KEY IDEAS AND CONCEPTS

Posted: October 17th, 2013

KEY IDEAS AND CONCEPTS

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KEY IDEAS AND CONCEPTS

1. Balance of power is where there is an existence of equivalence and stability between two competing forces. This concept often attends to state of affairs in the international circle. It also explores behavioral patterns of the state in that system.
2. Balancing / counterbalancing; balancing in geopolitics is the gain of power to impose on other nations of interest while counter-balancing is the disruption of the gain of power by nations that have noted another nation’s gain of seniority.
3. Bi /multi-polar world system; is where two nations or a number of nations have two or more contradictory ideologies of power or nature. The two or more nations involved have a majority in the state, military and the cultural influences both internationally and regionally.
4. Environmental security; this is the assessment of environmental factors and trends that dictate national power. This as well impact the local and international conflicts involved in relation to the environment.
5. Resource scarcity; this is where the society is in adequate of supplying human needs and wants. The goods and services that are scarce are termed as the economic goods while the other goods are known as free goods if they happen to be in abundance.
6. Population growth and resource scarcity; these two interrelated. The population growth is usually influenced by the abundance and constant supply of basic resources. In event of resource scarcity, the population growth will be affected directly.
7. Hegemony; this is a term used to denote a predominance of a social class over another. The concept as denoted has the dominant class that thrives to subject its own way to the subordinate. In a way, creating a rule of law by those of deemed of a higher caliber than the rest.
8. Hydro-hegemony; this is a strategy enabled through exploitation of powers existing in weak territories. This is a political concept that is configured in water sector in relations to benefits that corporate hegemonic form of leadership.
9. Human security; this is a prototype that tends to expose global vulnerabilities to the between the individual and the governmental institutions. There are factors that make human security a broad topic to tackle.
10. Interdependence; is a relationship between two or more relevant parties that tend to mutually benefit from each other. The beneficial aspect may be economical, moral and ecological. No party is expected to be dormant either.
11. Sovereignty; is an independent authority over a marked territory or a geographical area. The independent authority has an enormous supremacy to make a rule as a valid law.
12. Geopolitics; this is the study of geographical, economical and demographical factors on politics and especially on foreign state policy.
13. Geographic choke points; are land marks where safety is substantial in combat strategies. It is usually used by the military to bridge a defense and guard from attack.
14. Good governance; is an often emergence of management to cater for and compare effectiveness of the government to manage and run political bodies and its economy.
15. Strategic anarchy; it is the plot or arrange plan to overthrow a legal government to disrupt the possible rule of law. Lack of governmental rule may result in desertion of law and order.
16. Security dilemma; is an assertion of both strength and weakness to national security that can be provocative to a number of national bodies. Hence, in the advent of security both strength and weaknesses can be imbalanced.
17. Climate change as a threat multiplier; this means that the climatic change has the potential to be both creator of new threats and total magnifier of weaknesses and tensions in the universe.
18. Oil weapon; is the control of a commodity that is essentially not owned by a neighbor country or another country claiming to benefit form the own parent owner of the commodity.
19. Realism; is the prioritization of national interests and security over ideological and social concerns reconstructions. It mainly coins in political power policies.
20. Liberalism; is the legal freedom anarchy that surrounds the aspect political and legislation accentuations.
21. Institutionalism; is the study of politics on formal governing institutions. It also brings about the aspect of social theory that focuses on development of socio-economic factors.
22. Resource curse; this is a situation whereby a country with non-renewable assets and resource experience a stagnant economical growth. This happens when a country shift its energy more on the industrial sector.
23. Rentier states; is a state that owns a vast range of valuable resources such as petroleum, titanium and the like. Such a state is able to survive in extraction of its resources to boost its revenue.
24. Resource/ economic nationalism; this is a term aimed to emphasize the economical domestic control, labor and capital formation. It may require obligation of tariffs and restrictions on labor movement.

China’s Rise to Power: China’s increase dominance in the global economic market will likely alter the current unipolar control that the United States enjoys as a superpower. However, due to the potential differences in policies of the two nations, a direct correlation would not be likely. This will lead to a takeover by China as the world’s superpower to make it in charge of the new international order.

Iran’s Rise in the Middle East: The Iranian revolution in the Middle East has been attributed to the Islamist code of beliefs that the majority of its citizen professes to. At the same time, the nation seeks to become the dominant power from a racial and ethnic standpoint. This is because the Iranian Persians harbor a long-standing grudge against the Sunnis because the Persians consider their ethnicity to be advanced.

References:

Sullivan, P. (1986).Geopolitics. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press.

Gray, C. S. (1999). Geopolitics, geography, and strategy. New York, NY: Routledge.

Cohen, S. B. (2009). Geopolitics: the geography of international relations. New York, NY: Rowman & Littlefield.

Dodds, K. (2007). Geopolitics: a very short introduction. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Sempa, F. P. . (2007). Geopolitics: From the Cold War to the 21st Century. Boston, MA: Transaction Publishers.