MACKINDER’S “HEARTLAND”: A HELP OR HINDRANCE IN UNDERSTANDING CENTRAL ASIA’S INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS?

Dr Nick MEGORAN, Dr Sevara SHARAPOVA

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Dr. Nick Megoran, Research Fellow at Sidney Sussex College (Cambridge CB2 3HU, U.K.)

Dr. Sevara Sharapova, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, International Relations and Law, Tashkent State Institute of Oriental Studies (Tashkent, Uzbekistan)

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Introduction

In 1904 the British geographer Halford Mackinder (1861-1947) delivered a paper to London’s Royal Geographical Society entitled The Geographical Pivot of History. He argued that the “Pivot,” or “Heart-land” of Eurasia—much of Russia and Central Asia (see Fig. 1)—was the key to the balance of power in the world, and the state that controlled it would be well-placed to dominate Eurasia and even the world. His ideas proved controversial, but entered into the vocabulary of U.S. foreign policy during the Cold War.

Some commentators predicted that the end of the U.S.-U.S.S.R. conflict would lay Mackinder’s thesis to rest. However, his ideas have experienced a renaissance in application to Central Asia. Numerous scholars and journalists have seen fit to revise his ideas, claiming that Central Asia, as the focus of a competition for influence from Russia, the U.S., China, Turkey, Iran and others, has taken its rightful place as the Pivot of Asia. Others, however, have criticized this linkage. Edwards argues that it arbitrarily merges ideas about a “new great game” with geopolitics to make policy recommendations, without any attention to theoretical rigor or careful reading of the geopolitical tradition. Fettweis contends that the application of Mackinder’s ideas to contemporary Central Asia is profoundly misplaced, as they have been overtaken by the course of events, leading us to waste valuable foreign policy opportunities.

The articles collected in this special issue of Central Asia and the Caucasus are the first sustained scholarly investigation of this phenomenon. They are mostly collected from papers presented at……………………..

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