JEOPOLİTİK STRATEJİ

According to Montevideo Convention which sets out the parameters of a state spells out four aspects for a political entity to be properly called a state: defined territory, permanent people, centralized authority and sovereignty. The correct answer is A.

Globalization refers to links tying nations of the world together. The correct answer is B.

Samuel Huntington (1996) argued that a potential clash between major civilizations replaced the ideological rivalry during the Cold War. Huntington’s famous clash of civilizations argument suggests that ideology is no longer the source of conflicts and disputes in interstate politics which would be from now on characterized by the disagreements associated with desires for domination by different civilizations. The correct answer is C.

The End of History thesis offered by Francis Fukuyama holds that the battle between major ideologies ended with the obvious victory of liberal democracy, suggesting that the liberal values are the ultimate achievement of mankind. The answer is D.

Particular strands of geopolitics are the geopolitics of oil, the geopolitics of religion, the geopolitics of water, the geopolitics of propaganda and the geopolitics of the internet. The answer is E.

The term human security holds a political connotation and reference to human beings which should be taken into consideration as subjects of a political framework. In other words, the term human security itself stresses that human beings have become a geopolitical concern and that the community of states has taken measures to address this concern by offering strong protections for the individuals in cases where their survival is threatened just because the states have been recognized as sovereign entities in world politics. The answer is A.

In an anarchic environment, states will have to rely on their own resources to survive, often referred to in the IR literature as self-help. The answer is B.

The theory of interdependence suggests that international cooperation is a must and a wise move for the overall betterment of all states and of the international system due to the inevitable engagement between states in political, military and economic realms. The answer is A.

Russia has been using energy as a tool of political leverage in its foreign policy after solidifying its geopolitical and military might. The answer is D.

Thomas Friedman recalls that the globalization system requires a firm and activist American foreign policy. The answer is A.

The term geopolitics basically refers to the political significance of geography in the analysis of international relations and thus takes geographical expression of the world as a political construct. A fairly recent phenomenon, international relations (or International RelationsIR as a scholarly discipline and field of study) has been understood mainly through the lens of geopolitics and the geopolitical connotations of the international events and developments for decades. In other words, it is fair to argue that geopolitics has served as the basis and foundation that helped IR scholars better understand and explain the political aspects of the world and conceptualize the interstate affairs.

As a general rule, a state with a large territory may become a candidate of big power in case it fulfills other requirements as well. In other words, a large territory is an attribute of a big power, a mid-size territory is of a middle power. This is why, say, The Netherlands, a prosperous and wealthy state with a relatively tiny territory, is unable to move to the ranks of big powers. It should be recalled that the Dutch Empire, predecessor of The Netherlands, is cited as a major power in history because of its influence in international trade which was made possible thanks to its colonies. Thus, the reason today The Netherlands is not one of the big powers in international politics is because it does not have political control over large territories. On the other hand, Russia which, as opposed to The Netherlands, is relatively unstable in economic terms is considered a big power because of its military influence, and its vast geography. India is even a more illustrative case. Often associated with poverty and social instability, India is often regarded as a rising power which, probably for this reason, seeks permanent membership in the United Nations Security Council. The reason India is categorized as a rising power is its large territory and population.

According to Montevideo Convention which sets out the parameters of a state spells out four aspects for a political entity to be properly called a state: defined territory, permanent people, centralized authority and sovereignty.

No longer a very popular concept, globalization has been the epicenter of political debates and analyses on world politics throughout the 1990s. The rise of globalization as a very popular notion and analytical tool to explain the nature and dynamics of international relations in this particular period could be attributed to the end of Cold War where two so-called superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, dominated the stage of international politics as leaders of two power poles (this is why that era is called bipolar world). Globalization has been promoted as a sweeping explanation to describe the new state of affairs in the interstate relations.

But the study of geopolitics has to deal with further details, particularly the features and components of power and the influence that a state might have in the conduct of interstate affairs. With the advance of technological innovations, not only military and political influence of a state remains a must-included element in the analysis, but also the humane and economic geography is taken into consideration.

Because this requires a comprehensive approach, geopolitics has evolved a free-standing discipline focusing on different aspects of global politics. As an autonomous field, geopolitics now relies on different aspects and components of political geography and also pay attention to the debates and outcomes in other fields for a coherent analysis. In its new form, geopolitics help students, scholars and practitioners run predictions on the future course and trajectory of the international political system and develop strong and firm strategic simulations for the potential actions of the individual states and alliances. The potential successful performance attached to geopolitics is relevant to the growing number of elements, interacting with each other, it takes into calculation when assessing the political value and impact of the geography. These variables and elements include, among other things, technology, capital accumulation and economic development.

A similar postulate has been offered by Samuel Huntington (1996) who argued that a potential clash between major civilizations replaced the ideological rivalry during the Cold War. Huntington’s famous clash of civilizations argument suggests that ideology is no longer the source of conflicts and disputes in interstate politics which would be from now on characterized by the disagreements associated with desires for domination by different civilizations. Like Fukuyama, Huntington also agrees that the Cold War ended with the indisputable victory of the Western liberal democracy but further recalls that rivalry will not be replaced by permanent and lasting peace just because of that victory. In other words, the clash of civilizations approach underlines that there might be even a fiercer rivalry which, however, will now take place due to intercivilizational disputes and ambitions.

Russia, no longer relying on ideology as the driving force of foreign policy, recognizes geopolitics as ... the political concept, that uses natural-geographical data (configuration and the size of the territory and aquatory, climate, material and natural resources, racial and ethnical composition of the population for explanation of national interests of the states and coalition interests of military-political alliances.

Within the study of geopolitics, national security, particularly the military security of the state, could be evaluated from the perspective of several major factors including historical territory, nationalities, the structure of the state, the possession of and ability to use natural, material and human resources as effectively as possible (Logunov, 1993, 20-22). In other words, these factors shape the national security issues of each nation state and significantly impact upon the formulation and realization of its national interests. Without taking geopolitics into consideration, a definition of national interest will be missing some core components.

Interdependence is a term referring to the intricate ties and bonds between the states and intergovernmental organizations that cannot be possibly ignored in the analysis of world politics. The theory of interdependence basically suggests that due to the inevitable engagement between states in political, military and economic realms, international cooperation is a must and a wise move for the overall betterment of all states and of the international system.

It appears that Russia has been using energy as a tool of political leverage in its foreign policy after solidifying its geopolitical and military might. It is now possible to argue that energy serves as leverage in the Russian foreign policy which has been defined in aggressive terms under Putin. The Russian political elite has relied on different methods when using the energy as a trump card.