JEOPOLİTİK STRATEJİ

Geopolitics, in its broader definition, is the analysis of the geographic influences on power relationships in international relations. Etymologically consisting of the words “geo” meaning earth, land and “politics”; geopolitics is a discipline emerged out of political geography

Another related concept of geopolitics is geoeconomics. Basically, geo-economics is the use of economic instruments to produce beneficial geopolitical results. In this sense, it appears as a concept related to statecraft. But on the other side, there is another aspect of geo-economics that determines the term as the effects of other states’ economic actions on a state’sexisting geopolitical goals. In this regard geo-economics means a method of analysis (Blackwill and Harris, 2016: 19). The two concepts are not only closely linked but they also overlap and are mutually reinforcing.

In the Western tradition, ancient Greek and Roman philosophers are the first sources regarding geopolitical thinking. In this manner, Aristoteles (BC 384 -322) stands out among his contemporaries. He discussed many topics which can be now classified as geopolitics, more than twenty centuries before the term was coined. Aristoteles analyzed the relationship between climate and human nature, the impact of geography on states economic and military preferences.

The Medieval era had contributed to the geopolitical understanding of subsequent ages, primarily through the geographical discoveries of the 15th and 16th centuries. With the discovery of new geographies, oceans, peoples, and states, European thinkers became aware of the importance of geography for the strategic and economic benefits of states. The emergence of capitalism in the 16th century, on the other hand, was the main driver for new geopolitical works along with the development of colonialism. In this line, the writings of Jean Bodin (1530 – 1596) are worth mentioning. Bodin followed the ancient idea that the natural environment is a determining factor of human character and he suggested that for establishing the structure and laws of the state, environmental conditions should be taken seriously into account

Montesquieu in the 18th century explained in his book “The Spirit of the Laws” the difference of legislative structures of states by relating it to geography, namely the climate. For example, according to Montesquieu, warm climates weaken people, and they become more prone to be enslaved, while people living in colder climates are braver and thus prone to be free. The geographical determinism in Montesquieu’s writing has beena phenomenon lasting since Aristoteles in geopolitical or geographical thought and this phenomenon is the main point where geopolitical thinking splits into premodern and modern categories. The pre-modern geopolitical thinking assumes the man as a part of the nature and therefore is not geopolitics in the sense of the word. In other words, what separates modern geopolitical thinking from the premodern one is the assumption that man and nature are distinct and geopolitics as a science aims to reveal and analyse the relationship between them

Classical geopolitics refers to the period from the beginning of the 20th century, when the transition from political geography had actualized until the end of the Second World War. The main geopolitical approaches of this period are, Friedrich Ratzsel’s “lebensraum” or “living-space”, Alfred Thayer Mahan’s “sea power theory”, Halford Mackinder’s “heartland theory”, Rudolph Kjellen and Karl Haushofer’s perspectives and Nicholas Spykman’s “Rimland theory”.

Classical geopolitics refers to the period from the beginning of the 20th century, when the transition from political geography had actualized until the end of the Second World War. The main geopolitical approaches of this period are, Friedrich Ratzsel’s “lebensraum” or “living-space”, Alfred Thayer Mahan’s “sea power theory”, Halford Mackinder’s “heartland theory”, Rudolph Kjellen and Karl Haushofer’s perspectives and Nicholas Spykman’s “Rimland theory”.

Social Darwinism: The theory that individuals, groups, and peoples are subject to the same Darwinian laws of natural selection as plants and animals. Social Darwinism was popular in late 19th and early 20th centuries and was used to justify racism and thus is no longer acceptable.

Mackinder’s Law Who controls Eastern Europe controls Heartland, who controls the Heartland rules the World.

n 1904 Halford Mackinder published his article “The Geographical Pivot of History” (Mackinder, 1904) which represents the birth of political geography. He introduced a number of key elements and concepts within his theory, one of which is the “heartland”. Mackinder’s writings were mainly concerned with the grand strategy of the British empire and at this juncture geography was the pivot for a clear understanding of world politics. Writing in early 20th century, Mackinder was aware that with the end of the 19th century the imperialist expansionism of Europe had reached its boundaries and thus was trying to reveal the pivot region for world dominance. He described Eurasia, which is inaccessible by sea power, as the geographical pivot of world politics. This pivot region in this sense is the key to dominate world politics and thus the main root that the imperial grand strategy should be directed. Including Siberian forests in the north and the steppes in the south and bordered by Turkestan deserts, this pivotal region was ruled by the Russian Empire at that time, but the other potential dominant could be Germany allied with Russia or China. In 1919 Mackinder re-examined his argument and concluded that his thesis was still valid and applicable. In his new book “Democratic Ideals and Realities” he replaced the term pivot with heartland and expanded its boundaries as to encompass also Eastern and Central Europe. In this work, he also postulated that “Who rules Eastern Europe commands the Heartland. Who rules the Heartland commands the World Island. Who rules the World Island commands the world” (Mackinder, 1942: 106).

Another prominent figure of this period is Rudolf Kjellen who coined the term geopolitics. He not only coined the term, but also defined its essence with his emphasis on the physical character, size and relative location of the territory of the state as central to its power position in the international system (Holdar, 1992: 319). According to Kjellen, geopolitics is one of the main disciplines to understand and analyze the state. Other disciplines were ekopolitik for the analysis of the economic structure of the state, demopolitik (etno) which is for population analyses, Sociopolitiks for analyzing the state-society relations and finally kratopolitiks for governmental constitutional politics.

In ancient Chinese and Indian writings, geopolitical ideas were set forth in relation to war strategies and statecraft. In the writings of Confucius (Confucius, The Analects) and Sun-Tzu (Sun-Tzu, 2002) the focal point is geostrategy through which the two thinkers aimed to guide their state for political and military success. Control of resources, topographical access routes, building alliances, inhabiting empty lands after occupation weresome of the subjects they had considered in their analyses.

Roman philosophers are another source of geopolitical thought of ancient and early middle ages. In fact, it is not surprising when the effect of Roman Empire’s extensive expansion is considered. Roman philosophers focused mainly on the relationship between nature and human beings as in ancient Greece, using geographical circumstances for the benefit of the state, and in some sense geostrategic considerations in relation to occupying lands and even uniting nations under one political administration.

The un derlying idea here was to prevent the Soviet Union from imposing its ideology on other countries and thus providing economic and military assistance to developing countries could be the main part of the containment policy.

Huntington draws a new world map populated by eight major civilizations, which include Western, Confucian, Japanese, Islamic, Hindu, SlavicOrthodox, Latin American and possibly African civilization.

In this respect, geostrategy consists both political and geographical elements. Elements of geostrategy can be divided into two categories as spatial and conjunctural elements. The space includes land and sea and the conjunctural elements include demography, resources and socio-political elements.

The first sign of the US’s Eurasian geostrategy can be found in NATO’s enlargement process.

In this sense, Brzezinski defined Turkey as a geopolitical pivot, which means “a state whose importance is derived not from its power but rather from its sensitive location and from the consequences of its potentially vulnerable condition for the behavior of geostrategic players”.

The end of the Cold War opened up a new phase in geo-economic thinking. In 1990, in a seminal article, Luttwak who used the term for the first time, asserted that in the post-Cold War world the main arena for rivalry amongst states would be economic rather than military.

Bombing a factory for example is not geo-economics since bombs are not economic means.

The world economy that is capitalism in Wallerstein’s understanding and liberalism as its ideological premise formed the geo-culture of the world system.