How has competition between nations shaped geopolitics from the Age of Exploration to the present?

Answer 1

The competitive rivalry among nations since times immemorial is largely attributed to the unequal distribution of resources across the globe. From the age of exploration to the two world wars and from the Middle East to the West, nations have been striving hard to control resources and not merely to enhance their geographical extent of colonialism. Geopolitics talks about the spatial analysis in terms of geography, politics and other Social Sciences for the purpose of determining a nation's strategic direction and to help the nation outperform its rival through gaining the competitive. Modern concept of geopolitics dates back to the earlier 20th century when a Swedish political scientist Rudolf Kjellén coined this term. Later in the year 1904, Mackinder's Heartland Theory gave a boost to the concept of geopolitics wherein he emphasized importance of world resources. Modern geopolitics does not necessarily talks about the 'power shifts' but largely concentrates on the co-existence of nations through their mutual economic interdependence. This changing scope of geopolitics lies in the essence of multipolarity of the world order which characterizes the contemporary globe and is likely to do so in the future.