Revisiting Mackinder’s Heartland Theory: Identifying The Emergence of a Complex Power Competiton in the Indian Ocean Region

• Authors: Najimdeen Bakare , Minahil R. Toor

Title variants

PL

Przegląd teorii Heartlandu Mackindera: Stwierdzenie powstania zjawiska kompleksowej konkurencji energetycznej w regionie Oceanu Indyjskiego

• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Competition amongst great powers is not new in international politics. It has traditionally been the driving force for the creation and collapse of empires and states. In the 19th–20th centuries, the British Empire established its dominion in the world over and maintained an uncontested global supremacy. To secure Britain’s global dominance, in 1904, Sir Halford Mackinder dazed the world with his heartland theory. Ever since then, the theory remains one of the most discussed geopolitical theories. The article does not pretend or oblivious of the heaps of criticism Mackinder’s theory has received over several decades, it nonetheless, employs the theory in the context of the contemporary international political environment, with particular reference to the happenings around the Indian Ocean, Persian Gulf, and Arabian Sea. So therefore, the point of analysis here centres around the applicability of the theory and the implications posed by Mackinderian geographical rationalisation in formulating foreign policy around what the article considers as the contemporary pivot area – the Indian Ocean. Through the theoretical understanding of Mackinder’s thesis, the article argues that the Indian Ocean and its adjoining seas corridors and Straits are ‘pivot areas’ potential enough to generate competition amongst regional and global powers. The new ‘pivot areas’ is enormously endowed with natural resources and is the major energy highway(s), upon which global economies are dependent. The article concludes by arguing that a complex power competition (CPC) is brewing along the neo-pivot region.

PL

Zjawisko konkurencji między wielkimi mocarstwami nie jest w polityce międzynarodowej niczym nowym. Konkurencja zawsze napędzała powstawanie i upadki imperiów i państw. W XIX–XX wieku Imperium Brytyjskie zapewniło sobie światową dominację i utrzymało niekwestionowaną supremację globalną. Aby zapewnić dalszą globalną dominację Wielkiej Brytanii, w 1904 roku Sir Halford Mackinder zadziwił świat swoją teorią „heartlandu”, która pozostaje jedną z najczęściej dyskutowanych teorii geopolitycznych. Zdając sobie sprawę z głębokiej krytyki, jakiej przez kilka dziesięcioleci poddawano teorię Mackindera, artykuł wykorzystuje ją jednak w kontekście współczesnego międzynarodowego środowiska politycznego, ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem wydarzeń w rejonie Oceanu Indyjskiego, Zatoki Perskiej i Morza Arabskiego. Dlatego też analiza koncentruje się tutaj na możliwościach zastosowania teorii i implikacjach wynikających z racjonalizacji geograficznej Mackindera w formułowaniu polityki zagranicznej wokół tego, co artykuł uważa za współcześnie kluczowy obszar (pivot area) – Ocean Indyjski. Teoretyczna interpretacja tezy Mackindera dowodzi, że Ocean Indyjski i sąsiednie korytarze morskie i cieśniny są „kluczowymi obszarami”, których siła stymuluje konkurencję między potęgami regionalnymi i światowymi. Nowe „obszary kluczowe” są niezwykle bogate w zasoby naturalne i stanowią główne szlaki energetyczne, od których zależą gospodarki globalne. Artykuł kończy konkluzja, że w nowym regionie kluczowym wykluwa się kompleksowa konkurencja energetyczna (complex power competition (CPC)).

Keywords

EN

Mackinder’s Heartland theory; Indian Ocean; complex power competition; geo- economics; geo-politics; geo-military; Mackinder’s Heartland theory; Indian Ocean; complex power competition; geo- economics; geo-politics; geo-military

PL

teoria Heartlandu Mackindera; Ocean Indyjski; złożona konkurencja energetyczna; geoekonomia; geopolityka; geobezpieczeństwo

• Publisher: Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu
• Journal: Przegląd Strategiczny
• Year: 2019
• Issue: 12
• Pages: 43-58

Dates

published

2019-12-31

Contributors

author

Najimdeen Bakare

author

Minahil R. Toor

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Identifiers

DOI

10.14746/ps.2019.1.3