Mackinder’s World
 

 

By
Francis P. Sempa
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Halford Mackinder

Halford Mackinder, 1860-1947
Other Articles in this issue:   

Walter A. McDougall, on America and the World at the Dawn of a New Century:
"Historical myths must be cleared away before a constructive debate can commence over how the United States should conduct itself abroad in an unprecedented era—an era which, by definition, has no past analogs."

 

Caligiuri and Figueroa, on Los Principios de Primacía y Operatividad en el Derecho Comunitario como Fundamentos para la Integración de Latinoamérica:
"Aún no existen semejanzas reales entre un sistema de integración política, económica, y social como el europeo con los sistemas de co-operación comercial y económica emprendidos en América del Sur."

 

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END NOTES
 

1. W. H. Parker, Mackinder: Geography as an Aid to Statecraft (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982), pp.1-2.

2. Brian W. Blouet, Halford Mackinder: A Biography (College Station,Texas: Texas A&M University Press, 1987), p. 33Halford Mackinder: A Biography

3. Parker, Mackinder, p.8.

4. Halford J. Mackinder, “On the Scope and Methods of Geography,” in Democratic Ideals and Reality (New York: W. W. Norton & Company,1962), pp. 213, 214, 217.

5. Ibid., pp. 211, 218, 236, 237.

6. The details of Mackinder’s education and teaching positions are found in Parker, Mackinder, and Blouet, Mackinder: A Biography.

7. Halford J. Mackinder, Britain and the British Seas (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1969; originally published 1902 by D. Appleton and Co.), pp. vii, 12, 350-51, 358.

8. Halford J. Mackinder, “The Geographical Pivot of History,” in Democratic Ideals and Reality, pp. 241-42, 255, 257-58,262-64.

9. Parker, Mackinder, pp. 149, 158, 170.

10. Sir Halford John Mackinder, Democratic Ideals and Reality: A Study in the Politics of Reconstruction (London, Constable and Co. Ltd., 1919).

11. Ibid., pp. 1-2, 4, 28-29, 29-30, 65-66, 62, 70, 73, 74, 150, 139, 154, 155, 114, 182, 158, 165, 160.

12. Hans W. Weigert, Generals and Geographers: The Twilight of Geopolitics (New York, Oxford University Press, 1942), pp. 116, 186.

13. See Blouet, Mackinder: A Biography, pp. 207-215.

14. Mackinder, “The Round World and the Winning of the Peace,” in Democratic Ideals and Reality, p. 276.

15. Ibid., pp. 268-69, 272-73, 274-75, 277-78.

16. Among those strategists were Nicholas Spykman, James Burnham, George Kennan, Edward Mead Earle, General Omar Bradley, and William C. Bullitt.

17. Mackinder, Democratic Ideals and Reality, p. xxi.

18. For an excellent summary of criticisms of Mackinder, see Parker, Mackinder, pp. 211-247.

19. Colin S. Gray, The Geopolitics of Super Power (Lexington, Ky: The University Press of Kentucky, 1988) p. 4.

20. Quoted in Parker, Mackinder, p. 192.

21. Saul B. Cohen, Geography and Politics in a World Divided (New York: Oxford University Press, 1975) p. 44.

22. Robert Nisbet, History of the Idea of Progress (New York: Basic Books, 1980), p. 331.

23. See, for example, Eugene V. Rostow, “Of Summitry and Grand Strategy,” Strategic Review (Fall 1986), pp. 9-20; Francis P. Sempa, “Geopolitics and American Strategy: A Reassessment,” Strategic Review (Spring 1987), pp. 27-38; William C. Bodie, “The American Strategy Schism,” Strategic Review (Spring 1988), pp. 9-15; Mackubin Thomas Owens, “Force Planning in an Era of Uncertainty,” Strategic Review (Spring 1990), pp. 9-22; Henry C. Bartlett and G. Paul Holman, “Force Planning for the Post-Cold War World: What Can We Learn From Geopolitics,” Strategic Review (Winter 1991), pp. 26-36; Francis P. Sempa, “The Geopolitics of the Post-Cold War World,” Strategic Review (Winter 1992), pp. 9-18; Mackubin Thomas Owens, “Toward a Maritime Grand Strategy: Paradigm for a New Security Environment,” Strategic Review (Spring 1993), pp. 7-19; Francis P. Sempa, “Preventive Containment,” Strategic Review (Summer 1994), pp. 83-85; Colin S. Gray, “NATO: In Trouble at the Crossroads Again,” Strategic Review (Summer 1995), pp. 7-15; Francis P. Sempa, “Central and Eastern Europe,” Strategic Review (Fall 1996), pp. 71-72; Francis P. Sempa, review of The Grand Chessboard in Strategic Review (Spring 1998), pp. 71-74; Colin S. Gray, “Keeping the Soviets Landlocked: Geostrategy for a Maritime America,” The National Interest (Summer 1986), pp. 24-36; Francis P. Sempa, “The Geopolitics Man,” The National Interest (Fall 1992), pp. 96-102.

24. Gray, The Geopolitics of Super Power, p.4.

25. Eugene V. Rostow, A Breakfast for Bonaparte: U.S. National Security Interests from the Heights of Abraham to the Nuclear Age (Washington, D.C.: National Defense University Press, 1993), p. 13.

26.George J. Demko and William B. Wood, ed. Reordering the World: Geopolitical Perspectives on the 21st Century (Boulder, Colo: Westview Press, 1994), p. 4.

27. Henry Kissinger, Diplomacy (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1994) p. 814.

28. Paul Kennedy, Robert Chase, and Emily Hill, “Pivotal States and U.S. Strategy,” January/February 1996 Foreign Affairs.

29. Parker, Mackinder, p. 54, 55.

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