Classical Geopolitics Study Guide

Section 1, Question 1 Geopolitics focuses on the politics of international relationships that are formed by geographical elements. It is the method of states regulating and fighting for territory. Geopolitical styles can be defined as classical, critical, and feminist. Classical geopolitics is the study of power relationships in the past, present, and future. The basics for classical geopolitics were created during the period of exploration and the need to see the world as unified, complete with parts that were organized as states or territories; states or territories that strived for political power. During the nineteenth century when several countries challenged the British Empire’s power across the globe, various “classical” theories
He said, “Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland. Who rules the Heartland commands the World Island. Who rules the World Island commands the World.” Mahan believed that sea-power was required to enable trade and peaceful commerce. He thought the country that controlled the seas would be the one that could posses the power. Introduction to Geopolitics mentions that the method of classical geopolitics existed through the Cold War, and is still dominant today. Identifying North Korea, Iraq, and Iran as the “Axis of Evil” was an act of geopolitics that is subject to military action. “In sum, classical geopolitics is a way of thinking that claims to take an objective and global perspective, but in reality has ben the endeavor of elite white males in predominantly, but not exclusively, Western countries with an eye to promoting a particular political agenda”
Critical geopolitics used post-modernism to regain the study of geopolitics. Post-modernism is the skepticism of theories and ideologies that has any view of authority. Critical geopolitics focuses on most of the media to recognize the combination of power and authority into the language. Critical geopolitics used the combination of power and authority into the language to reapply the ideas of previous classical geopoliticians and reveal their political agendas. We can’t escape geopolitics in are lives because it is all around us at all times. Critical geopolitics is the notion that people in control create ideas about spaces and places, and these ideas have authority and strengthen their political behaviors and policy choices. These ideas affect how we, the people, develop our own concepts of spaces and places in politics. Critical geopolitics studies the geographical traditions and terms that enter into the making of world politics. It looks to clarify and describe the practices that political actors spatialize international politics and show it as a “world” branded by specific types of spaces and