Geopolitics: A Very Short Introduction

by Klaus Dodds

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Geopolitics is a way of looking at the world: one that considers the links between political power, geography, and cultural diversity. Using examples ranging from historical maps and 007 films to the rhetoric of political leaders, Klaus Dodds shows why, for a full understanding of contemporary global politics, it is essential to be geopolitical.

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Questions for Thought and Discussion

• How might American foreign policy be described as geopolitical?



• Does it matter anymore if geopolitics was derided for being a Nazi science?



• What is the difference between orthodox and critical geopolitics?



• Was Prime Minister Winston Churchill an orthodox geopolitican?



• What do action heroes like Jack Bauer and Jason Bourne say about popular geopolitical representations of the war on terror?



• Why did Halford Mackinder believe that Central Asia was the ‘geographical pivot of history’?



• Has geopolitics been replaced by geo-economics as was believed in the 1990s?



• What role does the United Nations play in sustaining geopolitical stability? Could it be an agent of geopolitical change?



• How are geopolitical cultures reproduced on a daily basis? Why might sport be part of geopolitics?



• Is there evidence for a ‘clash of civilizations’? And how might that be geopolitical?



• What do maps do? And why have they been so important in the history of geopolitics?



• Was Thomas Barnett right to claim that the world is divided between a core, a gap and a seam of states?



• If you think he was wrong then what kind of map of global geopolitics would you draw?



• Do you agree with me that film is an important agent of popular geopolitics? If so, what film or television series best epitomizes for you the geopolitics of the war on terror?



• Do you think that the internet and social networking sites like Facebook are transforming the very essence of geopolitics?



• Do you think that this book neglected some topics and issues at the expense of others? Was it too anti-American and contemporary in focus?



• Looking ahead, do you think the next generation of wars will be fought over access to resources?

Other books by Klaus Dodds

• Klaus Dodds, Global Geopolitics: A Critical Introduction (Harlow: Pearson Education, 2005)



• Alan Ingram and Klaus Dodds, eds., Spaces of Security and Insecurity: Geographies of the War on Terror (Farnham: Ashgate 2009)



• Fraser MacDonald, Rachel Hughes and Klaus Dodds, eds., Observant States: Geopolitics and Visual Culture (London: I B Tauris, 2010)

Further Reading

• Colin Flint, An Introduction to Geopolitics (London: Routledge, 2006)



• Dominque Moisi, The Geopolitics of Emotion: How Cultures of Fear, Humiliation and Hope are Reshaping the World (London: Bodley Head, 2009)



• Jeremy Black, Geopolitics (London: Social Affairs Unit, 2009)