BOOK REVIEW #3

In brief

Our present is largely a consequence of the mountains, oceans, deserts, islands around us. Tim Marshall picks ten regions, squeezes in geography, history, economy, and more importantly context within 35 pages each to postulate where they are headed. He chooses an array of countries/regions to make his point. Australia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Sahel, Turkey, Greece, Spain, UK and finally Space. Each gets sound descriptions of their geographies followed by brief overviews on historical developments leading to the present day. It is a breezy read and each chapter gives you the feeling of reading a feature article in The Economist. He focusses on the geographical features that make these select countries unique and presents his take roughly in the form of a SWOT analysis. For e.g. Ethiopia’s high lands hold the key to one of the most valuable resources in that part of Africa: Fresh water. However it is a landlocked country, bordering a rather unstable Somalia, making it imperative maintain good terms with its Indian Ocean-facing neighbours such as Eritrea and Djibouti, and so on.

He focusses on the geographical features that make these select countries unique and presents his take roughly in the form of a SWOT analysis.

Geography is half of Geopolitics

There is nothing tying the chosen countries here in terms of size, demography, culture, development & social indicators, etc. That perhaps is his underlining hypothesis. All need to submit to their immediate geographic realities. However, two other subtexts can be identified in the realm of politics throughout: Regional assertion & Pawns of hegemons. All the countries (except Space) are either vying to become a regional power on their own right or/and form the playground for larger hegemons (looking at you P5 countries) and their competing interests. There are also regional rivalries thrown into the mix. For e.g. we have Saudi Arabia and Iran separated by Red sea in a region brimming with oil. We have Turkey and Greece fighting over the rights to mine in the Aegan sea and over Cyprus while stitched together by NATO that wants to contain Russia within the Black sea. Every other rivalry has a sea, a mountain, or a desert amidst it. In this style, the author ties in geography and politics forming the crux of this book. Where necessary, maps have been provided in the book.

Sahel — Neither Sahara nor Sub-sahara

I particularly found the chapters on Sahel and Ethiopia engaging. This is partly because I am not much familiar with the region. Sahel is a strip of land stretching across Africa about 6000 km long and hundreds of kilometers wide right at the southern edge of the Sahara desert. Multiple nation states exist currently such as Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad, Niger, and is predominantly Francophone owing to colonial legacy. It gives an overview of the various regional and religious conflicts and states not being able to exert its control over large swathes of territory. France is a major security partner in this region due to historical ties and also because it is the destination for the stream of refugees that flow northward. The book gave a good starting point for those trying to learn more about the region, especially considering that not much is written about the media about this region in comparison to the geopolitical developments elsewhere (Middle-east, Europe, Asia, etc).

Leveraging your position with Great powers

The invisible tussle between the great powers of the era is visible if you read the subtext. Even though not outright mentioned in a chapter their influence pervades throughout the book. UK is examined within the prism of its post-Brexit realities with an increasingly isolationalist US and growing influence of China. Australia is finding itself increasingly threatened by the actions and trade imbalances with a powerful neighbour to the north. Landlocked Ethiopia finds itself close to a port city neighbour that is essentially being bought out by a powerful country. Sahel seems to be a region where a power vacuum seems to be more dangerous than ouright external interference by a large power, and the list goes on. Space seems to be the new playground, with the author mentioning the competition happening in space using satellites in the era of information and how it has become the new territory to fight wars over.

The book however consisted of some debatable inferences when it touches upon areas beyond geography where the journalist applies a British perspective to push out rushed conclusions. An example is its treatment of Kurds in chapters associated with Turkey and Saudi Arabia. He treats ethnicity with a sizeable population alone as reason enough for demanding a separate nation state. Regardless of whether it is warranted or not by either parties, I think that paints a shallow picture considering there are various multi-ethnic stable states around the world.

Overall, I found it an informative read and really a good starting point to explore geopolitical developments of the regions mentioned in the book.

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