19 October 2011

Profiled with Other “Current Geopolitical Scholars” in Geopolitics: A Guide to the Issues

Bert Chapman, Geopolitics: A Guide to the Issues (Contemporary Military, Strategic, and Security Issues) (New York: Praeger, 2011).

“Current Geopolitical Scholars”

“A number of scholars representing classical and critical geopolitical perspectives are influencing this discipline’s research and analysis while representing disciplinary fields such as geography, history, international economics, military science, and political science.”

Scholars profiled include Thomas P.M. Barnett, Simon Dalby, Andrew S. Erickson, Colin Gray, Jakub Grygiel, J. Mohan Malik, Mackubin Thomas Owens, Chris Seiple, Francis P. Sempa, and Gerard Toal.

pp. 204-05:

Andrew S. Erickson

Andrew Erickson is an associate professor in the U.S. Naval War College’s Strategic Research Department and one of the founders of that department’s China Maritime Studies Institute. He has also worked as a Chinese translator and technical analyst for Science Applications International Corporation and has been employed with the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong, U.S. Senate, and White House. He received his BA in history and political science from Amherst College and an MA and PHD in international relations and comparative politics from Princeton University. His research specialties include Chinese military and foreign policy, Japan/East Asia security and international relations, maritime and aerospace technology development, energy resources and geostrategy, military basing, and power projection.

Erickson has published books, articles, and reports in a variety of venues, including such journals as Joint Force Quarterly, Journal of Strategic Studies, Naval War College Review, and Orbis. Examples of his multifaceted writings on Chinese and East Asian geopolitical issues, with particular emphasis on maritime matters, include the following:

China’s Oil Security Pipe Dream: The Reality and Strategic Consequences of Seaborne Imports.” Naval War College Review, 62 (2) (Spring 2010): 88-111.

Andrew S. Erickson, Lyle J. Goldstein, and William S. Murray. Chinese Mine Warfare: A PLA Navy “Assassin’s Mace” Capability. Newport, RI: Naval War College Press, 2009.

Using the Land to Control the Sea? Chinese Analysts Consider the Anti-Ship Ballistic Missile.” Naval War College Review, 62 (4) (Autumn 2009): 53-86.

Chinese Theater and Strategic Missile Force Modernization and Its Implications for the United States.” Journal of Strategic Studies, 32 (1) (February 2009): 67-114.

Can China Become a Maritime Power?” In Asia Looks Seaward: Power and Maritime Strategy, ed. Toshi Yoshihara and James R. Holmes. Westport, CT: Praeger Security International, 2008: 70-110.

Andrew S. Erickson, Gabriel B. Collins, Lyle J. Goldstein, and William S. Murray, eds. China’s Energy Strategy: The Impact of Beijing’s Maritime Policies. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2008.

Additional information on Erickson can be found at http://www.andrewerickson.com/ and http://twitter.andrewserickson.

Volume Summary

This concise introduction to the growth and evolution of geopolitics as a discipline includes biographical information on its leading historical and contemporary practitioners and detailed analysis of its literature.

 Geography is more important than ever in an increasingly globalized world, one in which economic, environmental, and international security events can dramatically affect national and international economic performance and personal living standards. What are the hot issues—and the hotspots—that make an understanding of geopolitics so important?

 An important book on a topic that has been neglected for too long, Geopolitics: A Guide to the Issues will provide readers with an enhanced understanding of how geography influences personal, national, and international economics, politics, and security. The work begins with the history of geopolitics from the late 19th century to the present, then discusses the intellectual renaissance the discipline is experiencing today due to the prevalence of international security threats involving territorial, airborne, space-based, and waterborne possession and acquisition.

 The book emphasizes current and emerging international geopolitical trends, examining how the U.S. and other countries, including Australia, Brazil, China, India, and Russia, are integrating geopolitics into national security planning. It profiles international geopolitical scholars and their work, and it analyzes emerging academic, military, and governmental literature, including “gray” literature and social networking technologies, such as blogs and Twitter.

 Features

• Biographies of major current geopolitical scholars and descriptions and listings of their works

• Maps of geopolitical crisis areas, such as Afghanistan/Pakistan, the South China Sea, and the Straits of Malacca

• Quotations from various government and military primary source documents

• A glossary of geopolitical terms

• A bibliography of international scholarly resources, including government and military documents

 Highlights

• Examines historical, current, and emerging geopolitical research developments and governmental geopolitical policymaking, as well as emerging geopolitical hotspots and crisis areas around the world

• Offers global coverage and interdisciplinary analysis reflecting viewpoints of multiple countries

• Conveys the importance of foreign economic, environmental, and international security, and political developments to our personal lives and economic situations and to national economics, environmental policy, politics, and security

• Examines the increasing global relevance of geopolitics in interdisciplinary global scholarly literature, foreign policy formulation, and national security and natural resources policymaking

• Demonstrates that geopolitical concerns drive the aerospace, land, and maritime policies of countries around the world

Bert Chapman is government information, political science, and economics librarian and professor of library science at Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN. He is the author of three previous books, including Praeger’s Military Doctrine: A Reference Handbook.

Other publications cited in this volume include:

Andrew S. Erickson, “Chinese Sea Power in Action: the Counter-Piracy Mission in the Gulf of Aden and Beyond,” in Roy Kamphausen, David Lai, and Andrew Scobell, eds., The PLA at Home and Abroad: Assessing the Operational Capabilities of China’s Military (Carlisle, PA: U.S. Army War College and National Bureau of Asian Research, July 2010), pp. 295-376.

Andrew S. Erickson and Lyle J. Goldstein, “Gunboats for China’s New ‘Grand Canals’? Probing the Intersection of Beijing’s Naval and Energy Security Policies,” Naval War College Review, Vol. 62, No. 2, Spring 2009, pp. 43-76.