Geopolitical Vision Research Articles

The Religious Component in Contemporary Russian Imperialism

Ever since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, various voices in the Russian public sphere have been trying to make sense of Russia’s new place in the world, its geopolitical horizons, and the identity of its people. One of the dominant trends that have emerged is Orthodox imperialism, which combines religious symbols and narratives with a geopolitical vision of Russian expansion and “reunification”. This article provides an overview of the Russian Orthodox imperialist voices, analysing the political norms and identities they have enabled. Our investigation shows that by advancing a programme that combines geopolitical restoration and eschatological religious mission, Orthodox imperialism offers an ideological solution to the problem of Russia’s lost great-power status. This solution, however, does not envisage a bright future for Russia or the world. On the contrary, it remains firmly fixated on the past, foretelling of an apocalyptic disaster if Moscow does not regain its former imperial glory and exercise its divine role as a “restrainer” to any global domination.

The Elements of Sea Power and the Indo-Pacific Strategy of the West Asian Region

During the last three decades, China has made significant progress, especially in the fields of economic development, defence, science and technology, and multilateral cooperation. Its emergence as a global power has also increasingly been challenging the US position. Many economic and strategic initiatives taken by China have provided it with strategic space and depth in the neighbouring region as well as the world also. The country is now openly displaying its military power and acting as a hegemon in the South and the East China Sea. The US is trying to counter the emerging influence of China by developing different alliances and partnerships in the Asia-Pacific and other regions. Thus, rivalry and tension have been increasing between China and the US and its allies. The present study analyses the designs of these emerging tensions and conflicts in the Indo-Pacific Region (IPR). The neighbouring West Asian Region (WAR), a playground of different global powers, is also a crucial region for the Indo-Pacific strategic game plan. The WAR has historically been dominated by the West and is therefore an integral part of their strategic thinking. Therefore, the necessity for the WAR to precisely define its strategic interest and responsibility for all surrounding regions and global powers has also been discussed. A discussion has also been made of current naval strength and how to unite it into a single unit. The geopolitical vision of Alfred Thayer Mahan in the form of the ‘Elements of Sea Powers’ has also been analysed to conclude as to how the WAR should adopt them to become a great naval power. In conclusion, the study also provides many suggestions and options for WAR’s Indo-Pacific strategy. The paper is based on secondary data. Meanwhile, the analytical descriptive approach adopted for the present research is based on the analysis of historical facts, discourse, and political developments. The data is collected from various books, journals, government portals, reports, newspapers, and publications of many institutions and organisations.

Connectivity, centrality, and adaptation: The coproduction of political space in China’s standardization of autonomous driving technologies

Technical standards are a topic of intense geopolitical competition. This article introduces standardization as a practice constitutive of meaning and social order, and, in particular, one that coproduces political space. It engages with the argument that China in international standardization aims to make itself more central, and increasingly rejects domestic adaptation, in order to promote a new spatial vision of Sino-centric connectivity for international relations. After situating this argument in the literature on standardization and space-making, the article analyzes China’s policy discourse on the standardization of Intelligent and Connected Vehicles. The analyzed discourse reveals a position towards connectivity that is partially Sino-centric, but also reproduces established narratives of openness, technical expertise, and cooperation. The article adds to the debate on the coproduction of political space by introducing standardization as a site through which connectivity as a geopolitical vision is negotiated. Empirically, it adds to recent findings that China's different national goals for digital infrastructure development may compete with each other, reducing the country's potential to coherently connect with the world on its own terms.

Examining a Critical Geopolitics in the Determination of Indonesia and Timor Leste Land Boundaries in Noel Besi – Citrana Segment

This study examines the determination of Indonesia and Timor Leste land boundaries, especially in the Noel Besi - Citrana segment. This study uses critical geopolitical analysis, especially the geopolitical vision according to Agnew (2013) and O Tuathail (1996), to explain the issue of land boundaries in the Noel Besi – Citrana segment. This study uses qualitative methods, in which the primary data is drawn from in-depth interviews with several key informants. The secondary data is through scientific literature and news in online media. This study shows that the issue of land boundaries in the Noel Besi – Citrana segment is caused by the different geopolitical visions of the two countries (Indonesia and Timor Leste). Although the two countries both refer to the 1904 Treaty between the Netherlands and the Portuguese, which contains a territorial boundary agreement on the island of Timor, the two countries have different geopolitical visions. Indonesia perceives the mouth of the Noel Besi River as the beginning of determining the boundary line in the east. Meanwhile, Timor Leste perceives that the delimitation should be drawn from Noel Besi, depicted in a small ditch (Nono Tuinan) in the west. The two countries then visualized the Naktuka region in constructing a map of the country's boundaries based on their respective perceptions. These results support the arguments of Agnew (2013) and O Tuathail (1996), which emphasize the role of geopolitical vision in writing the world by visualizing the surrounding environment based on perceptions as outlined in the construction of images and maps.

Digital Authoritarianism in the Middle East: Deception, Disinformation and Social Media

Digital Authoritarianism in the Middle East: Deception, Disinformation and Social Media

The geopolitical vision of the transnational outer space organization and its impact on fragile states (Iraq after the American in 2003 as a model)

The geopolitical vision of the transnational outer space organization and its impact on fragile states (Iraq after the American in 2003 as a model)

The geopolitical construction of Madrid as a city-region and its discontents: understanding the relevance of the “national” scale for the urban process

ABSTRACT This article aims to shed new light on the multiscalar politics of urbanization by examining the contested construction of Madrid as a global city-region and the resistances to this project at different scales. Drawing on the concept of the strategic urbanization of the state, it argues that the successful association between a city project and a geopolitical vision of the national state is essential to understand how states mobilize their resources to shape their domestic urban fabric. It follows from this claim that attempts to transform how urbanization unfolds in specific countries must dispute not only specific city projects, but also the geopolitical visions of the national state underpinning them.

Inventing Tomorrow: H.G. Wells and the Twentieth Century by Sarah Cole

<i>Inventing Tomorrow: H.G. Wells and the Twentieth Century</i> by Sarah Cole

La evolución del imaginario geopolítico de Brasil

The following article proposes a critical analysis on the constitution of the Brazilian geopolitical imagery, stretching from the time of Brazil’s independence to the beginning of the 21st century. More specifically, the text recognises the impact of the country’s colonial past on Brazil’s prevalent geopolitical thinking. That, along with the significance of certain geopolitical thinkers, theoretical approaches and specific socio-political contexts, would explain why factors such as the need to have a state-led plan that promotes integration in furtherance of progress, and Brazil’s hegemonic overreach at the regional and global levels, have been historically dominant in the Brazilian geopolitical vision. Similarly, it is argued that the concern to achieve an effective unification of the national territory, by means of carrying out projects to populate the Amazon, featured predominantly in the geopolitical strategies of Brazilian leaders. These strategies brought about effects visible within and beyond Brazil’s borders, the latter as regional integration initiatives.

MUSSOLINI ÎN SALA DE CLASĂ: PROPAGANDĂ FASCISTĂ ÎN ȘCOLILE ITALIENE DIN ROMÂNIA INTERBELICĂ (1922–1940)

Mussolini’s Italy was interested in promoting the image of a great power and in exporting the Fascist ideology abroad, both in areas where there were communities of Italian emigrants, as well as in those that fell within the wider sphere of its strategic, regional interest. Romania fell into both categories: not only it also hosted small communities of Italians, but it was one of the states that figured for a time in the geopolitical vision of dictator Benito Mussolini as a possible ally to be evaded from French influence and turned towards Rome. Thus, the Fascist propaganda, carefully directed by the regime, was present in interwar Romania, especially in the second half of the 1930s, not only in the capital, but also in the territory. It used all the means at its disposal, but especially the cultural ones, given that political and diplomatic relations between the two states had a sinuous course, without any notable progress in the 1930s. In this context, the Italian schools in Romania became one of the essential levers through which Rome’s agents tried to project the image of a strong state and an attractive regime at a local level, infusing all courses and educational activities with elements of Fascist propaganda. By focusing on the careful selection of students and their results, on the way of teaching the Italian language, on the organization of the students’ free time after the fascist model and on extracurricular activities, the Italian schools have established themselves at the time as educational institutions attractive not only to Italians, but also for other inhabitants of the cities in which they operated. They thus became small tools of Fascist propaganda organized by Mussolini’s Italy in Southeast Europe in the second half of the 1930s.

Internal and external sovereignty of post-Soviet unrecognized states

The article studies internal and external sovereignty of unrecognized or partially recognized post-Soviet states through the use of empirical analysis of quantitative data and critical analysis of subjective factors. It analyzes statistical and other information that reflects the demographic and socio-economic situation, foreign economic relations of such entities, and their impact on neighboring countries and regions. This is combined with the critical study of public opinions and popular identities based on surveys and 13 focus groups conducted in the fall of 2020 in Transnistria and Abkhazia. In all post-Soviet de facto states, the population has noticeably decreased (except for Nagorno-Karabakh before the 2020 war). The reason for the outflow of residents was the inability of such entities to provide citizens with decent incomes and their poor performance in economic competition with neighboring countries and regions, reflected in the dynamics of the key indicators per capita in terms of purchasing power parity. However, the economic and demographic situation cannot explain the sustainability of such entities. Strong political identity of citizens and their loyalty to the ruling regimes serve as the main basis for, and essential elements of, internal sovereignty. Participants of surveys highly value independence. They believe that it presumes economic independence, improved well-being, and the development of full-fledged international relations that helps to strengthen external sovereignty. Some respondents expressed disappointment with the fact that these goals have not been achieved in the course of 30 years. The geopolitical vision of the world by residents of post-Soviet de facto states is “Russia-centric”, although Russia is far from being idealized. In conclusion, the risks that Russia faces in connection with post-Soviet de facto states and with Moscow's involvement in the respective conflicts are assessed.

Manifestations of changing geopolitical influence in the Middle East at the beginning of the third millennium

The year 2016 represents a qualitative change in the regional and international geopolitical movement, as it represents the centenary of the 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement on the one hand, and the beginning of the end for the terrorist organization Daash in practice. This has an impact on the geopolitical behavior of countries that are active in the international political decision or those that influence it regionally, and even those that want to be It has a current and future role for a stage that has its aftermath of changes. The geopolitical behavior in itself needs a renewed understanding, especially with the multiplicity and change of its actors on the one hand, and the different ways of expressing and representing it theoretically and realistically on the geographical area of the Middle East on the other hand. This research sheds light with a geopolitical vision on the changes taking place in the region in terms of traditional power actors and the desire of new powers to play a more important role in the geographical scope that they may affect.

The Role Of Political Propaganda In The Strategy Of The United States Of America Towards Iran After September 11, 2001: A Geopolitical Vision

The Role Of Political Propaganda In The Strategy Of The United States Of America Towards Iran After September 11, 2001: A Geopolitical Vision

Imaginative vision of space in geopolitics: approach to study

The vision of space in critical geopolitics, expressed through the image, is defined. The geopolitical concept of space is interpreted as the result of the geopolitical interaction of the latter with the outside world. Its historical development, the nature of organisation and behavior in relation to other geopolitical entities play a decisive role in this regard. The accumulation of these processes over time forms the semantics of stereotypical political ideas about space, such as: mission, security, buffering, a tendency to integrate and interpenetrate attractiveness, conflict, centrality, peripherality, etc., expressing themselves in a geopolitical image. The images of space, which are becoming increasingly important in geopolitical interaction, direct modern geopolitics to a deeper understanding of the status, role and orientation of various entities expressing geopolitics. A system-representative model of the study of the geopolitical image of space as a basis of methodological orientation, presented as the main idea of the study, has been developed. The model synthesises the interaction between the main factors and elements that form the geopolitical vision of space, which are projected onto its image in a dependent relationship. With this model, we defend the idea of launching an algorithm that adequately structures the process of forming a geopolitical image of space. The attributes that determine the formation of the geopolitical image of space have been displayed: factors of perception of space of internal and external character; sources of space perception (social experience and education, art, media products, maps, media); geopolitical identification; geopolitical identity; geopolitical discourse; semantic stratification and the scale of the geopolitical image.

The Renaissance of Imperial Geopolitics.

Recebido: 12/02/2021 &#x0D; Aprovado: 29/04/2021&#x0D; My article aims at focusing on the fascist rhetoric over two territories, Malta and Corsica, the object of the irredentist goals of the fascist government during the twenties. Firstly, I will trace a general outline of the fascist geopolitical vision for the Mediterranean with reference to the Mussolinian policies towards France and Great Britain. Following this, I will examine the imperialist rhetoric promulgated through the magazine “Geopolitica” and the touring guides of Touring Club Italiano. &#x0D; Keywords: Fascism, Italy, Malta, Corsica, geopolitics

VISIÓN GEOPOLÍTICA DE LA AMAZONÍA PERUANA Y SU IMPACTO SOCIAL, ECONÓMICO Y POLÍTICO

The Peruvian Amazon is the holder of a series of natural resources that are the nation’s economic source, representing a living habitat for a series of indigenous communities, abundant flora and fauna, and a series of rivers that make up the Amazon River. Based on its importance, this article’s main objective was to deter-mine if there is a geopolitical strategy of the State aimed at protecting the Peruvian Amazon with respect to the social, economic and political impact it generates in Peru. The research was of a theoretical-empirical type, qualitative approach, and the research method was hermeneutical-interpretive. The population was made up of 43 investigations and 13 scientific articles, in addition to testimonies related to the international geopolitical vision. The sample consisted of 20 scientific investigations regarding the geopolitical vision of the Amazon in the social, economic and political fields, as well as the testimony of three experts in the field. Regarding the data collection techniques, the documentary analysis and the semi-structured interview were applied, using the registration sheets and the interview guide as instruments. It was found that the economic potential of this region makes it more attractive, since there is a potential in natural resources; Furthermore, the sense of belonging of the different indigenous and inter-ethnic communities and respect for their modus vivendus was evident, therefore, natural resources should be used harmoniously without harming the envi-ronment. It was concluded that the Peruvian Amazon has an important and essential role for the State due to its economic potential; However, there is still an Amazonian regional vacuum without sustainable develo-pment and with a greater impact on human development indices, as well as an empirical state without clear actions and policies to position itself geopolitically in the Amazon.

Writing “Eastness”: Romania and the Conundrum of Regionness in the Black Sea Area

The article sets out to explore how Romanian authorities have struggled to get rid of the border country syndrome through subregional initiatives in the Black Sea area once Romania joined the Euro-Atlantic community. The article examines how such subregional policies have performatively constituted Romania’s strategic identity in the area. Formally, all the subregional initiatives that the article addresses have drawn on an institutional logic of security. Informally, though, they promoted a geopolitical vision of security. Such a logic has sharply conflicted with the underlying security philosophy of both the European Union and other successful subregional initiatives in the area. Thus, instead of improving Romania’s level of regionness, these subregional policies have ended up creating more dividing lines in an already strained security environment. The article draws on David Campbell’s political criticism and shows how Romania’s security practices in the Black Sea area, instead of instilling Europeanness into the country’s strategic identity, have ended up reinforcing its “Eastness.”

France’s Geopolitical Vision for Europe and the Western Balkans: The Case of North Macedonia

France’s Geopolitical Vision for Europe and the Western Balkans: The Case of North Macedonia

Russian foreign policy and geopolitics in the Post-Soviet space and the Middle East: Tajikistan, Georgia, Ukraine and Syria

This article reviews and discusses the Russian foreign policy towards several countries in the Post-Soviet Space (Tajikistan, Ukraine and Georgia), and the Middle East (Syria). The Russian policy towards its near abroad shows elements of both (neo-)realism and constructivism. A realist perspective of Russian foreign policy seems evident as Russia pursues its own national (or imperial) geopolitical interest. However, it may not explain the Russian interventions satisfactorily. Analysing Russia’s intervention in these conflicts, it is important to look also at Russia’s own geopolitical vision; i.e. how Russia views the world, notably its near abroad, and Russia’s place, role or even mission in it. Russia has reacted to the NATO and European Union (EU) enlargements in its (former) geopolitical spheres of influence and has helped its ally Bashar Assad remain in power in Syria. The conflict in Ukraine is not irrelevant to that in Syria and the Russian experience in Chechnya and Tajikistan may have codetermined Russian intervention in Syria.

Chile as a Transpacific Bridge: Brokerage and Social Capital in the Pacific Basin

ABSTRACT The idea of Chile as a ‘bridge country’ that connects – or should connect – Latin America with the Asia-Pacific region has guided its commercial diplomacy since the early 1990s. We argue that this geopolitical vision corresponds closely with what network analysts describe as a ‘broker’: an actor that bridges ‘structural holes’ by connecting otherwise disconnected actors or groups of actors. As a relational approach, social network analysis provides an alternative way of thinking about Chile’s position in international relations that does not rely on preconceived groupings or rank orders based on country attributes, as in the case of ‘middle powers’ and ‘small states.’ Further, the approach allows us to empirically explore which countries of the Pacific Basin currently perform such a role and whether (and when) Chile conforms to the theoretical expectations of a ‘transpacific broker.’ Using network data on commercial agreements (1980–2018), we trace Chile’s emergence as a transpacific broker and discuss how its commercial diplomacy provided the country with leverage in this regard. In doing so, the study sheds light on the opportunities and limitations of peripheral actors seeking to gain social capital through networks of relations.