GEOPOLITICS OF CONTAINMENT IN THE POST COLD WAR WORLD

Abstract

The main goal of this paper is to explain the need for geopolitics and how it influenced the decision making of various statesmen throughout political history. Since ancient times, geopolitical conditions have determined the courses and strategies of various civilizations driving them into conflict or allowing them to prosper. In the 19th century geopolitics became a necessary knowledge for statesmen, politicians and leaders who wished to engage into a turbulent arena of world politics. For them the geopolitics provided awareness and information about other world players, about their assets and liabilities, strengths and weaknesses. Following the rules of geopolitics grand strategies have been designed. The grand strategy of containment marked an entire epoch in modern human history. Employed by the US, containment was aimed against the Soviet Union in order to curb its expansion and to sustain the balance of power. Although successful, after its initial objective took a new shape of statehood, containment as a strategy had a rough time adjusting to the new world order. First section of the article will be dedicated to the development of geopolitics and how it influenced the states and their foreign policy decision making. In the second part of the article there will be an attempt to explain how containment worked as a grand strategy during the Cold War, its objectives, methods of applications and most importantly how does containment work in our contemporary world and is it viable as a strategy for achieving foreign policy goals?