Geopolitics as a social movement?

• Published in: Geopolitics Vol. 9; no. 2; pp. 460 - 475
• Main Author: Dijkink, Gertjan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.07.2004
• Subjects: Geopolitics; International relations; International relations theory; Labelling; Political geography; Political history; Social movements
• ISSN: 1465-0045
• DOI: 10.1080/14650040490442953

The laudable aim to write history in terms of geopolitical 'ages' does not clarify the changes and varieties of geopolitics in a formal sense, i.e. the more explicit discussions about territory and politics among intellectuals and opinion makers. Judging by what we have considered to be geopolitics up to now, the author discerns certain common features (over and above the features that geopolitics shares with the general subject of political geography): the messianic experience of seeing new dimensions in the power scene and the mutual influence between academic and popular writing. This goes very well with the description of a 'social movement'. The consequence of this approach is that we should pay attention to the local (national) and historic setting that gives rise to geopolitics. It also implies that geopolitics is something that necessarily rises and falls with the occurrence of crises or 'peak' experiences. Further the concept of 'reframing', important in social movement theory, raises the question if we might be able to define a kind of transformation (of perspective) that is characteristic of geopolitics. Reprinted by permission of Frank Cass & Co. Ltd.