Politics & SocietyGreek → English
Geopolitics
/ˌdʒiːoʊˈpɒlɪtɪks/noun
The study of how geography shapes the power and conduct of states.
The Greek roots
γῆ
gê
earth, land
πολιτικός
politikós
of the citizens, civic
Literally: “politics of the land”
The story of the word
Rudolf Kjellén, a Swedish political scientist, coined Geopolitik around the turn of the twentieth century for the study of a state as a living thing shaped by its territory. German writers between the wars took the term over and welded it to expansionist theory, which left it disreputable for a generation afterwards. It came back into English in the 1970s meaning little more than great power politics with a map on the table.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Swedish coinage → English
- First recorded
- 1900s
Same family
geographygeologypoliticsmetropoliscosmopolitan
In a sentence
The pipeline route was decided by geopolitics, not by engineering.
She teaches the geopolitics of the eastern Mediterranean to people who will negotiate there.