THE GEOPOLITICS OF DUNE

S P E C I A L R E P O R T

The
Geopolitics
of Dune
 THE GEOPOLITICS OF DUNE

The Geopolitics of Dune

“Grave this on your memory, lad: A world is supported by

four things ...” She held up four big-knuckled fingers. “ ...
the learning of the wise, the justice of the great, the prayers
of the righteous and the valor of the brave. But all of these
things are as nothing ...” She closed her fingers into a fist.
“... without a ruler who knows the art of ruling. Make that
the science of your tradition!”

From “Dune” by Frank Herbert

I
t took a long time for geopolitics to reach the void of outer
space. Space, after all, is the absence of geography. Space
is almost uniformly lifeless, expansive and unforgiving.
But geopolitics is the study of people in place, and people are
indomitable, never content to stay where they are. From caves
to waterways, humans in their earliest days defied everything
that sought to confine them. They put their finest minds to the
task at hand, developing the tools they needed to get them
where they wanted to go. Eventually, they wanted to go to the
heavens. So they did. The need to expand ever outward culmi-
nated in the discovery of faster-than-light travel, which pushed
the very boundaries of their known universe.

Then a funny thing happened, geopolitically speaking. Many

believed faster-than-light travel would render geopolitical
science obsolete. On Earth, conflict always arose when the

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interests of some butted up against the interests of others.

Among the stars, though, people were far enough away that
their interests would be largely their own, or so the thinking
went. But geopolitics endured. Space travel, for all its trans-
formative power, abided by its rules. Space travel, and the
attendant discovery of new worlds, created new differences
between human political groupings that were grounded in the
geographies of the various planets on which humans settled.
Nations shriveled and died as ties were severed between blood
and land. No one was indigenous; everyone was rootless. In
the place of nation-states rose great houses, and humankind
reverted to more antiquated ways: feudalism, monarchy, slav-
ery and other forms of exploitation.

The houses came together under the banner of the Central

Imperium, but many of them were, in no uncertain terms, geo-
political rivals. They vied for influence, money and, especially,
resources. On old Earth, some nations were richer than oth-
ers in this regard, and in time so too would certain planets be.
None more so than Arrakis, the desolate, barren hellscape on
the fringes of the imperium – and home to the spice, the most
sought-after commodity in the galaxy. And as the saying went,
“He who controls the spice controls the universe.”

We now know how mistaken that saying was. But such is the
nature of hindsight. No one knew at the time that the petty
machinations for the spice’s control would lead to revolution
on a galactic scale. Neither the Mentats, those bred to think
like computers after the prohibition against artificial intelli-
gence, nor the Bene Gesserit, with their legendary intuition, nor
the Spacing Guild, and its monopoly on interstellar transporta-
tion, nor Princess Irulan herself, who documented her husband
Paul Atreides’ life, could have predicted what would eventually
transpire.

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This, despite the predictive power of the spice. That power,

though, was a feint. It was said that the spice revealed the
future, but that is only partly true. Its addicts deluded them-
selves into thinking its power was absolute when, in fact, only
presented scenarios and possibilities. Addicts weren’t omni-
scient, and their belief that they were led to their undoing. In
a universe where the spice is valued over all else, the simplest
truths are ignored: Understanding what makes human beings
what they are is the most accurate way to predict the future.

This is why Paul Atreides, later known as Paul Muad’Dib, the

heir of the late Duke Leto Atreides, commissioned this geopo-
litical accounting of his family’s murder and his subsequent
rise to power: because it was predictable. The necessities of
the time had degraded human political analysis. The following
report explains why.

The Importance of the Spice

It is difficult to overstate how radically faster-than-light travel
altered the course of human existence. It led to the establish-
ment of colonies and small empires on planets throughout
what we refer to today as the Old Earth Cluster. It opened up
an individual solar system to human exploration, and for the
more adventurous, it opened up closer-range examination of
solar systems relatively close to Earth – between 15 and 30
light-years away. “Relatively close” may be a bit of a misnomer,
since exploring the outer reaches was possible only if one was
willing to never return to the Old Earth Cluster again. Still, in
the infinitude of space, a dozen or so light-years is still in the
neighborhood.

But if it is difficult to overstate the importance of the changes

introduced by faster-than-light travel, it is impossible to over-
state the importance of the changes introduced by its techno-

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logical successor: space-folding. Indeed, the Central Imperium,

which spans hundreds of light-years, could never have been
formed by faster-than-light travel alone. Space-folding made
the galaxy smaller, but there was one catch: It was incredibly
dangerous. In the early days of space-fold testing, 10 percent
of ships simply disappeared, never to be heard from again. Not
even the sophisticated artificial intelligence machines (before
their prohibition) could safely plot a course using space-fold-
ing techniques.

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Eventually, one ship would successfully jump roughly 350

light-years away from Earth to a planetary system orbiting a
star called Canopus. In its exploration of the system surround-
ing Canopus, it found life on a planet now known to history as
Arrakis, or, more colloquially, Dune.

Perhaps “life” is a relative term. The planet was a vast desert,

almost completely devoid of humanoid life, except for small
communities of locals called Fremen who
at great cost had made their way to this
outer planet to practice their religion free “Hostile” doesn’t even
from persecution. In addition to the every-
begin to describe
day dangers associated with desert life –
the blistering hot sun, the paucity of water, the environment
the difficulties of navigation – there were,
notably, gigantic sandworms that made
that was Arrakis.
daily life even deadlier. “Hostile” doesn’t
even begin to describe the environment that was Arrakis.

Nevertheless, the explorers explored, and in time they hap-

pened upon a drug called the spice, a side effect of which
was the gift of foresight. The spice opened up the mind to
possible scenarios theretofore unknown, endowing its users
with a newfound calculating prescience. As a result, humans
were able to more accurately plot their courses as they folded
space. In time, space travel in the Central Imperium was safe
and reliable – all because of the spice.

Imperium Power Politics

Unsurprisingly, the houses of the imperium coveted this pre-
cious commodity. Some depended on it economically more
heavily than others, and the ones that did did so for geopoliti-
cal reasons.

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After Earth was destroyed, power in the imperium devolved

to different nodes. One of these was the planet Corrin. House
Corrino’s origins remain sketchy, but what is known is that a
major battle was fought on the planet, located 19 light-years
away from Earth, and that House Corrino emerged victorious,
claiming the throne of the still nascent imperium for itself.

After the advent of space-folding, House Corrino left Corrin

and moved the imperial capital to Salusa Secundus, which

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was later devastated by an atomic attack by a rival house and

subsequently abandoned. House Corrino moved its base of
operations to Kaitain, roughly 30 light-years north of Salusa
Secundus, which the Corrinos kept as a military training camp.
The military, after all, was the backbone of Corrino legitima-
cy. House Corrino ruled because of the highly skilled, fanatical
military force it trained on Salusa Secundus called the Sardau-
kar. Put simply, the Sardaukar coolly, efficiently and effectively
killed the enemies of the emperor.

As a military power, House Corrino was peerless. But to proj-

ect its power, it needed to deploy the Sardaukar to where they
needed to go. In other words, it needed spice.

The same is true of House Harkonnen, another prominent im-

perial house, but for slightly different reasons. Giedi Prime, the
Harkonnen planet, is relatively poor. The primary habitable ar-
eas on Giedi Prime are located on the Sea of Ravens, where

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the mountainous wastelands that define most of the territory

finally settle into flat plains capable of supporting some mea-
sure of human life. Even so, life on Giedi Prime was hard, and
in order to squeeze every drop of potential economic benefit
from the planet, House Harkonnen developed a manufactur-
ing economy that relied on highly polluting factories and tech-
niques to produce goods cheaper than other places in the im-
perium. The harsh environment also led to the development of
a powerful land force.

The discovery of the spice transformed House Harkonnen,

which had been given administrative control over Arrakis. It
became rich beyond its wildest dreams. Without control of Ar-
rakis, House Harkonnen was a formidable military force that
was not quite rich enough to sustain a war for very long. With
control of Arrakis, House Harkonnen’s power was nearly unri-
valed. As with House Corrino, folded space travel became the
lifeblood of the Harkonnen economy, for it guaranteed access
to Arrakis. Still, House Harkonnen ruled Arrakis the way it ruled
Giedi Prime: brutally and violently. Loyalty was ensured less by
patriotic fervor and more by a vast internal security apparatus
that was regularly purged to ensure its continued subservi-
ence to the leader of House Harkonnen.

House Harkonnen and House Corrino’s addiction to the spice

stood in stark contrast to their chief rival, House Atreides of
Caladan. Unlike Kaitain and Giedi Prime, the planet Caladan
was rich in natural resources, boasting water, food, timber and
other commodities in abundance. In time, its wealth was seen
as a threat by the Harkonnens and, more important, by the
emperor. Their concern was not without merit. House Atreides
was independent and prosperous, and it used its wealth to
build an army to rival that of its enemies. They conspired to
kill Duke Leto Atreides, the leader of the house, by offering him
control of Arrakis. They figured House Atreides was too soft to
rule Arrakis, pampered as it had been on its lush home planet.

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They figured wrong. Blinded by their addiction to the spice, they

were unable to see the obvious: that House Atreides’ self-suffi-
ciency gave it a huge advantage over its enemies. See, if Arrakis
were ever destroyed, most of House Harkonnen’s power and the
emperor’s power would be destroyed with it. (This is to say noth-
ing of the Spacing Guild, whose navigators owed their prosperity
to their monopoly on folded-space travel in the imperium.) House
Atreides didn’t need the spice. Its economy was healthy enough
to project and sustain power independent of the spice trade. Con-
ventional faster-than-light travel and normal trade was all House
Atreides needed. The emperor understood that House Atreides
was strong, but he did not understand why. He viewed it as a
personal issue, a reflection of the high esteem in which Duke Leto

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was held. House Atreides was a threat because it did not need
the thing that the rest of the imperium needed.

The emperor conspired with House Harkonnen to destroy

House Atreides, a move motivated by weakness and insecuri-
ty. And they very nearly succeeded. They killed Duke Leto and
most of his cohort. They failed to kill his son and heir Paul,
a child of truly unique pedigree that merits more explanation
than we are afforded here. By giving Arrakis to House Atreides,
the conspirators gave House Atreides the very power it needed
to overthrow the emperor. For all the feats of Paul Muad’Dib,
imperial balance of power is greater than the man. The alliance
he would soon forge would have brought down the empire one
way or another.

Arrakis
The alliance was made possible by the governing style of the
emperor and of House Harkonnen, which, again, were a conse-
quence of their geopolitical positions. The emperor and House
Harkonnen looked at Arrakis as a resource to be exploited and
coveted. The Spacing Guild thought much the same way. Only
a house based on a rich planet could look at Arrakis and see
something profoundly different: a potentially prosperous plan-
et that could use the spice to go from being a backwater to the
center of the imperium.

Most discussion of Arrakis focuses on its deserts. But Arrakis

is not devoid of water. The main settlements on Arrakis have
always been centered on the north pole, which is covered by
a polar sink. Extending outward from the north pole of Arrakis
are walls, ergs and other formations of various heights that
offer protection from the elements and from the sandworms.
Arrakis’ capital, Arrakeen, is located northeast of the pole, not
surprisingly on a part of the shield wall that rises to some 6,420

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meters. Throughout these rock formations are small towns,

populated mainly by miners and other exploited laborers.

And yet there is another part of the population that the emper-
or and House Harkonnen underestimated: the Fremen. With
small safe houses called sietches placed throughout Arrakis,
the Fremen were able to evade capture and subjugation. The
Fremen were not native to Arrakis; they came to Arrakis to
practice their religion free from persecution. In so doing, they
adapted their way of life and their religious beliefs to the harsh
environment around them, taking on many of the beliefs that
are associated with messianic movements in early Earth his-
tory. Because Arrakis was so poor, tribal life became the pre-
dominant way of life. There was not enough for individuals to
have whatever they wanted. And because the Fremen craved
isolation and freedom above all else, they never considered
monetizing the spice or turning it into an instrument of impe-

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rial control. They were content to gather the water they bribed
the Spacing Guild not to reveal, hoarding it in such a way that
one day Arrakis might become a true home – a home out of
reach from the imperium if the spice were destroyed.

Ironically, this made House Atreides and the Fremen natural

allies. House Atreides could survive on Caladan without the
spice. The Fremen, who knew that they could control the spice
trade, hoped for a future in which they could worship in peace.
House Atreides had wealth, atomic technology and political
support in the imperium. The Fremen had a ground force to ri-
val even the mighty Sardaukar. Notably, neither knew as much.
So effective were the Fremen bribes to the Spacing Guild that
the true extent of Fremen capabilities was a well-kept secret.

It was this blind spot that crippled the emperor and the Harkon-
nens more than anything else. The emperor looked at Arrakis
and saw Salusa Secundus. The baron looked at Arrakis and
saw Giedi Prime. Duke Leto, and later Paul Muad’Dib, looked at
Arrakis and saw Arrakis.

Future Uncertain
What happened next is well documented. The Atreides were
betrayed and murdered. Paul Atreides joined the Fremen, be-
came Paul Muad’Dib, avenged his family and usurped the em-
peror.

House Atreides now dominates all other houses. But its posi-
tion is precarious. House Atreides was able to defeat House
Harkonnen and the emperor primarily because it was willing to
destroy the spice, which would have stripped the emperor and
the baron of their traditional allies. This could not have been
done without the Fremen, of course, but the Fremen-Caladan
alliance is hardly ironclad.

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There are two key challenges that the new emperor now faces.
The first is that in the same way that the Fremen hoard water,
the Harkonnens stashed massive amounts of spice for almost
20 years. That means that spice production cannot be halted,
because if House Atreides is to defeat its enemies, it must con-
tinue to fold space to eliminate the Harkonnen spice reserves.
House Harkonnen – and any other houses it can recruit to its
cause – can carry out a low-level insurgency against House
Atreides for years, perhaps even long enough to bleed Paul
Muad’Dib dry and retake Arrakis.

The second is that in the battle for Arrakis, Paul Muad’Dib re-
sorted to the use of atomics to blow a hole in the shield wall.
At the time, it was the coup de grace of the Fremen invasion
of Arrakeen and their defeat of the emperor’s Sardaukar. But
atomics had not been used in a human conflict for thousands
of years. The principles of mutually assured destruction still
applied. House Harkonnen possesses atomics, and though it
would not dare use them on Arrakis for fear of damaging the
spice, the precedent has been set, so there is little to prevent
the Harkonnens from using atomics elsewhere, including on
Caladan, and potentially laying siege to Arrakis with a com-
bined alliance of great houses until Paul Muad’Dib’s surrender
might be forced.

This is why Paul Muad’Dib sees no choice but to wage a cam-

paign of imperial domination. The Fremen’s religious fervor can
be manipulated to accomplish this goal, and indeed, House
Atreides has whipped its new Fremen followers into a frenzy,
promising them paradise on Arrakis and convincing them that
Paul Muad’Dib is a supernatural emperor with divine powers
– not coincidentally in keeping with Fremen prophecies of the
messiah. Paul Muad’Dib can attempt to use Caladan’s wealth
and liberal political society to attract the same type of political
support his father enjoyed, though some houses will balk at
giving the young emperor any more power than he already has.

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The emperor and House Harkonnen remain highly dangerous

enemies with access to weapons of mass destruction and with
little to lose. Economically, House Harkonnen cannot compete
long-term with House Atreides, especially now that it must rely
on its spice reserves, and the emperor is in a similar situation.
But it would be a mistake for House Atreides to underestimate
the gravity of the threat, or to think that Giedi Prime can be
occupied and remade in Caladan’s image. Giedi Prime breeds
Harkonnens and Caladan breeds Atreides, and like other great
rivalries in human history, the differences engendered by geog-
raphy run too deep.

“He who can destroy a thing controls a thing.” This is what Paul
Muad’Dib said to the emperor and the Harkonnens as he was
taking power. At the time,
it was true. But geopol-
Its control over the spice depends itics cannot be ignored,
not even by someone
on transforming Arrakis into a as uniquely capable as
Paul Muad’Dib. Geopol-
paradise for its Fremen allies –
itics dictates that these
which will destroy the very thing great houses will always
be enemies. Geopolitics
that gives it power and could make
dictated that House Cor-
enemies of its current allies. rino and House Harkon-
nen would be blinded by
the spice and, in their
blindness, create the
conditions for their own demise. But geopolitics also dictates
that House Atreides, having taken control of the spice, is now
in a similar position. It depends on the spice to maintain the fe-
alty of great houses and the Spacing Guild, and yet its control
over the spice depends on transforming Arrakis into a paradise
for its Fremen allies – which will destroy the very thing that
gives it power and could make enemies of its current allies.

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The ostensibly peace-loving and water-rich House Atreides of

Caladan will now become the House that encourages a bloody
jihad against its enemies, which will result in the deaths of mil-
lions as well as inquisitions and other similarly medieval tests
of loyalty throughout the imperium. Eventually, House Atreides
will face the retribution of the faithful when the Fremen real-
ize that pragmatism, not religious zeal, is animating their sup-
posed savior. It will be some time before that break happens.
For the foreseeable future, now that the civil war in the impe-
rium is over, House Atreides will try to convince the rest of the
imperium that the end of history is nigh. It will be a pleasant
fiction while it lasts.

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