Geopolitical Analysis of the Entry of Finland and Sweden to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization(NATO)

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has significantly altered the pattern of alliances and geopolitical balances on the European continent to such an extent that countries like Finland and Sweden that have traditionally remained neutral are now applying to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization(NATO).These two countries fear that Russia,which is currently trying to reposition itself,could try in the near future to invade these two Nordic countries to prevent the West(European Union,United Kingdom,and United States)from increasing its military presence and its military force in the Scandinavian peninsula and in the Baltic Sea.The enlargement that the European Union(EU)has carried out since the 1990s,and that has also meant the expansion of NATO,has been viewed with great concern by the government of Vladimir Putin,who considers that the United States and the European Union did not fulfill their commitment to former Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev to respect the sphere of influence of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics(USSR).Within the framework of this geopolitical confrontation,Helsinki and Stockholm do not want to run the risk of being invaded by the Russian army,which is why they seek to take advantage of the principle of collective security that NATO membership would grant them.

THE HISTORY AND STATUS OF GEOPOLITICS AND THE GEOPOLITICAL STRATEGIES OF CHINA

Taking the rising and declining in Geopolitics as the main lines, this paper reviews the history of the annihilation, revival and deveopment in geoplitics since the 1970s. The ideas and propositions about the world geopolitical structure after the end of Cold War, proposed by the Westem geopolitical strategists, have been introduced and assessed. About the geopolitical strategies of China in the world geopolotical structure in the future, the authors propose framework ideas. The aim of the paper is to join discussions and researches on the geopolitical strategies, and to promote the subject construction and development of human geography including Geopolitics and Political Geography.

Approach to the Geopolitical Influences of Great Powers in Southeast Asia: Case Studies of China and the US

A quantitative approach to the national geopolitical influence is helpful to provide a reference for national sustainable development on the international stage, based on describing national diplomatic capacity and overseas influence. Herein, this study proposes a complex geopolitical influence model, considering the affected nations' response. The geopolitical influences of great power in the affected nation are correlated with overall strength, the acceptance degree of the affected nation to the great power and the distance between both sides. Then, the geopolitical influences of China and the US in Southeast Asia countries are empirically analyzed from 2005 to 2015. The geopolitical influence of China in Southeast Asia has been largely growing for the past decades, accompanying with a constant trend of the US' effects. It is believed that China and the US can coexist peacefully in Southeast Asia to promote the regional development, and jointly create an open, inclusive and balanced regional cooperation architecture that benefits all nations in this region and great powers, through mutual political trust and economic beneficial cooperation. This study may contribute to advancing the policy debate and determining the optimal cooperation in pledging commitment to a new and sustainable model of great power relationship among the various regional geopolitical options.

The Silk Road Imaginary in the Central Asia as an Emerging Geopolitical Discourse

This paper examines the use of geopolitical imaginaries, historical narratives, and discourses in Central Asian politics which have always been used in geopolitical agendas of both regional and external actors. The main focus in this study is the Silk Road myth as a prominent case of those geopolitical imaginaries. The Silk Road discourse presents a definite example of mythmaking and geopolitical discourse in the Central Asia used by both regional actors such as China, Russia and external actors such as the United States. The main argument of this study is that each of those actors is referring the historical myth of Silk Road as a useful tool for pursuing their geopolitical vision and interests. So questioning this situation is important in the eyes of critical geopolitics because the same historical fact is constructed with different meanings and visions by different actors in accordance with their competing interests. In this study, the critical geopolitical theory and method are used to describe the emerging geopolitical discourse in the Central Asia such as： rising powers narrative, peaceful rise concept, and silk road imaginary.

Analysis of Chemical Compositions of Portland Cement and Limestone from Four Geopolitical Zones of Nigeria

Cement, a major binding material in concrete making, influences the quality of concrete so produced with it;as such its chemistry dictates the chemistry of the concrete. Poor quality cement has recently been implicated as the main causes of incessant building collapses in Nigeria. The physicochemical analysis of limestone used in the production of various brands of Portland cement in four geopolitical zones of Nigeria (north east NE, north west NW, north central NC, and south west SW) was investigated using standard methods. Each of the limestone and cement samples was randomly collected from their respective sample points at the four different geopolitical zones of Nigeria. Each of the collected samples was ground and sieved to 2 mm mesh size. The limestone was rich in lime content that ranged from 45.91% ± 0.30% to 49.0% ± 0.19%. Among the cement samples, percent SiO2 ranged from 19.95 ± 0.25 (NW) to 20.18 ± 1.02 (NC), Al2O3 4.98 ± 0.18 (NW) to 5.82 ± 0.38 (NE), Fe2O3 2.76 ± 1.00 (NE) to 3.82 ± 0.21 (SW), CaO 60.18 ± 0.27 (NE) to 65.10 ± 0.98 (NC), MgO 1.93 ± 0.04 (NC) to 2.50 ± 0.10 (NE), SO3 0.93 ± 0.50 (NE) to 2.02 ± 0.13 (NW). The results showed that virtually all the cement samples analyzed conformed well to the BSEN 196-2 standard. However, the loss on ignition (LOI) deviated considerably (7.82% to 8.72%) from 4% maximum by the standard. Also, the lime saturation factor (99.70%) obtained for north central cement was slightly higher than the specified range of 92.0 to 98.0%. It could be deduced from this study that the various cements available in Nigerian market from the four geopolitical zones are of good quality. Nevertheless, other processes that lead to the production of a good concrete such as the mix ratio of cement, gravel, sand and water, use and quality of iron rods, and other building materials need to be professionally checked for quality assurance. The findings from this study can be a useful guide to the chemist, environmentalist, construction industry, and the general public on the quality of cements available in Nigerian market.

Geopolitical Maneuvering

U.S. President Obama＇s visit to Africa has many questioning the rationale behind this visit. Hannah Edinger, Senior Manager and Head of Research ＆ Strategy at Frontier Advisory. Dane Smith, Publications Director at Young People in International Affairs （YPIA） and Ogi Williams, Communications Director at YPIA, ask if the visit was a geopolitical response to China＇s engagement in Africa. Excerpts of their thoughts follow：

A Geopolitical and Geovisualization Challenge: Increasing the Awareness of Global Environmental Change through Postage Stamp Issues

Global environmental change is one of the major distinguishing features associated with the contemporary world political map. It is significant not only because it illustrates the intersections between geopolitics and environmental change, but also because identifying the major environmental features and solving existing and future problems are primarily political in nature. Key features of global environmental change include global warming impacts on the poleward shifts in biodiversity and agricultural patterns, rising sea levels and human adjustments, changing coastal habitats, and promoting increased environmental awareness especially in urban clusters, where most people live. In the contemporary geopolitical and environmental world, visualization is a key feature not only used to inform both planetary inhabitants, environmental organizations and governments, but also serves as an effective policy, that is, to “show” or demonstrate effective changes and the need for action. States are key institutions in this thinking as they can both inform and address the impacts of global environmental change through various images: maps, earth-based photographs, satellite coverage, websites and educational venues including curriculum content and stamps. Visual geopolitics is already recognized as being an important source influencing public opinion, as evidenced in the attractive visible layouts, graphics, colors, often “seductive” designing of official websites. Postage stamps is an additional important and “informing” visible way that states inform both insiders and outsiders about how they “see” their place in the world. They also provide a view into how a state sees its “own” place in the world of environmental change and how it sees “the world beyond its own borders”. I introduce the concept of “visual geopolitics” and use recent postage stamp issues about global environmental change from a number of countries to illustrate how they are informing views of their own and the world about pressing environmental issues.

Geopolitical Strategy for the Territorialism of Oceans and Seas

In the current international economic situation, the oceans and seas started to play a key role in the geopolitical balance of power between the coastal States. This article explores the concept of geopolitics, establishing a discussed relationship between such a concept and the considerations of coastal State and their territorialism policies. The concept of geopolitics cannot be simply understood as a condition of the position of a state in the international arena or its territorial ambition. The novel global ocean concept encompasses economic conditions facing the systemic combination of contemporary forces. Issues to be considered are maybe beyond the Convention on International Law of the Sea scenario in a dynamic economic and political international ocean.

Contemporary Geopolitical Dynamics in the Horn of Africa: Challenge and Prospects for Ethiopia

Being the major geostrategic regions in the world,the Horn of Africa has become a centre of intense geopolitical competition by international and regional powers.This paper attempts to analyze the contemporary geopolitical dynamics in the Horn of Africa and its repercussions for states with particular emphasis on Ethiopia.It argues that there are four defining features of contemporary geopolitical dynamics in the Horn region:scramble for military base as a result of power projection by extra-regional states,competition for commercial ports,the Nile rivalry,and regional configuration of states amid political transitions.This geopolitical dynamics has brought opportunities for Ethiopia with regard to port access,building up naval power,infrastructure,hard currency,and regional integration.On the other hand,it has also presented challenges to Ethiopia in terms of alienating neighbors,threatening sovereignty,escalating tensions,jeopardizing religious coexistence,and maintenance of security and sustainability.Therefore,sustaining the gains and addressing the challenges of geopolitical dynamics in the Horn of Africa is vital for ensuring strategic interests of Ethiopia both domestically and in the region.

Iran-Yemen Relations and Its Geopolitical Crisis

In recent years,Yemen has witnessed violent clashes that are rooted in largely inequality in the sharing of power and access to resources since Yemen has doubled its importance in southern Arabia,western Oman,eastern Red Sea,and north of the Gulf of Aden.In addition,this country dominates the strategic Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb that is the dominant kingdom of the Horn of Africa,Saudi Arabia,and especially Egypt,in the transfer of energy.The people of Yemen have long been religiously orientated,including Shia and Sunni Muslims who are now Sunni Shafei and Shiite Yemenis Zaidi,are the Ismaili and Sufi religions are in the next rows.The Yemeni religious faith is mainly from the youth of this country.In this article,we are trying to answer the main question through an analytical method.What causes the crisis in Yemen affected by the crisis that led to the expansion of the crisis?The geopolitical situation of Yemen,regional and international actors,and the instability and displacement of its population,along with the weakness of the state,corruption,insufficiency of resources and infrastructure,seem to have expanded this geopolitical crisis internationally.

India’s Foreign Strategy From the Perspective of Geopolitical Logic

As an emerging developing power,India has adopted economic diplomacy as the center,aggressive strategy and maritime strategy as the main power strategy,pursuing the international order with“India seal”and constructing the relations of big powers with“pro-West”tendency.This adjustment of India’s diplomatic strategy will bring about a complex impact on China-India relations.

Evolution of Regional Geopolitical Pattern and Its Impact on the Regional Resources Cooperation in Northeast Asia

Taking America＇s implementing the Asia-Pacific rebalancing strategy and China＇s building the Silk Road Belt as a backdrop, this research generalizes the basic concepts of geopolitics, geo-economy and geo-strategy, and then reviews the basic theories of geopolitics and its progress. Furthermore, based on the results of analyzing the features of changes of East Asia geopolitical environment, the paper summarizes the development trends of geopolitical environment of Sino-Mongolia and Sino-Russia, and considers that the geopolitical pattern and order of the South China Sea has been changed deeply with the strong involvement of USA. One of the most important changes is that China＇s interests are suffering stern challenge from Japan, Vietnam, Philippines and other countries. Afterwards, taking the energy market as an example, this research analyzes the impact of geopolitical changes of East Asia on the regional resources market. For China, the strategic conception of building the Silk Road Economic Belt is a countermeasure to counterbalance the adverse changing. At the same time, Russia was sanctioned by western countries and turned their eyes to Asia. So the stern geopolitical environment of both countries provides a good opportunity for China-Russia economic and trade cooperation. Because of the similar geopolitical situation and economic complementary, the energy cooperation between China and Russia is expected to be further enhanced in the future. Although Mongolia＇s economy relies heavily on China, its geopolitical strategic demand and strategic target have changed profoundly since the United States returns to Asia. The diplomatic priority of Mongolia is to strengthen exchanges with ＂the third neighbor＂ and to counterbalance its two neighbors＇ influences. Though the Sino-Mongolia geopolitical relations are mainly positive, America＇s involvement increased the uncertainty of Sino-Mongolia resources cooperation. For Japan and Korea being America＇s allies, the harsh regional geopolitical environment will decrease their share of resources market in northeast Asia in the future.

Spatio-temporal simulation of the geopolitical environment system

Geographical circumstances are the fundamental background for all kinds of geopolitical events. The geopolitical environment system（GES） refers to a system that combines both physical and anthropogenic subsystems. Research on the geopolitical environment system simulation is a key to understanding the international geopolitical phenomenon. The theory of GES arose from the integration of the traditional geopolitics and earth system sciences. As an interdisciplinary system composed of many different fields, integrated reviews and a metadata study of GES are urgently needed. This paper presents a comprehensive view into the origination and advance of the GES theory. The conceptual framework of the GES is described in detail. The methodology for simulating and forecasting geopolitical events is also provided. It is proposed that the core topics of the GES science may include, but are not limited to, issues as data acquisition technologies; principles on the interactions between multiple subsystems（or factors） at different scales; evaluating and mitigating the global geopolitical risks, including the political risks, economic risks, the social risks, the environmental risks and the technological risks; and forecasting the geopolitical events with machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques.

A Study on the Structural Contradictions in the US-Turkey Alliance Relations

After the Cold War and especially since the Justice and Development Party administration led by Erdogan,the US-Turkey alliance relations have declined.The two countries have sharp structural contradictions on a series of issues.Due to the profound geopolitical landscape changes,the interdependence on security and defense between the United States and Turkey has been severely weakened,leading to significant divergence in threat definition and pursuit of interests.Turkey has continuously enhanced its diplomatic autonomy,seeking to change its weak position in the original alliance relations,and striving to become a regional leader.These structural contradictions inevitably trigger the hedging of policies and interests between the United States and Turkey.

Geopolitical risks, uncertainty, and stock market performance

This paper analyses the impact of geopolitical risks and economic policy uncertainty on stock returns.It uses an unbalanced panel dataset of monthly observations for 22 countries for the period 1985–2020.It controls for a set of macroeconomic and market structure variables while also taking into consideration the poten-tial effects of the 2007–2009 financial crisis.This paper shows that the impact of geopolitical risks is negative and statistically signifi-cant.The economic interpretation of our main results is that a one-unit standard deviation increase in geopolitical risks decreases stock returns by 10.53–42.14%of its sample mean.For comparison,this paper uses alternatively the global economic policy uncertainty index and the economic policy uncertainty country index,and also finds a statistically significant negative relationship although it is weaker in the latter case.

Resurgence of Geopolitical Rivalry in the MENA after the‘Arab Spring’

With the surge of developments in the Middle East and North Africa,the political and geopolitical equations of this region have undergone major transformations and a new geometry of power is emerging.In this regard,alongside the role of great powers and state actors,the growth and influence of nongovernmental and paramilitary groups is remarkable and has found an important place in the regional equations.Consequently,the set of factors including the interventionist approach of some great powers,different and contradictory Islamic ideologies and the growth of extremism and paramilitary forces in the region has intensified the strategic rivalry between regional powers,with the formation of three major axes;the Iran-led Shiite axis,the Saudi-led Salafist axis and the Turkish-led Brotherhood axis.In this regard,the purpose of the present article is to determine how the so-called Arab Spring developments have changed the power equations in the Middle East and North Africa and led to the formation of new axes?The findings of the paper suggest that myriad factors including internal vulnerabilities,social structure and also elite consensus and cohesion have resulted in the different approaches adopted by each of regional blocs.Furthermore,as a result of Arab Spring developments,the influence of some regional powers,like Iran,has been on the rise,while some others including Egypt have become marginalised and the efforts of some regional powers to further their influence have been unfruitful.The research method is descriptive-analytic;documentary and reliable internet-based sources have been used to support the argument.

Middle East Geopolitical Situation in Transition

Four years have past since the beginning of the Middle East upheavals;regional patterns of the Middle East have entered a deep-water zone:politically transitioning countries have faced three dilemmas and become disoriented;the old patterns shaped by the beginning of the upheavals are restructuring again,“old”orders recur increasingly in the“new”Middle East;power structures within the region are increasingly fragmented,which draws the whole region into turbulence;the upheavals also promote the strategic contraction of the US in the Middle East.

Assessment of oil and gas geopolitical influence

This paper investigated several stages in the formation of the geopolitical influence of oil and gas, including the basis of its gestation, the means of transformation, and the formation and exercise of power. Based on this theoretical framework, a system for assessing the geopolitical influence of oil and gas was developed. This system is comprised of 13 indicators, each with its own method of measurement. Then 21 representative oil and gas importing, exporting, and transit countries were se- lected as assessment subjects. A quantitative assessment of the geopolitical influence of oil and gas in the selected countries was carried out using the proposed indicators, and factor analysis was used to obtain the main factors of these indicators and the composite score of each country. The empirical results showed that the 13 indicators could be summarized into five main factors, in the order of contribution rate, specifically comprehensive national strength, energy, transportation, risk, and geopoli- tics, each with its own variance contribution rate. Results of the assessment indicated that the selected countries could be classified into five categories in terms of oil and gas geopolitical influence： strong, relatively strong, moderate, relatively weak, and weak.

Re-interpretation of the classical geopolitical theories in a critical geopolitical perspective

Struggling for supremacy between great powers and the rise or fall and regime change of great powers are all subject to the Geopolitical Law. Geographers should keep in step with the times, accurately grasp the national interests, and seize the opportunity to contribute to the great rejuvenation of our nation. However, due to lack of criticism on the history and philosophy of geopolitics, we can neither accurately understand the geopolitical theory, nor effectively put the geopolitical theory into practice. This paper introduces the development of critical geopolitics, summarizes the three characteristics of critical geopolitics, and interprets the four classical geopolitical theories accordingly. In order to simplify the interpretation process, this paper firstly presents an analytical framework for interpretation of four classical geopolitical theories; secondly, focuses on interpretation of "The Geographical Pivot of History" put forward by Mackinder according to the analytical framework; finally, critically summarizes the four classical geopolitical theories. Through the critical interpretation, this paper draws a conclusion that there are the scientific, hypothetical and conceptual classical geopolitical theories. The construction of classical geopolitical theories is based on the international geopolitical structure, spatial distribution of national interests and inter-state spatial conflict, in order to show the identity of theoretical constructor, so as to reflect the historicality, sociality, situationality and geographical knowledge – power structure of geopolitical theories.