Published: 2025-12-31

Popular geopolitis and new technologies? What do geopolitical bestsellers teach us?

Tomasz Pawłuszko
Studia Krytyczne/Critical Studies
Section: Varia
DOI https://doi.org/10.25167/sk.6104

Abstract

In recent decades, the term "geopolitics" has gained considerable popularity in explaining international phenomena. Diplomats, soldiers, journalists, and business consultants write about geopolitics. Geopolitical issues have become an important field of market analysis, especially risk analysis. However, it remains unclear what this "geopolitical analysis" is and what its content is. What do the authors of geopolitical bestsellers propose? What characterize their work and what methods do they use? How do they define geopolitics? To answer these questions, the author undertook an effort to examine the content of leading "geopolitical" publications translated into Polish over the past dozen or so years. The author explains that the main subject of so-called popular geopolitics remains the state rivalry. However, these books differ in content and form from the old geopolitical classics, drawing attention to new areas of competition (energy, technology, ecology, infrastructure). On the other hand, contemporary authors write about information chaos, which paradoxically leads to theincreasing importance of enduring material factors typical of classical geopolitics (geography, military, demography). The author also examines the weaknesses of popular discourse, such as simplifications, hidden assumptions, poor source base, inconsistency, and the writing of publications to support a thesis. In this endeavor, the author utilized the methodology of a scientific review.

Keywords:

popular geopolitics, competition, technology, strategy

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Pawłuszko, T. (2025). Popular geopolitis and new technologies? What do geopolitical bestsellers teach us?. Studia Krytyczne/Critical Studies, (14), 67–88. https://doi.org/10.25167/sk.6104

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