The Best Geopolitics Books 2025

1. Introduction to Geopolitics [Paperback - Used]

CONDITION - USED - Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "From the library of" labels or previous owner inscriptions. Accessories such as CD, codes, toys, may not be included. This clear and concise introductory textbook guides students through their first engagement with geopolitics. It offers a clear framework for understanding contemporary conflicts by showing how geography provides opportunities and limits upon the actions of countries, national groups, and terrorist organizations, and the overarching theme of geopolitical structures and agents requires no previous knowledge of theory or current affairs. Throughout the book, case studies, including the rise of al Qaeda, the Korean conflict, Israel-Palestine, Chechnya and Kashmir, emphasize the multi-faceted nature of conflict. These, along with guided exercises, help explain contemporary global power struggles, the global military actions of the United States, the persistence of nationalist conflicts, the changing role of borders, and the new geopolitics of terrorism. Throughout, the readers are introduced to different theoretical perspectives, including feminist contributions, as both the practice and representation of geopolitics are discussed. Introduction to Geopolitics is extensively illustrated with diagrams, maps, and photographs. Reading this book will provide a deeper and critical understanding of current affairs and facilitate access to higher level course work and essays on geopolitics. Both students and general readers alike will find this book an essential stepping-stone to understanding contemporary conflicts.

Introduction to Geopolitics, Used [Paperback]

2. Central Asia in World History, Used [Paperback]

A vast region stretching roughly from the Volga River to Manchuria and the northern Chinese borderlands, Central Asia has been called the "pivot of history," a land where nomadic invaders and Silk Road traders changed the destinies of states that ringed its borders, including pre-modernEurope, the Middle East, and China. In Central Asia in World History, Peter B. Golden provides an engaging account of this important region, ranging from prehistory to the present, and focusing largely on the unique melting pot of cultures that this region has produced. Golden describes the traderswho braved the heat and cold along caravan routes to link East Asia and Europe; the Mongol Empire of Genghis Khan and his successors, the largest contiguous land empire in history; the invention of gunpowder, which allowed the great sedentary empires to overcome the horse-based nomads; the powerstruggles of Russia and China, and later Russia and Britain, for control of the area. Finally, he discusses the region today, a key area that neighbors such geopolitical hot spots as Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and China.

Central Asia in World History, Used [Paperback]

3. Sea Power: The History and Geopolitics of the World's Oceans, Used [Hardcover]

From one of the most admired admirals of his generation--and the only admiral to serve as Supreme Allied Commander at NATO--comes a remarkable voyage through all of the world's most important bodies of water, providing the story of naval power as a driver of human history and a crucial element in our current geopolitical path. From the time of the Greeks and the Persians clashing in the Mediterranean, sea power has determined world power. To an extent that is often underappreciated, it still does. No one understands this better than Admiral Jim Stavridis. In Sea Power , Admiral Stavridis takes us with him on a tour of the world's oceans from the admiral's chair, showing us how the geography of the oceans has shaped the destiny of nations, and how naval power has in a real sense made the world we live in today, and will shape the world we live in tomorrow. Not least, Sea Power is marvelous naval history, giving us fresh insight into great naval engagements from the battles of Salamis and Lepanto through to Trafalgar, the Battle of the Atlantic, and submarine conflicts of the Cold War. It is also a keen-eyed reckoning with the likely sites of our next major naval conflicts, particularly the Arctic Ocean, Eastern Mediterranean, and the South China Sea. Finally, Sea Power steps back to take a holistic view of the plagues to our oceans that are best seen that way, from piracy to pollution. When most of us look at a globe, we focus on the shape of the of the seven continents. Admiral Stavridis sees the shapes of the seven seas. After reading Sea Power , you will too. Not since Alfred Thayer Mahan's legendary The Influence of Sea Power upon History have we had such a powerful reckoning with this vital subject.

Sea Power: The History and Geopolitics of the World's Oceans, Used [Hardcover]

4. Super Highway: Sea Power in the 21st Century, Used [Hardcover]

In "Super Highway," maritime strategist and former Rear Admiral Chris Parry argues that in the second decade of the 21st century, the sea is set to reclaim its status as the world's preeminent strategic medium. Almost everything that travels virtually between continents and states on the Internet moves, in reality, as in previous eras of globalization, across, under or over the sea. Parry makes the case that the next decade will witness a scramble for the sea, involving competition for oceanic resources and the attempted political and economic colonization of large tracts of what have, until now, been considered international waters and shipping routes. Can the UK, with its seafaring history, reclaim the waves? With space travel no longer on the agenda, the sea (the physical equivalent of the world-wide-web) is effectively the world's final undiscovered frontier and the potential arena for a classic "Great Game" between the major powers and developing states.

Super Highway : Sea Power in the 21st Century, Used [Hardcover]

5. Full Planet, Empty Plates: The New Geopolitics of Food Scarcity, Used [Paperback]

Food is the new oil. Land is the new gold. The world food situation is deteriorating. Grain stocks have dropped to a dangerously low level. The World Food Price Index has doubled in one decade. The ranks of the hungry are expanding; political unrest is spreading. On the demand side of the food equation, there will be 219,000 people at the dinner table tonight who were not there last night. And some 3 billion increasingly affluent people are moving up the food chain, consuming grain-intensive livestock and poultry products. At the same time, water shortages and heat waves are making it more difficult for farmers to keep pace with demand. As grain-exporting countries ban exports to keep their food prices down, importing countries are panicking. In response, they are buying large tracts of land in other countries to grow food for themselves. The land rush is on. Could food become the weak link for us as it was for so many earlier civilizations? Lester Brown, one of the leading environmentalists of our time, explains why world food supplies are tightening and tells what we need to do about it.

Full Planet Empty Plates : The New Geopolitics of Food Scarcity, Used [Paperback]

6. Political Geography: World-economy, Nation-state and Locality [Paperback - Used]

CONDITION - USED - Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "From the library of" labels or previous owner inscriptions. Accessories such as CD, codes, toys, may not be included. Offers coverage of and commentary upon the principal events and challenges of world - political violence and terrorism, imperialism, ecological disaster, economic inequity, and exclusionary and fundamentalist attitudes towards nationalism and religion. This title is useful for students of political geography, geopolitics, and others.

Political Geography : World-Economy, Nation-State and Locality, Used [Paperback]

7. The Geopolitics Reader, Used [Paperback]

The Geopolitics Reader offers an interdisciplinary sourcebook of the most important political, geographical, historical and sociological readings of geopolitics in the late twentieth century. The Reader is divided into five parts which draw on the most illuminating examples of imperial, Cold War, contemporary geopolitics, new environmental themes and multiple resistances to the practices of geopolitics. The editors provide comprehensive introductions and critical comment at the beginning of each part and visual 'geopolitical texts' in the form of political cartoons are integrated throughout. Encouraging exploration of divergent viewpoints of global conflict and change this invaluable compendium includes readings by Martin Luther King, Vaclav Havel and George Bush.

The Geopolitics Reader, Used [Paperback]

8. A Sense Of Siege: The Geopolitics Of Islam And The West, Used [Paperback]

'The clash of civilizations? has become a common phrase in discussions of U.S.'Middle East relations. This book explores the nature of the friction between the Muslim world and Western states, looking at legitimate perceptions and grievances on both sides involving historical, political, economic, cultural, psychological, and strategic elements.Arguing that ?Islam versus the West? does not represent the arena of the next global ideological struggle, the authors examine specific issues of a bilateral nature that require careful handling to prevent the consolidation of states into opposing blocs. They discuss Islam's efforts to politically enhance the real power of Muslim states and to equalize relations with the West in the strategic arena; the enlarged role of Islam in the internal politics of Muslim countries; and the urgency of political, economic, and social change to break away from traditional authoritarian orders. A central theme of the book is that political Islam threatens the established order in most Muslim countries far more than it threatens the West and that violent confrontation can best be circumvented by integrating Islamist forces into the political process.

A Sense Of Siege: The Geopolitics Of Islam And The West, Used [Paperback]

9. On Western Terrorism : From Hiroshima to Drone Warfare, Used [Paperback]

Admired by some, condemned by others, and feared by all--the military might of the West is undeniably colossal. In On Western Terrorism , world-renowned intellectual Noam Chomsky discusses Western power and propaganda with filmmaker and investigative journalist Andre Vltchek. It offers the perfect introduction to Chomsky's significant political thought and provides an accessible approach for anyone who wishes to better understand the West's fraught role in the world. Beginning with stories of the New York newsstand where Chomsky started his political education as a teenager, the discussion broadens out to encompass colonialism, imperial control, propaganda, the Arab Spring, and drone warfare. Chomsky and Vltchek offer a powerful critique of the legacy of colonialism, touching upon many countries including Syria, Nicaragua, Cuba, China, Chile, and Turkey. Updated with a fresh design and a new foreword by Chomsky, On Western Terrorism remains an influential and powerful critique of the West's role in the world, inspiring all who read it to think independently and critically.

On Western Terrorism : From Hiroshima to Drone Warfare, Used [Paperback]

10. Energy, Economic Growth, and Geopolitical Futures: Eight Long-Range Scenarios, Used [Hardcover]

Eight varied scenarios, integrating a quantitative model and qualitative analysis, that examine the interplay of three key drivers over the next four decades. This book presents eight varied scenarios of possible global futures, emphasizing the interconnectedness of three drivers of change: energy prices, economic growth, and geopolitics. Other published global future scenarios focus on only one of these factors, viewing, for example, economic growth as unaffected by energy prices or energy prices in isolation from geopolitical conditions. In this book, Evan Hillebrand and Stacy Closson offer a new approach to scenario construction that acknowledges the codependence of these key drivers and integrates qualitative analysis with a quantitative model. The eight scenarios represent possible combinations of high or low energy prices, strong or weak economic growth, and global harmony or disharmony across three time periods: the 2010s, 2020 to 2040, and 2040 to 2050. The "Regional Mercantilism" scenario, for example, envisions high energy prices, weak economic growth, and global disharmony. To impose numerical consistency across scenarios, Hillebrand and Closson employ the International Futures (IFs) model developed by Barry Hughes. (Interested readers can download this interactive model to alter or build scenarios themselves.) Assessing the probability of each scenario, they conclude that increased U.S. energy supply and the sustainability of the Chinese growth miracle are the most significant drivers over the next forty years.

Energy, Economic Growth, and Geopolitical Futures : Eight Long-Range Forecasts, Used [Hardcover]