Preface, Part I Summary and Analysis

Author Robert Kaplan opens the book by claiming that to understand the present political state of the world one must focus on relatively permanent features of global geography. A first illustration is the mountain range separating Arab and Kurdish Iraq, a barrier that so enraged Saddam Hussein that he traversed it and killed 100,000 civilian Kurds. Mountains, Kaplan argues, are conservative, protecting indigenous cultures, but sometimes create conflicts due to increased differences. Naked and unprotected landscapes are constantly invaded.

Artificial borders are sometimes erected, such as the Berlin Wall, which Kaplan argues was just one of many historical manifestations of the need for political divides in Central Europe, which was often ravaged by war due to being so geographically open. The geography of a nation and its people stays relatively stationary, making geography a critical common element that...