Geopolitical analyses, for the most part, involve the interrelations between nation states. Over the course of its evolution, various defining ideas have emerged in geopolitical thought. Such concepts as scale, Ratzel's laws, heartland theory, political-economic cycles, world systems, and geopolitical transitions are commonly employed to describe the world's geopolitical order. At present, that order is undergoing major change. The Soviet Union's dissolution, as well as the current decline of the United States' hegemonic status, has created a multi-polar world containing an abundance of sovereign states. It may be possible for these individual nations to create a global community based on international alliances and cooperation.
Power and rivalry both between and within different nation states is greatly influenced by geographic realities. Geopolitics typically relates to the identification, protection, and management of national territories. Often the size or scale of such territory delineates a country's internal and external relations. For example, the United States' and the former Soviet Union's size played a role in their rivalry during the Cold War years. Additionally, scale can also influence geopolitics at the level of the individual and community (i.e., microscale and mesoscale).
Various other important geopolitical concepts include the seven laws of Ratzel. A German philosopher, Fred Ratzel lived from 1804-1904. At that time, colonialism was important: the finite availability of land made its acquisition a priority for many governments. As different colonies became independent though, Ratzel observed that nascent states underwent several stages of development on their way to mature nationhood. These phases included the following: cultural, nationalism, land, boundary, environment, annexation, rivalry, and comparison. Indeed, Ratzel believed that the spatial expansion of states required both the growth of...