Geopolitics

Geopolitics, from Greek Γη (earth) and Πολιτική (politics), refers broadly to the relationship between politics and territory whether on local or international scale. It comprises the practice of analysing, proscribing, forecasting, and the using of political power over a given territory. Specifically, it is a method of foreign policy analysis, which seeks to understand, explain and predict international political behaviour primarily in terms of geographical variables. Those geographical variables generally refer to: geographic location of the country or countries in question, size of the countries involved, climate of the region the countries are in, topography of the region, demography, natural resources and technological development. Traditionally, the term has applied primarily to the impact of geography on politics, but its usage has evolved over the past century to encompass wider connotations.

Geopolitics traditionally indicates the links between political power and geographic space. In concrete terms it is often seen as a body of thought examining strategic prescriptions based on the relative importance of land power and sea power in world history. The geopolitical tradition had some consistent concerns with regards to geopolitical correlates of power in world politics, the identification of international core areas, and the relationships between naval and terrestrial capabilities.

Academically, the study of geopolitics involves the analysis of geography, history and social science with reference to spatial politics and patterns at various scales. It is multidisciplinary in its scope, and includes all aspects of the social sciences with particular emphasis on political geography, international relations, the territorial aspects of political science and international law. Also, the study of geopolitics includes the study of the ensemble of relations between the interests of international political actors, interests focused to an area, space, geographical element or ways, relations which create a geopolitical system.