Geopolitics and Europe
Professor Helge Hveem – University of Oslo

Referring to the classical thesis of Mackinder that world power is decided by who controls the Eurasian continent, the talk will focus on European policy-makers attempt to cope with three major challenges. First Mackinder's world view, with its emphasis on geographical pivots, is insufficient to understand and respond to contemporary challenges; cultural or religious 'agglomerations' are as important or more. Secondly while contemporary US hegemonic position in the Eurasian continent is challenged by Putin's Russia in a way consistent with Mackinder's view, China's positioning evolves in a different way, possibly also that of India, and neither is well understood in the West. Third, Europe - that is for most practical purposes the EU - has yet to develop a coherent response to the triple 'squeeze' that it appears to be confronting: the relative decline of the reputation and power of its superpower ally in the continent, the apparent (Russia) and likely (China and India) advance of the three aspiring powers, and indeed what the contemporary Eurasian geopolitics require in terms of new policies. Over the recent years yet another sub-continent is emerging as a geopolitical challenge, in some ways an extension of the Eurasian, in others as a new arena: the Arctic or circumpolar North. Compared to the Antarctic it represents a different geopolitical context. Energy resources and the quest for energy security are vital elements in the Eurasian and Arctic geopolitical arenas, and they represent a particular challenge to governments which aim to combine strategies of territorial control with combating terrorism and indeed climate change.