Geopolitica, una breve introducción

Geopolitics is one of the most widely used terms in the media

Let us begin with a few trends…

Over the past decade geopolitics remains among the hightest searched terms on Google

Here´s another trend

What is it about geopolitics that most people are looking for?

In this presentations we Will work towards a clear definition …

GEOPOLITICS

As is quite evidente has two component parts….

GEO POLITICS

GEO is generally understood to be short for geografy but that is slightly misleading…

Geography itself conains the prefix “geo”

What does “geo mean”

Simply put, “geo” stands for “World”

AND “POLITICS”?

“POLITICS” is one of the most notoriusly difficult terms to define….

 Politics typically concers itself with two questions:

POWER DISTRIBUTION

..AND WHO GETS OF WHO GETS WHAT,

TO DECIDE THIS WHERE,WHEN AND HOW….

GEOPOLITICS IS THE STUDY OF WORLD POWER DISTRIBUTION

NOT THAT WE HAVE A WORKING DEFINITION LET US MOVE TO ANALYSIS

OUR UNPACKING OF GEOPOLITICS REVEALS A DYNAMIC, TWO WAY RELATIONSHIP

A GEOPOLITICAL ANALYSIS EXAMINES:

HOW POWWER IS DISTRIBUTED IN THE WORLD

HOW DISTRIBUTION OF OF THE WORLD IS AFFECTED/ DETERMINED BY POWER.

THE WORLD IS PHYSISCAL SPACE

GEOPOLITICS TRANSFORMS THIS INTO POLITICAL SPACE

THIS IS GEOPOLITICAL DISTRIBUTION

THE DISTRIBUTION IS ENFORCED AND MAINTAINED THROUGH THE GLOBAL SYSTEM OF

BORDERS BETWEEN NATION-STATE

A GEOPOLITICAL ANALYSIS EXAMINES:

THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE PHYSISCAL SPACE INTO POLITICAL SPACE.

THE ACTORS WHO HAVE THE POWER TO ENFORCE AND MAINTAINTHIS DISTRIBUTION .

SHIFTS IN DISTRIBUTIONOF POWER AMONG DIFFERENT ACTORS

RE-DISTRIBUTION OF SPACE BY NEWLY POWERLUL ACTORS.

SO, OUR WORKING DEFINITION IS THIS:

GEOPOLITICS IS THE ANALYSIS OF:

THE DISTRIBUTION OF POER IN THE WORLD.

AND THE STUDY OF:

WHO HAS THE POWER TO PREDETERMINE OR CHANGE YHE DISTRIBUTION OF THE WORLD.
IN THE POST WORLD WAR II ERA.

THE PRIMARY ACTORS IN THE WORLD ARE NATION-STATES.

NATION-STATES ARE THE “ CONTAINERS” OF THE POWER IN THE GLOBAL INTERNATIONAL

SYSTEM.

NATION-STATE ARE SOVEREIGN ACTORS, SO THEY HAVE ABSOLUTE POWER THEIR TERRITORIES

THEORETICALLY…..

A GEOPOLITICL ANALYSIS WILL REVEAL ,THERE IS MORE TO POWER

THAN THEORY

UNDERSTANDING POWER DISTRIBUTION IN THE WORLD ENTAILS MORE THAN LOOKING AT

NATION-STATES

ALLL NATION.STATES ARE NOT EQUAL GEOPOLITICAL ACTORS

IN GLOBAL GEOPOLITICS THERE ARE OTHER FACTORS AT PLAY..

IN SUBSEQUENT PRESENTATIONS WE WILL LOOK AT THESE ADDITIONAL FACTORS

GEOPOLITICS :MODELS OF ANALYSIS

IN A PREVIUS PRESENTATION WE DEVELOPED A WORKING DEFINITION FOR

GEOPOLITICAL ANALYSIS TO EXAMINE:

HOW POWER IS DISTRIBUTED IN THE WORLD

HOW DISTRIBUTION OF THE WORLD IS AFECTED/ DETERMINED BY POWER

WE EXAMINED WHY :

GEOPOLITICS IS THE STUDY OF WORLD POWER DISTRIBUTION

GEOPOLITICS TRANSFORMS THE WORLD OF PHYSICAL SPACE

POLITICAL SPACE

THIS IS OUR GEOPOLITICAL MODEL,THE GLOBAL SYSTEM OF SOVEREIGH NATION-STATES.

THE INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM OF NATION-STATES IS THE SECOND GLOBAL INTERNATIONAL

SYSTEM

SUCCESOR TO THE IMPERIAL SYSTEM OF THE 19 TH CENTURY

THE INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM OF NATION-STATES IS BASED ON CERTAIN PRINCIPLES THE
PRIMARY ACTORS ARE SOVEREIGN NATION-STATES

WORLD SPACE IS DISTRIBUTED AMONG DIFFERENT NATION-STATES.

SOVEREIGN TERRITORY OF NATION-STATES IT'S PROTECTED UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW

THIS SYSTEM IS OFTEN CALLED THE WESTPHALIAN MODEL

This is in reference to the Treaty of Webb stallion of 1648 WICH Brought an end to three
decades or war in Europe and invented the idea of bordered nation-state co-existing with
other sovereign states.This was the invention af a European international system.

The conventional opinion holds that this system was internationalized during the era of
European imperialism .

Current opinion holds this to be overstated .

European Imperial was an age of empires,not states, the post Imperial system saw the
dissolution of empires.

There retreat of Europe empires gave way to a system of post colonial nation-states

But also to new forms of empires

The post -war world was more complex than simplistic WESTPHALIAN MODELS ASSERTED.

ThERE WAS A HIERARCHY OF FORMS AND A HIERARCHY POWER.

In the new international system ,new empires, new nation -states and even new actors like
compete on the same physical space

So, we require more sophisticated more complex models for analysis…

To account for hierarchy of power.

The factor in

Overlapping contest for distribution.

To include multiplicity of geopolitical actors.

GEOPOLITICAL MUST FACTOR IN THE MULTIPLE DIMENSIONS

GEOSTRATEGY :TO ANALYZE POSITIONING IN SPACE-LAND,TERRAIN OR OCEANIC-IN RELATION

TO COMPETING ACTORS

GEOCONOMIC: TO ANALYZE THE PRODUCTIVE BASE OF POWER.

GEOTECHNOLOGY: TO ANALYZE MOVEMENT IN SPACE.

THE MULTIPLE DIMENSIONS OF ANALYSIS ARE MUTUALLY INTERDEPENDT

GEOPOLITICAL MASTERY REQUIRES CONTROL OF KEY STRATEGIC PLACES FOR EXAMPLE

THIS REQUIRES CONTINUED TECHNOLOGICAL ADVACEMENTS…

WICH ARE DEPENDT ON ECONOMIC GROWTH.

ECONOMIC GROWTH MIGHT ITSELFT DEPEND ON CONTROL OF STRATEGIC RESOURCES , IN

KEY PLACES.

THERE ARE NUMEROUS CODEPENDT INTERCTIONS.

GEOPOLITICAL MASTERY DEPEND ON MULTIPLE LEVELS OF MASTERY ON MULTIPLE

HIERARCHIES.

TO FACTOR HIERARCHIES AND LEVEL ,TO SPATIAL POWER AND DISTRIBUTION ACROSS THE
GLOBE…

NOW WE HAVE A MODEL FOR GEOPOLITICAL ANALYSIS:

IN THE SUBSEQUENT PRESENTATION WE WILL USE THIS TO EXAMINE GEOPOLITICAL CONTESTS

AND TRANFORMATIONS…..

WE WILL USE SPACE AND SACLE TO LOCATE KEY STRATEGIC ZONES.

WE WILL IDENTIFY MAJOR AND MINOR ACTORS .TO EXAMINE HIERARCHY OF FORMS AND
HIERARCHY OF POWER-GLOBAL SACLE MAJOR POWERS. NATION-STATES.EVEN
CORPORATIONS.
WE WILL USE OUR GEOPOLITICAL MODEL TO ASSESS SHIFTS AND DYMANICS IN GLOBAL
POWER DISTRIBUTION.

GEOCONOMICS
GEOECONOMICS REFERS TO:

THE USE OF ECONOMIC MEAN BY INTERNATIONAL ACTORS TO STRUCTURALLY INFLUENCE

WORLD POWER DISTRIBUTION

THE TERM WAS USED IN EARLY 20TH CENTURY BECAME POPULAR IN THE 1990´S

INITIALLY, IT REFERRED TO THE ECONOMIC VALUE HEOLOGICAL RESOURCES

IT WAS TO MEAN THE USE OF ECONOMIC POWER FOR EOPOLOTOCAL INFLUENCE

THEORY POPULARISED BY EDWARD LUTTWAK IN THE 90´S

GEOCONOMICS

IN THE POST COLD WAR ERA THE MAIN ARENA FOR RICALRY IN THE
INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM WILL BE ECONOMIC RATHER THAN MILITARY

IN THE CURRENT INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM ECOMOIC POWER AND MILITARY POWER

COMPLEMENT EACH OTHER

GEOCONOMICS GEOSTRATEGY

THE ECONOMIC MEANS OF POWER CAN BE USED TO ACHIEVE SATEGIC OBJETIVES

EXAMPLE:

THE MARSHALL PLAN

BEL AND ROAD INITIATIVE

BOTH CREATE SPHERES OF INFLUENCE WHILE PROPOSING ECONOMIC BENEFITS

THE ECONOMIC MEANS OF POWER CAN BE USED TO

ACHIEVE STATEGIC OBJETIVES

GEOSTRATEGY GEOCONOMICS

GRAND STATEGY CAN BE USED TO AUGMENT ECONOMIC POWER

EXAMPLE:

RUSSIAN’S ANNEXATION OF CRIMEA ,2014

IRAQ’S INVASION OF KUWAIT,1991

BOTH ARE GEOSTARTEGIC ACTIONS WITH ASSOCIATED GEOCONMICS FACTORS:OIL

THEY ARE LINKED IN A COMPLEX WEB OF POWER

GEOPOLITICS

REFERS TO:

- THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE POWER IN THE WORLD AMONG VARIOUS ACTORS

- THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE WORLD (PHYSICAL SPACE AMONG VARIOUS ACTORS

LINKED WITH LINKED WITH

LINKED
GEOSTRATEGY WITH GEOCONOMIC

THE FORMULATON/PLANNING OF THE USE OF ECONOMIC MEANS BY

GRAND INTERNATIONAL ACTORS TO
STRATEGY,MILITARY,OPERATIONS STRUCTURALLY INFLUENCE:
AND TACTICAL PLANS FOR WORLD POWER DISTRIBUTION
TERRITORIAL CONTROL