Geopolitics Since the Cold War

Abstract

Geopolitics has long been a ubiquitous and flexible concept, used in turn for rhetorical, analytical or political purposes. Jeremy Black traces its fortunes since the end of the Cold War and recalls how the use of geopolitics as a popular shorthand can obfuscate the economic, political and social realities at international, national and local level. ◼

Notes

1 Halford John Mackinder, ‘The Geographical Pivot of History’, Geographical Journal (Vol. 23, 1904), pp. 421–37.

2 See, for example, Seth Cropsey, ‘Naval Considerations in the Russo-Ukrainian War’, Naval War College Review (Vol. 75, 2022), p. 30.

3 John Slessor, Strategy for the West (New York, NY: Morrow, 1954), p. 32.

4 Jeremy Black, Geographies of War (Barnsley: Pen and Sword Military, 2022).

5 Francis Fukuyama, The End of History and the Last Man (New York, NY: Free Press, 1992).

6 Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Pandaemonium: Ethnicity in International Politics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993).

7 Samuel P Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order (New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 1996).

8 Aaron Stein, The US War Against ISIS: How America and its Allies Defeated the Caliphate (London: IB Tauris, 2022).

9 Phil Klay, ‘Donald Rumsfeld was a Disastrous Defense Secretary. But His Vision Lives On’, Washington Post, 2 July 2021.

10 Donald Stoker, Why America Loses Wars: Limited War and US Strategy form the Korean War to the Present (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019).

11 The White House, ‘A National Security Strategy of Engagement and Enlargement’, February 1995, <https://nssarchive.us/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/1995.pdf>, accessed 5 December 2023.

12 Nina M Searafino, ‘Peacekeeping and Related Stability Operations: Issues of U.S. Military Involvement’, Congressional Research Service Report for Congress, 13 July 2006, <https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/p/peacekeeping-and-related-stability-operations.html>, accessed 5 December 2023.

13 David Fitzgerald, ‘Warriors Who Don’t Fight: The Post-Cold War United States Army and Debates over Peacekeeping Operations’, Journal of Military History (Vol. 85, 2021), pp. 163–90.

14 Pat Procter, Lessons Unlearned: The U.S. Army’s Role in Creating the Forever Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq (Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 2020).

15 David Petraeus and Andrew Roberts, Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Ukraine (New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2023).

16 Beth Bailey and Richard Immerman (eds), Understanding the U.S. Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (New York, NY: New York University Press, 2015); Metin Gurcan, What Went Wrong in Afghanistan? Understanding Counter-insurgency Efforts in Tribalized Rural and Muslim Environments (Solihull: Helion and Company, 2016).

17 James Kurth, The American Way of Empire: How America Won a World – but Lost Her Way (Washington, DC: Washington Books, 2019).

18 James Goldgeier and Michael McFaul, Power and Purpose: US Policy Toward Russia After the Cold War (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2003).

19 Joseph Stieb, The Regime Change Consensus: Iraq in American Politics, 1990-2003 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021).

20 Jianwei Wang, ‘China: A Challenge or Opportunity for the United States?’, Journal of East Asian Studies (Vol. 3, No. 2, May–August 2023), pp. 293–333.

21 Ellen Nakashima and Cate Cadell, ‘China Secretly Building Naval Facility in Cambodia, Western Officials Say’, Washington Post, 6 June 2022.

22 P K Singh, ‘The Indian-Pakistan Nuclear Dyad and Regional Nuclear Dynamics’, Asia Policy (No. 19, January 2015), pp. 37–44.

23 Srinath Raghavan, Fierce Enigmas: A History of the United States in South Asia (New York, NY: Basic Books, 2018).

24 David Axe, ‘Meet Russia’s Tu-22M3M Backfire Bomber: Everything We Know So Far’, National Interest, 24 January 2019.

25 Mohd Rather, ‘China’s Growing Presence in the Indian Ocean and India’s Concerns’, Journal of Critical Reviews (Vol. 7, No. 3, 2020), pp. 1851–56.

26 For a classic work, see Mahnaz Ispahani, Roads and Rivals: The Politics of Access in the Borderlands of Asia (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1989).

27 Nathan Ruser and Baani Grewal, ‘The Latest Flashpoint on the India-China Border: Zooming into the Tawang Border Skirmishes’, Australian Strategic Policy Institute, 20 December 2022, <https://www.aspi.org.au/report/latest-flashpoint-india-china-border-zooming-tawang-border-skirmishes>, accessed 11 December 2023.

28 Ayman Falak Medina, ‘The Completed China-Laos Railway: Bringing Opportunities for ASEAN and the Asia Pacific’, ASEAN Briefing, 21 December 2021, <https://www.aseanbriefing.com/news/the-completed-china-laos-railway/>, accessed 5 December 2023.

29 Railway Technology, ‘Zuunbayan-Khangi Rail Link Opens in Mongolia’, 28 November 2022, <https://www.railway-technology.com/news/zuunbayan-khangi-rail-link-mongolia/>, accessed 5 December 2022.

30 Catherine Putz, ‘China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan Move Railway Plans Forward with Agreement at SCO’, The Diplomat, 26 September 2022.

31 Andreas Rinke and Jan Schwartz, ‘German Go-ahead for China’s Cosco Stake in Hamburg Port Unleashes Protest’, Reuters, 26 October 2022.

32 US Energy Information Administration, <https://www.eia.gov>, accessed 18 September 2023.

33 Forbes, ‘Coal to Power China’s Energy Transition’, 26 April 2022.

34 Clyde Russell, ‘China’s Thermal Coal Imports Jump, Crowding Out India’, Reuters, 27 November 2023.

35 Tim Treadgold, ‘Chinese Steel Export Ban Could Cut the Iron Ore Price and Hurt Australia’, Forbes, 17 May 2021.

36 According to the World Bank, arable land in China was reported at 0.07708 ha per capita. World Bank, ‘Arable Land (Hectares Per Person) - China’, <https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/AG.LND.ARBL.HA.PC?locations=CN>, accessed 11 December 2023.

37 Colin Gordon, Citizen Brown: Race, Democracy, and Inequality in the St Louis Suburbs (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2019).

38 For instance, see John Agnew, Geopolitics: Re-visioning World Politics, 2nd edition (London: Routledge, 2003).

39 James Stavridis, Sea Power: The History and Geopolitics of the World’s Ocean (New York, NY: Penguin Press, 2017).

40 Lauren Leatherby, ‘How A Vast Demographic Shift Will Reshape the World’, New York Times, 16 July 2023.

41 Max Harris, ‘Greasing the World’s Wheels,’ Times Literary Supplement (14 July 2023), p. 9.

42 Michael MacDonald, Overreach: Delusions of Regime Change in Iraq (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2014).

43 Mark Leonard, ‘China is Ready for a World of Disorder’, Foreign Affairs (Vol. 102, No. 4, July/August 2023), pp. 126–27.

44 Mark Thatcher and Tim Vlandas, Foreign States in Domestic Markets: Sovereign Wealth Funds and the West (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021).

45 Martin Daunton, The Economic Government of the World, 1933-2023 (London: Allen Lane, 2023).

46 Black, Geographies of War.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jeremy Black

Jeremy Black’s books include Geopolitics and the Quest for Dominance (Indiana University Press, 2016) and Rethinking Geopolitics (Indiana University Press, forthcoming 2024).

The author is grateful to Ken Weisbrode, Thomas Otte and Bill Gibson for their comments on an earlier draft.