Modelling neoclassical geopolitics: An alternative theoretical tradition for geopolitical culture and literacy

Abstract

This paper offers a conceptual and theoretical alternative to geopolitical reasoning. It accepts certain concepts, factors, and variables from classical geopolitics with tested scientific validity and adds to them the awareness and focus on agents contributed, to some extent, by critical geopolitics. Without leaving a soft positivist sphere in which the procedures of the scientific method prevail, the innovative model of neoclassical geopolitics presented here constitutes a two-level approach in which the structural variable of systemic stimuli runs through the dual intervening variable of the geopolitical agent’s perceptions and capacities, shaping the state’s behavior as the dependent variable. In other words, it is innovatively claimed that examining geopolitical agents’ perceptions and capacities often provides valuable input for explaining political out-comes as an object of study in geopolitical research. Through both systemic stimuli and geopolitical agents’ perceptions and capacities, geography remains omnipresent with its concepts and approaches. Hence, one of the main objectives of the article is to contribute to the thriving of geopolitical culture and the literacy of decision-makers and the general public.