Geographical Basis of Power

International Politics on the World Stage: A Geographic Basis of Power

Although geography can play a role in regional conflicts and alliances, it ultimately is not the 'be all and end all 'of determining who is a friend and who is a powerful enemy in the international community, although it may once have played a dominant role in tribal and feudal societies. Still, according to John Rourke's textbook on International Politics on the World Stage, any regional or international balance of power is not determined by military might alone, or by a country's technological or economic capacity for development. Geography plays some role, but not dominant role. The balance of power is always attributed to a balance of factors, physical as well as political, even though the rules of might usually dominate and determines the winner and the loser in any war of exchange.

In the traditional balance of power modality of understanding international relations, contractual alliances between states created solidified treaty structures. These provided potential political stability. But these treaties, especially secret treaties, could also create a domino effect when tensions were heightened, as they did during World War I. (Rourke, Chapter 6) Thus, geography could create alliances through similarities of ethnicity, culture, and facilitate economic trade and political alliances but could also give rise to border disputes and dangerous secret negotiations.

As delineated in Chapter 11 of Rourke, the globalization of the current world economy has made nation states more interrelated, rather than pure geographical and economic similarities, or formal treaties for political interests. However, it too has facilitated alliances such as the European Economic Union, as well as made trade easier between nations possessing a diversity of products within their borders. Nations formerly dominated by colonialism, such as Africa, have attempted, through movements such as the Pan-African movement, to use regional closeness as a way of establishing power through unity. However, old tribal conflicts have caused discord as well as harmony between these states.