geopolitic theory & myanmar's strategic location
TRANSCRIPT
Geopolitics Theories and Myanmar’s Strategic Location
Presented byKo Toe Gyi ယ���ၾကညရ� စဖတအ�သင�
12th October 2013 (12:00) PM
The Term “Geopolitics”
Relation between Politics and Territory.
Comprises the art and practice of analyzing , prescribing, forecasting and the using of political power over a given territory.
Geopolitics Geopolitics is the study of the effects of
geography (both human and physical) on international politics and international relation.
Geopolitics = Geography + Politics Geopolitics is Macro-politics as widely
and broadly. Political Geography is Micro-politics that
have study as detail of Geographical Ingredients.
Geopolitics traditionally studies the links between political power and geographic space, and examines strategic prescriptions based on the relative importance of land power and sea power in world history.
The Most Famous Geopolitics Theorist.
Alfred Thayar Mahan - Sea Power Nation
Sir Halford Mackinder – Heartland Theory
Nicholas Spyman – Rimland Theory Friedrich Ratzel – Political Geography Samuel Huntington – Clash of
Civilization
Karl Haushofer
Rudolf Kjellen
Halford Mackinder
Friedich Ratzal
Alfred Thayer Mahan
Typical Characteristics of Geopolitics are -- Location, (Esp; Strategic Location)
- Size, - Climate,- Topography (Study of the surface shape and feature of the Earth.)- Demography (Study of Human
Population) and- Natural Resources .
There is the Two Types of Boundaries.
1. Natural Boundary2. Artificial Boundary
Natural Boundary
Artificial Boundary
•Major RegionNorth America
Latin AmericaAsia PacificWestern, Central and Eastern
EuropeMiddle EastAfrica
Determination of International Boundaries.
3 Stages of Boundary Determination.
1. Definition of the Boundary2. Delimitation of the Boundary and 3. Demarcation of the Boundary.
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Continuous Zone - "infringement of its customs, fiscal, immigration or sanitary laws and regulations within its territory or territorial sea".
exclusive economic zone, including fishing, mining, oil exploration, and any pollution of those resources.
Three Concepts of Power
1. Land Power2. Sea Power3. Air Power
Land Power
Sea Power
Air Power
Heartland Theory
Rimland Theory
Mackinder
Spyman
Mahan
Technological Advantage
Heartland
Rimland
Sea Power
Land Power
Nature of State Power• Ingredients of State Power Potential
Natural Sources of Power Tangible Sources of Power Intangible Sources of Power
Natural Sources of Power
Intangible Sources of Power
Tangible Sources of PowerNature of State Power
Geography Natural
Resources Population
1. Geography2. Natural Resources3. Population
Natural Sources of
Power
1. IndustrialDevelopment
2. Level of Infrastructure3. Characteristics of Military
Tangible Sources of
Power
1. National Image2. Public Support
3. Leadership
Intangible Sources of
Power
There important Natural sources of Power are
1. geographical size and position2. natural resources3. population
Geography
Size
Strategic Location
Heartland Rimland
Wide Middle Small
Size
1. Pro-rupted Shape2. Fragmented Shape3. Perforated Shape4. Compacted Shape5. Elongated Shape
Shape
I. OpenII. CloseIII. Island
Geographical size and location are the natural sources of power recognized first by international relation theorists.
A large geographic expanse gives a state automatic power.
For Example,1. Russia 5. India2. China 6. Canada3. USA 7. Brazil4. Australia
Long Borders
May be weakness Must be defended An expensive Often problem task
Natural Resources- 2nd Source of Natural Power
Controlling a large geographic expanse is not a positive ingredient of power unless that expanse contains natural resources.
Petroleum-exporting states- Kuwait, Qatar, UAE
which are geographically small.
States need oil and are ready to pay dearly for it, and will even go to war when access to it is denied.
Since 2006, Russia has used that power potential , cutting off natural gas supplies to Ukraine and hence slowing supplies to Europe, which gets one-quarter of its gas through Ukraine.
The absence of natural resources does not mean that a state has no power potential .
However, Japan is not rich in natural resources, but it has parlayed other elements of power so as to make itself an economic powerhouse.
Population is a third natural source of power.- China (1.3 Billion)- India (1.2 Billion)- USA (307 million)
Automatically give power potential and often great power.
States with small, highly educated, skilled populations can fill large Economic Power.
Such as- Switzerland- Norway- Austria and Singapore.
States with large but relative poor population, such as Ethiopia (with 79 million people but GNP of only $800 per capital), can exercise less power.
Two Debate Mackinder and Spyman
Mahan
Location
Base on Land
Base on Sea
Two different views about the importance of geography in international relations emerged at the turn of the century within the realist tradition.
In the late 1890, the naval officer and historian Alfred Mahan (1840-1914) wrote of the importance of controlling the sea.
The state that controls the ocean routes controls the world.
In 1904, the British geographer Sir Halford Mackinder (1861-1947) countered the Mahan’s View.
To Mackinder, The State that had the most power was
the one that controlled the Eurasian geographic “Heartland”.
Russia’s lack of easy access to the sea and its resultant inability to wield naval power have been viewed as persistent weaknesses in that country’s power potential.
Sir Halford John Mackinder (15 February 1861 – 6 March 1947) was an English geographer and Director of the London School of Economics
who is regarded as one of the founding fathers of both geopolitics and geo-strategy.
Heartland Theory Who rules Eastern Europe commands
the Heartland of Eurasia. Who rules the Heartland commands the
World Island of Europe, Asia and Africa. Who rules the World Island commands
the World.
World Island or Core = Heartland = Eurasia + AfricaPeriphery = Americas, the British & OceaniaHeartland (Pivot Area) – Central Europe, Ukraine, Western Russian
Mackinder’s Theory – Very influential during the two World
wars and the Cold War for Germany and Russia.
Weakness; But many geographers came to see as it’s over-reliance on Environmental and technological Determination.
Nicholas John Spykman (1893–1943) was a Dutch-American geo-strategist.
A Sterling Professor of International Relations, teaching as part of the Institute for International Studies at Yale University, one of his prime concerns was making his students geographically literate—geopolitics was impossible without geographic understanding.
He was married to the children's novelist E. C. Spykman.
He died of cancer at the age of 49.
Rimland Theory
Who controls the rimland rules Eurasia; Who rules Eurasia controls the destinies
of the world.
Alfred Thayer Mahan (September 27, 1840 – December 1, 1914) was a United States Navy flag officer, geostrategist, and historian, who has been called "the most important American strategist of the nineteenth century.“
His concept of "sea power" was based on the idea
that countries with greater naval power will have greater worldwide impact; it was most famously presented in The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660–1783 (1890).
The concept had an enormous influence in shaping the strategic thought of navies across the world, especially in the United States, Germany, Japan and Britain, ultimately causing a European naval arms race in the 1890s, which included the United States.
His ideas still permeate the U.S. Navy Doctrine.
Sea Power Nation
Mahan believed that national greatness was associated with the
sea, with its commercial usage in peace and its control in war.
His goal was to discover the laws of history that determined who controlled the seas.
His theoretical framework came from an emphasis on strategic locations (such as
chokepoints, canals), as well as quantifiable levels of fighting power in a fleet
The primary mission of a navy was to secure the command of the sea. This not only permitted the maintenance of sea
communications for one's own ships while denying their use to the enemy but also, if necessary, provided the means for close supervision of neutral trade.
This control of the sea could not be achieved by destruction of commerce but only by destroying or neutralizing the enemy fleet.
This called for concentration of naval forces composed of capital ships, not unduly large but numerous, well manned with crews thoroughly trained, and operating under the principle that the best defense is an aggressive offense.
Friedrich Ratzel’s Political Geography
Analysis on the importance of mobility and the move from sea to rail transport.
But he failed to predict the revolutionary impact of air power.
Control of Key Oceanic Choke Points The Straits of Malacca Gibraltar Hormuz Dardanelles The Persian Gulf Suez Panama Canals - is viewed as a positive indicator of
Power potential.
Strait of Malacca
Strait of Gibraltar
Panama
Suez
Dardanelles
Hormuz
Persian Gulf
Cuba Missiles Crisis
Falkland Crisis
Summary
Size
Strategic Location
Important of Resources
Rim Area
Pivot Area
Related with Sea Power
Natural Resources
Human Resources
Population
Myanmar’s Strategic Location
Myanmar China India Bangladesh
Area (sq.km) total: 678,500 s land: 657,740 water: 20,760
9,561,000 3,287,263 148,393
Population 52.8 Million 1351 Million 1237 Million 154.7 Million
Religion Buddhism Buddhism, Taoism
Hindu,80.5% Islam, 83%
Government Types
Communist State
Federal Republic
Parliamentary Democracy
Land boundaries:
total: 5,876 km border countries: Bangladesh 193 km, China
2,185 km, India 1,463 km, Laos 235 km, Thailand 1,800 km
Coastline: 1,930 km
Population: 42,909,464 (2005 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 27.2% (male 5,967,487/female 5,717,795) 15-64 years: 67.8% (male 14,448,887/female 14,641,419) 65 years and over: 5% (male 939,092/female 1,194,784)
(2005 est.)
Case Study
Sino-Burma Pipeline Dewei deep Sea port
Sino-Burma pipelines refers to planned oil and natural gas pipelines linking Burma's deep-water port of Kyaukphyu (Sittwe) in the Bay of Bengal with Kunming in Yunnan province of China.
In December 2005, Petro China signed a deal with Burma's Government to purchase natural gas over a 30 year period.
The oil pipeline will have a capacity of 12 million tons of crude oil per year. It would diversify China's crude oil imports routes from the Middle East and Africa, and avoid traffic through the Strait of Malacca
The second problem is that 80 % of China’s imported oil goes through the Straits of Malacca
They fear that the USA or India in the future could use that as a chock point and cut of China’s import of Oil
Geopolitical Role of Dewei deep Sea port Dawei, located in Southern Myanmar, on the
Andaman coast facing the Indian Ocean – long been a strategic prize
In Nov 2010, Myanmar Port Authority signed a USD $8.6 billion deal with Italian-Thai Development
Myanmar’s First Special Economic Zone A deep sea port stretching 250 sq km (97 sq mile)
industrial estate including a steel mill, fertilizer plant and a coal fired power station and oil refinery
Japanese Nippon Steel – said to be a potential investor in the Dawei port project including a coal fired power plant, an industrial center, oil and gas pipelines and an eight-lane highway.
Geopolitical Role of Dewei deep Sea port Gateway to Indo-China and potentially the world
biggest industrial estate Sea and land (railway and road) infrastructure links to
Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam Myanmar & Thailand – Construction of a 130 km road
from the Dawei port to Thailand – almost complete 10 year project involving Thailand and Myanmar
totaling US$ 8 billion Thailand’s hope to create a more efficient, less
congested route for its exports to Europe and the Middle East
Dawei port – 10 times the size of Laem Chabang, Thailand’s largest port on the Gulf of Thailand
Geopolitical Role of Dewei deep Sea port Dawei Development Project – invigorate the country’s
impoverished economy and revolutionize regional trade
Pipelines will transport gas from the coast of western Rakhine state and oil from the Middle East and Africa across the country to China
Dawei – a “short cut” for crude oil coming into Southeast Asia from the Middle East
The port project – could create up to 100,000 jobs
Myanmar’s Coastline – 1300 Miles Have the Close position from North to India Ocean Best the get of Natural Sunlight on this Ocean where
Growth water organism Sufficient for Food Security at Military and Economic
Summary
China Centric Sino-Burma Pipeline Dawei Deep Sea port
What taken to National Interest for Myanmar to use Geopolitics Advantage Between China and India?
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Ko Toe Gyi