Strategies for barriers and fronts
In his recently published book, “The Paths of Power… Thinking about the Political Geography of the Twenty-First Century,” Frederick Ansel talks about two models of emerging countries in the new international order, which he called “barrier states” and “front states.” They are two models that share the strategic benefit of the geographical location in the context of the latent or existing international conflict.
In this context, the author talks about the case of Singapore, which at Malaysia’s independence in 1965 was just a modest fishermen’s village in its far south, on the Strait of Malacca linked to the China Sea, which was only a marginal sea route in the global trade movement. Thus, Malaysia allowed the secession of this simple city, which after half a century turned into a vastly rich country whose national income far exceeds that of its neighbour, and its air and navy forces are among the most important armies in the region.
There is no doubt that this rise is directly related to the tremendous economic growth of China, which has become the second commercial and industrial power in the world, while the importance of the Strait of Malacca, through which 33 percent of international maritime trade passes, has doubled, while its port has become, in the year 2022, the second port in the world. Where the containers are transported.
And with the increasing possibilities of conflict between China and the West, and the continuation of the state of hostility between China and India, Singapore’s strategic role in the future strategic battlefield is increasing, in terms of being the focus and focal point of this conflict, which explains the wide competition between the major pivotal powers over its co-optation and rapprochement with it. Turkey can be classified under the category The barrier states, albeit in a different way, because they benefit from the same “geographic rent” by controlling the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits on the Russian-Mediterranean axis. Turkey benefited during the Cold War from this exceptional position in the context of the Western-Soviet conflict, and today it is benefiting from it in curbing migrations coming from the Middle East to Western Europe.
Among the barrier countries is Poland, which, after its accession to the European Union, constitutes the main front in the face of what Western countries believe is the Russian threat that threatens them. This Polish role has clearly emerged during the current Ukrainian war, and the United States has come to view it as a barrier and an indispensable axis of confrontation, which explains NATO’s wide interest in it.
Among these barrier countries is also the Republic of Armenia with its “Hrazdan” strait on the line of intersection between Iran and the Russian Islamic republics. In line with Ansel’s theory of barrier states, we can conclude that the axes of the international strategic conflict will focus in the future around a triangle: the China Sea, the Black Sea, and the eastern Mediterranean, which explains the growing importance of states that play the role of barriers or fronts in areas of global conflict. Technical transformations have nullified Contemporary economics is the traditional concepts of geopolitics centered on the theory of the “vital field” Der lebensraum, which was crystallized by the German thinker “Friedrich Ratzel”. According to this theory adopted by the major international powers since the end of the nineteenth century, the interests of countries are not determined by their sovereign geographical space, but rather by the space of their regional interests, which is the field of their diplomatic movement and the framework of their intervention and influence.
The same transformations also strongly affected the thesis of the “balance of power”, which was the focal point of international relations. Barrier states penetrate the concepts of balance and vital space, and devote the growing role of countries of limited size, albeit with decisive influence. The question raised here relates to the position of the Arab world on the ground of the new international strategic conflict, in terms of being one of the main circles in global trade, as it is in contact with the theaters of future geopolitical engagement. What should be noted here is the importance of building a new strategic perspective for the Arab regional system in light of current developments, and beyond the current challenges such as the Greater Middle East and West Asia.
The dilemma that these definitions refer to is the stalemate on the transcendental traditional classifications that focus on the threads of the classic clash between the parties that distributed the map of power in the post-World War II period. In this context, the question of Arab positioning in the current conflicts taking place on the fronts of the West’s conflict with Russia and China, where our region, in its broad sense, constitutes a decisive barrier of effectiveness and influence, although regional interests require its neutralization in the current global conflicts.
Mauritanian academic
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