Abstract
Geopolitics has been defined most succinctly as “the relation of international political power to the geographical setting.”[1] This definition has three principal conceptual components—the international system of nation states, political power, and geography—each of which has a significant relationship to technology.
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References
Saul Bernard Cohen, Geography & Politics in a World Divided ( New York: Random House, 1963 ), p. 24.
Major-General J.F.C. Fuller, The Conduct of War 1789–1961 ( London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1962, p. 93.
Hans J. Morgenthau, Politics Among Nations: The Struggle for Power & Peace (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Fourth Edition, 1967 ), p. 114.
Ibid., p. 115.
Ibid., pp. 115–116.
Cohen, Geography & Politics in a Divided World, p. 24.
See Jean Gottman, “Geography & International Relations,” World Politics (Vol. Ill, No. 2 ), 1951.
Ibid.
See Harold and Margaret Sprout, “Geography and International Politics in an Era of Revolutionary Change,” The Journal of Conflict Resolutions (Vol. IV, No. 1 ), 1960.
A. T. Mahan, The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660–1783 (Boston, 1890 ), Chapter 1.
Sir Halford J. Mackinder, The Scope and Methods of Geography and The Geographical Pivot of History ( London: The Royal Geographical Society, 1951 ), pp. 30–44.
Ibid., p. 9.
W.A. Douglas Jackson (ed.), Politics and Geographic Relationships: Readings on the Nature of Political Geography (Engle-wood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1964 ), p. 2.
See Ross Babbage, “Technological Change on the Conventional Battlefield: Trends and Implications,” in Desmond Ball (ed.), Strategy and Defence: Australian Essays (Sydney, Australia: George Allen & Unwin, 1982 ), pp. 100–102.
A. A. Tinajero, “The MX Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Program” (Library of Congrss, Congressional Research Service, Issue Brief No. IB77080, 29 June 1977 ), p. 19.
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Aviation Week & Space Technology, 16 June 1980, p. 69.
Jim Klurfeld, “The MX Debate,” Long Island Newsday, 3 February 1980, p. 5; and Clarence A. Robinson, “Soviets Boost ICBM Accuracy,” Aviation Week & Space Technology, 3 April 1978, pp. 14–16.
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R. T. Pretty (ed.) Jane’s Weapon Systems 1979-80 ( London: Macdonald & Jane’s Publishers Limited, 1979 ), pp. 21–22.
Air Force Magazine, June 1980, p. 17. Aviation Week & Space Technology has even reported (8 December 1980, p. 11) that the CEP of the Trident II S1BM is expected to be as good as 400 feet.
See Desmond J. Ball, “The Counterforce Potential of American SLBM Systems,” Journal of Peace Research (Vol. XIV, No. 1 ), 1977, pp. 23–40.
Doug Richardson, “Soviet Strategic Nuclear Rockets Guide,” Flight International, 11 December 1976, p. 1733.
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Ibid.; and testimony of Paul Nitze, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, The SALT II Treaty, Part 1, p. 458.
Center for Defense Information, “The Cruise Missile,” p. 2.
Robert L. Pfaltzgraff and Jacquelyn K. Davis, The Cruise Missile: Bargaining Chip or Defense Bargain? (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis, Inc., 1977 ), p. 13.
See, for example, James F. Digby, Precision-Guided Weapons (Santa Monica, California: The Rand Corporation, P-5353, March 1975 ).
W. T. Mikolowsky and L. W. Noggle, An Evaluation of Very Large Airplanes and Alternative Fuels (Santa Monica, California: The Rand Corporation, R-1889-AF, December 1976 ), p. 197.
Air Force Magazine, December 1982, p. 28.
Aviation Week & Space Technology, 22 November 1982, p. 15.
Aviation Week & Space Technology, 31 January 1983, p. 20.
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The Committee for the Compilation of Materials on Damage Caused by the Atomic Bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Hiroshima and Nagasaki: The Physical, Medical, and Social Effects of the Atomic Bombings (New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1981 ), pp. 30–31.
David Alan Rosenberg, “A Smoking, Radiating Ruin at the End of Two Hours: Documents on American Plans for Nuclear War with the Soviet Union, 1954-55,” International Security (Vol. 6, No. 3), Winter 1981/1982, p. 20, note 7.;
Ibid., p. 31, note 2; and Herbert York, The Advisors: Openheimer, Teller and the Super Bomb ( San Francisco: W. H. Freeman & Company, 1976 ), pp. 82–87.
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See Walter Pincus, “Why More Nukes?: A New Generation of Weaponry,” The New Republic, 9 February 1974, p. 15.
United States Atomic Energy Commission, Annual Report to Congress for 1972: 1972 Atomic Energy Programs: Operating and Developmental Functions (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 31 January 1973 ), p. 93.
Pincus, “Why More Nukes?,” p. 15.
Ibid., pp. 15–16.
House Appropriations Committee, Department of Defense Appropriation for 1980 ( Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1979 ), p. 863.
Ross Babbage, “Technological Change on the Conventional Battlefield,” pp. 102–103.
Desmond Ball, “Australia and the U.S. Defense Support Program,” Pacific Defence Reporter, November 1982, pp. 25–32, 47.
Desmond Ball, “The Rhyolite Programme” (Reference Paper No. 86, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University, Canberra, November 1981 ).
John W.R. Taylor (ed)., Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft 1981-82 ( London: Jane’s Publishing Company Limited, 1981 ), p. 314.
Ibid., p. 366.
Ibid., p. 390.
Army Beefing Up Intelligence Capabilities, Defense Electronics/Electronic Warfare, June 1979, pp. 55–60.
See Desmond Ball, “0TH-B Radar in Defence of Australia,” Electronics Today International (Vol$18, No. 2) February 1978, pp. 35–40.
Director of Central Intelligence, Soviet Civil Defense (NI. 78-100003, July 1978 ), p. 8.
Letter from General Brown to Senator William Proxmire, 3 February 1977, reprinted in Survival, March/April 1977, p. 77; and Aviation Week & Space Technology, 7 February 1977, p. 16.
Kevin McKean, “Making Giant Waves for Subs in the Deep,” Discover, January 1982, p. 82.
Albert D. Wheelon, Roger W. Clapp, and Barnet Krinsky, EHF Satellite Communications (Hughes Aircraft Company, Space & Communications Group, 15 October 1981 ).
See Secretary Weinberger’s testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee of 5 October 1981, in Survival (Vol. XXIV, No. 1), January/February 1982, p. 31. However, the 150 Minuteman II silos at Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, are hardened to somewhat less than 2000 psi. See testimony of General Slay, Senate Appropriations Committee, Department of Defense Appropriations for Fiscal Year 1979 (Part 4 ), p. 985.
Colin S. Gray, The Future of Land-Based Missile Forces (Adelphi Paper No. 140, London: International Institute for Strategic Studies, Winter 1977), pp$112, 17; Aviation Week & Space Technology, 16 June 1980, p$167; Aviation Week & Space Technology, 3 November 1980., p. 28; and Aviation Week & Space Technology, 17 January 1983, p. 26.
Two New Soviet Strategic Missiles, Foreign Report, 24 February 1983, p. 1.
See Desmond Ball, “The MX Basing Decision,” Survival (Vol. XXII, No. 2), March/April 1980, pp. 58–65.
Transcript of Remarks by the President on Weapons Program, New York Times, 3 October 1981, p. 12.
See Walter Pincus and Lou Cannon, “Panel on MX Basing Seeks Extension of Deadline,” Washington Post, 9 February 1983, p. 1.
See Desmond Ball, Can Nuclear War Be Controlled? (Adelphi Paper No. 169, London, International Institute for Strategic Studies, 1981 ), Section II.
Ibid.
See John Newhouse, Cold Dawn: The Story of SALT (New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1973), p. 245; and Gerard Smith, Doubletalk: The Story of SALT I (Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1980 ), pp. 391–399.
See U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs, Economic and Social Consequences of Nuclear Attacks on the United States ( Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1979 ), pp. 1–27.
Richard Burt, “New Weapons Technologies and European Security,” Orbis (Vol. XIX, No. 2), Summer 1975, p. 518.
James Digby, Precision-Guided Weapons, pp. 16, 23.
Brigadier General Edward B. Atkeson, Precision Guided Munitions: Implications for Detente (Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania: Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College, 16 September 1975 ), p. 7.
For a comprehensive discussion of these trends and implications, see Ross Babbage, “Technological Change and the Conventional Battlefield,” pp. 105–123.
See Desmond Ball, “New Military Technologies for the Defence of Australia,” Pacific Defence Reporter (Vol. IV, No. 7 ), February 1978, pp. 80–84.
Albert Wohlstetter, “Illusions of Distance,” Foreign Affairs (Vol.146, No. 2), January 1968, pp. 244–245.
Albert Wohlstetter, “Theory and Opposed-Systems Design,” in Morton A. Kaplan (ed.), New Approaches to International Relations ( New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1968 ), p. 44.
W. T. Mikolowsky and L. W. Noggle, An Evaluation of Very Large Airplanes and Alternative Fuels, p. 52.
Interview with General Bennie L. Davis, Commander-in- Chief of the Strategic Air Command, in USA Today, 17 March 1983, p. 5C.
See C.W.C. Oman, The Art of War in the Middle Ages: A.D. 378–1515 (New York: Cornell University Press, 1953 ), pp. 104–115.
Michael Howard, The Franco-Prussian War ( London: Hart- Davis Publishers, 1962 ).
Vannevar Bush, Modern Arms and Free Men ( New York: Simon & Schuster, 1949 ), Chapter 2.
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© 1985 Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, The Hague
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Ball, D. (1985). Modern Technology and Geopolitics. In: Zoppo, C.E., Zorgbibe, C. (eds) On Geopolitics: Classical and Nuclear. NATO ASI Series, vol 20. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-6230-9_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-6230-9_7
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