The 6 geographical factors

-
I must admit that there are many different definitions I am yet to review. However, based on the ones that I have read, I have put together this framework for analysis. 

The framework:
  1. Natural resources - impact of the competition for natural resources on the political behaviour of state or non-state actors.
  2. Geographical location - impact the geographical location of a state actor has on the political behaviour of another state or non-state actors.
  3. Size - impact of a state actor on the political behaviour of another state or non-state actor in regards to its physical land area. Size of a non-state actor and its impact on the political behaviour of a state and other non-state actors.
  4. Topography - impact of either man-made and the natural surface feature of land on the political behaviour of state and non-state actors.
  5. Demography - impact of the characteristics of human population on the political behaviour of state and non-state actors.
  6. Climate - impact of the climate on the political behaviour of state and non-state actors.
 The political behaviour component is derived from the definitions I read in Dictionary.com.
  1. the study or the application of the influence of political and economic geography on the politics, national power, foreign policy, etc., of a state.
  2. the combination of geographic and political factors influencing or delineating a country or region.
Key words like national power, foreign policy, influence and factors are all related to political behaviour. For example, a foreign policy is a strategy that a state pursue in order to achieve a particular outcome. A particular state behave as per its foreign policy to achieve a particular outcome which maybe the increase of its national power.

The inclusion of geographical location is based on the definitions given by the Cambridge Dictionary:
 "the study of the way a country's size, position, etc. influence its power and its relationships with other countries ​. Political activity as influenced by the physical features of a country or area of the world"
 
Geographical location comes under position and physical features. Where are country is positioned on the world map is also know as its geographical location.

The other factors were derived from definitions given by Kjellen who coined the concept of geopolitics in 1899 and Haushofer. They both talked about geography and its influence on the political behaviour of states.

The information given by Wikipedia also supports the selection of the 6 factors. Wikipedia labels the various factors as geographical variables:
"At the level of international relations, geopolitics is a method of studying foreign policy to understand, explain and predict international political behavior through geographical variables. These include area studies, climate, topography, demography, natural resources, and applied science of the region being evaluated."

I refer to area studies as geographical location and replaced applied science with size. I believe the physical size of a country and where it is located influence greatly its political behaviour. 

Morgenthau stated that geography, in particular location is a stable factor. We cannot move the island of New Guinea to the Caribbean. He also said the larger the size of a country the more space it has to disperse its industrial and population centers as well as its nuclear installations.

We have witnessed the evolution of non-state actors thanks to globalization. Thus we cannot not talk about geopolitics without mentioning the involvement of non-state actors. The framework is inclusive of non-state actors.   

Like I said in class, this list or framework is not exhaustive. Some of you suggested that culture and religion are possible factors. I leave that to you to add or subtract based on your reading. In the mean time, we will use the 6 geographical factors as a framework for analysis in the unit IR432 Geopolitics in Asia-Pacific.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

FPA: Organizational Process Model

-
This model centers on the fact that different bureaucracies have different standard operating procedures. These procedures are made in order to allow day to day operations to be carried out. Thus, a foreign policy decision is made based on these standard operating procedures. It is hard for a bureaucracy to make a decision or let alone function out of character or contrary to their standard operating procedure. The reading Chapter 4: Foreign policy shares a straight forward explanation of the OPM: "An alternative to the rational model of decision making is the organizational process model. In this model, foreign policy decision makers generally skip the labor-intensive process of identifying goals and alternative actions, relying instead for most decisions on standardized responses or standard operating procedures. For example, the U.S. State Department everyday receives more than a thousand reports or inquiries from its embassies around the world and sends out more than a ...
Read more

Commercial liberalism and the six norms

-
Image
Liberal internationalism is defined by Griffiths, O'Callaghan and Roach (2008, p.190) as a project to transform international relations so that they conform to models of peace, freedom, and prosperity allegedly enjoyed within constitutional liberal democracies. The same scholars go further by dividing liberalism into three distinct groups. They say these are the three ways to implement the project. The way they present liberal internationalism as a project makes their work interesting. Three distinct groups Firstly, commercial liberalism is about free trade between states. States bilaterally or multilaterally via a platform like APEC pursue the goal of trade liberalization. Griffiths, O'Callagahan and Roach (ibid.) argued that economic interdependence would decrease the likelihood of going to war. Republican liberalism is about democratic peace. The scholars argued that the spread of democracy among states so that governments will be accountable to their citizens makes it di...
Read more

Allison's rational actor model

-
There are 3 common models of foreign policy decision making according to Graham Allison: rational actor model organizational process mode government politics model.  We will discuss the 3 models and compare them with the 3 levels of analysis. However, I challenge you to use your own initiative to learn about the other models of decision making. This will help you as future decision makers or analysts to understand how decisions are made and the processes. When one wakes up from bed he or she decides whether or not to brush their teeth, comb their hair and have a shower. These decisions are paramount, they affect and influence how the individual interacts in a social setting. This highlights the fact that as human beings we make decisions every day. Decision making is defined as the thought process of selecting a logical choice from the available options. In the case of the ‘Kibung peles boy’ analogy; the male student had a choice of approaching the girl to ask he...
Read more