Introduction to Geopolitics

This new updated edition keeps the clarity of the overarching theme of geopolitical structures and agents in an engaging and accessible manner. The approach and examples require no previous knowledge of theory or current affairs. It helps readers understand the geopolitical implications of the history of geopolitical change over the past two hundred years, US-China tensions, the relative decline of the US, and emerging environmental conflicts. The title explains the contemporary global power of the United States and the challenges it is facing, the changing foreign policy of China, Iran’s foreign policy, the formation of geopolitical blocs such as the BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, cyberwarfare and geopolitical disinformation through social media, tensions between immigration and nationalist politics, insurgency, the changing landscape of energy geopolitics, environmental geopolitics, competition over resources including rare earth minerals, and the possibilities of peacebuilding. New and updated examples include the geopolitical significance of Greenland, the geopolitics of “Greater Russia,” an expanded and updated discussion of the Israel-Palestine conflict to include the politics of state recognition and the history of US-Israel relations, and the economic and strategic position of Taiwan. The book raises questions by incorporating international and long-term historical perspectives and introduces readers to different theoretical viewpoints, including feminist contributions. The new edition features margin definitions and twenty-three new figures, including nineteen maps. Introduction to Geopolitics will provide its readers with a set of critical analytical tools for understanding the actions of states as well as non-state actors acting in competition over resources and power. Both students and general readers will find this book an essential stepping-stone to a deeper and critical understanding of contemporary conflicts.