science Program. It has been published since 1968, its ISSNs
are 0010-4159 and 2151-6227, and general information on it can be found at
http://web.gc.cuny.edu/jcp/. Examples of recent Comparative Politics articles
include Following the Money: Muslim versus Muslim in Bosnias Civil War
(2008), Politics, Poverty, and Policies in Latin America (2009), Commu-
nity Policing and Latin Americas Citizen Security Crisis (2009), and What
Explains Corruption Perceptions: The Dark Side of Political Competition in
Russias Regions (2010).
162 Geopolitics
Comparative Strategy
Comparative Strategy is published ve times annually by Taylor and Francis.
It has been published since 1978, its ISSNs are 0149-5933 and 1521-0448,
and general information on it can be found at http://www.tandf.co.uk/jour
nals/titles/01495933.asp. Recently published articles on geopolitics appearing
here include Nuclear Weapons and Iranian Strategic Culture (2008), An
End to U.S. Hegemony? The Strategic Implications of Chinas Growing Pres-
ence in Latin America (2009), Creating Instability in Dangerous Global
Regions: North Korean Proliferation and Support to Terrorism in the Middle
East and South Asia (2009), and Strongman, Constable, or Free-Rider?
Indias Monroe Doctrine and Indian Naval Strategy (2009).
Europe-Asia Studies
Europe-Asia Studies is published 10 times annually by Routledge, and it fo-
cuses on historical and current political, social, and economic affairs of former
Indexes and Scholarly Journals 163
Communist bloc countries in the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and Asia.
It has been published since 1949, its ISSNs are 0966-8136 and 1465-3427,
and general information about its contents can be found at http://www.tandf.
co.uk/journals/titles/09668136.asp. Examples of recently published articles
focusing on geopolitical aspects of these regions include Illegal Economic
and Transit Migration in the Czech Republic: A Study of Individual Mi-
grants Behavior (2009), Oil and Gas: A Blessing for the Few: Hydrocarbons
and Inequality within Regions in Russia (2009), The Thawing of a Frozen
Conict: The Internal Security Dilemma and the 2004 Prelude to the Russo-
Georgian War (2010), and A Comparative Study of Resource Nationalism
in Russia and Kazakhstan 20042008 (2010).
European Security
European Security is published quarterly by Taylor and Francis. It has been
published since 1992, and its paper and electronic ISSNs are 0966-2839
and 1746-1545. General information is available at http://www.tandf.co.uk/
journals/titles/09662839.asp. Recently published articles on geopolitics in-
clude Constructing the Mediterranean in the Face of New Threats: Are the
EUs Words Really New? (2008), A Drop in the Ocean: Bulgarias NATO
Membership and Black Sea Geopolitics (2008), Energy and Security in
Long-Term Defence Planning: Scenario Analysis for the Swedish Armed
Forces (2009), and The Russian Case for Military Intervention in Georgia:
International Law, Norms and Political Calculation (2009).
Foreign Affairs
Foreign Affairs is one of the United States and worlds preeminent foreign
policy journals. It is published bimonthly by the Council on Foreign Rela-
tions and has been published under different names since 1910. Its ISSNs
164 Geopolitics
are 0015-7120 and 1665-1707, and general information and excerpts from
some recent articles can be found at http://www.foreignaffairs.org/. Examples
of recently published Foreign Affairs articles focusing on geopolitical aspects
of international affairs include Americas Edge: Power in the Networked
Century (2008), The Great Crash, 2008: A Geopolitical Setback for the
West (2009), The Key to Kiev (2009), and In The Quicksands of Soma-
lia (2009).
Foreign Policy
Foreign Policy is published bimonthly by the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace. It has been published since 1971, its ISSNs are 0015-
7228 and 1945-2276, and general information on it and some online con-
tent can be found at http://www.foreignpolicy.com/. Sample articles covering
geopolitical aspects of international affairs include Empires with Expiration
Dates (2006), [Oil] Its Still the One (2009), The Revenge of Geography
(2009), and The Most Dangerous Place in the World (2009).
Geographical Journal
Geographical Journal is published quarterly by Wiley-Blackwell for the
Royal Geographical Society. It has been published since 1857, its ISSNs are
0016-7398 and 1475-4959, and general information about it can be found at
http://www.wiley.com/bw/journal.asp?ref=0016-7398. Considered one of the
worlds premier scholarly geographic journals, its articles cover a wide variety
of geography-oriented topics, including political geography and geopolitics.
Sample articles include Halford Mackinder and the Geographical Pivot of
History: A Centennial Retrospective (2004), Laos and the Making of a
Indexes and Scholarly Journals 165
Geopolitics
Geopolitics is the premier scholarly journal examining geopolitical aspects
of international relations. It has been published quarterly by Routledge since
1996, its ISSNs are 1465-0045 and 1557-3028, and general information about
this journal can be found at http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/14650045.
asp. Recently published articles include Space and the Atom: On the Popu-
lar Geopolitics of Cold War Rocketry (2008), The Struggle for the Heart-
land: Hybrid Geopolitics in the Transcaspian (2009), The Geopolitics of
Energy Security and the Response to Its Challenges by India and Germany
(2009), and Geopolitics, Eurasianism, and Russian Foreign Policy under
Putin (2009).
International Affairs
International Affairs is published by Wiley for the Royal Institute of Inter-
national Affairs in London. It has been published since 1922, is published
bimonthly, and its ISSNs are 0020-5850 and 1468-2346. General informa-
tion about this journal can be found at http://www.wiley.com/bw/journal.
asp?ref=0020-5850. Sample articles include AIDS and Global Security
(2004), Japans Response to Chinas Rise: Regional Engagement, Global
Containment, Dangers of Collision (2009), The Geopolitics of the Arc-
tic Melt (2009), and From Constants to Variables: How Environmental
Change Alters the Geopolitical and Geo-Economic Equation (2009).
International Security
International Security is produced at the Belfer Center for Science and
International Affairs at Harvard Universitys John F. Kennedy School of
Government. It has been published quarterly by Massachusetts Institute of
Technology Press since 1976, and its paper and electronic ISSNs are 0162-
2889 and 1531-4804. General information on International Security can be
found through the Belfer Center Web site (http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.
edu/) and the publishers Web site (http://mitpressjournals.org/loi/isec).
Pertinent International Security articles on geopolitics include Ten Years of
Instability in a Nuclear South Asia (2008), How Smart and Tough Are
Democracies: Reassessing Theories of Democratic Victory in War (2009),
Bad Debts: Assessing Chinas Inuence in Great Power Politics (2009), and
Understanding Support for Islamist Militancy in Pakistan (2010).
Military Thought
Military Thought is a Russian military theory and strategy journal produced
by the Russian Federations Ministry of Defense. It is published quarterly by
East View Information Services and has been published since 1918. Its ISSN
is 0236-2058, and general information on it is accessible at http://www.east
view.com/evpj/evjournals_new.asp?editionid=555. Sample articles on geopo-
litical issues include Chinas Military-Economics Strategy and Its Armed
Forces Restructuring (2007), Central Asian Vector of the Russian Federa-
tions Military Policy (2009), Conditions for Armed Conicts Arising on
RF Territory in the 21st Century and Their Likely Characteristics in a De-
teriorating Military-Political Situation (2009), and International Military
Cooperation of Central Asian States (2009).
Political Geography
Political Geography is published eight times a year by Pergamon Press and
has been published since 1982. Its ISSNs are 0962-6298 and 1873-5096, and
Indexes and Scholarly Journals 169
Security Dialogue
Security Dialogue is published bimonthly by Sage Publications. It has been
published since 1970, its ISSNs are 0967-0106 and 1460-3640, and general
information on it can be found at http://sdi.sagepub.com/. Recent articles
in this journal examining geopolitical issues include The Responsibility to
Protect and the Conict in Darfur: The Big Let-Down (2009), Consensus
and Governance in Mercosur: The Evolution of the South American Secu-
rity Agenda (2009), Gangs, Urban Violence, and Security Interventions
in Central America (2009), and The Security and Development Nexus in
Cape Town: War on Gangs, Counterinsurgency and Citizenship (2010).
Turkish Studies
Turkish Studies is published quarterly by Routledge. It has been pub-
lished since 1999, its ISSNs are 1468-3849 and 1743-9663, and general in-
formation on this journal can be found at http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/
titles/14633849.asp. Its primary area of coverage is Turkeys international re-
lations with surrounding countries, and pertinent geopolitics articles include
Middle Easternization of Turkeys Foreign Policy: Does Turkey Dissociate
Indexes and Scholarly Journals 171
Notes
1. See Williams H. Walters, Google Scholar Search Performance: Comparative
Recall and Precision, Portal: Libraries and the Academy, 9 (1)(January 2009): 524;
Jared L. Howland, Thomas C. Wright, Rebecca A. Boughan, and Brian C. Roberts,
How Scholarly Is Google Scholar: A Comparison to Library Databases, College and
Research Libraries, 70 (3)(May 2009): 22734; Charles Martell, A Citation Analysis
of College and Research Libraries Comparing Yahoo, Google, Google Scholar, and
ISI Web of Knowledge with Implications for Promotion and Tenure, College and
Research Libraries, 70 (5)(September 2009): 460 72, for examples of Google Scholar
assessments.
2. See Stephen Prothers, Margaret Prabhu, and Shirley Sullivan, Electronic
Journal Delivery in Academic Libraries, Acquisitions Librarian, 19 (37/38)(2006):
15 45; Chandra Prabha, Shifting from Print to Electronic Journals in ARL Uni-
versity Libraries, Serials Review, 33 (1)(2007): 413; Golnessa Galyani Moghddam,
Archiving Challenges of Scholarly Electronic Journals: How Do Publishers Manage
Them? Serials Review, 33 (2)(2007): 8190; and Christina Torbert, Purchasing of
Electronic Backles: Results of a Survey, 57 (4)(2009): 410 22.
3. Roger C. Schonfeld, JSTOR: A History (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
Press, 2003).
4. See Charles A. Schwartz, Reassessing Prospects for the Open Access Move-
ment, College and Research Libraries, 66 (6)(2005); Emma McCulloch, Taking Stock
of Open Access: Progress and Issues, Library Review, 55 (6)(2006): 337 43; and Kristi
L. Palmer, Emily Dill, and Charlene Christie, When Theres a Will Theres A Way?
Survey of Academic Librarian Attitudes about Open Access, College and Research
Libraries, 70 (4)(2009): 31535.
CHAPTER 7
Ademola, Adeleke. Ties without Strings? The Colombo Plan and the Geopolitics of Inter-
national Aid, 1950 1980. PhD diss., University of Toronto, 1996. http://www.
nlc-bnc.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk3/ftp04/NQ35427.pdf.
Ademola studies international aid politics with particular emphasis on the Co-
lombo Plan initiated by British Commonwealth countries in 1950 and targeted
toward non-Communist Asian countries. The author argues that the Colombo
Plan was motivated by cold war geopolitics and was premised on the belief
that poverty, underdevelopment, and large populations made these countries
vulnerable to Communist subversion. This dissertation scrutinizes the politics
and diplomacy of program membership expansion and the security, strategic,
and economic motivations of participating countries.
Gray Literature 175
Technical Reports
Technical reports from government agencies such as the National Technical
Information Service (NTIS) and the Defense Technical Information Cen-
ters (DTIC) Scientic and Technical Information Network (STINET) can
also be useful resources for those conducting research on gray literature con-
cerning geopolitics and other scientic and technological subjects. NTIS is a
U.S. Commerce Department agency whose purpose is providing and simplify-
ing access to the multitudinous data les and scientic and technical reports
produced by federal agencies and their contractors. Initially established as the
Publications Board in 1945 to manage the release of captured German docu-
ments and technical reports to U.S. industry, NTIS received its present name
Gray Literature 179
Argentina
Argentine Council for International Relations
This Buenos Airesbased organization was founded in 1978 to examine
various aspects of international relations. Its Web site, http://www.cari.org.
ar/, provides links to various Spanish-language publications, including Sober-
ana como Condicin: los lmites de la intervencin humanitarian (2010).
Australia
Australian Strategic Policy Institute
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) is located in Barton,
Australian Capital Territory, and was founded in 2000. It is an independent
nonpartisan policy institute established by the Australian government to
inform and provide the public with fresh ideas on Australian defense and
strategic policy matters. ASPIs Web site, http://www.aspi.org.au/, provides
a rich variety of information resources and the opportunity to comment on
specic publications. Examples of these publications include Connecting the
Dots: Towards an Integrated National Security Strategy (2009), A Delicate Issue:
Asias Nuclear Future (2009), and Time for a Fresh Approach: Australia and Fiji
Relations Post-abrogation (2010).
Gray Literature 181
Brazil
Centro Brasileiro De Relaes Internacionais
The Brazilian Center for International Relations (CEBRI) was established
in 1998 and is located in Rio de Janeiro. Its institutional purpose is studying
and analyzing Brazilian foreign policy and international relations. Its Web
site, http://www.cebri.com.br/, provides access to a variety of information re-
sources (primarily in Portuguese), including The Geopolitics of Energy: The
View from Latin America (2008) and Brazils International Agenda Revisited: Per-
ceptions of the Brazilian Foreign Policy Community (2008).
Canada
Centre for Security and Defence Studies (Carleton University)
This organization is located in Ottawa and is part of Carleton Universitys
Norman Paterson School of International Affairs. Its missions include inter-
disciplinary graduate and undergraduate teaching on international affairs and
defense and security studies and enhancing public discussion of these issues.
Its Web site, http://www.carleton.ca/csds/, features publications such as Mari-
time Security and the Culture of Prevention (2004) and After the Fall: Theory and
Practice of Post-intervention Security Conference Report (2006).
dimensions of foreign, defense, and security policies. Its Web site, http://www.
yorku.ca/yciss/, contains various publications on geopolitical aspects of inter-
national relations, including Violent Interventions: Selected Proceedings of the
Fifteenth Annual Conference of the York Centre for International and Security
Studies (2008) and Geopolitics, the Revolution in Military Affairs, and the Bush
Doctrine (2008).
China
China Institute of Contemporary International Relations
This organization was founded in 1980 and is located in Beijing. It serves
as a comprehensive international studies research institution founded by the
Chinese government, and its research encompasses world economic, politi-
cal, security, and strategic studies. Its Web site, http://www.cicir.ac.cn/, fea-
tures the text of some English-language publications, including The United
States and the Islamic World (2005), but most Web site content is in Chinese.
Denmark
Danish Institute for International Studies
This organization was established in 2002 and is located in Copenhagen.
It is an independent research institution studying international affairs and
conducting research on topics affecting Danish foreign and security policy
with particular emphasis on development policy. Its Web site, http://www.
diis.dk/, provides a variety of English-language materials on geopolitical sub-
jects, including The Foreign Policy of Iran: Ideology and Pragmatism in the Islamic
Republic (2009) and The Georgian-Russian Conict: A Turning Point? (2010).
Estonia
Estonia Foreign Policy Institute
The Estonia Foreign Policy Institute (EFPI) was established in 2000 and
seeks to provide enhanced understanding of international affairs and Esto-
nias role in a changing world. It is located in Tallinn, and its key areas of
Gray Literature 183
Finland
Finnish Institute of International Affairs
The Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA) was established in
1961 and is located in Helsinki. Its institutional mission is producing high-
quality and topical information on international relations and the European
Union. General and specic information on FIIA can be found at http://
www.upi-ia./. Examples of recent geopolitically oriented publications it has
produced include Controversies over Missile Defence in Europe (2009), Hitting a
Moving Target: Implications of Japans Missile Defence (2010), and The EU and
the Global Climate Regime: Getting Back into the Game (2010).
France
Institut de Relations Internationales et Strategiques
The Institute for International Relations and Strategic Relations (IRIS)
was established in 1991, is located in Paris, and conducts research in a variety
of international relations and security elds, including sport and geopolitics.
Information about institute activity and some English-language resources can
be found at http://www.iris-france.org/.
Descriptions are provided for French-language publications, including
ordering information, with representative samples including La Politique
Amricain au Moyen-Orient (2006), LEau, Source de Menaces? (2008), and Les
Guerres Asymtriques (2009).
Germany
German Institute for International Security Affairs
This organization was established in 1962 and is located in Berlin. It is an
independent and governmentally funded organization advising the German
government and parliament on foreign and national security policy issues. Its
research divisions cover topics such as European Union integration and ex-
ternal relations, international security, the Russian Federation and Common-
wealth of Independent States, Middle East and Africa, Asia, and global issues.
Detailed information on the institute is available at http://www.swp-berlin.
org/. Examples of English-language geopolitical information resources it has
produced include Russia-NATO Relations: Stagnation or Revitalization? (2008),
Russias Military Capabilities: Great Power Ambitions and Reality (2009), and
Russian Gas, Ukrainian Pipelines, and European Supply Security: Lessons of the
2009 Controversies (2009).
India
Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis
This organization was established in 1965, is located in New Delhi, and is
an independent and nonpartisan organization seeking to conduct objective
research and analysis on defense security topics. Its Web site, http://www.
idsa.in/, provides access to information about institute activities, including
publications such as Trilateral Nuclear Proliferation: Pakistans Euro-Chinese
Bomb (2006), Journal of Defence Studies (2007 to present), Coastal Security Ar-
rangement: A Case Study of Gujarat and Maharashtra Coasts (2009), A Study on
Illegal Immigration into North-East India: The Case of Nagaland (2009), and The
Dragons Shield: Intricacies of Chinas BMD Capability (2010).
Indonesia
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Indonesias Center for Strategic and International Studies was founded
in 1971, is located in Jakarta, and conducts policy-oriented discussion and
studies on domestic and international issues. Its Web site, http://www.csis.
or.id/, provides access to various information resources, including working
papers such as Post Tsunami Reconstruction and Peace Building in Aceh: Political
Impacts and Potential Risks (2005) and Economic Crisis, Institutional Changes
and the Effectiveness of Government: The Case of Indonesia (2007).
Iran
Institute for Political and International Studies
The Institute for Political and International Studies (IPIS) was founded in
1983, is located in Tehran, is part of the ofce of the Deputy Foreign Minister
for Education and Research, and conducts research to benet Iranian foreign
policy. IPISs English-language Web site, http://www.ipis.ir/english/, features
information about institute programs and publications such as selected ar-
ticles from the Iranian Journal for International Affairs (2007 to present), with
representative samples including The Israeli Impact on Standing Tensions
between Iran and the United States (Summer 2008) and The Future of the
Caspian Sea after Tehran Summit (WinterSpring 20082009).
Israel
Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies
The Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies (BESA) was established in
1993, is located at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, and strives to con-
tribute to Middle Eastern peace and security by conducting pertinent policy
research on strategic subjects affecting Israeli foreign policy and national
security. BESAs Web site, http://www.besacenter.org/, presents a variety
of free materials on these issues, including From Omnipotence to Impotence:
A Shift in the Iranian Portrayal of the Zionist Regime (2008), Is Gaza Occupied?
Redening the Legal Status of Gaza (2009), Despite Pundits, Netanyahu Wants
Peace (2010), and Regional Alternatives to the Two-State Solution (2010).
186 Geopolitics
Italy
Institute of International Affairs
The Institute of International Affairs was founded in 1965, is located in
Rome, and conducts research in various areas of international affairs, in-
cluding Italian foreign policy and Mediterranean and Middle Eastern af-
fairs. The institutes Web site, http://www.iai.it/, provides access to various
English-language materials, including Report of the Conference Addressing
the Resurgence of Sea Piracy: Legal, Political and Security Aspects (2009), The
Treaty on Friendship, Partnership and Cooperation between Italy and Libya:
New Prospects for Cooperation in the Mediterranean (2009), European Neigh-
borhood Policy and the Southern Mediterranean: Drawing from the Lessons of
Enlargement (2009), and The New Turkish Foreign Policy and the Future of
Turkey-EU Relations (2010).
Japan
Japan Institute of International Affairs
The Japan Institute for International Affairs (JIIA) was established in
1959, is located in Tokyo, and is an academically independent institution
afliated with the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Its institutional mis-
sion is conducting medium- to long-term research on international political
and security affairs and promoting the exchange of relevant information in
these areas. JIIAs Web site, http://www.jiia.or.jp/, provides further informa-
tion about organizational activities and some English-language resources,
including Strategic Implications for Japan of the Relocation of US Marines from
Okinawa to Guam (2009), Improving Cross-Strait Relations Confusing to the
Japanese (2009), Japans Peacebuilding Policy toward Afghanistan: The Need for
a Civilian Surge to Improve Security (2009), and Japans New Strategy toward the
Mekong Region (2010).
Gray Literature 187
Jordan
Center for Strategic Studies
The Center for Strategic Studies (CSS) was established in 1984 and is lo-
cated at Jordan University in Amman; its research foci are regional conicts,
international relations, and security. Its Web site, http://www.css-jordan.org/,
provides information about center organizational components, including its
Iranian and European-Mediterranean Studies units and programs encompass-
ing domestic Jordanian economic and political developments. Examples of
CSS publications addressing geopolitics include The Dilemma of Politics in
Arab-Iranian Relations: The Case of Jordan (2007), The Tehran-Washington
Talks Dilemma and Possible Scenarios (2009), and Implementation of Jordan-EU
Action Plan: A CSS Independent Evaluation (2009).
Lithuania
Institute of International Relations and Political Science
The Institute of International Relations and Political Science (IIRPS) was
founded in 1992, is located at Vilnius University, and conducts instructional
and research programs dealing with domestic and international politics. Its
Web site, http://www.tspmi.vu.lt/, includes publications such as the journal
Lithuanian Foreign Policy Review (1998 to present) with representative arti-
cles, including A Russian-Led OPEC for Gas? Design, Implications, Coun-
termeasures (2008), The Big, the Bad and the Beautiful: America, Russia and
Europes Mellow Power (2008), and Baltic Military Cooperation: Past, Present
and the Future (2009).
Malaysia
Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia-Pacic
CSCAP was founded in 1992 by representatives from two dozen strate-
gic studies centers in the Asia-Pacic region based on their belief that there
needed to be a nongovernmental structure for analyzing and discussing re-
gional security issues. CSCAP is headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, and its
Web site, http://www.cscap.org/, provides additional information about or-
ganizational activities and current research interests. Some of these research
foci include Asia-Pacic naval enhancement, offshore gas and oil installation
safety and security, establishing regional hubs for countering transnational
organized crime, and climate changes security implications.
Examples of freely available full-text publications include the annu-
ally published CSCAP Regional Security Outlook (2007 to present), Maritime
Knowledge and Awareness: Basic Foundations of Maritime Security (2007),
188 Geopolitics
Regional Security Implications of the Global Financial Crisis (2009), and Guide-
lines for Maritime Cooperation in Enclosed and Semi-enclosed Seas and Similar Sea
Areas of the Asia-Pacic (2009).
Mexico
Mexican Council on Foreign Relations
This organization was established in 2001, is located in Chapultepec, and
is responsible for creating a framework so various sectors of Mexican society
can become involved in analyzing and debating Mexicos role in international
politics. Information about the councils activities can be found at http://www.
consejomexicano.org/. Examples of accessible English-language publications
include The Cuba-Venezuela Challenge to Hemispheric Security: Implications for
the United States (2009), The United States and Mexico: Towards a Strategic Part-
nership: A Report of Four Working Groups on U.S.-Mexico Relations (2009), The
Outlook for Energy Reform in Latin America (2009), and Cuba: A New Policy of
Critical and Constructive Engagement (2009).
New Zealand
Centre for Strategic Studies (Victoria University)
The Centre for Strategic Studies (CSS) was founded in 1993, is located
at Victoria University in Wellington, and is an independent organization
with the mission of enhancing national understanding of the global environ-
ment New Zealand operates in. CSSs Web site, http://www.victoria.ac.nz/
css/, provides information about center programs and the text of numerous
publications, including Pacic Island Security Management by New Zealand
and Australia: Towards a New Paradigm (2005), Concepts of Maritime Security:
A Strategic Perspective on Alternative Visions for Good Order and Security at Sea,
with Policy Implications for New Zealand (2009), and What Journalists Need to
Know about International Humanitarian Law (2009).
Gray Literature 189
Nigeria
Nigerian Institute of International Affairs
The Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) was founded in
1961 and is located in Lagos; its missions include promoting international
affairs research and study and training Nigerian diplomats and other nations
in international affairs activities. NIIAs Web site, http://www.niianet.org/,
provides further information about institute activities and descriptions of or-
ganizational publications, which are not provided in full text.
Pakistan
Islamabad Policy Research Institute
The Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI) was founded in 1999 and
is located in Islamabad; its institutional mission is analyzing and evaluating
national and international political and strategic issues affecting Pakistan,
south Asia, and international affairs. IPRIs Web site, http://ipripak.org/,
provides access to a number of useful information resources, including ar-
ticles from IPRI Journal (2001 to present), research papers such as Federally
Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan (2005) and Chinas Peaceful Rise and South
Asia (2008), and the monthly news analyses IPRI Factle (1999 to present).
Poland
Polish Institute of International Affairs
The Polish Institute of International Affairs (PIIA) was established in 1996
by parliamentary legislation and is responsible for conducting research on in-
ternational affairs and providing expertise on this subject for the Polish gov-
ernment and public. PIIAs Web site, http://www.pism.pl/, provides access to
various English-language information resources, including reports and analy-
ses such as Implications of the Russia-Ukraine Gas Dispute for the Construction
of Nord Stream (2009), Missile Defense Program: Obama Administrations New
Approach (2009), A New Strategy for Afghanistan: Political Reform First (2009), and
NATO after the Georgian Conict: A New Course or Business as Usual? (2009).
Russia
Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies
The Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST) was
established in 1997, is located in Moscow, and serves as an independent,
noncommercial, and nongovernmental organization focused on conducting
innovative research on the security challenges and implications of weapons
and technology trade and defense restructuring. CASTs Web site, http://
www.cast.ru/, provides the text of selected reports, including The Chinese
190 Geopolitics
Singapore
Institute of Strategic Studies, S. Rajaratnam
School of International Studies
(Nanyang Technological University)
This institute, which is part of the Rajaratnam School of International
Studies (RSIS), was established in 1996 and incorporated into its present
organizational alignment in 2007. Institutional missions include providing
rigorous graduate professional education in international affairs; conducting
policy-relevant research in national security, defense and strategic studies,
diplomacy, and international relations; and collaborating with comparable
international relations schools to form global excellence networks.7
RSISs Web site, http://www.rsis.edu.sg/, provides information about insti-
tute research emphases, including Asia-Pacic security, conict and nontra-
ditional security, international political economy, and country/area studies.
Freely accessible institute research reports and conference proceedings include
Climate Insecurities, Human Security and Social Resilience (2009), Developing an
Integrated Approach to Maritime Security through the Counter-terrorism Con-
vention, Criminal and International Law: Legal Perspectives, Capacity Building
(2009), How Geography Makes Democracy Work (2009), The Philippines as an
Archipelagic and Maritime Nation: Interests, Challenges, and Perspectives (2009),
and The Korean Peninsula in Chinas Grand Strategy: Chinas Role in Dealing
with North Koreas Nuclear Quandry (2010). This rich variety of reports makes
RSIS materials essential reading for understanding Asia-Pacic geopolitical
trends and developments.
South Africa
South African Institute for International Affairs
SAIIA was founded in 1934, is located in Braamfontein, a suburb of Jo-
hannesburg, and serves as a nongovernmental research institution analyzing
Gray Literature 191
South African and African international relations. SAIIAs Web site, http://
www.saiia.org.za/, provides access to information about institute research
areas, including security and conict resolution, and emerging powers and
global challenges, with a section of this later area incorporating material on
China in Africa. Examples of freely accessible publications include Chinas
Development Policy in Africa (2007), Whats Urdu for Biltong: Can South Africa
Help Pakistan (2009), Digging Deep for Prots and Development: Reections on
Enhancing the Governance of Africas Mining Sector (2009), and The Oil Factor
in Sino-Angolan Relations at the Start of the 21st Century (2010).
South Korea
Institute for Far Eastern Studies
The Institute for Far Eastern Studies was established in 1972 and is lo-
cated at Kyungnam University in Seoul. Its institutional mission is promot-
ing peaceful Korean reunication by conducting research on North Korea,
national reunication, and northeast Asia. Its English-language Web site,
http://ifes.kyungnam.ac.kr/eng/default.asp, provides additional information
about its activities and selected information resources, including the text of
articles from its journal Asian Perspectives (2003 to present).
Taiwan
Taiwan Security Research
TSR was founded in 1997, is located in Taipei, and serves as an academic
and nongovernmental resource for disseminating information on Taiwanese
security and regional security issues. Its Web site, http://taiwansecurity.org/,
features newspaper articles, academic papers, governmental policy statements,
and reports from English-language sources. Examples of these resources in-
clude Chinas Search for Military Power (2008), Cross-Strait Relations: First the
Easy Steps, Then the Difcult Ones (2008), and China Tops List of Unfriendly
Countries Despite Improved Relations: Survey (2009).
Turkey
Foreign Policy Institute
The Foreign Policy Institute (FPI) was established in 1974, is located at
Bilkent University in Ankara, and seeks to enhance foreign policy knowl-
edge through research, meetings, and publications. Its Web site, http://www.
foreignpolicy.org.tr/, provides additional information about FPI activities and
lists of publications it has produced, including tables of contents. Examples of
these books include The Armenian Issues in Nine Questions and Answers (1992),
192 Geopolitics
Caspian Energy Diplomacy since the Fall of the Cold War (2006), and Turkeys
Neighborhood (n.d.).
United Kingdom
Chatham House
Chatham House, originally established in 1920 as the Royal Institute of
International Affairs, is located in London and conducts independent and
rigorous research and analysis of international affairs. Key areas of current
emphasis include energy, environment, and resource governance, interna-
tional economics, and regional and security studies on a global scale. The
Chatham House Web site, http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk/, provides infor-
mation on its multiple information resources, including Thirst for African Oil:
Asian National Oil Companies in Nigeria and Angola (2009), Transit Troubles:
Pipelines as a Source of Conict (2009), The Feeding of the Nine Billion: Global
Food Security for the 21st Century (2009), and Beyond the Dollar: Rethinking the
International Monetary System (2010).
Four Regions and Two Wars (2010), and Negotiating with the Taliban: Toward a
Solution for the Afghan Conict (2010).
United States
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
CEIP was founded in 1910, is located in Washington, D.C., and various
international locations, and seeks to advance international cooperation and
promote active U.S. international engagement. Its Web site, http://www.
ceip.org/, provides access to a number of information resources on interna-
tional relations and geopolitics. Recent examples of these include Engaging
Pakistan: Getting the Balance Right (2008), Fixing a Failed Strategy in Afghanistan
(2009), The Arctic Climate Change and Security Policy Conference: Final Report
and Findings (2009), and What Comes Next in Yemen? Al-Qaeda, the Tribes, and
State-Building (2010).
Relations and the U.S. Strategy Decit (2010), and The Mega-Eights: Urban
Leviathans and International Instability (2010).
RAND Corporation
The RAND Corporation was founded in 1946 and is located in Santa
Monica, California; it has various other ofces in the United States, Europe,
and the Middle East. Long considered one of the worlds preeminent public
policy research institutions, it conducts research in a variety of national
and international security issues and international relations topics. Its
Web site, http://www.rand.org/, is a treasure trove of information resources
of interest to those studying geopolitics, with representative samples in-
cluding Greeces New Geopolitics (2001), Russian Foreign Policy: Sources and
Implications (2009), The Geopolitical Consequences of World Economic Reces-
sion: A Caution (2009), Dangerous but Not Omnipotent: Exploring the Reach
and Limitations of Iranian Power in the Middle East (2009), Security in Iraq:
A Framework for Analyzing Emerging Threats as U.S. Forces Leave (2010),
and Troubled Partnership: U.S.-Turkish Relations in an Era of Global Geopoliti-
cal Change (2010).
196 Geopolitics
Conference Proceedings
Conference proceedings can also be useful sources for nding information on
geopolitics. Professional associations representing a variety of disciplines hold
conferences on a regular basis, where members discuss and debate trends and
developments in their elds and present their ndings and data in speeches,
presentations, and in some cases, through published papers. Some confer-
ence proceeding documents may eventually be published as scholarly journal
articles or chapters in books. There are numerous assessments in library and
information science literature on the role of conference proceedings in schol-
arly research and communication and on the challenges in accessing these
materials.8
Most conference proceedings are not freely available to users who are not
part of the professional associations in question or afliated with a univer-
sity with a major academic library. These resources tend to be selectively or
sporadically cataloged in academic library online public access catalogs and
often are not cataloged with as high a level of bibliographic access as books
and journals.9
Two major databases for accessing conference proceedings that are
available in some academic libraries include the Institute for Scientic
Informations ISI Web of Science: Proceedings and Cambridge Scientic
Abstractss Conference Papers Index. General information about these re-
sources may be found at http://pcs.isiknowledge.com/ and http://www.csa.
com/, respectively.
Conference proceedings represent an interdisciplinary variety of subjects.
Those covering geopolitics and political geography may be produced as part
of the scholarly research process in disciplines such as environmental science,
geography, history, military science, political science, and various scientic
and technology elds. The following is a selective annotation of relatively
recently published conference proceedings on geopolitics topics. Biblio-
graphic citations are provided, including information on the organization at
which the paper was initially presented and book International Standard Bib-
liographic Number (ISBN) or serial International Standard Serial Number
(ISSN). A representative sampling of these papers arranged in chronological
order by conference date includes the following:
Arsenault, Daniel, and Jamie Green. Effects of the Separation Barrier on the Vi-
ability of a Future Palestinean State. In 2nd Israeli-Palestinean Conference on
Water for Life in the Middle East. Antalya, Turkey, October 2004. ISBN: 978-3-
540-69508-0.
Baldwin, Andrew. Carbon Nullius and Racial Rule: Race, Nature and the Cultural
Politics of Forest Carbon in Canada. In AAG Conference on Critical Explora-
tions in Nationalism and the Environment. Bali, Indonesia, December 2007.
Gray Literature 197
de Fraiture, Charlotte, Mark Giordano, and Yongsong Liao. Biofuels and Implications
for Agricultural Water Use: Blue Impacts of Green Energy. In International
Conference on Linkages between Energy and Water Management for Agriculture.
Hyderabad, India, January 2930, 2007. ISSN: 1366-7017.
Ingram, Alan. HIV/AIDS, Security and the Geopolitics of US-Nigerian Rela-
tions. In Annual Conference of the Royal Geographical Society/Institute of Brit-
ish Geographers Conference. London, August 31September 2, 2005. ISSN:
0969-2290.
Iqbal, Zaryab, and Harvey Starr. Bad Neighbors: Failed States and Their Conse-
quences. In 40th Annual Meeting of the Peace Science Society. Columbus, OH,
November 10 12, 2006. ISSN: 0738-8942.
Kriviliev, Vladimir A. Geopolitics and Environmental Security. In NATO Advanced
Research Workshop on Geographical Information Processing and Visual Analytics for
Environmental Security. October 1317, 2008, Trento, Italy. ISBN: 978-90-481-
2897-6.
Liu, Liwei, Peng Wang, and Zhao Erdong. Research of Chinese Oil Companies In-
vestment in Eurasia Region. In 2007 International Conference on Wireless Com-
munications, Networking and Mobile Computing. Shanghai, September 2125,
2007. ISBN: 978-1-4244-1311-9.
Scott, James Wesley. Bordering and Ordering the European Neighbourhood: A Criti-
cal Perspective on EU Territoriality and Geopolitics. In Conference on Regional
Development Challenges of EU Border Regions in the Context of the Interaction
between the EU and Countries of Its Immediate Neighbourhood. Tartu, Estonia,
June 1617, 2008. ISSN: 1406-0922.
Suen, Xiaoli, Jianping Li, and Chen Wang. The Energy-Triangle Region around
China: Regional Co-operation of Energy Security. In Proceedings of the 2008
International Conference on E-Risk Management. Nanjing, China, June 2730,
2008. ISBN: 978-0-78677-08-6.
Tagaranski, Mario, and Andrius Aviziust. Energy Security for the Euro-Atlantic
Region. In NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Energy and Environmental
Challenges to Security. Budapest, November 2123, 2007. ISBN: 978-1-4020-
9451-4.
Wu, Gang, Yi-Ming Wei, and Ying Fan. An Empirical Risk for the Import Risk of
Chinas Petroleum Products Based on the Improved Portfolio Approach. In
2008 IEEE Conference on Sustainable Energy Technologies (ICSET). Singapore,
November 2427, 2008. ISBN: 978-1-4244-1887-9.
Exploring Geopolitics
This English-language academic site provides access to geopolitical in-
sights provided by a global array of approximately 50 scholars. It seeks to
increase awareness of geopolitics and relevant information sources; provide
information about geopolitical schools of thought; and narrow the informa-
tion gap between the academic world, policy makers, the business commu-
nity, and journalists. This Web site is arranged into ve categories: education,
geopolitical traditions, world politics, international security, and resource
scarcity, featuring various writings, interviews, and op-eds. It can be accessed
at http://www.exploringgeopolitics.org/ and features the AllGeopolitics Twit-
ter service (http://twitter.com/AllGeopolitics), which had 18 followers as of
March 2010.
Geo-Graphics
This is an international economicsoriented blog hosted by the Council
on Foreign Relations and its Center for Geo-Economic Studies. It features
postings and statistics from August 2008 to the present on a variety of in-
ternational economic issues and their relationship to geopolitics. Examples
of posting topics include Chinas international economics role, how central
banks inuence international economic and political policies, the interna-
tional impact of the global economic downturn, and how international trade
affects national and international economic and political development. This
resource can be accessed at http://blogs.cfr.org/geographics/.
Soviet Union, the Middle East, and south Asia. As an information resource
and blog network, Global Geopolitics Net seeks to present information
analysis and opinion on global politics, intelligence gathering and analysis,
counterterrorism, human rights, globalization, and other international issues,
along with the domestic politics of numerous countries.
Mackinder Forum
Inspired by the life and work of noted geopolitical writer Halford Mack-
inder, this international organization seeks to promote geopolitical study and
increase its academic standing; bring together military ofcers, diplomats,
policy makers, academics, and business personnel to debate contemporary
geopolitical issues; exchange and disseminate new geopolitical ideas and con-
cepts; and investigate the geopolitical foundations of democratic institutions
and ideals. The forums Web site, http://www.mackinderforum.org/, features
information about leading members, the text of recent documents and reports
on geopolitics from government agencies, information about a forthcoming
online open access journal Projections, written analyses such as The Afghani-
stan Reassessment: Geopolitical Dilemmas, Tactical Curiosities, and Strategic
Consequences (2009) and The Geopolitical Containment of China (2009), and
recent newspaper articles on geopolitics.
Politicalgeog
This is a Twitter feed run by Professor Klaus Dodds at the Royal Holloway
University of Londons Department of Geography. It contains links to geo-
politics news stories from a global variety of sources and has 32 followers as of
March 2010. Tweet topics include the controversy over whether to call the
Persian Gulf the Arabian Gulf, Argentina trying to gain broader support for
its claim to the Falkland Islands, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tak-
ing a tough line on Iranian nuclear aspirations. This service can be accessed
at http://twitter.com/politicalgeog.
geopolitical and related topics from May 2004 to the present, which may also
have been published in Esquire magazine and various other venues, including
video webcasts.
Notes
1. Works describing gray literature and its role in library collections include Paolo
de Castro and Sandra Salinetti, Quality of Grey Literature in the Open Access Era:
Privilege and Responsibility, Publishing Research Quarterly, 20 (1)(2004): 412;
Heather Lehman and Janet Webster, Describing Grey Literature Again: A Survey of
Collection Policies, Publishing Research Quarterly, 21 (1)(Spring 2005): 6472; and
Bertrum H. McDonald, Ruth E. Cordes, and Peter G. Wells, Assessing the Diffusion
and Impact of Grey Literature Published by International Intergovernmental Scien-
tic Groups: The Case of the Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment,
Publishing Research Quarterly, 23 (1)(Spring 2007): 30 46.
2. For representative samples, see Calvin James Boyer, The Doctoral Dissertation as
an Information Source (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1973); Edward S. Balian, How
to Design, Analyze, and Write Doctoral Research: The Practical Guidebook (Lanham,
MD: University Press of America, 1982); and Peggy L. Maki and Nancy A. Borkowski,
eds., The Assessment of Doctoral Education: Emerging Criteria and New Models for Im-
proving Outcomes (Sterling, VA: Stylus, 2006). See the following for the increasing
interdisciplinarity of academic research and writing: Molly Molloy, The Internet in
Latin America, Journal of Library Administration, 43 (3/4)(2005): 129 47; and Brad-
ley Brazzeal and Robert Fowler, Patterns of Information Use in Graduate Research
in Forestry: A Citation Analysis of Masters Theses at Mississippi State University,
Science and Technology Libraries, 26 (2)(2005): 91106.
3. A partial sampling of these works includes Jean-Pierre Herubel and Ann Buch-
anan, Comparing Materials Used in Philosophy and Political Science Dissertations:
A Technical Note, Behavioral and Social Sciences Librarian, 12 (2)(1993): 6370;
L. Hoover, Cataloging Theses and Dissertations: An Annotated Bibliography, Tech-
nical Services Quarterly, 19 (3)(2001): 2139; Newkirk Barnes, The Use of U.S. Gov-
ernment Publications as Bibliographic References in Doctoral References, Journal
of Academic Librarianship, 32 (5)(2006): 50311; and C. Rockelle Strader, Author
Assigned Keywords versus Library of Congress Subject Headings: Implications for the
Cataloging of Electronic Theses and Dissertations, Library Resources and Technical
Services, 53 (4)(2009): 24350.
4. Bert Chapman, Researching National Security and Intelligence Policy (Washing-
ton, DC: CQ Press, 2004): 75.
5. S. Rajatnam School of International Studies, Mission of the RSIS, http://
www.rsis.edu.sg/about_rsis/rsis_objective.html.
6. Lane Wallace, The Story of the Defense Technical Information Center: 1945
1995 (Fort Belvoir, VA: Defense Technical Information Center, 1995): 10 15, 46.
7. See Barbara L. Berman, Coping with Conference Proceedings, Cataloging
and Classication Quarterly 10 (3)(1990): 1934; S. M. DeSilva and A. N. Zainab,
An Advisor for Cataloguing Conference Proceedings: Design and Development
Gray Literature 201
Thomas P. M. Barnett
Thomas P. M. Barnett has developed a prominent career analyzing geopoliti-
cal trends and strategies in academe and in corporate consulting. He received
his BA in international relations and Russian literature from the University
of Wisconsin, a masters degree in Harvard Universitys Soviet Union Pro-
gram, and a PhD in political science from Harvard University. His career has
consisted of being the project director for the CAN Center for Naval Analy-
sis, a professor and senior strategic researcher at the Naval War College, and
a consultant in the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), including service
as an assistant for strategic futures in the DODs Ofce of Force Transforma-
tion from 2001 to 2003. He currently runs his own consultancy rms Barnett
Consulting and Enterra Solutions, which provide independent policy and
management consultations and brieng presentations to private corporations
and research organizations.1
Barnett has written for popular, business, and scholarly audiences. His rst
prominent book, The Pentagons New Map: War and Peace in the 21st Century,
Current Geopolitical Scholars 203
contended that the United States and other developed areas he calls the core
needed to reduce threats to their security by connecting with areas such as
Africa, Asia, and South America, which he calls the gap that has not been
reached by global economic development. He goes on to maintain that the
U.S. military needs to be restructured to enhance its suitability for peace-
keeping and nation-building operations.
His second book, The Pentagons New Map: Blueprint for ActionA Future
Worth Creating, argues that the United States equates its national security
with globalizations continued survival and success. His third and most recent
book, Great Powers: America and the World after Bush, states his belief that the
United States still has the power and ability to shape its global destiny and
that globalization will face crucial tests in the next few years.
Samples of Barnetts writings include the following:
Great Powers: America and the World after Bush. New York: Putnam, 2009.
The Pentagons New Map: Blueprint for ActionA Future Worth Creating. New
York: Berkeley Trade, 2006.
The Pentagons New Map: War and Peace in the 21st Century. New York: Putnam,
2004.
He also writes on international affairs issues for popular magazines like Es-
quire and op-eds for a numerous newspapers as well as maintaining a regu-
larly updated blog at http://www.thomaspmbarnett.com/weblog/ covering
from March 2004 to the present and a Twitter feed at http://twitter.com/
thomaspmbarnett.
Simon Dalby
Simon Dalby is a professor in the Department of Geography and Environ-
mental Studies at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. He is one of the
leading gures in critical geopolitics studies, which seeks to look beyond fac-
tors in classical geopolitics to include ethnic politics and what its proponents
regard as racism and environmental and economic exploitation and hidden
messages in political rhetoric to explain how geography can inuence do-
mestic and international policy making.
Dalby received his undergraduate degree in geography at Trinity Col-
lege in Dublin, and his activism saw him become involved in a campaign to
prevent construction of a nuclear reactor in southeast Ireland. He received
his masters degree at British Columbias University of Victoria; his thesis
was a historical and sociological analysis of the protest movement against
nuclear power plant construction in Ireland. He received his PhD at Simon
Fraser University in 1983 and wrote his dissertation on how Washington
204 Geopolitics
Further information about Dalby and his work can be found at http://http-
server.carleton.ca/sdalby/.
Andrew S. Erickson
Andrew Erickson is an associate professor in the U.S. Naval War Colleges
Strategic Research Department and one of the founders of that departments
China Maritime Studies Institute. He has also worked as a Chinese transla-
tor and technical analyst for Science Applications International Corporation
Current Geopolitical Scholars 205
and has been employed with the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, U.S. Consulate in
Hong Kong, U.S. Senate, and White House. He received his BA in history
and political science from Amherst College and an MA and PhD in inter-
national relations and comparative politics from Princeton University. His
research specialties include Chinese military and foreign policy, Japan/ East
Asia security and international relations, maritime and aerospace technology
development, energy resources and geostrategy, military basing, and power
projection.3
Erickson has published books, articles, and reports in a variety of venues,
including journals such as Joint Force Quarterly, Journal of Strategic Studies,
Naval War College Review, and Orbis. Examples of his multifaceted writings
on Chinese and East Asian geopolitical issues, with particular emphasis on
maritime matters, include the following:
Chinas Oil Security Pipe Dream: The Reality and Strategic Consequences of
Seaborne Imports. Naval War College Review, 62 (2)(Spring 2010): 88111.
Andrew S. Erickson, Lyle J. Goldstein, and William S. Murray. Chinese Mine War-
fare: A PLA Navy Assassins Mace Capability. Newport, RI: Naval War Col-
lege Press, 2009.
Using the Land to Control the Sea? Chinese Analysts Consider the Anti-ship
Ballistic Missile. Naval War College Review, 62 (4)(Autumn 2009): 5386.
Gunboats for Chinas New Grand Canals? Probing the Intersection of Beijings
Naval and Energy Security Policies. Naval War College Review, 62 (2)(Spring
2009): 4376.
Chinese Theater and Strategic Missile Force Modernization and Its Implica-
tions for the United States. Journal of Strategic Studies, 32 (1)(February 2009):
67114.
Can China Become a Maritime Power? In Asia Looks Seaward: Power and Mari-
time Strategy, ed. Toshi Yashihara and James R. Holmes. Westport, CT: Praeger
Security International, 2008: 70 110.
Andrew S. Erickson, Gabriel B. Collins, Lyle J. Goldstein, and William S. Murray,
eds. Chinas Energy Strategy: The Impact of Beijings Maritime Policies. Annapolis,
MD: Naval Institute Press, 2008.
Colin Gray
Colin Gray is one of the scholarly communitys premier and prolic mili-
tary strategists and geopolitical writers. He received his BA in economics
from Manchester University and a DPhil from Oxford Universitys Lincoln
206 Geopolitics
College. He has advised the British and American governments and NATO
on military and strategic matters and has held academic appointments at
the University of Reading, where he directs the Centre for Strategic Stud-
ies within the Department of Politics and International Relations, the U.S.
Army War College, and the National Institute for Public Policy in Fairfax,
Virginia.
His research interests, falling rmly into the classical geopolitics tradition,
include strategic theory and strategic history, strategy for contemporary geo-
graphic environments, nuclear proliferation, counterinsurgency, and techno-
logical innovation. Gray seeks to incorporate historical lessons in advocating
contemporary military strategy and believes political and military leaders
need to understand the advantages and disadvantages of their military power,
not be overly impressed with technological advances, and not place excessive
reliance on any military branch to achieve national security objectives.4
Examples of Grays multifaceted journal and monographic writings include
the following:
After Iraq: The Search for a Sustainable National Security Strategy. Carlisle, PA: Stra-
tegic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College, 2009. http://purl.access.gpo.
gov/GPO/LPS107731.
Recognizing and Understanding Revolutionary Change in Warfare: The Sovereignty
of Context. Carlisle, PA: Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College,
2006. www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdfles/PUB640.pdf.
The Sheriff: Americas Defense of the New World Order. Lexington: University Press
of Kentucky, 2004.
Strategy for Chaos: Revolutions in Military Affairs and the Evidence of History. Lon-
don: Frank Cass, 2002.
Thinking Asymetrically in Times of Terror. Parameters, 32 (1)(Spring 2002):
514.
Strategic Culture as Context: The First Generation of Theory Strikes Back. Re-
view of International Studies, 25 (1)(January 1999): 49 69.
The Geopolitics of the Nuclear Era: Heartland, Rimlands, and the Technological Revo-
lution. New York: Crane, Russak, 1977.
Jakub Grygiel
Jakub Grygiel is the George H. W. Bush Associate Professor of International
Relations at Johns Hopkins Universitys School of Advanced International
Studies. He received his PhD in politics at Princeton University, and his re-
Current Geopolitical Scholars 207
search interests include Eastern Europe, Russia and the former Soviet Union,
U.S. foreign policy, and strategic and security issues. He is particularly inter-
ested in the revival of Russian nationalism and other topics on central and
Eastern Europe economics, history, and politics.5
Examples of Grygiels writings include the following:
Peter Hugill
Peter Hugill is professor of geography at Texas A&M University and also
holds an appointment in that institutions George Bush School of Public
Service. He received his BS at the University of Leeds, his MS at Simon
Fraser University, and his PhD at Syracuse University. His research interests
focus on the historical relationship between people and their environment as
technology mediates. His writings have focused on telecommunication and
transportation systems in the world system, the role played by agricultural
commodities in sculpting world trade ows, industrial development, and con-
sumer markets, with particular geographic interests in the relationships these
issues play involving Anglo-America and Europe.6
Examples of Hugills prolic array of geopolitical publications include the
following:
German Great Power Relations in the Age of Simplicissimus, 1896 1914. Geo-
graphical Review, 98 (1)(January 2008): 123.
Trading States, Territorial States, and Technology: Mackinders Unexplored
Contribution to the Discourse on State Types. In Global Geostrategy: Mack-
inder and the Defence of the West, ed. Brian W. Blouet. London: Frank Cass,
2005: 10724.
Global Communications since 1844: Geopolitics and Technology. Baltimore: Johns
Hopkins University Press, 2004.
J. Mohan Malik
J. Mohan Malik is a professor at the U.S. militarys Asia-Pacic Center for
Security Studies (APCSS) in Honolulu. His education includes a MPhil in
Chinese from Delhi University and a PhD in international relations from
Australian National University. Malik has been a faculty member or lecturer
at institutions such as the Australian Defence College and directed the post-
graduate Defense Studies Program at Australias Deakin University before
coming to APCSS in 2001. His research interests include Asian geopolitics,
Chinas Asian strategy, and Asia-Pacic nuclear proliferation. He has also
testied before U.S. and Australian government agencies and performed con-
sultancies for the Australian Army, Janes Information Group, and Science
Applications International Corporation.7
Malik has produced a political corpus of geopolitical writings, with many of
them accessible through his Web site (http://www.apcss.org/core/BIOS/malik/
malik.htm). Examples of these multifaceted works include the following:
India-China Relations. In Berkshire Encyclopedia of China: Modern and Historic
Views of the Worlds Newest and Oldest Global Power, 5 vols., ed. Linsun Cheng
and Mary Bragg. Great Barrington, MA: Berkshire, 2009: 3:114350.
Indias Response to Chinas Rise. In The Rise of China and International Security:
America and Asia Respond, ed. Kevin J. Cooney and Yoichiro Sato. London:
Routledge/Taylor and Francis, 2009: 177212.
The East Asia Community and the Role of External Powers: Ensuring Asian
Multilateralism Is Not Shanghaied. Korean Journal of Defense Analysis, 19 (4)
(Winter 2007): 2950.
Security Council Reform: China Signals Its Veto. World Policy Journal, 22 (1)
(Spring 2005): 1929.
The China Factor in the India-Pakistan Conict. Honolulu, Hawaii: Asia-Pacic
Center for Security Studies, 2002.
Dragon on Terrorism: Assessing Chinas Tactical Gains and Strategic Losses after
11 September. Contemporary Southeast Asia, 24 (2) (2002): 25293.
Current Geopolitical Scholars 209
The Bush Doctrine: The Foreign Policy of Republican Empire. Orbis, 53 (1)
(January 2009): 23 40.
Reections on Future War. Naval War College Review, 61 (3)(Summer 2008):
6176.
Strategy and the Strategic Way of Thinking. Naval War College Review, 60 (4)
(Autumn 2007): 11124.
Rumsfeld, the Generals, and the State of U.S. Civil-Military Relations. Naval
War College Review, 59 (4)(Autumn 2006): 68 80.
In Defense of Classical Geopolitics. Naval War College Review, 52 (4)(Autumn
1999): 5976.
Technology, the RMA (Revolution in Military Affairs), and Future War. Strate-
gic Review, 26 (2)(Spring 1998): 6370.
Fundamentals and Force Planning. Newport, RI: Naval War College Press, 1992.
Chris Seiple
Chris Seiple is the president of the Institute for Global Engagement, which is
a research, education, and diplomatic institution seeking to build sustainable
global religious freedom with local partners. He is a graduate of Stanford Uni-
versity, the Naval Postgraduate School, and the Fletcher School for Law and
210 Geopolitics
Ready . . . or Not? Equipping the U.S. Military Chaplain for Inter-religious Liai-
son. Review of Faith and International Affairs, 7 (4)(Winter 2009): 43 49.
Chris Seiple, Knox Thames, and Amy Rowe. International Religious Freedom Advo-
cacy. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2009.
Revisiting the Geo-political Thinking of Sir Halford John Mackinder: United States
Uzbekistan Relations 19912005. PhD diss., Fletcher School of Law and Diplo-
macy, 2006.
Uzbekistan: Civil Society in the Heartland. Orbis 49 (2)(Spring 2005): 24559.
Heartland Geopolitics and the Case of Uzbekistan. Philadelphia: Foreign Policy Re-
search Institute, 2004.
The U.S. Military/NGO Relationship in Humanitarian Interventions. Carlisle, PA:
U.S. Army War College, Peacekeeping Institute, 1996.
Francis P. Sempa
Francis P. Sempa is the assistant U.S. attorney for the Middle District of
Pennsylvania and an adjunct professor of political science at Wilkes Univer-
sity and is also a prominent writer on geopolitical issues. He received his BS
in political science from the University of Scranton and his JD from Pennsyl-
vania State University. His writings focus on prominent geopolitical thinkers
such as James Burnham, Halford Mackinder, and Alfred Thayer Mahan and
on various historical and foreign policy topics, including the history of inter-
national relations.10
Examples of Sempas writings include the following:
Americas Global Role: Essays and Reviews on National Security, Geopolitics, and
War. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2009.
Current Geopolitical Scholars 211
Gerard Toal, John Agnew, and Katharyn Mitchell, eds. A Companion to Political
Geography. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2003.
Just Out Looking for a Fight: American Affect and the Invasion of Iraq.
Antipode: A Radical Journal of Geography, 35 (5)(November 2003): 856 70.
Reasserting the Regional: Political Geography and Geopolitics in World Thinly
Known. Political Geography, 22 (6)(August 2003): 65355.
Critical Geopolitics. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1996.
Further information about Toal and the text of some of his writings can be
found at http://www.toal.net/ and www.psci.vt.edu/main/faculty/toal.html.
Notes
1. See Thomas P. M. Barnett, Biography Resource Center, http://galenet.group.
com/servlet/BioRc?/; and http://www.thomaspmbarnett.com/biography.htm.
2. Simon Dalby: Biography, http://http-server.carleton.ca/sdalby/biography/
biography.htm.
3. Andrew S. Erickson: China Analysis from Original Sources, http://www.
andrewerickson.com/.
4. See Colin S. Gray, http://galenetgroup.com/servlet/BioRc?/; and Univer-
sity of Reading, Staff Prole: Colin S. Gray, http://www.reading.ac.uk/spirs/about/
staff/c-s-gray.aspx.
5. Jakub Grygiel, http://www.sais-jhu.edu/faculty/directory/bios/g.grygiel.htm.
6. Texas A&M University, Department of Geography, Prole: Peter Hugill,
http://geography.tamu.edu/prole/PHugill/.
7. Asia-Pacic Center for Security Studies, J. Mohan Malik, Ph.D. Professor,
http://www.apcss.org/core/BIOS/malik/malik.htm.
8. Claremont Institute, Mackubin Thomas Owens, http://www.claremont.org/
scholars/id.21/scholar.asp.
9. Institute for Global Engagement, Dr. Chris Seiple, http://www.globalengage.
org/about/staf/771-dr-chris-seiple.html.
10. See Francis P. Sempa, Americas Global Role: Essays and Review on National Se-
curity, Geopolitics, and War (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2009): 121;
and Biography Resource Center, http://galenet.group.com/servlet/BioRc.
11. Virginia Tech University, Department of Political Science, Gerard Toal
(Gearid Tuathail), http://www.psci.vt.edu/main/faculty/toal.html.
APPENDIX
Maps
Source: UN Cartographic Section.
Iran
Source: CIA World Fact Book.
214
Iraq
Source: CIA World Fact Book.
Strait of Hormuz
Source: CIA World Fact Book.
215
Strait of Bab el Mandeb
Source: CIA World Fact Book.
216
Source: United Nations Cartographic Department.
217
Source: United Nations Cartographic Department.
218
Source: United Nations Cartographic Department.
219
Source: CIA World Fact Book.
220
Spratly Islands
Source: CIA World Fact Book.
Taiwan
Source: CIA World Fact Book.
221
Chinas import transit routes/critical choke points and proposed/under construc-
tion SLOC bypass routes
Source: 2010 DOD China Military Report.
222
Source: 2010 DOD China Military Report.
223
Source: 2010 DOD China Military Report.
224
North Korea
Source: CIA World Fact Book.
225
Source: Central Intelligence Agency.
226
Nigeria Delta Region
Source: United Nations Cartographic Department.
227
Source: Central Intelligence Agency.
Glossary
This is a compilation of historical and current acronyms and terms often used
in discussions and analysis of geopolitics and political geography.
Southern Common
Market (Mercosur) Established in 1991 by the Treaty of Asun-
scion, this organization of most South Ameri-
can countries seeks to promote free trade and
the unimpeded movement of goods, people,
and currency among its members.
Sovereign Debt Government debt owned by countries to vari-
ous creditors. Its repayment cannot be forced
under the doctrine of sovereign immunity, but
this repayment can be rescheduled, achieved
through interest rate reductions, or forgiven by
creditors. Failure to repay sovereign debt can
result in the country losing its international
credit rating and nding it more difcult to
borrow in the future.
Sovereign Wealth Funds State-owned investment fund consisting of
nancial assets such as stocks, bonds, real es-
tate, or other foreign exchange nancial asset
funded instruments. Its purposes include bud-
get and economic protection and stability from
excessive revenue/export volatility, diversify-
ing from nonrenewable commodity exports,
enhancing returns on foreign exchange rate
reserves, increasing future savings reserves, and
funding economic and social development.
Spratly Islands Series of islands in the South China Sea whose
possession is contested by countries such as
China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and
Vietnam due to the belief that they and adjoin-
ing offshore waters contain signicant natural
gas and oil resources.
Strait of Malacca A narrow 500-mile stretch of water between
the Malaysian Peninsula and the Indonesian
island of Sumatra. Serves as the major shipping
channel between the Indian and Pacic oceans
and is a critical economic artery for China,
India, Japan, and South Korea. Several piracy
attacks have occurred in this strait.
Strait of Taiwan This 112-mile-wide section of the South
China Sea has been the scene of numerous
military confrontations between Taiwan and
China since 1949. It remains a geopolitically
248 Glossary