Pakistan Geo-political

Studies

Course In charge: Prof. Dr. Tasneem

E.mail: tasneemsultana0766@gmail.com
Contact No. 0333 1299464
Class: BBA-7-A
Course Outline
 1. Introduction, Overview and Aims of Course
 Teaching Methodology and Assessment System/Criteria
 Basic Concept of ‘Geopolitics’
2. Elements of Geopolitics

Importance of Geopolitics in Contemporary World

Geography of Pakistan and its Geopolitical Dimensions

 3. Pakistan’s Role during the Cold War (1947-1991):
- Pakistan’s Alliance With the USA
- Pakistan’s Position Towards the USSR
- Quiz 1
 4. Pakistan in Post-Cold War Era (1991-2001):
- Relations With the USA
- Stance Towards Russian Federation
 5. Pakistan After the Incident of 9/11 (2001-present):
- Fluctuating Relations With the USA
- Progress in Relations With Russia
 6. Kashmir:
- Background
- Geostrategic Importance
- Kashmir Dispute After Aug 5, 2019
- Quiz 2
 7. Geopolitics and Pakistan’s Economy:
- Economic Challenges Faced by Pakistan
- Pakistan’s International Trade
- Seaports of Pakistan
 8. China-Pakistan Economic Corridor:
- CPEC’s Effect on Pakistan’s Economy
- CPEC’s Geopolitical Impact on Pakistan’s Position in
South Asia
---- Midterm Examination Break ----
• 9. Pakistan’s Relations with Its Neighbors:
• - India •12. Pakistan and The Muslim
•World:
• - Iran
•- Pakistan’s Geopolitical
• - China •Position and its Role in
•Resolving Crises Faced
• 10. Challenges in Afghanistan •by Muslim World
• and its Impact on Pakistan: •- Pakistan and
•Organization of Islamic Cooperation
• - Brief History of Crises in Afghanistan
• - Geopolitical Impact of Recent Events in Afghanistan on
•Quiz 4
Pakistan •13. Pakistan and International Organizations:
•- SAARC
• Quiz 3
•- SCO
•- UN
• 11. Pakistan’s Nuclear Program: •- IMF, FATF
• - Background of Pakistan’s Nuclear Program •14. Human Rights in Pakistan
• - Geopolitical Significance of Pakistan’s N-Program in South Asia •(from 1973 Constitution)
•15. Group Presentations Classroom
• - India’s Cold Start Doctrine and Pakistan’s Response
•16. Review of Course Topics
Teaching Methods

• Lectures and seminars are organized to encourage students’ active

involvement in learning and fostering student teacher interaction.

• Lectures will contextualize each topic and will be followed by the

analysis.

• Group discussions and debate on relevant text and case studies in

the seminar classes.
Aims of the Course

• Introduced the different forces that shape the

evolution of the contemporary world map.
 
• Rise of nation-states; the influence
of colonialism and imperialism on developing world;
the rise of supranational organizations; and
the devolution of states.
Aims of the Course
• Improve the understanding of international relations by introducing
the geopolitical approach to the world politics.
• To make the students familiar with the relations between geography
and international politics.
•  Able to look at foreign policy and international politics from a
specifically geopolitical perspective.
• Understand the reality of international politics, at regional and global
level.
• Apprehend the geopolitical and strategic actions of the major players
on the international scene. 
Aims
• Examining the tensions between major world and regional powers.

• Identifying and assessing particular conflict areas.

• Attention is also directed to regional alliances, such as SAARC, SCO

and at the International level OIC, UNO, IMF, FATF etc.

• An overview of Pakistan’s relations with Major powers and neighbors.

• Introduced the issues faced by Pakistan such as human rights,

nuclear program, trade and sea ports etc.
Introduction
• Geography, a  Greek word from  geographia, is the study of
the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of the
Earth and planets.
 
• Geography is the study of the world and the distribution of
life on earth, including human life and the effects of human
activity.
Branches of Geography:

• Geography is often defined in terms of two branches: 

• Physical geography 
• human geography

• Physical geography is the study of natural environment like

the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and geosphere.
 Atmosphere: gases
surrounding the globe or
another planet.
  Hydrosphere: water on the earth's surface,
such as lakes and seas, and sometimes
including water over the earth's surface,
such as clouds.

Biosphere: The entire

biological system: air, water,
land, plants, and animals life Geosphere: the outer shell
in a specific area occupied by and inner crust of Earth. 
living organisms.
Human Geography

• The study of how human societies develop and operate in relation

to their physical environment.

• It is the study of people and their communities, cultures, economies,

and interactions with the environment.
Or

• We can say the built environment is the domain of human

geography.
Sub-disciplinary Fields of Human
Geography

• Political geography.  . economic geography. 
• Cultural geography.  . historical geography. 
•  population geography.  . Rural geography. 
• social geography. . transport geography and so on
• urban geography.
Political Geography
. Political Geography is part of human Geography.
• It is summarized as the inter-relationships between people,
state, and territory. 

• Political geography adopts a three-scale structure with the

study of the state at the center, the study of international
relations (or geopolitics), and the study of localities.
 What is Geopolitics?
Geo means: Earth, World and all
physical elements on earth

Or we can say that Geographical

factors of any state

Geographical factors means location of that state

Location;
hindrance or
Location: Land locked, littoral, favorable for
Population, Climate, Natural development
Resources etc..
 Geo means: All Physical Elements on Earth

Politics means: Power

Distribution or Struggle to
promote one’s interests
Geopolitics means: Study of
Geographical factors and their
influence on State’s behavior
Difference between Geo-politics and Political Geography

• Geopolitics examines how geography shapes politics while political

geography is about examining how politics shapes geography.

• Both geopolitics and political geography are closely related.

• They represent two ways of looking at the same thing.

 Thus Geopolitics is the struggle to control geographical
entities and used them for political advantage.

Geopolitics is used as
a synonym for power
politics 
It is a method of studying foreign policy to
understand, explain and predict international
political behavior through geographical
variables.
International Relations

• Geopolitics and political geography are also under the scope of

international relations. 

• IR also takes into consideration other fields such as globalization, society

and culture, comparative religion, environmental studies and ecological
sustainability, business management, international trade, diplomacy and
foreign policy, terrorism and organized crime, and national and
international security, among others.
• IR is inter-relationship between different states, between state and non-
state political actors and with multinational corporations.

• Non-state Actors: organizations and individuals that are not directed or

funded by governments. e.g. multi-national corporations, International
financial institutions, INGO’s, armed resistance groups etc.
• Geopolitics in a general sense used as a synonym for
international political relations.

• Geopolitics is most apparent in treaties, international

organizations, trade and economic agreements, climate-
related agreements, and wars.

• Other well-known, more recent examples of geopolitics at

work are the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA),
Paris Climate Deal, Kyoto Protocol etc.
History of Geopolitics as a Subject
• Geopolitics emerged as an academic discipline around the very
beginning of the 20th century.

• The word geopolitics was originally coined by the Swedish political

scientist Rudolf Kjellén( 1864-1922)  in 1899; about the turn of the
20th century.
• Its use spread throughout Europe in the period between World
Wars I and II.
• The term extensively used by German geographer Karl Haushofer.
Main Thinkers of Geopolitics
• Alfred Mahan, Friedrich Ratzel, Halford John Mackinder, Nicholas
Spykman— gave important theories of ‘geopolitics’.

• They have been commonly associated with early imperialist or

classical geopolitics.

• Their main contributions on the subject were written between 1890

to World War II. 
 Alfred Mahan(1840-1914)
• In 1890 the "Sea Power" theory raised by Alfred Thayer Mahan from
the U.S. believed those who controlled the sea would control the
world.

• Mahan believed that national greatness is associated with the sea—

its commercial use in peace and its control in war.

• Mahan was of the view that Naval power was the main factor in the
rise of British Empire.
• Mahan distinguished a key region of the world in the Eurasian context,
stretching from Turkey to Japan.

• In this zone independent countries are – Turkey, Italy, Greece, Albania,

Macedonia, Bulgaria, Egypt, Libya, Palestine, Lebanon, Persia, Afghanistan,
China, and Japan.
• At Mahan’s time South Asia was under British rule.

• Mahan regarded those countries, located between Britain and Russia, as if

between "Scylla and Charybdis".
• Of the two monsters – Britain and Russia.
Mahan…

• Mahan was impressed by Russia's transcontinental size and

strategically favorable position for southward expansion.

• Therefore, he found it necessary for Britain to have "sea

power/naval power" to resist Russia.
Friedrich Ratzel (1844-1904)
• He is a nineteenth-century German geographer, developed
the organic theory.
 
• He stated that the state is organic, because he believed that
political bodies, such as countries, behave in a way similar to that of
living organisms.

• In order to survive, a political body must grow and absorb new land
or die.
• The more it grows, the healthier it can be.
• This is also known as Lebensraum, means “living space.”

• German rulers and specially Adolf Hitler used Lebensraum to justify

the expansion and acquisition of extra territory for Germany by any
means necessary. 
 Halford John Mackinder

• Mackinder is known as father of Geopolitics.

• Mackinder, from Britain, developed  the Heartland theory

in his 1904 essay, “The Geographical Pivot of History.”

• His Heartland Theory is based on Territory or Territorial

Power.

. He believed those who control Eurasia would control the

world.
 
Eurasia
Mackinder…

• In this theory, he proposed that whoever controls the Heartland

(Eastern Europe, in the case of his original theory), can eventually
control the world.

• because they can easily gain control of the World Island (Africa and
Eurasia) from the fertile breadbasket of Eurasia.
• Mackinder's Heartland Theory initially received little attention
outside the world of geography, but subsequently influenced
the foreign policies of world powers.

• Mackinder's concepts opposed the notion of Mahan about the

significance of  sea power in world conflict.

• Mackinder saw navy as a basis of Colombian era empire (roughly

from 1492 to the 19th century), and predicted the 20th century to
be domain of land power.
 Nicholas John Spyman/Spykman

• Spykman disagreed with Mackinder and proposed the Rim land Theory in

1942.

• Rim land theory believed that whoever controls the rim land(  Inner marginal
crescent ) comprised of Europe, North Africa, West Asia, South Asia, South
East Asia, and part of China will control the world islands.

• Similar world domination strategy as developed by Mackinder, but Spykman,

included the coastal areas as key to control the world island.
 
• According to Spykman, lack of maritime power in the heartland
undermined Eurasia’s ability to dominate global trade.

• Spykman largely conceived the rim lands as the United States and
coastal Western European powers who controlled the Atlantic
Ocean.

• The Second World War and Cold War seemed to reinforce

Spykman’s argument.
Heartland vs. Rim land
• Heartland theory believed that whoever controls the
heartland( Siberia to central Asia) will control the world islands.
• Rim land theory believed that whoever controls the rim land(  Inner
marginal crescent ) comprised of Europe, North Africa, West Asia,
India, South East Asia, and part of China will control the world
islands. 
• Heartland theory gave the importance of landlocked areas which are
inaccessible from the sea whereas rim land theory believed that sea
power that has larger coastal areas are more powerful in terms of
resources and military movement because of easy access to the sea.
• Heartland theory was accepted mostly during world war times
whereas rim land theory was most famous after the cold war era
and is still relevant.
Afghanistan
• Mackinder developed his heartland theory in response to the 19th
century competition between Great Britain and Russia.

• This contest was characterized as the Great Game played out in

Central and South Asia.

• This period included the first and second British-Afghan Wars and
further emphasized Afghanistan’s historic role as the crossroads of
empires.
• Based on changed geopolitical dynamics since 2001,(Afghan
Invasion) Mackinder’s theory provides a valuable prism through
which to view renewed great power competition in Central and
South Asia.

• In this region Russian and Chinese interests intersect, and also

where the United States is seeking to retain hard-won but fragile
influence.

• This highlights that the Great Game never stopped, it just changed
characters.

• Eurasia’s geopolitical importance is still relevant.

• All the thinkers and Geo-politicians gave their theories to control
Eurasia along with African continent
• The domination by a single power of either of Eurasia's two
principal spheres—Europe and Asia—remains a good definition of
strategic danger for America.

• For such a grouping would have the capacity to outstrip America

economically and, in the end, militarily.

• The main interest of the American leaders is maintaining the

balance of power in Eurasia.