developed in the last few decades have eased some time problems by fixing
sequences of events in time. Still, it is a form of mental gymnastics to conceptual-
ize landscapes evolving over times many multiples of the human life span.
Geopolitics
According to political geographer Saul Cohen, geopolitics “is defined as...the
analysis of the interaction between...geographical settings and perspectives
and...political processes.” As a field of modern academic inquiry, geopolitics
emerged from the era ofimperialism, when European countries set about
establishing political control over large sections of Africa, Latin America, Asia,
Australia, and North America. In competition through the system of mercantilism,
these imperialistic powers sought advantage over one another by controlling
straits, passages and canalsof the world’s shipping lanes, acquiringnatural
resourcesto support large-scaleindustrialization, establishing monopolistic
overseas markets, and building powerful militaries. Early modern geopolitical
thinkers attempted to develop theories about the nature of thenation-stateand
the relationships between states. As new powers arose during the late colonial
era (Germany, Japan, the United States,Russia) to challenge the supremacy of
Great Britain and France, an emphasis on power and strategy tended to dominate
the thinking and writing of scholars and policymakers. The strategic advantage
some countries appeared to enjoy over others, and methods of obtaining such
advantage, became a focus of geopolitical thinking. Geostrategic notions of buffer
states,shatterbelts, and other concepts entered the lexicon of geopoliticians
between the world wars, as scholars grappled with the changes wrought by the
Treaty of Versailles, the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, and the emergence of
the Soviet Union. After World War II, American foreign policy was profoundly
shaped by geopolitics, especially by the strategy of containment and the “domino
theory,” both of which became the foundation for increased American involvement
in Vietnam after 1954.
The nature of the state and the functioning of its institutions has been the sub-
ject of scholarly inquiry and theory for centuries. The roots of geopolitical inves-
tigation may be traced to ancient Greece. Plato is likely the first to offer an
organic theoryof the state, and his famous prote ́ge ́, Aristotle, built further on
the concept. The Muslim philosopher Ibn Kaldun, writing in the 1300s, also
argued that cities and civilizations behave much like animate creatures, experienc-
ing a cycle that takes them from “youth” to “old age” and eventually collapse.
During the 19th century, this concept was revived by German geographers, who
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