Geopolitical Codes Research Articles

The influence of geographic perception on shaping geopolitical codes: the case of the People’s Republic of China

The influence of geographic perception on shaping geopolitical codes: the case of the People’s Republic of China

The consensus of material and discursive geopolitical codes to contain China in the Indo-Pacific

ABSTRACT China’s rise as a non-liberal Asian power, with its peaceful representation and rapid development in the twenty-first century, has raised concerns among liberal powers, including the United States and its Asian democratic allies. Thus, US-led democracies in the Indian and Pacific Oceans seek to thwart the rise of China as a world power and the idea of change in the global geopolitical order by adopting a policy of containment against China in the new century. With this in mind, the purpose of this article is to examine the relationship between the geopolitical codes of the United States and its allies to contain China at the discursive and material levels in the Indo-Pacific region. The empirical review of the paper shows a trend in which the United States is using correlated local, regional, and global codes to extend global geopolitical order to its advantage by containing China in the Indo-Pacific arena.

The non-aligned geopolitical code of India

The non-aligned geopolitical code of India

ASIAN NEUTRALISM AND THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR: HOW TO CHANGE THE BALANCE IN UKRAINE’S FAVOR

The author analyses the evolution of the modern concept of neutralism in international law, as historically practiced by the countries of the Asian region starting from the middle of the 20th century. The Asian region is viewed as the birthplace of foreign policy ideas about neutrality and non-alignment. The bloc confrontation during the Cold War functioned both the source of and the environment for the formation and consolidation of neutrality and non-alignment. These concepts are associated with Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of independent India, who proposed the “geopolitical code” of India, which has its roots in the ancient traditions of the Indo-Buddhist civilization. This notion greatly outlived its creator; however, as after his death, the locus of further promoting neutralism shifted to the countries of Southeast Asia. The main ideological core of the consolidation of this subregion was the idea of ​​Asian neutralism and anti-communism. At the same time, neutralism was channeled against active military and political interference in the affairs of the subregion by external states, primarily the USA, the USSR, and China, as well as attempts by them to involve the SEA countries in their conflicts. Evolving from the key concept of the bloc confrontation of the Cold War to neutrality as an important factor in the confrontation between the USA and the PRC in the East Asian region after the end of the Cold War, on today's stage neutralism manifests itself as an important factor in the military confrontation of Ukraine against the Russian aggressor, and in a more global context, the confrontation between global liberal democracy and authoritarianism or totalitarianism.
 The political positions of traditionally neutral (in the sense of the mentioned evolving concept) Asian countries, as well as those that openly declare and consistently maintain a neutral status regarding the Russian-Ukrainian war, are analyzed in detail. A conclusion is made regarding the possibilities of changing the balance of power and “pulling” certain neutral countries to the side of the pro-Ukrainian coalition of states.

The relationality of geopolitical codes: the example of the Belt and Road Initiative

ABSTRACT The concept of the geopolitical code is a useful tool to understand the multi-faceted nature of a country’s foreign policy, the way in which global patterns of geopolitics are an aggregation of geopolitical codes, and moments of geopolitical transition from one pattern of codes to another. We address the nature of geopolitical codes through the lens of instrumental and associative power, and the geography of its modalities. Especially, we consider the combined logics of power expressed as economic networks and territorial sovereignty. To illustrate our argument, we briefly consider a number of regional responses to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The geopolitical codes of Russia, India, Japan, the European Union, and the United States are discussed. By considering the process of the relationality of geopolitical codes constructed in response to the BRI we see an intensification in relations and an increasing scope that suggests the BRI is driving an ongoing geopolitical transition that will usher in a new geopolitical world order.

A Descriptive Look at the Factors Influencing the Geopolitics of Afghanistan

Geopolitics means the effect of the geographical location of the region on the policies of other governments. Afghanistan, as a landlocked country, is a strategic geographical area because of ​​its neighbors, and in principle, a country with a strategic position is inevitably part of the military strategy. Afghanistan also has this potential, so Afghanistan's geopolitical attractions have attracted the attention of superpowers from the past to the present. Understanding geopolitical codes is one of the factors that politicians of any government should try to identify to use the appropriate strategy to establish a strong diplomatic relationship with other countries.

The Current Geopolitical Position of the Republic of Korea: at the Crossroads of Interests of the United States and China

The article is aimed at identifying the current foreign policy priorities of the Republic of Korea, taking into account the factor of its special geopolitical position, namely, being at the crossroads of interests and growing rivalry between the two world great powers – the United States and China. The definition of priorities and goals of the Republic of Korea's foreign policy is carried out in the article based on the concept of "geopolitical code" used in political geography. The article reveals the concept of "geopolitical code", traces the evolution of the geopolitical code of the Republic of Korea and characterizes its modern features. The article demonstrates the complex process of balancing the Republic of Korea between the United States and China during the first two decades of the 21st century, at the initial stage caused by different positions and interests of the parties in resolving the North Korean nuclear missile problem, and at the current stage – by the growing regional (in the Asia-Pacific) and global rivalry between the world's two great powers. As a result of the study, it was concluded that the Republic of Korea is striving to maintain a balance in its relations with the great powers and pursue a foreign policy independent of the great powers, which, however, is complicated by the need to maintain close military-political coordination with Washington due to the unresolved North Korean missile nuclear problem and the relentless growth of China's influence on the economy of the Republic of Korea. Preserving the central role of the alliance with the United States and strengthening economic relations with China as the world's second world economy is a continuing reality of the Republic of Korea.

Deconstructing geopolitics in the classroom. Grasping geopolitical codes through active learning

This article describes an activity I designed to allow students to grasp critical approaches in Geopolitics better. The activity is focused on the deconstruction of the US’ geopolitical code regarding the 2003 intervention in Iraq. The article describes the activity, and then evaluates students’ learning through four different kinds of review and assessment. Overall, the different assessments show that students managed to achieve the main learning outcomes of the activity—i.e., being able to reflect on this geopolitical code as a social construction legitimizing militaryaction. These assessments also show that students are able to apply what they learned in this specific activity to other geopolitical discourses —thus showing how the activity helpsthem develop critical thinking outside the classroom. In this sense, the article concludes that active learning can be helpful for instructors teaching critical approaches in International Relationsor other similar fields. Having students working with their knowledge allows learners to understand better how to produce critical analyses and to grasp their political weight.

Geopolitics Codes di Asia Tenggara dalam Geopolitical Structures Indo-Pasifik

By using three main concepts, namely geopolitical agents, geopolitical structures, and geopolitical codes, this study examines how the geopolitics of Southeast Asia after the Indo-Pacific initiative in 2007, especially in the framework of the ASEAN Outlook on Indo-Pacific. Assessing qualitatively-descriptively through analyzing data from various books, journals and credible websites, the authors argue that, apart from ASEAN, there are also a number of actors/agents in the form of countries that have influence in the geopolitical structure, especially in Southeast Asia and even in the Indo-Pacific in general, namely Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia. The concepts of The Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) and the ASEAN Outlook on Indo-Pacific (AOIPs) have also been part of the Indo-Pacific geopolitical structures. While the Philippines and Singapore tend to take sides in supporting the US Indo-Pacific idea, some of the other actors, namely Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, actually show a neutral position.

NEW FOREIGN POLICY COURSE IN THE REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES

We relied on the “geopolitical codes” concept formulated by Colin Flint as “the manner in which a country orientates itself towards the world” to analyze the changes that the new President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev has brought to the country’s foreign policy. Geopolitical codes include assessments of strategic importance of the neighboring states defined by the leaders of state and potential threats emanating from them. We have studied the new foreign policy priorities formulated by President Mirziyoyev and possible variants of the foreign policy course pursued by the Republic of Uzbekistan in Central Asia, the EAEU and WTO, as well as specifics of its relationships with the leading centers of power. We have selected comparative analysis, SWOT analysis and the prognostication method as our main instruments.

Setting the Standard? Revisiting the Unfolding Discourse in American and British Online News on the Snowden Revelations

ABSTRACT In Edward Snowden’s surveillance revelations in 2013, online news media had an essential role in constructing discourse on mass surveillance, because sensitive documents were leaked straight to the press. To understand the role of online news in unfolding geopolitical discourses, this discourse analysis examined popular American and British online news reports at the time. The discourse analysis focused on selectivity, priming, and metaphors, while integrating notions on geopolitical code to understand whether online news mirrored the two involved governments’ justifications of surveillance practices. The analysis demonstrated selectivity in which victims of surveillance got attention, and online news tended to prime opinions critical of the surveillance. The justifications of the governments were communicated, but often refuted by other sources quoted in the same stories. Journalists used critical metaphors to convey the scope of the surveillance practices to readers. The findings highlight the role of online news in unfolding discourse of novel geopolitical affairs.

Geopolitics on the ‘Other Side’: Counterpart’s Imaginary of a World System after the Virus

ABSTRACT Drawing on analytic frameworks from feminist IR’s interrogation of fear in geopolitics and approaches rooted in the popular culture-world politics (PCWP) continuum, this article examines the ways in which the television series Counterpart (STARZ, 2017–2019) presaged a world defined by a novel form of ideological xenophobia and apolitical anthropophobia at the global level. As a premier example of immersive geopolitical television, the series examines diplomacy, biopolitics, and everyday attitudes to international relations via a screened imaginary that very much resembles our so-called ‘real world’ in the midst of the COVID–19 pandemic, while also auguring the likely reality to come. As I argue, our ‘new normal’ parallels many of the ‘other-worldly’ geopolitical codes and visions presented in Counterpart, thus explaining renewed interest in the series since early 2020. Focusing on the policing of bodies and borders in the time of COVID–19, I examine the series’ discursive and visual world-building against various ‘real-world’ governmental and societal responses to the‘virus’. This is done through the lens of a new, global geopolitical thinking that is founded in the fear of (other) humans who are/might be (un)knowing carriers of the virus. Using Counterpartas tool to think with, I attempt to bind geopolitics – an imagined/imaginary system of power relations based on limits and control – to anxieties triggered by the wide-ranging and uncontrollable flows of the novel coronavirus.

The Cultural Code in Terms of Translation Activity

The article discusses the cultural code as a component of the general professional competence of translators and interpreters, postulating that the success of any given translation activity depends on the degree to which the translator knows the cultural code, viewed here as knowledge of key quotations, personalities, and dates. It also argues that a country’s national security depends upon the degree to which the population has mastered the country’s cultural code. The authors have conducted a survey among students of a Russian university to determine the degree to which they possess the Russian cultural code. The results of the survey reveal that the respondents’ mastery of the cultural code is weak and inadequate, and thus they are not prepared to perform translation activity with required accuracy. The authors conclude that potential erosion of the cultural code poses a threat to national security and results in the destruction of the nation’s geopolitical code. Theoretical relevance of the research lies in the authors’ attempt to estimate the present condition of the collective memory and the population’s mastery of the Russian cultural code as reflected in the younger generation as well as in determining the dependence of the country’s national security, firstly, on the degree to which the population has mastered the cultural code and, secondly, on the population’s grasp of its national identity. The practical value of this research project lies in the new additional challenges it sets for those who are involved in training translators and interpreters, calling educators to revise and improve current methods of teaching translation in view of the obvious insufficiency of students’ knowledge of their national culture.

Landscape, Geopolitics, and National Identity in the Norwegian Thrillers Occupied and Nobel

Abstract Focusing on the use of landscape in the Norwegian series Occupied (2015–2020) and Nobel (2016), this article examines the ways in which cityscapes and panoramas of the natural environment are employed as affective, as well as aesthetic tools for storytelling within a geopolitically inflected framework. Drawing on literature from popular geopolitics, geocriticism, and visual politics, my analysis interrogates the ways in which geopolitical codes and visions manifest via televisual fiction, reflecting a variety of insecurities associated with Norway's current position in world affairs, as well as contemporary challenges to Norwegian national identity. This article also discusses how these two series have adapted key geovisual elements of the what I deem the “near Nordic Noir” style to focus more explicitly on geopolitical questions, linking Occupied and Nobel to other geopolitically inflected series from Nordic Europe.

Geopolitical Television Drama Within and Beyond the Nordic Region

Abstract This article presents a framework for thinking about the intersections between geopolitics and Northern European television drama by examining the contemporary Nordic Noir genre of crime drama. Nordic Noir features not only the double plot that combines sociopolitical critique with crime drama, but also a third “gaze” that engages aesthetics and territorial features that further individual series’ geopolitical critique. Nordic Noir has become especially attuned to contemporary geopolitical issues specific to its setting (climate change, East-West rivalries, etc.), through which viewers engage with region-specific geopolitical codes and visions. However, what happens when Nordic geopolitical television drama series are exported and transculturally adapted to different geopolitical and cultural realities? By examining the Southeast Asian localisation of The Bridge (Viu/HBO Asia, 2018–) that transforms Nordic Noir into “tropical noir”, this article critically reflects on the geopolitical power and societal engagement of the Nordic Noir template both within and beyond the Nordic region.

한국과 일본의 대 아세안 안보정책 - 신남방정책과 자유롭고 개방된 인도･태평양 비전, 그리고 역외 중간국의 전략적 영향력 -

This study analyzes the regional security policies of South Korea and Japan. The geopolitical competition between the U.S. and China has enhanced the strategic position of the so- called middle states and has additionally imposed considerable regional security challenges. While focusing on the strategic influence in the middle zone, this study analyzes the regional security policies both of the governments of South Korea's Moon Jae-in and the cabinet of Japan's Abe Shinzo, which was revealed in the former’s New Southern Policy (NSP) and the latter’s Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) Vision. Firstly, it reveals what kind of geopolitical codes are embedded in those regional security policies (section 2). It then analyzes both countries’ upward approaches, i.e. the responses to the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy (section 3) and the downward approaches, i.e. the main features of security cooperation toward the ASEAN countries (section 4). This work provides the following implications. Firstly, although both countries’ progress at security cooperation has contributed towards the improvement of the intermediary security networks, it is unlikely to be a valid prescription to ease the tension between these two giants. Secondly, it is desirable for Seoul and Tokyo to act as strong advocates to help further consolidate the ASEAN centrality rather than actively participating in the U.S.-led Indo-Pacific strategy. Finally, the two sides should pursue partnerships with countries that have varied political systems, not merely a united front with like-minded democracies.

Transformation of the modern geopolitical code of Ukraine: problems and prospects

Transformation of the modern geopolitical code of Ukraine: problems and prospects

EXTERNAL FACTORS OF GEOPOLITICAL PROCESSES IN THE SOUTH OF RUSSIA IN THE CONTEXT OF GLOBALIZATION AND REGIONALIZATION

Russia is the largest country in the world, a civilization state, with its unique geopolitical code. To change this course, the identity of our country, to force it to wander in the wake of the geopolitical and foreign policy aspirations of other centers of power, a number of geopolitical projects based on “hard power”, “soft power” as well as “soft power” are being implemented in the Russian Federation and beyond its external borders. At the same time, due to the large-scale territory of Russia, the presence of its internal regions that are different in their characteristics, various projects are deployed by external forces in various directions. This article discusses the geopolitical projects of the main external forces projecting their influence on the South of Russia - the territories of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation that are part of the Southern and North Caucasian federal districts. There are eight republics there: Adygea, Daghestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Kalmykia, Karachay-Cherkessia, Crimea, North Ossetia-Alania and Chechnya, two territories - Krasnodar and Stavropol and three regions - Astrakhan, Volgograd and Rostov; in total 14 subjects of Russia.

GEOPOLITICAL GOALS AND GEOSTRATEGY OF UKRAINE

The issues related to the definition of the essence of the concept of "geopolitics" are considered, the geostrategy of Ukraine is studied, and the factors influencing its formation, the main geopolitical goals of Ukraine are characterized. Geostrategy as a practical component of geopolitics is analyzed in detail. The peculiarities of the modern geostrategy of Ukraine are revealed, the main goals used by the states to achieve certain results are given. The main goals and principles of forming the geostrategy of Ukraine are studied and determined, which is an extremely important topic, because in modern conditions a new geopolitical world is emerging, and Ukraine is trying to establish itself in the international arena as an active geopolitical player. The main attention is paid to one of the most important factors that play a significant role in the development of the geopolitical code of any country - the geopolitical position of its territory, the state of the treaty base and relations with other countries, common borders, geopolitical situation in the region and the world. It is noted that the geopolitical position is one of the main determinants that determine the specifics of the geostrategy of any state in geospace. Penetration into the wider world begins with attempts to understand it, establish contacts with it and enter into a multifaceted dialogue. It is emphasized that only then can we find those forms of presentations of our own identity and our own interests in which the world will be able to understand ourselves. Ukraine must realize itself in the geopolitical context and in the context of the development of world civilization. It turns out that the definition of geopolitical interests of Ukraine requires consideration of a complex system of interests of different countries, the distribution of forces - economic, political, military, spiritual - in each of the regions of the world.

Kod geopolityczny – koncepcja teoretyczna i metodologiczna

Geopolitical Code – Theoretical and Methodological Concepts The article deals with geopolitical codes in relation to theoretical and methodological assumptions of social and political sciences. Geopolitical codes are considered in broad reference to the cultural and national codes of mythical narratives. The aim of this article is to transform cultural codes into analytical and methodological categories. The article includes an analysis of the concept of geopolitical code, its definition, and its classification as a set of social ideas. The text verifies the basic assumptions of geopolitical code: its structure, functions and possibilities of verification in the existing research methods of social, political and security sciences. The author also draws attention to the role of geopolitical codes in forming the state’s information security policy.