Geopolitical Forces Research Articles

Building Roads to Take the Land. Urban Amazonia and the Case of San Julian

This essay examines the vast urban transformation of the Amazon Rainforest during the second half of the twentieth century. It frames the mid twentieth century geopolitical forces and governmental ethos that instigated the largest urbanization process in the history of the forest. More specifically, the text showcases the small but prominent settlement of San Julian, in the Bolivian eastern plains, as a model project in the context of a regional forest that continues to rapidly urbanize, raising important questions and presenting an important model about urban and economic development in an age of extreme environmental uncertainty.

The Islamic Republic of Iran as a New Member of BRICS

The article analyzes the political, economic and cultural development of Iran throughout the existence of this unique state and its role in regional and world politics. It is claimed that the Islamic Republic of Iran represents one of the oldest civilizations and a serious geopolitical force in the center of Eurasia. The author explores the history of various state entities, that existed on the territory of modern Iran. The article provides an overview of key events in Russian-Iranian relations from the end of the 18th century to the present day, including the wars between the Russian and Persian Empires, the interaction of Moscow and Tehran during the First and Second World Wars, and the era of the Cold War. Special attention is paid to the Iranian Revolution of 1979, which is considered as a symbol of protest against Western domination and an important factor in Reislamization, as well as the Iran-Iraq war of 1980–1988 and its consequences for regional stability. As а part of the study of Iran’s policy in the 21st century, attention is focused on Tehran’s relations with the leading centers of the modern world, including the Russian Federation, the People’s Republic of China, the United States of America. The article describes the impact of Iran’s nuclear program on international relations and the effect of Western sanctions on the socio-economic situation in the Islamic Republic. The author concludes that Iran, which joined the BRICS in 2024, has every chance to become an important player in the global economy and politics. At the same time, the Islamic Republic of Iran is a very valuable asset for the group itself.

A geopolitical-economy of distant water fisheries access arrangements

AbstractIn recent decades, fishing fleets and effort have grown in aggregate throughout the waters of lower-income coastal countries, much of which is carried out by vessels registered in higher-income countries. Fisheries access arrangements (FAAs) underpin this key trend in ocean fisheries and have their origins in UNCLOS’s promise to establish resource ownership as a mechanism to increase benefits to newly independent coastal and island states. Coastal states use FAAs to permit a foreign state, firm, or industry association to fish within its waters. This paper provides a conceptual approach for understanding FAAs across the global ocean and for exploring their potential to deliver on the promise of UNCLOS. Illustrated with the findings from multiple case studies, we advance understanding of FAAs by developing a geopolitical-economy of access that attends to the combination of contingent and context-specific economic, ecologic, and geopolitical forces that shape the terms, conditions and practices of the FAAs shaping this persistent phenomenon of higher-income industrial fleets fishing throughout lower-income countries’ waters.

China: a new geopolitical force in Africa

China: a new geopolitical force in Africa

Contribution of Science and Technology to the Country’s National Security

In the face of Nepal's constant vulnerability to major geopolitical forces, the country has yet to fully harness technology to safeguard its national interests. This paper highlights how states, in demanding times, have wielded scientific technology to safeguard their security and address their interests. This paper draws attention to the importance of investment in innovation and research for the survival of a nation. Drawing upon historical, technological, and geopolitical perspectives, this paper explores the pivotal role of scientific and technological breakthroughs in shaping military strategies, and war efforts. The paper examines key moments when innovations such as the development of bow and arrow, gunpowder, RADAR, proximity fuse, cryptography, and computer malware have provided nations, civilizations, and communities with a vital advantage in safeguarding their security. Furthermore, the paper explores the mutual relationship between scientific research, innovation, and economic growth. It highlights how investments in science bolster a country's defence capabilities and foster innovative ecosystems that drive economic prosperity. Ultimately, this paper seeks to provide a comprehensive overview of the contributions of science to national security and well-being. Analyzing the relationship between innovation, strategy, and global dynamics; the paper highlights the imperativeness of nations to adapt, collaborate, and harness scientific advancements, to safeguard their interests in an increasingly complex world. Through an enriched understanding of the past and present contributions of science in national defence, Nepalese policymakers, military leadership, and the country’s scientific community can navigate the intricate landscape of national safe guardianship to ensure a secure and prosperous future for Nepal.

Computational phylogenetics reveal histories of sign languages.

Sign languages are naturally occurring languages. As such, their emergence and spread reflect the histories of their communities. However, limitations in historical recordkeeping and linguistic documentation have hindered the diachronic analysis of sign languages. In this work, we used computational phylogenetic methods to study family structure among 19 sign languages from deaf communities worldwide. We used phonologically coded lexical data from contemporary languages to infer relatedness and suggest that these methods can help study regular form changes in sign languages. The inferred trees are consistent in key respects with known historical information but challenge certain assumed groupings and surpass analyses made available by traditional methods. Moreover, the phylogenetic inferences are not reducible to geographic distribution but do affirm the importance of geopolitical forces in the histories of human languages.

Kicking power play: china's football diplomacy as a geopolitical force

Kicking power play: china's football diplomacy as a geopolitical force

Governing platforms and societies

When we (my co-authors Thomas Poell and Martijn de Waal) published The Platform Society. Public Values in a Connective World in 2018, the field of “platform studies” had just started to emerge. In our book, we tried to explain how platformization had started to affect entire sectors, exemplified by the news industry, urban transport, health care, and education. In the epilogue, we argued that “governing platform societies” requires not just a cross-sectoral approach but calls more profoundly for a transnational discourse of governance issues. Since 2018, we have seen a distinct rise in challenges concerning platforms and societies: the growing impact of Big Tech platforms on digital ecosystems around the globe; the rise of two “superpower” ecosystems which are in many ways interwoven with geopolitical forces; the mounting dependence of state and civil society actors on large digital infrastructures owned and operated by Big Tech; and the lasting impact of platformization not just on labor and business management, but on democratic processes and institutions.

The Interplay of Historical, Cultural, and Geopolitical Factors in Shaping Security Perceptions: A Comparative Analysis of Asia and Europe

Numerous historical, cultural, and geopolitical factors influence the complex structures that make up security perceptions. The intricacies of security perceptions in Asia and Europe are explored in this comparative research paper, which clarifies how cultural norms, historical narratives, and geopolitical forces interact to influence perceptions of threat and security priorities. This study attempts to identify patterns and relationships between numerous characteristics and security perceptions by using a quantitative analysis of survey data obtained from diverse groups throughout both regions and thoroughly evaluating the body of existing literature. The results highlight the complex interactions among historical legacies, cultural identities, and geopolitical alignments, providing insightful information to academics, decision-makers, and practitioners involved in comprehending and resolving modern security issues.

Geopolitical Positioning of a Small State: Serbia in the Shadow of Yugoslavia’s ‘Third Way’

This article examines Serbia’s positioning in the East-West axis during the post-Cold War era. This is a specific example of the ‘third way’ in twenty-first century geopolitical behaviour. The small country remains non-aligned within the existing alliances of the East and the West, trying to find a balance between their influence and remaining faithful to its national interests. Although with far more modest resources, the situation of the Serbian state is reminiscent of the fate of Yugoslavia, which was among the initiators of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). Relying on substantial empirical evidence, this article claims that being a small state is not an insurmountable obstacle to pursuing an assertive foreign policy, albeit at the cost of complicated relations with neighbouring countries and those geopolitical forces dominating the current world order. Summarising the Serbian experience in ‘third way’ geopolitics, a model of multiple asymmetries in interrelations between the small state and great powers is elaborated.

Evaluative representation of China's political image in modern Russian Media

The object of the study is the evaluative characteristics of the image of China presented in modern Russian media. The subject of the study is the content and language features of the estimated representation of the political image of China as one of the leading geopolitical forces in the world. The material of the work was published by Russian Internet media (2020-2023). The author examines in detail the features of the evaluation of the image of the head of state, Xi Jinping, as well as the implementation of China's domestic and foreign policy. The positive and negative evaluative characteristics of China's political image are revealed. Particular attention is paid to the formation of private values. The linguistic means of expressing evaluation used in the texts of modern Russian mass media are characterized. The conducted research allows us to conclude that a generally positive political image of China is being formed in modern Russian Internet media (81% of positive ratings). On the positive side, the personal qualities of the head of state, which are manifested in the implementation of his political activities, are evaluated. The economic situation in the country, the nature of foreign policy towards the United States, and participation in resolving the conflict between Russia and Ukraine are also generally positively assessed. A negative assessment is present only when describing the aggressive strategies in Xi Jinping's policy. In most cases, a positive absolute assessment of China's policy is designed to form the image of a stable state and a strong "player" in the political arena. The novelty of the conducted research lies in the appeal to the study of the information field relevant to the Russian public in connection with the high dynamics of the development of international Russian-Chinese relations. The peculiarities of the evaluative representation of the image of the state and the policy implemented by it in the media allow us to draw conclusions about the mechanisms of formation of evaluative meanings and impact on the mass audience in the modern information space.

UNVEILING POLITICAL DYNAMICS: THE INTRICATE MOTIVE BEHIND THE MURDER OF LEVAN (LEON) BATONISHVILI

The paper provides a comprehensive exploration of the complex political milieu in Kartl-Kakheti during the 1770s and 1780s, particularly elucidating Russia's expansionist objectives. Within this historical context, it meticulously examines the altruistic endeavors of Levan Batonishvili, a figure of significance in his own right and an ancestor to the esteemed King Erekle. Batonishvili, distinguished by his erudition, astute intelligence, courage, and active role in politics at the royal court, emerges as a pivotal character in the narrative. His unwavering commitment and robust support for King Erekle, especially in fortifying state policies that aimed at the unification of the country and bolstering defense capabilities, are integral facets explored in this research. Batonishvili's role as a stalwart ally to the king becomes crucial in understanding the broader political landscape. Through a meticulous analysis of primary sources and a chronological examination of political events, the paper posits that Russia, recognizing the influence and effectiveness of Batonishvili, strategically targeted him. This targeted approach, as unveiled through the research, played a significant role in disrupting Georgia's European aspirations, profoundly altering its developmental trajectory towards alignment with Russia. The research not only offers a nuanced understanding of historical events but also underscores the intricate interplay between key figures like Batonishvili and the broader geopolitical forces shaping the fate of the Caucasus in the 18th century.

A healthy state? Geopolitics, health, and safety: A keynote presentation for the European Conference of Law Enforcement and Public Health

Law enforcement and public health agencies operate in the context of their national government policies and resources. But improving and protecting health and community safety are made more difficult by four dark geopolitical forces which have been accelerating in recent years. Neoliberalism is driving governments to pursue low tax, low regulation small-state policies and aiding the expansion of uncontrolled globalization and colonialization of health-damaging manufacturing and services by multinational companies. The “Sovereign individuals,” first described in 1997, are the super-rich who have mastery over information technologies to avoid taxes and hide their wealth from governments. The vast offshoring of wealth has led to increasing inequalities in wealth and health, between rich and poor, further adding to civil distrust and unrest. Loss of revenues prevents government funding of health, welfare, and public protection whilst creating greater need for it. To explain the increasing poverty and harshness of life for the masses, there has been a rebirth and rise of populism. This has accelerated political corruption, created culture wars, fomented distrust of others, and added to global political instability. The information revolution has influenced all of these: it has created its own dark geopolitical force through the explosion of social media and industrial disinformation undermining individual critical thinking and democratic processes. Law enforcement and public health agencies face the consequences of these dark forces in their daily work, but they also need to understand more and develop more effective partnership responses to counter the worst excesses of the new geopolitical realities.

Geopolitical Decoupling in Global Production Networks

This article introduces the concept of geopolitical decoupling in global production networks (GPNs). Geopolitical decoupling is imposed on coupling participants by geopolitical forces that pressure transnational corporations to exit host regions/economies by cutting investment, production, and trade links with host country firms and industries. It also aims to disrupt inside-out trade, investment, and production links of host country firms abroad. The article identifies the basic features of geopolitical decoupling, the central role of states in geopolitical decoupling, the strategic responses of firms to deal with decoupling pressures, and the state strategies to cope with the negative effects of geopolitical decoupling in affected regions/economies. Empirically, the article investigates geopolitical decoupling on the example of the Iranian automotive industry, which experienced three geopolitical decouplings from automotive industry GPNs since 1979. It demonstrates the short- and long-term effects of geopolitical decoupling and recoupling on the Iranian automotive industry in the context of the strategic responses by the state and the political struggles over the nature of the state industrial development policy in Iran.

From the editors

Our settlements are under constant threat, struggling to keep up with a changing world, a world with everchanging demands, both from our citizens and our ideals of what a successful settlement should be. Specifically, geo-political forces and factors including migration, war and civil unrest, pandemics and the throes of climate change have come to affect human settlements in multiple ways. Professor Greg Clark (Future Cities and New Industries, HSBC), explains, “In the recent past, we thought a successful city was a city with a major cluster of office jobs in the centre, suburban housing on the fringes, and an attractive set of amenities, facilities, services and public space” (Goodman, 2023). However, the priorities of citizens and town and regional planners are changing, we are setting a new standard for our settlements, expecting more from it, for this living organism to deliver more, be more...

After Ukraine: How Can We Ensure Stability in the Arctic?

“After Ukraine: How can we ensure stability in the Arctic?” presents the findings of two interview-based reports addressing the risk of conflict in the Arctic over a twenty-year perspective. We found that there are concerns that the Arctic may be torn apart as a result of geopolitical forces on several levels, and that the rules-based order in the Arctic has come under pressure after the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the A7's subsequent decision to pause the Arctic Council. This presents a number of risks to future security in the region and the Arctic states are having difficulties figuring out how to move on from here. We identified some of these risks and formulated a set of policy recommendations to mitigate them.

The Imperative of Regulation: The Co-creation of a Medical and Non-medical US Opioid Crisis.

The ravaging COVID-19 pandemic has almost pushed into oblivion the fact that the United States is still struggling with an immense addiction crisis. Drug overdose deaths rose from 16,849 in 1999 to nearly 110000-of which an estimated 75,000 involved opioids-in 2022. On a yearly basis, the opioid casualty rate is higher than the combined number of victims of firearm violence and car accidents. The Covid-19 epidemic might have helped to worsen the addiction crisis by stimulating drug use among adolescents and diverting national attention to yet another public health crisis. In the past decade the sharpest increase in deaths occurred among those related to fentanyl and fentanyl analogs (illicitly manufactured, synthetic opioids of greater potency). In the first opioid crisis wave (1998-2010), opioid-related deaths were mainly associated with prescription opioids such as Oxycontin (oxycodone hydrochloride). The mass prescription of these narcotic drugs did anything but control the pervasive phenomenon of 'addiction on prescription' that played such an important role in the emergence and robustness of the US opioid crisis. Using a long-term drug lifecycle analytic approach in this article I will show how opioid producing pharmaceutical companies created a medical market for opioid painkillers. They thus fueled a consumer demand for potent opioid drugs that was eagerly capitalized on by criminal entrepreneurs and their international logistic networks. I will also point out the failure of US authorities to effectively respond to this crisis due to the gap between narcotic product regulation, regulation of marketing practices and the rise of a corporate dominated health care system. Ironically, this turned the most powerful geopolitical force in the war against drugs into its greatest victim. Due to formulary availability and regulatory barriers to accessibility European countries have been relatively protected against following suit the US opioid crisis.

5G common threads and challenges in emerging economies: the cases of Indonesia and Peru

Some decades on after the MacBride Many Voices, One World report (1980) and the Maitland Missing Link report (1985), global telecommunications have only gained in importance, yet are still fissured by global inequalities. This situation is evident in one of the major developments underway in recent years: 5G mobile technologies. 5G is highly significant for present and future communication—and well advanced in its deployment and adoption. However, the dominant ways in which 5G has been imagined, planned, and deployed have been significantly shaped by interests and geopolitical forces that exclude many countries, and many of the putative beneficiaries of the emergent technology. To shed light on this impasse, in this paper, we offer a comparative analysis of policy and technology realities in two distinct countries that have been relatively overlooked in 5G: Peru and Indonesia. What we find is that national policies are premised on a shared interest and shared benefits, however, at this crucial point in deployment the outcomes are remote for the majority of citizens, especially in ways that matter for daily lives. In both these countries, 5G provides benefits for the small groups who can access and afford it, with others groups in position to be able to come online in the near future—as it provides opportunities for investments, fees, and penalties. However, for large segments of the populations, 5G, the prospects of connectivity, and the emerging digital economy are a long way off.

Los Tejanos as a Nineteenth-Century Border Play

Abstract: Since the 1980s, playwrights in the Mexican Northwest/US Southwest have responded to the steadily increasing militarization of the US-Mexico border by dramatizing the fraught identity choices forced upon borderlanders by geopolitical forces beyond their control. In the US, the term "border play" is commonly used to describe such works. In this essay, I argue that the border play, as a regional form, has roots far deeper than the late twentieth century. I offer as an example Los Tejanos , a nuevomexicano secular drama dated to the 1840s, which tells the story of an invasion of the then Mexican department of New Mexico by the neigh-boring Republic of Texas. While the play's plot conveys an explicitly patriotic tale of New Mexican solidarity in the face of Anglo aggression, an analysis of its characters reveals that national, ethnic, and racial identities were far less settled at that time than the script suggests. I contend that the categorization of Los Tejanos as a border play reveals the form to be a deeply historical and regionally-specific artistic response to the ambiguous nature of borderland identities. Additionally, the appearance of a prominent Native American character in Los Tejanos speaks to the centrality of indigeneity to regional identity formation in the past, thus drawing attention to the relative lack of Indigenous presence in recent US border plays.

A History of Forgetting

A History of Forgetting Elizabeth Wijaya (bio) REMAPPING THE SINOPHONE: THE CULTURAL PRODUCTION OF CHINESE-LANGUAGE CINEMA IN SINGAPORE AND MALAYA BEFORE AND DURING THE COLD WAR BY WAI SIAM HEE Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2019 REMAPPING THE SINOPHONE: THE CULTURAL PRODUCTION OF CHINESE-LANGUAGE CINEMA IN SINGAPORE AND MALAYA BEFORE AND DURING THE COLD WAR BY WAI SIAM HEE Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2019 What does it mean to remember an absence? Many of the films analyzed and listed in the filmographies of Hee Wai Siam's Remapping the Sinophone are doubly lost: both materially absent and barely present in film canons and popular memory. Even some of the films that have survived or have recently resurfaced and have been restored, such as Blood and Tears of the Overseas Chinese (Cai Wenjin, 1946) and Spirit of the Overseas Chinese (Wan Hoi-Ling, 1946), having already been once-forgotten, currently still have limited visibility as they can only be accessed at film archives or during special screenings. In Hee's Remapping the Sinophone: The Cultural Production of Chinese-Language Cinema in Singapore and Malaya before and during the Cold War, the status of whether a film is extant or nonextant is not always marked because Hee's concern is less with listing the material disappearances of the films than with tracing the causes and effects of the disappearances from the cultural histories of Chinese-language cinema. Through foregrounding lost but important films or rediscovered films and the debates surrounding their production, the ambition of Remapping the Sinophone extends to reclaiming the history of early Chinese-language cinema in Singapore and Malaya and positing the importance of this history for Sinophone and Cold War cinema studies. Remapping the Sinophone presents an indictment of forgetting and a call to remember that which has been obscured by historical and [End Page 197] geopolitical forces. The author argues that Mandarin and Chinesetopolect cinemas from Singapore and Malaya (1927 to 1965) have been neglected within academic discourse, cultural memory, as well as contemporary debates on inclusion and exclusion in cultural productions framed as Sinophone/Chinese-language. Hee is concerned that early Chinese-language cinema has been overlooked not only in Singapore and Malaysian cinema history but also in histories of Chinese-language cinema. This forgetting encompasses the films themselves as well as the debates on the term "Chinese-language cinema" in Singapore and Malaya in the 1950s. Hee's project of "remapping" the terrain of the Sinophone occurs alongside a recovery of the Singapore and Malayan roots of the "Sinophone" and "Chinese-language" debate as well as the Cold War context of the making and forgetting of this oeuvre that is further marginalized within the already marginalized cinemas of Singapore and Malaysia. In terms of the timeline covered in the book, 1927 was the release year for New Friend, the first locally produced film in Singapore, while 1965 was the year of Singapore's independence after separation from Malaysia and the last year in which the director Yi Shui made a film. In Hee's telling, 1965 was a crucial year of beginnings and endings, when Singapore's independence coincided with the end of Yi Shui's dream of the acceptance of the hybridized "Malayanised Chinese-language" cinema. The first chapter of the book begins with a debate over two non-extant films: New Friend (1927) directed by Guo Chuwen, and Leila Majnun (1934) directed by Balden Singh Rajhans. Hee argues that unlike what Latent Images by Uhde and Uhde claimed, New Friend (1927), rather than Leila Majnun (1934), was the first locally produced film in Singapore. Both films, though materially lost, remain significant in the entangled memory and legacy of Singapore and Malaysian cinema. The chapter continues with characteristically detailed research on the historical evidence pertaining to the production and release of New Friend. Hee ties the fate of New Friend to that of Chinese immigrants in Singapore and Malaysia, arguing that the neglect of New Friend reveals the "double rejections" of "Chinese immigrants in Singapore and Malaysia" by "national ideologies in their homeland and by postcolonial concerns in a new country" (45). For Hee, this double rejection is not...