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SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF GEOPOLITICSDefinition Geopolitics is defined as a branch of geography that endeavours to explain and find meaning in the relationships between geographical realities and international affairs. A branch of political geography that considers the strategic value of land an...

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SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF GEOPOLITICS

Definition 1. Geopolitics is defined as a branch of geography that endeavours to explain and find meaning in the relationships between geographical realities and international affairs. 2. A branch of political geography that considers the strategic value of land and sea area in the context of national economic and military power and ambitions ( ie the strategic interplay of Interests, Capabilities & Commitments) 3. Geopolitics can also be defined as describing geographical settings and their relationship to political power and setting out spatial frameworks embracing political power units such as hemispheres, oceans, land and maritime bound¬aries, natural resources, and culture.

Scope 1. Geopolitics is concerned with how geographical factors, including territory, population, strategic location, and natural resource endowments, as modified by economics and, technology, affect power politics and the relations between states. 2. As an interdisciplinary field Geopolitics encompasses topics as diverse as anthropology, cartography, demography, economics, geography, international security, military policy, natural resources policy, political science, and other subjects 3. It endeavours to est relationship among politics and geography, , demography, and economics, especially with respect to the foreign policy of a nation. 4. Geopolitics focuses on political power linked to geographic space. In particular, territorial waters and land territory in correlation with diplomatic history.

5. Topics of geopolitics include relations between the interests of international political actors and interests focused within an area, a space, or a geographical element; relations which create a geopolitical system 6. "Critical geopolitics" deconstructs classical geopolitical theories, by showing their political/ideological functions for great powers.

7. Properly understood, however, it means a normative-strategic doctrine: geopolitics is descriptive in that it helps us understand the world as a whole, and prescriptive in that it suggests strategic courses of action. Importance 1. Geopolitics is based on the assumption that geography defines limits and opportunities in international politics. Therefore states can realize their geopolitical opportunities or become the victims of their geopolitical situation. One purpose of grand strategy is to exploit one’s own geographical attributes and an adversary’s geographical vulnerabilities. 2. Geopolitics is dynamic and hence it reflects ever changing international realities and the global constellation of power arising from the interaction of

geography on the one hand and technology and economic development on the other. Technology and the infusion of capital can modify, though not negate, the strategic importance of a particular geographic space. 3. Finally, geopolitics clarifies the range of strategic choices, providing a guide for achieving strategic efficiency. While it places particular stress on geographic space as a critically important strategic factor and source of power, it recognizes that geography is only a part of the totality of global phenomena...