• Reveals how people and places are inter-connected with each other, and how our geopolitical outlook affects our view of the world
• Shows why it is vital that we explore and attempt to understand how and why we divide the world into zones and territories
• Explains how terrorism, globalization, environmental degradation, and new technologies are challenging and complicating the geographical basis of global politics
• Looks at the history of terms such as 'the iron curtain', 'the third world', 'the axis of evil'
• Explores how geopolitics informs foreign policy

New to this Edition:

• Takes into account new world developments since original publication, including the Arab Spring and the worldwide economic crisis
• Examines the growing role of China in geopolitics
• Includes a revised chapter on 'Geopolitics and objects', focussing on how maps, texts, and buildings help to shape geopolitics
• Explores the new ways in which geopolitics is being performed and embodied - including the 'occupy movement'; inside individual homes; on national borders; and in the international political community
• Considers the challenges facing humanity in future with regards to energy, food supplies, population growth, and climate change
• Updated further reading section

  
Geopolitics is a way of looking at the world: one that considers the links between political power, geography, and cultural diversity. 
 
In certain places such as Iraq, Lebanon, or Israel, moving a few feet either side of a territorial boundary can be a matter of life or death, dramatically highlighting the connections between place and politics. Even far away from these 'danger zones' - in Europe or the US for example - geopolitics remains an important part of everyday life. For a country's location and size as well as its sovereignty and resources all affect how the people that live there understand and interact with the wider world. In this new edition Klaus Dodds takes into account several world developments that have occured since original publication, including the Arab Spring, the worldwide economic crisis, and the developing role of China in international politics.
 
Using wide-ranging examples, from historical maps to James Bond films and the rhetoric of political leaders both past and present, this Very Short Introduction shows why, for a full understanding of contemporary global politics, it is not just smart - it is essential - to be geopolitical.
 
 
REVIEWS:
"Dodds has produced an interesting, wide-ranging and insightful book that packs an intellectual punch into a short space... as a primer for new students interested in geopolitics, or those wanting to explore different, less conventional, sides of geopolitical analysis, it comes highly recommended." - Journal of Contemporary European Studies, Edward Stoddard