Alliances and geopolitics

Following the admonition of Most and Starr (1984) that international relations scholars ‘need to reconceptualize exactly what it is that we want to study, and why’ the authors attempt to understand alliances through the broader context of geopolitics and geopolitical perspectives on international relations. Using the ecological triad framework of the Sprouts, and Starr's ‘opportunity and willingness’ framework, alliances are viewed as part of the geopolitical constraints on available possibilities in the system, as part of the set of incentive structures that affect foreign policy decision-making, and as a central mechanism that permits decision-makers to overcome the geopolitical constraints of the system. Drawing on analogies with technology and borders, alliances can be viewed as important tools for overcoming the constraints of geopolitics, and for changing the meaning of the supposedly ‘permanent’ nature of international geography.