Geopolitics: A Report on International Relations and Geography

This report delves into the multifaceted field of geopolitics, commencing with the foundational concept that geography significantly influences a nation's destiny, encompassing its strategic, political, and economic facets. It explores how geographical limitations impact economic development, while also acknowledging the potential disruptions caused by natural disasters and health issues. The report examines how multinational corporations exploit countries with abundant natural resources, and the potential for corruption when heads of state engage in financially lucrative arrangements. It further analyzes the correlation between a country's economic condition and its geographical location, especially in relation to neighboring countries and political stability. The report then discusses the North-South divide, and how historical factors have shaped prosperity and poverty. It also presents the geographical hypothesis, which posits that geographical differences explain disparities between rich and poor countries. The report also addresses climate, disease, and the limitations of the geographical hypothesis, providing a comprehensive overview of geopolitical factors and their impact on international relations. Finally, the report considers the roles of soil, land ownership, and technology in geopolitical development.

Running head: GEOPOLITICS
GEOPOLITICS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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One of the earliest theories of geopolitics is the statement that geography is destiny. Not only this
phase is a deterministic idea towards politics but also states that some particular geographical areas
consist of strategic, political and economic benefits. These areas or regions are normally coveted by
nations. The limitation of any nation actually serves as the limitation of the economic development
present within that nation. However growth and development may thwart by natural disasters and heal
related issues. Even multinational corporations may seek to exploits the countries that have natural
resources and raw material on abundance (Margulis 2014). When this is entered into a financial lucrative
arrangement by their head of state, this can also benefit them along with a severe cost from the populace.
An economic condition does determine the geographical location of a country. This is so due to the fact
the surroundings are belligerent nations of channels that are affected. Countries that are in a politically
stable are can improve in terms of economy than other nations. This is more so when the country gets
surrounded by belligerent nations, this affects the channels of business involved. A developed geography
preoccupies itself with various concerns (Sempa 2017). It involved the study of relationship between
human beings along with the physical environment where they live, the socio and economic development
involved there is the most famous geographical pattern available in the North-South divide.
History has stated defining roles of different institutions in order to shape the factors of prosperity
and poverty. One of the most widely accepted theories of world inequality is the geographical hypothesis
that states the explanations of rich and poor countries (Haverluk, Beauchemin and Mueller 2014). This is
due to the fact of geographical differences. The countries that are economically striving such as Africa,
Central America and South Asia are the ones situated between the tropics of Caner and Capricorn. In
contrast the economically stable nations tend to be in temperate according to latitudes. This concentration
of geographical prosperity and poverty provides a superficial appeal to the hypothesis that is the starting
point of the theories and views of many people. As per the French philosopher Montesquieu, the people
those who live in the tropical climate normally lack the inquisitiveness to work. This does not work hard
and is not innovative to be reasoned why they were poor in the first place. Montesquieu also foretold that

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despots always rule over the lazy people, this mean that a tropical location not just implies the factors of
poverty but also the effects of political phenomena that is related to economic failure including the
method of dictatorship.
The counties with high and humid temperature are generally economically unstable than the
others despite they are contradicted through the new advancement in economic changes on countries such
as Singapore, Malaysia, Botswana. These are advocated by economics and the modern standpoint
emphasizes the work effort or the thought process instead of the direct effects of the climate (Ikenberr
2014). There are two factors that include tropical diseases such as malaria that causes adverse health
consequences and effects labor productivity. Another aspect is the effects of the tropical soil that does not
allow the growth of agriculture. This is due the temperate climates have a significant advantage over that
of the tropical and the semitropical regions of the world (Dwyer 2014). However it cannot be said that the
world does not explain the climate or disease alone, even with the addition of geographical hypothesis. In
terms of the United States and Mexico, what actually separates the two is not the climate, the
geographical region or the issues related to politics. The hypothesis does not have a clear explanation for
the northern and the southern regions. This can be said for the North and South Korea or even the East
and West Germany (Mead 2014). According to history, there is no simple or complex connection in
between the climate and the geography that relates to economic success. The American tropics were
much richer than the temperate zones that provide an obvious fact that poverty is not an obvious fact. The
greater riches in these countries actually show a reversal of fortune to what it was like before. However
this is not related to geography and the way the entire country was colonized (Cohen 2014). The
inhabitants of South Asia those who are located in the Indian subcontinent are prosperous than the people
in other parts of Asia. This is more than the people those who inhabit the Australian subcontinents.
Tropical climate does cause problems and high rate of infant mortality however they are not the reason
who a country is economically poor. Disease can be the result of poverty and the government being
unable to undertake the public health measures to reduce these problems. In the early 19th century, the

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European countries were very unhealthy however the government worked on the investment to improve
the sewage system to make better and functional clean water. In turn improved the health overall and
reduced the count of diseases in the country. However it should be noted that the economic success for
countries like England were not due to the improved health and life expectancy but due to the fact that it
was one of the main factors of the previous economic and political change.
Due to intrinsically unproductive agriculture in the tropics, the soils are so thin that they are
unable to balance the nutrients and emphasis the fact that how the torrential rains erodes the soil (Smith
and Pain 2016). However this does include some merits in the argument, it is a consequence of the
ownership structure of the land and its incentives credited for farmers by the government and the
institution they live. Having many species that are capable enough to be domestically attractive for
societies make the transition from a gather to a farmer. As the population grows dens in many countries
worldwide, this allows the option to labor, trade and urbanize and make significant political development.
In areas where farming is the main source of income technology actually overtook its position as the
major development. Therefore it can be said that geography alone does not determine the density of any
nation or state.

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REFERENCES
Cohen, S.B., 2014. Geopolitics: the geography of international relations. Rowman & Littlefield.
Dwyer, M.B., 2014. Micro-geopolitics: Capitalising security in Laos’s golden quadrangle. Geopolitics,
19(2), pp.377-405.
Haverluk, T.W., Beauchemin, K.M. and Mueller, B.A., 2014. The three critical flaws of critical
geopolitics: Towards a neo-classical geopolitics. Geopolitics, 19(1), pp.19-39.
Ikenberr, G.J., 2014. The illusion of geopolitics: The enduring power of the liberal order. Foreign Aff.,
93, p.80.
Margulis, M.E., 2014. Trading out of the global food crisis? The World Trade Organization and the
geopolitics of food security. Geopolitics, 19(2), pp.322-350.
Mead, W.R., 2014. The return of geopolitics: The revenge of the revisionist powers. Foreign Aff., 93,
p.69.
Sempa, F., 2017. Geopolitics: from the Cold War to the 21st Century. Routledge.
Smith, S.J. and Pain, R., 2016. Fear: Critical geopolitics and everyday life. In Fear: Critical geopolitics
and everyday life (pp. 19-40). Routledge.