The Geopolitics Review

Since the outbreak of Coronavirus, 467,000 people have died globally (as of 22/06/2020). Western countries have been hit hardest with the US and UK being amongst the highest levels of deaths in the entire world. However, there is an increasing number of countries that are subject to economic sanctions who are being hit harder than previously by COVID-19.    Iran is the obvious example, with incredibly strict UN and US sanctions that limit what can be imported and bought. The sanctions do not limit the purchase of medical supplies however, the majority of such supplies are paid for through the national bank which is heavily restricted in what it can be used for to buy items. As a result, the majority of purchases of medical supplies are blocked at the payment stage, thus limiting the ability for the Iranian healthcare system to support the rise in infections and those who need intensive care. It has been shown clearly in the West, especially in the US and Italy that there is a ...

On the 4 th  May, 2 Americans and 11 Venezuelans were arrested just off the coast of Venezuela. What then proceeded was the discovery of a shambolic plan to overthrow President Nicolas Maduro.   The plan was simple enough. Two former US Green Berets (Luke Denman, 34 and Aidan Berry, 41) and a handful of Venezuelan dissidents would enter the country and travel up towards the capital Caracas liberating military installations as they went, encouraging members of the military to join them. On arrival in the city, Berry, Denman, and their band of merry men would arrest Maduro and ship him back to the US to face Narcoterrorism charges. The democratically elected president Juan Guaidó would take office and democracy would be restored to Venezuela.    In theory.    In reality, this was a far-flung attempt by a man called Jordan Goudreau, a former Green Beret and founder of SilverCorp USA, a private military contracting firm that offers everything from natural ...

Why is cooperation between states so difficult in international politics? Is It possible to achieve lasting co-operation in international politics? Cooperation between states is so difficult due to clashes in Ideology, culture, and the concept of a states ‘national interest’. These separate concepts mean such different things to states across the globe and as a result make unilateral cooperation incredible hard to find. I do not think that it is possible to achieve lasting cooperation between states in international politics precisely due to the previously mentioned points regarding ideology, culture, and national interest.   Ideology plays such a large part in the reason that cooperation between states is so difficult. The term ideology refers to the ways that a person or people form political or economic views. These ideologies can be very contrasting to one another. For example, there is a vast difference between the notion of democracy in the West which allows every...

Chechnya is a region in southern Russia that borders Georgia and has been over the last twenty years, a region with a history of resisting rule from Moscow. It has been the location for two major wars, the first from 1994-1996 and the second from 1999-2009, as well as becoming a breeding ground for Islamic extremism and separatism. Its volatile history with Moscow has resulted in Vladimir Putin allowing Chechnya’s current president Ramzan Kadyrov to lead Chechnya and leaving him to rule Chechnya as he wishes as long as it maintains stability in the region. This has allowed Chechnya to become a thriving hotbed of radical Islamic extremism and fundamentalism, being one of the predominantly Muslim regions in Russia. This essay will argue that in fact, Chechnya poses a huge risk to Russia due to a number of reasons. The reasons this essay will cover are the fact Chechnya has a large amount of autonomy from Moscow, the fact its Muslim extremist problem makes it a fertile breeding ground for...

China’s expansionism in Africa has been happening for decades through infrastructure and trade deals. It has bypassed the US in the region but may have ulterior motives.  For years, China has had its eye on Africa. During the Cold war, with a rise in tensions between Beijing and Moscow, China was able to establish strong relations with a number of African States, such as Zimbabwe, Egypt, and Sudan. It was often due to rebuffing of the Soviets from these states that allowed relations with China to flourish, usually taking form through infrastructure deals, and supplying of arms and token military aid.    And so began a timeline of Chinese economic intervention in Africa. Where it began as a way to counter Soviet expansion into the continent during the Cold war, it has now turned into a way of China expanding its portfolio of nations who seemingly ‘owe’ Beijing a debt of gratitude for bringing stability and allowing economies to flourish. This has been further cemented wit...

Civil-military relations is the study and practice of cooperation between the military and the civilian body. Patricia Shields defines civil-military relations as “the relationship between civil society as a whole and the military organization or organizations established to protect it”. [1]  This essay is arguing that civil-military relations are vitally important as they retain stability in a time where there are many threats to the state from both internal and external actors. By maintaining good civil-military relations, a state is limiting the power struggle between government and military, as well as ensuring the state's security from external threats. This essay will argue three points; Why civil-military relations are important in preventing unchecked military power. Why allowing a level of oversight from the government into the militaries actions is vital to prevent over-reaction, and abuse of power, and finally, what happens if there is not a good civil-military relations...