Introduction to Geopolitics

Location
is the role a place plays in the world, or its function. The key industries
and sources of employment within a place are a good measure of location—whether it
is a steel mill, coal mine, military base, or tourist resort. Of course, these are simplistic
examples, and usually places will be a combination of different functions—perhaps
complementing each other or existing together uneasily. Dover, England is an example
where its function as a ferry port has promoted another function, the point of entry for
refugees.
1111
2
3
41
5
6
7
8
91
10
1
2
31111
4
5
6
7
8
9
20
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
30
1
2
3
4
51
6
7
8
9
40
1
2
3
4
5111
A   F R A M E W O R K   F O R   U N D E R S T A N D I N G   G E O P O L I T I C S
5
Table 1.1 The geography of infant mortality rates (per 1,000 live births)
Variation across countries 
Variation within the United States 
(2000)
(2001)
United States
6.9
New Hampshire
3.8
Austria
4.8
Utah
4.8
Greece
5.0
California
5.4
Romania
19.0
Arizona
6.9
Chile
11.0
Georgia
8.6
Colombia
20.0
Alabama
9.4
Singapore
2.9
Mississippi
10.5
China
32.0
District of Columbia
10.6
Vietnam
23.0
Delaware
10.7
Pakistan
81.0
Egypt
40.0
Source: US Census Bureau; World Bank, World Development Indicators database, 2005.
Activity
Stop reading for a minute and write down four or five features of your hometown
that make it distinctive. We will be referring back to these features and developing
them as we go through this chapter.
My example
: I grew up near Dover, England. It is a major ferry port connecting the
British Isles to the European Continent. Surrounding the town was a scattering of
coal mines that were closed down after the miner’s strike of 1984. The landscape
of Dover is dominated by Dover castle situated on the cliffs, the castle keep dates
from Norman times, and within the grounds are the ruins of a Roman lighthouse.
The opening of the Channel Tunnel has threatened the profitability of the cross-
channel ferries. In the past few years the town has experienced the presence 
of refugees from eastern and southeastern Europe. Though I am emotionally
connected to Dover, I do find it a bit drab.

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Locale
refers to the institutions that organize activity, politics, and identity in a 
place. People operate as parts of groups: families, schools, workplaces, communities of
worship, labor unions, political parties, militias, parent-teacher organizations, sports
clubs, etc. In combination, these institutions form the social life of a particular place.
The geography of the battle for control of post-Hussein Iraq was one of competing insti-
tutions with place-specific concentrations of strength. The city of Najaf and the area of
Baghdad known as Sadr City housed insurgents mobilized and sustained through
particular Shi’ite institutions. On the other hand, insurgents in Ramallah were main-
tained by Sunni religious institutions. Religious allegiance, maintained by certain Islamic
institutions, facilitated the mobilization of insurgent groups in these places. This geog-
raphy of the political and religious institutions in Iraq was a major reason for the
difficulties in negotiating a new constitution for Iraq in 2005. The Kurdish and Shia
regions of Iraq wanted more regional autonomy, while the minority Sunni Arabs feared
that such a political organization of space would leave them marginalized.
On a very different note, a key element of the uniqueness of the wealthy town of
Henley on Thames in Oxfordshire, England is the Henley Rowing Club and its spon-
sorship of an annual regatta that attracts England’s social elite. In Dover, the presence
of refugees has become an important part of local politics, provoking concerns that
activity by far-right political groups and parties may increase.
The third aspect of place is