GEOPOLITICS OF LAND, SEA, AIR AND SPACE

Basic source of information of political map

Geopolitics is associated to territories = art. 4 different areas:
– Land = most important
– Sea (78% of the earth)
– Air = important since WWI (i.e. military activities)
– Space, since 1950’s (i.e. Cold War)

History, geography, economy, demography andsocial characteristics (language, religion) are very important geopolitics. This term was used the 1st time by a Swedish professor, Rudolf KJELLEN (19th century) concerning the German process of unification (i.e. 1866 and 1870), then Frederic RATZEL (i.e. 1897 Political Geography book). 2 important schools:
– The Anglo-Saxon one
– The German one (i.e. Haus HOFER and his theory ofLebensraum)

Development of this new science after the WWI even if it had a bad reputation after its using during the WWII by the IIId Reich. Real impact of attraction from the 1970s. But geopolitics is not geostrategy: geostrategy is a political direction of state foreign policies.

In geopolitics, there are 2 areas:
Tellurokratic one = land
Thallassokratic one = sea, air and space
The 1stone is connected with areas in order to define a portion of areas (i.e. the EU fortress about immigration. The 2d one is a phenomenon of power projection.

Geopolitics appeared in 1648 with the Westphalia treaty that created the idea of modern state in Europe. 1918, 1945 and 1991 had important impact on geopolitics.
Nowadays, almost 200 states/territories, last one accepted = Eastern Timor in2000 but problems of recognition for several else: Kosovo, Abkhazia … There are 3 different types of states:
– Post modern states (i.e. European Union one)
– Modern states (the majority)
– Failed/post colonial states

Geopolitics appeared really with the 1756-1763 war = the 1st global war, when something happened in Europe was visible in different parts of the world(Canada, India …). The Anglo-French conflict was totally exported.

II) Historical development and main characteristics of territorial states

Since the Middle Age, there was an European exclusive position on the map, where everything was located around the European continent.
However, south = Arabic world (until 1492); north = land of dark; but discovering of America in 1492 = perspectivechanging.
Between 1900 and 1980, Europe controlled 83% of the Earth … The Greenwich Point Zero was the center of the world and this center, with Europe, was very attractive.

Geopolitics deals about the world power. It is an objective visualization of something happening around us. Using of different colors was very important to symbolize the different kind of world’s parts: yellow (spring color)was used for Europe, given that it is the color of innocence, whereas dark symbolized unknown and aggressive regions.
= Propaganda maps.
The North hemisphere was located all the time in the center of maps because every important states belonged to the north, that’s why North hemisphere looked bigger, at the contrary of the South one’s.

Under Louis XIV’s reign, Turgot, a finances inspector,drew a colored map of France, where each colors had their own meaning. He was at the roof of the French Physiocratic School and statistics, which created a new statistical approach in France and organized state in Europe.

In 1870, according to European powers, Africa was considered empty even if it was wrong (Sudan …). As a matter of fact, Africa was divided during the Berlin conference in1884-1885. It regulated European colonization and trade in Africa during the New Imperialism period, and coincided with Germany’s sudden emergence as an imperial power.

III) Tellurokratic approach and development: German, French and Russian tradition

Tellurokratic approach for each country means to maximize the state espace by conquest and justify it.

1) German tradition:
The German…