Geopolitics in United States strategic policy 1890-1980; with special reference to the post-1945 period

Abstract

This thesis traces and analyses the nature of the relationship between geopolitical theory and United States strategic policy from 1890 to the end of the Carter admin­istration, with particular attention being paid to the post-1945 period. The first part of the thesis will examine the origins and meaning of geopolitical theory and arguments about the theory's utility. Specifically the development of classical geopolitical theory will be looked at. In addition, the history of German geopolitics will be scrutinized. There are two reasons for this: first to gauge the extent to which it has a continuity with classical geopolitical theory. Secondly, the degree to which it was used to arrive at political explanations. Contemporary geopolitical theory will be examined to appraise the impact that German geopolitics had on its evolution.
The second part of the thesis will assess the history of United States strategic policy, and seek to illuminate as accurately as possible the relationship between geopolitical theory and subsequent strategic policy. The history of strategic policy will be the raw material for the demonstration of this relationship. What will be given is an account and assessment of this relationship over a period of United States diplomatic history which is familiar.
In the last part two factors will be emphasized. First the most frequent type of relationship between strategic policy and geopolitical theory was one where a theory of spatial relations and historical causation has moulded the perceptions and actions of policy-makers. Secondly, it will be suggested that this element of territorial commitment on behalf of the policy-makers, was an extension of the ideas which rationalized the internal expansion of the United States during the first half of the nineteenth century.