Revenge of the Geographers
The controversy over Robert Kaplan's view of the world.
Illustration by Aaron Goodman for FP
Fights over geography have gone on ever since early man first dropped from the trees and started marking the territory he landed on. So it is little surprise that Robert D. Kaplan’s The Revenge of Geography has sparked some controversy and a number of smart responses.
In recent decades, talk of a death of distance at the hands of globalization has fed hopes that politics, economics, and even humans themselves might once and for all transcend the constraints of the physical world. Not so, Kaplan contends. His article reflects insights gleaned from decades of reporting from some of the most remote parts of the globe, marrying them to his readings of the great geographical determinists of the Victorian age. It is these thinkers, Kaplan argues, who offer the truest guidance to the many ways that geography continues to constrain human action. And The Revenge of Geography is his effort to breathe new life into an old way of looking at the world — one that respects the relief map and tries to discern the limits it imposes.
The responses to Kaplan come from academic geographers, students and teachers of geopolitics, and a world-traveling journalist. We decided to continue the discussion here at ForeignPolicy.com. Six responses to Kaplan are published below, and we are sure the debate will only continue to rage. Fights over geography may never end, but at least they now occur in print and in cyberspace, rather than with sticks and stones.
UPDATE: Kaplan responds.
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