“Few modern ideologies are as whimsically all-encompassing, as romantically obscure, as intellectually sloppy, and as likely to start a third world war as the theory of ‘geopolitics.’”
Introduction
Have you ever wondered what would yield as the product of a love child between two disciplines, geography and politics? Ding ding! We introduce you to geopolitics! Well not exactly. Geopolitics is different from geography and politics but does involve the two.
Just as we must maintain relationships with acquaintances and colleagues, countries too must foster healthy relations with each other for collaborative growth. Who knows…, some may even be best friends.
This article focuses on the importance of geopolitics and policies. The main theme is to lay interconnections between the two and their dominance in influencing relations between countries. It aims to understand the impact of the two on the world alongside observing how one variable is affected in case of disappearance of the other.
Getting to Know Part
Geopolitics has multiple interpretations, the most rudimentary being the study of international relations between countries in tie to geographical and political concepts. “Few modern ideologies are as whimsically all-encompassing, as romantically obscure, as intellectually sloppy, and as likely to start a third world war as the theory of `geopolitics.’” It is the present with rapid interconnections between countries, creating the need to understand dynamics and risks arising from strategic exchanges. It holds a lot of importance, especially for business and the country’s economy. The real world requires knowledge of diplomacy and policies.
Oh? Policies? What’s their role here? Logically, policies are guidelines designed to be followed during decision-making. They aid in rational outcomes. They enforce accountability, and efficiency, outline rules, and provide guidance. They are of crucial importance, as decisions will not be bound by boundaries, resulting in incautious decisions. Policies morph into different forms at a global scale. Foreign policies are an example of policies inculcated into geopolitics as foreign policies define a nation and its rapport with other actors.
Before Reaching the Crux
Before delving into the correlation between the two, we must understand these disciplines separately with examples.
Geopolitics houses a range of issues, be it power, geography, and international relations. Let’s highlight a few areas of common occurrences –
Firstly, Geopolitics often involves conflicts over territory and borders. Disputes can arise between neighbouring countries or groups within a single country. Example: India and Pakistan have long-standing border disputes over the region of Kashmir.
Secondly, access to resources can also be a major geopolitical issue. Rightly said, “Scarcity is the crux of economic problems”, countries may compete for control over these resources, creating tensions and leading to wars. For example, the South China Sea is a region of intense competition between China, Vietnam, and other countries.
Thirdly, Geopolitics also involves the formation of military alliances between countries, often based on shared security concerns or political ideologies. Examples include the NATO alliance, formed during the Cold War, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which includes China and several Central Asian countries.
Lastly, as mentioned earlier, Geopolitics contains the complex network of diplomatic relations between countries. Diplomatic issues can range over a myriad of reasons, from trade agreements to political alliances to disputes over human rights. For example, the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine has been a major diplomatic issue in the Middle East for decades.
To begin listing out the endless branches of policies would take ages! A few of the very prominent ones are:
Firstly, Occupational safety and health policies. These are basic workplace policies, ensuring the health, safety, and well-being of everyone who works in a job.
Secondly is the Code of conduct. Coined as the workplace code of ethics, this internal policy document contains rules everyone is to abide by. It provides guidelines about appropriate behaviour for the company’s staff and outlines boundaries, everyone ought to work within to ensure a holistic environment.
Thirdly, we also have public policies. Health, criminal and educational policies are a part of this branch of policies.
Thereby, the two disciplines are prominent in our daily lives.
These topics often intercept each other and certainly play an important role in the existence of the other. Geopolitics needs policies to create guidelines establishing bindings on exchanges occurring between countries. Policies require geopolitics to make better guidelines which are acceptable and feasible.
Geopolitics without Policies
Since policies are rules mutually accepted by everyone, their absence will cause a lot of turmoil and anarchy. Lack of formal policies may result in a lack of regulation. Countries may set out in pursuit of reckless conquest of resources & land, decimating diplomatic relations. This will throw the world into a constant state of tension and war-like conditions with countries trying to expand their boundaries, to attain more resources. This will result in continuous tipping of the scales of power dynamics of the globe, creating an unpredictable environment.
Moreover, this constant state of war will result in the displacement of people, and refugees and a migration crisis.
Furthermore, economies will be gravely affected as resources grow even more rare, causing instability and hindering economic growth. Establishing treaties and maintaining order will be easier with policies to guide them. This will also lead to peacemaking bodies like the UN losing their power to mediate conflicts and retain world order. Thus, geopolitics needs policies to prevent the world from slipping into chaos.
Policies without Geopolitics
In the absence, of a binding force between countries, policies will drastically change. Lack of geopolitics will reduce the building of relations. This hampers globalisation and people will redirect their attention to local matters and demands instead of international issues. There will be a decrease in international trade. Foreign connections and policies will revolve around each country’s internal problems.
However, focusing less on international issues creates weakness in a country’s defence as funds will be devoted to internal circumstances. Lack of geopolitics in policies, results in a reduction in global collaborations. The effect may seem smaller but is as problematic as the latter.
A World without Both
The extreme of the hypothetical but, still worth thinking about. A world without the two would be much worse than the above two cases. Neither any rules and regulations enforced by policies nor any diplomatic relations between countries.
There won’t be any law and order, rendering institutions unable to settle disputes and rivalries between countries. There won’t be any guidelines or frameworks to aid in decision-making, generating instabilities and uncooperative nature.
Moreover, devoid of geopolitics, the world would lack global cooperation and would be hellbent on capturing land. Everyone will become each other’s foe and the strongest will conquer all, disrupting the harmony. People will be stuck in continuous cycles of wars, seeking refugee and asylum.
Conclusion
No doubt, Geopolitics and politics are interrelated. Without them, the world will fall into unprecedented turmoil. Who knew silly geography and policies could dictate the world with their influence? The above article supported the claim that, yes they can! In conclusion, it is rightfully said that geopolitics and policies are two halves that make a whole. One can’t exist to its maximum without the other. In most cases, geopolitics is the key component that drives policies. They have a major impact on the economy and interrelations between countries and they both can flourish in their ways by coexisting in sync, maintaining the peace in the world.