Introduction to Geopolitics

New York Times
article, another rape victim reports how her husband
has abandoned her and her children, one a product of rape, with little hope of remarrying
and, hence, facing a lifetime of economic hardship and social isolation.
The two examples in this section illustrate that the geopolitical experience is im-
mediate and personal. Individual geopolitical agents experience hopes and barriers
within family, household, and local structures. The “all-seeing” global visions of aca-
demics such as George Modelski are not only abstractions compared to real experiences,
but also identify structures seemingly removed from the immediate horror of rape 
and social rejection, or the destruction of one’s home by bulldozers. It is geopolitical
structures that help us understand the reasons behind the situations facing ‘Adnan and
Foutama, as well as the potential change for the better, however remote. Conflict between
the people of Darfur and the Sudanese government, and also between Israel and the
Palestinians, is framed within a metageography invoking the importance of collective
national and ethnic identities, a them-and-us mentality requiring territorialized notions
of belonging.
What of Modelski’s model? Can we relate the geopolitical structure of cycles of world
leadership to the complexity of individual actors? In some cases, I think so. On Monday
February 14, 2005, the 
New York Times
ran a report in its New York/region section,
stories that address the local interests and issues of the New York readership. The report
was the first in a series entitled “Deployed” (Semple, 2005, p. A20) and related the experi-
ences of New Yorkers serving in the US armed forces. The byline of the story is Forward
Operating Base Speicher, Iraq—an interesting geography for a “local” story. The story
tells of the 42nd Infantry Division of the New York National Guard (akin to “reservists”
or Territorial Army in Great Britain) who had been deployed with other National Guard
and regular soldiers to be responsible for the security of four Iraqi provinces. The report
states that it is the first time a National Guard division has been fully deployed in combat
since the Korean War, and it is also believed to be the first occasion in which a National
Guard unit has command over regular units in a combat situation.
Deployment is not a matter of a division, it is the experiences of individuals—in the
case of the National Guard, people who are extracted from civilian jobs in a “local”
place and put into combat across the globe. As the 
New York Times
points out:
The soldiers here are the men and women who deliver your mail, cook your
entrees, answer your customer service calls and patrol your streets. They are
truck drivers, students, social workers, youth counselors, cosmetologists,
doctors, mechanics, firefighters, general contractors, a pool repairman, a tea
salesman, the manager of a coffee shop and a lawyer from Long Island who
said he represented “slumlords.”
(Semple, 2005, p. A20)
The article contains the requisite quotes from those who see their service as a matter 
of pride and national service at a time of war. Major Sal Abano, a 41-year-old chief
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information officer for an insurance company, in civilian life, is certainly proud. He 
also makes a geographic connection; “I think it’s good for New Jersey to have a presence
here” (Semple, 2005, p. A20). Sentiments echoed by Specialist Dominick Schoonmaker,
a 34-year-old mechanic, who relates his service directly to the terrorist attacks of 9/11
and says, “You can’t sit on the sidelines anymore” (Semple, 2005, p. A20).
Others in the division reflect “an undercurrent of regret and dread evident in many
National Guard troops who acknowledge that they found themselves in a situation they
neither imagined nor wished for.” The brave confession of 43-year-old Staff Sergeant
David C. DeMaio is: “When I got activated I cried like a baby.” Given their recent and
central roles as civilians in their communities, the deployment of the 42nd connects
places in New York and New Jersey to places in Iraq. Sergeant Major James D. Rodgers
is, in civilian life a letter carrier (postman) and says that his customers have kept in
contact with him through e-mail and regular post: “They’re very interested in how I’m
doing out here,” he says (Semple, 2005, p. A20).
In Chapter 2, we related the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the subsequent military occu-
pation to Modelski’s model of world leadership and, specifically, the need to place
combat troops across the globe in the face of challenge to the leader’s authority. Though
one uses an abstract model to identify long-term trends and structures, the global politics
of world leadership is enacted by individuals. These individuals have multiple goals and
identities: simultaneously proud defenders of their country and scared family members
hoping to return to the tranquility of civilian life. The pride in being a combat soldier
stems from the role of the US as world leader and its representation as the global
protector of “freedoms” and human rights. This representation is given greater reso-
nance to individuals through narratives of national history.
The final quote from the article is the most significant though. The extended use of
the National Guard has made a strong connection between communities in the United
States and the combat zone, facilitated by e-mail and websites. The impact on commun-
ities and families as men and women fight abroad is made clear, and able to be
communicated from combat zone to home front more quickly than in the past. Structures
of family, community, military, nationalism, and global politics are tightly connected
(Figure 8.2). In such a situation, the geopolitical representation of the war is a vital
battlefield—if Sergeant Major Rodgers is able to report back to his community on what
the combat experience is like, the need for his sacrifice to be seen as vital and moral is
enhanced.
Modelski’s model is an abstract simplification. The story of the National Guard places
“people” within that model. By adding real and particular individuals into the picture,
the descriptive nature of Modelski’s model becomes less dominant, and instead we 
are forced to ask questions as to how and why actors operate within the structure.
Noteworthy is the readiness by which the soldiers in this newspaper story say things
that reflect the world leadership role of the United States. In other words, the language
used by the US government in its world leadership role is echoed by individuals. Despite
the pull of other identities (family, home, career, community, for example), identity and
loyalty toward the United States nation-state