Prisoners of Geography

Prisoner of Geography

tags

Geopolitics

keywords

History / World,Political Science / Geopolitics,Social Science / Human Geography

Motivation for reading

The book has been on my shelf for a while and I have always wanted to know more about international relationship from a geopolitical view.

About the author

Tim Marshall is a British journalist and author. He is the former foreign editor at Sky News and the author of the best-selling book Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need To Know About Global Politics. He is a frequent commentator on international affairs and has written for The Guardian, The Spectator and other publications.

Memo Quote

Humans are still confined by their physical position

The land on which we live has always shaped us. It has shaped the wars, the power, politics and social development of the peoples that now inhabit nearly every part of the earth.

But does national interests necessarily in alignment with common people’s interests?

All great nations spend peacetime preparing for the day war breaks out.

Summary

The book examines how physical surroundings, such as flat land, navigable rivers and mountains, shape history, culture and nationhood. It explains how current international conflicts and civil wars are driven by these elements. It also discusses how leaders and technological advances can be used to challenge geographical barriers, but ultimately geography remains a significant factor. Examples are given of how this has played out in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, the Arctic and Russia. The book highlights the importance of geography in understanding global events and the need to consider the impact of physical surroundings when making foreign policy decisions.

Questions inspired

• What specific geographical features influence international relations and global policy decisions?
• How has technology changed the way countries interact with each other?
• What strategies do countries use to overcome geographical limitations?

Impression

• eloquent but lacks reference to the incident the author brought up…

Reading log

<2022-12-14 Wed> : Reading Progress : 100%

• Finished reading the book

<2022-12-10 Sat> : Reading Progress : 61%

• Finished the section on the middle east
• I kind of like the author’s perspective on the Arabic Spring…there are so many factions in society, even though a lot of groups are anti-Hosni Mubarak¹(in the case of Egypt), it doesn’t mean all of them are liberal. People want different things against authority.

<2022-12-07 Wed> : Reading Progress : 39%

• Finished the section on Western Europe.

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