So I'm taking this class on International Political Geography, and I suspect Halford "World Island" Mackinder will come up. You can hit the link above, or, simply put: whoever controls the Eurasian land mass determines the future of the world (Low Carb or High Octane).
I've known that the U.S. has pursued an poorly articulated policy of opposing, in action, Mackinder's thesis. Mackinder saw two dimensions, land and sea, and figured internal lines of communications would make the Heartland Heartthrob (or Dear Leader) unbeatable.
I'd forgotten about Spykman. He extends Mackinder's thesis by including the third dimension of the air and further states that by controlling the 'rimland' you end up restraining the leviathan:
Who controls the rimland rules Eurasia;
Who rules Eurasia controls the destinies of the world.
Which, ahem, has been the general thrust of US foreign policy since WWII. All them bases that belong to us? You'll generally note that they're in rim states: western Eurasia, England, eastern Eurasia, Japan...and now expanding through southern Eurasia.
International Relations picks up theories like a tick picks up fleas, but Mackinder and Skypman seem to be holding up pretty well.
"Nations which renounce the power struggle and deliberately choose impotence will cease to influence international relations either for evil or good."--Unknown, possibly Skypman
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