Ep 83: Aaron O’Connell on 'Geopolitics 101'

School of War · Jul 25, 2023 · 48m

Aaron O’Connell, Associate Professor of History at the University of Texas at Austin, joins the show to talk about the “founding fathers” of 20th century geopolitical thought: Mahan, Mackinder, and Spykman.

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Times

• 01:46 Introduction

• 02:20 From Marine to scholar to the NSC

• 06:24 Alfred T. Mahan

• 12:27 Choke points, decisive battle, and battleships

• 15:45 Security through imperialism

• 18:08 Chinese Mahanians

• 20:33 China’s crowded neighborhood

• 21:27 Halford Mackinder

• 28:56 Heartland rising

• 31:36 Inner and outer crescent

• 33:01 Nicholas Spykman

• 37:55 The nature of power

•…