During the recent years, the rapid progression of China has become increasingly manifest on the international arena. Accordingly, it has been questioned whether the world is currently witnessing the re-emergence of a new ‘Pax Sinica’, implying a period of Asian dominance as evident during the 10th century. In general, China has tended to be portrayed as a threat to the US hegemony and the current ‘Pax Americana’. In light of China’s quest for new markets and energy supplies so as to sustain its growing economy, its search for global alliances and enhanced presence in the resource-rich continent of Africa is of significant importance. As such, this study has argued that the Sino-African relationship could be seen as an illustration of China’s endeavor towards global recognition. In this context, the conceptual framework of geopolitics has been used to enhance the understanding of the Sino-African relationship, the potential of a ‘Pax Sinica’ and the various perspectives surrounding it. Potential constraints and possibilities from both an African, Western and Chinese perspective have accordingly been examined. In particular, the concept of critical geopolitics has been employed in order to better identify different notions of power, common discourses and their possible motivations. The concept of hermeneutics has likewise been applied so as to move beyond the general impression of China and its interaction with Africa. In doing so, some of the core components of the multifaceted Sino-African relationship have been investigated, i.e. aid, trade, and oil. Likewise, the implications of Chinese migration to Africa and the country’s role in ‘less significant’ countries such as Ethiopia have been considered. The main conclusions of this study are that there are strong indicators of China becoming a leading hegemony, and particularly in the ‘Global South’. From a geopolitical standpoint, two distinct perspectives in regards to China and their interaction with Africa have been highlighted. The first one is the typical Western standpoint, which has commonly adopted a more conventional geopolitical perspective in their portrayal of ‘the greedy Chinese’ as a global threat. This has been put in contrast to the more critical geopolitical perspective of China, who has pointed to its asserted ‘peaceful rise’, unconventional strategies and use of ‘soft power’. In acknowledging China as the leading hegemony of the ‘Global South’, it is likely to believe that the world will sooner or later enter an era of ‘Pax Sinica’.

Several contemporary art historians have been interested in exploring how their discipline could respond to the increasing globalisation of knowledge and information by encompassing global perspectives into the methodologies that underpin their approaches to art historiography. This dissertation aims to explore how, in developing their new approaches to world art history, they have drawn on a range of natural and social sciences, thus enabling their work to be placed in a wider social, political and indeed global context. While their individual approaches are many and varied it is important to identify commonalities between them so as to highlight unifying approaches across such diversity. The dissertation begins with literature review of the key concepts I want to explore. The work of the 19th century historian, Aby Warburg is highlighted to draw attention to his early pioneering attempts to provide an intercultural perspective to art history. Recent attempts to develop new approaches to world art history are then analysed. These include works by David Carrier, Ben-Ami Scharfstein, David Summers, Esther Pasztory and John Onians. The thesis concludes with a discussion on the recent exhibition at the British Museum entitled A History of the World in 100 Objects. The dissertation will show that despite the diverse methodologies used by all of these writers and the challenges of the different media employed, all utilise concepts of borders and objects in an explicitly geopolitical context.

Thesis explains why Chile maintains military budgets in excess of its threat levels. Historically, Chile required a well-funded and capable military due to tense regional relations. However, resolution of border conflicts, equipment acquisitions and superior economic performance reduced Chile's threats during the 1990's. Nonetheless, analysts attributed the continued high military budgets to an authoritarian hangover following General Pinochet's reign (1973-1989). Pinochet's 1998 arrest and trial diminished the power of the military, calling into question past explanations. The judiciary purged the state of junta era commanders, younger more flexible leadership came to power and the political parties agreed on constitutional reform. Yet, after sweeping constitutional reforms, budgets remained high. This thesis argues the government maintained defense budgets in order to further the "normalization" of civil-military relations. The military received high budgets and in turn recognized past human right abuses and pledged subordination. With relations stable, both the civilian elite and military agreed to reorient the military's mission towards peacekeeping. Peacekeeping reinforces civil-military relations while benefiting each party individually. The civilian elite receive international prestige furthering their foreign policy goals while the military's mission and budgets are justified. The stable equilibrium guarantees Chile will remain a regional leader in peacekeeping for the future.

This thesis focuses on the analysis of contemporary trends in the global gas sector by highlighting major milestones in the relationship between energy 'producer' and 'consumer' states, and assessing eventual development of the gas sector with a special emphasis on Transnational Corporations. The research applies a SWOT analysis (the assessment of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) of the Russian gas sector in order to promote a greater understanding of recent trends in the country's gas market, analyze its impact on the global gas industry, and provide an assessment for the future of the country's energy sector. In this regard, the study argues that the Russian gas sector is determined by the large scale of the country's territory, the dominance of gas in the fuel balance of the country, unstable economy of the gas industry, and emerging trends of the scarcity of gas. Based on the analysis of opportunities and challenges of creating a 'gas OPEC', the study concludes that there are prospects for a creation of such an organization in the long-run, due to growing gas demand. However, the thesis argues that in order for Russia to become a potential member of such an organization and promote further development of the country's gas sector, there is a need to diversify its gas supplies,...

The thesis examines the effects of geopolitical events on global crude oil, wheat and aluminum prices. Geopolitical events have the potential to disrupt the production and supply of commodities to markets, affecting prices. Path analysis models that mirror crude oil, wheat and aluminum markets are constructed using theories specific to each commodity to measure how substantial the impacts of different variables are upon prices. Vector error correction models are then employed to test if individual geopolitical events have long-term effects on prices. An analysis of production and exports of commodities in regions and countries affected by geopolitical events is conducted to determine how severely production is disrupted. A basic examination of prices before, during and after geopolitical events is conducted to understand how quickly drivers of commodity prices can shift between geopolitical events and supply and demand fundamentals. It also serves to show how quickly prices revert to pre-event levels following a geopolitical event.

La question des frontières est actuellement portée par une urgence politique économique et sociale. C’est ce qui explique le retour aux questions spatiales ; particulièrement sous la forme d’une interrogation sur les limites ; dans les sciences sociales, la géopolitique et la philosophie. Le développement de ce qui est communément nommé mondialisation entraîne l’idée de la possibilité de leur disparition à plus ou moins long terme. Il convient donc d’élaborer un concept et une typologie des frontières et de leur rapport à l’espace pour décider de l’éventuelle réalité de leur disparition. Le premier point est que malgré l’homogénéité apparemment évidente que nous donne l’expérience immédiate l’espace est une construction hétérogène parmi les éléments de laquelle apparaît un espace politique dont la frontière est une partie essentielle. L’espace se constitue par strates. Celles-ci s’accumulent sur une étendue purement matérielle. Entre cette étendue et la strate d’espace primaire existe une surface synaptique que nous nommons sol. Il est la condition de la saisie de la matière par les strates. Parmi les différents modes d’espace il faut aussi compter les espaces rhizomatiques que sont les réseaux économiques et de communication. Les espaces ainsi dégagés comme strates et leurs compléments rhizomatiques sont l’espace perceptif, le territoire individuel tel que le définissent Deleuze et Guattari, un espace social, un espace discursif et le pli que forme la subjectivité. Le rôle de l’espace politique est d’opérer une synthèse de ces différents espaces. Chacune des strates connaît une forme spécifique de limite qui lui est purement immanente et une limite interstrate qui lui permet d’entrer en rapport avec les strates contigües. Si les frontières servent de limites au sein de la strate politique ; elles ont aussi un rôle de métalimite qui correspond au rôle constituant de l’espace politique. Il est la strate qui permet aux autres de fonctionner entre elles. La frontière à donc un rôle synthétique dans la construction de l’espace en général. La frontière accapare Les fonctions de toutes les autres limites, elle est ce qui permet à l’espace politique d’exercer son rôle de synthèse. / The issue of borders is currently borne by political, economic and social emergency, which accounts for reverting to space-related questions, especially in the form of questioning limits, in social sciences, geopolitics and philosophy. The development of what is commonly known as globalization brings forth the idea that they might disappear in the mid- or short-term. It is therefore necessary to set up a concept and a typology of borders and their relation to space in order to decide on the possible reality of their disappearance.The first item goes thus : despite the apparently obvious homogeneity we get from immediate experience, space is a heterogeneous construction among whose elements appears the political space, in which borders take an essential part. Space is made of strata, which pile upon a sheerly material expanse. In between this expanse and the primary stratum of space lies a synaptic area that we call ground. It is a necessary condition for strata to operate the seizure of matter. Among the various modes of space, one also has to take into account rhizomatic spaces such as economy networks and communication networks. Spaces thus identified as strata, together with their rhizomatic complements, make up the perceptive space, the individual territory as was defined by Deleuze and Guattari, a social space, a discursive space and the crease formes by subjectivity. The political space plays its part by synthesizing these different spaces. Each stratum has its own immanent, specific form of limit, as well as a cross-stratum limit that allows for its relationship with contiguous strata. Although borders work as limits within the political stratum, they also act as a meta-limit that corresponds with the constituting role of the political space. It is the one stratum that allows the others to operate together. The border therefore plays a synthetisizing part in the construction of space in general. The border monopolizes the functions of all other limits; its existence allows the political space to play its synthesizing role.

Esta dissertação tem como objetivo analisar a geopolítica da Índia. Para isso dividiu-se o objeto de análise em duas variáveis: geoideologia e geoestratégia. À geoideologia corresponde a visão que se tinha do território da Índia. À geoestratégia, as ações praticadas para o manejo desse território. A periodização feita seguia aquela comumente utilizada pelos historiadores, o qual distingue três períodos históricos, conforme a religião dominante: hindu, islâmico, e colonial britânico (secular). A Índia moderna é herdeira e fruto dessas geoideologias. Analisou-se a partir daí o impacto que essas ideologias tiveram na política pós-independência, distinguindo-se entre dois períodos: Índia independente e Índia pós-Guerra Fria. A geopolítica selecionada foi aquela produzida pelos principais autores de cada período. E na ausência de autor de destaque, analisou-se a geopolítica praticada pelos governos do período em questão. Por exemplo, no período védico, britânico e independente optou-se pelos pensamentos de Kautilya, Lorde Curzon e Jawaharlal Nehru respectivamente como referência teórica. Já nos períodos islâmico e pós-Guerra Fria, escolheu-se os governos de Akbar, o Grande, e de Narendra Modi, respectivamente. / This dissertation has as goal to analyse the Indias geopolitics. For this, the analysis object was divided in two variable: geo-ideology and geo-strategic. Geo-ideology corresponds to the view that it had of Indias territory. Geo-strategic corresponds to the actions practiced for the handle of this territory. The periodization adopted follows that usually utilized by historians, which distinguishes three historical periods, in accord to dominant religion: Hindu, Islamic, and British (Secular). The modern India is inheritor and product of these ideologies. Thereafter it was analyzed the impact that these ideologies have in the post-independence politics, distinguishing in two periods: independent India and post-Cold War India. The selected geopolitics was that produced by the main authors of each period. In absence of a main author, it was analyzed the geopolitics practiced by the governments of that period. For example, in the Vedic, British and independent India periods the option was by the thinking of Kautilya, Lord Curzon and Jawaharlal Nehru respectively. In other hand, in the Islamic and post-Cold War India periods the choose was by the government of Akbar, the Great, and Narendra Modi respectively.

This dissertation presents a cultural history of U.S.-China relations between 1876 and 1930 that analyzes the politics attending the formation of the category we call “Chinese art” in the United States today. Interest in the material and visual culture of China has influenced the development of American national identity and shaped perceptions of America’s place in the world since the colonial era. Turn-of-the-century anxieties about U.S.-China relations and geopolitics in the Pacific Ocean sparked new approaches to the collecting and study of Chinese art in the U.S. Proponents including Charles Freer, Langdon Warner, Frederick McCormick, and others championed the production of knowledge about Chinese art in the U.S. as a deterrent for a looming “civilizational clash.” Central to this flurry of activity were questions of epistemology and authority: among these approaches, whose conceptions and interpretations would prevail, and on what grounds? American collectors, dealers, and curators grappled with these questions by engaging not only with each other—oftentimes contentiously—but also with their counterparts in Europe, China, and Japan. Together they developed and debated transnational forms of expertise within museums, world’s fairs, commercial galleries, print publications, and educational institutes. The collaboration and competition between them based on evolving definitions of rigor and objectivity produced two significant results. First, the creation of knowledge about Chinese art advanced informal imperialism over China through a more disciplined apprehension of its culture. Second, it facilitated the U.S. overtaking Europe as the new center for the collecting and study of Chinese art in the West. This project thus explains not only the evolution of a field of knowledge, but also the transformation of the United States into an international power at the intersection of geopolitics and culture in the first decades of the early twentieth century. Five chapters focus on the period during 1900 and 1920 when interest in and institution building around Chinese art flourished in the United States. Chapter one offers a prelude to changes to come in the early 1900s by documenting the participation of late nineteenth-century American collectors, whose tastes concentrated on Chinese ceramics, in transatlantic circuits of collecting and scholarship that were then dominated by Europeans. Chapter two recounts the creation of the American Asiatic Institute and the life of its founder, Frederick McCormick, to highlight the geopolitical context that motivated Chinese art collecting in the U.S. during the 1910s. Chapter three examines the intersection between commerce and knowledge by showing how art dealers conveyed not only art objects, but also skills and information across the Pacific. Looking past the marquee names of famed dealers like Duveen Brothers and C.T. Loo reveals the exchanges and mutual dependency between Western and Chinese suppliers, clerks, and translators who were key to the formation of Chinese art collections and scholarship in the U.S. Chapter four traces the tension between cosmopolitanism and nationalism that, over the course of a decade, catapulted private and public collections in the U.S. over those in Europe in a kind of Chinese art “arms race.” As chapter five shows, however, American authority over Chinese art was far from secure. In particular, conflicts over the selection and display of Chinese paintings at the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco underscore the contingent limitations of this authority. The epilogue presents the 1920s and 1930s as a turning point in the professionalization of Chinese art that foreclosed earlier ideas and practices as insufficiently rigorous—and, in the process, surrendered an older vision for art to reform international relations.

In this dissertation, “Travelers, Traders, and Traitors: Mapping and Writing Piracy in England, Spain, and the Caribbean (1570-1620),” I contend that an array of early modern authors wrote about piracy in order to discuss the meanings of property, articulate jurisdictional boundaries of geographic space, and negotiate the limits of sovereignty. Drawing on a diverse corpus that includes historical accounts, literary texts, legal treatises, epistles, travelogues and maps, I argue that individuals and institutions used the term “the pirate” with constantly changing definitions to stage political, economic, and religious polemics. While following the course of the attacks carried out by the English Captain Francis Drake and primarily focusing on the language and vocabulary employed by national and colonial stakeholders to describe piracy, the project demonstrates that as piracy grew less ambiguous through legal and linguistic standardization, it lost its polemical utility. Challenging classical notions of the pirate as “the enemy of all,” I reexamine the construction of piracy as a social and transatlantic category that overlaps with political, religious and economic affairs. In this way, the project emphasizes the role of piracy as a tool of imperial narratives of power and the development of geopolitical identities in both sides of the Atlantic during the sixteenth century. The overarching narrative of my dissertation chronologically registers the process by which piracy went from being an unregulated phenomenon—evinced by the instability of the categories employed to refer it— to becoming a legally defined and controlled practice by the beginning of the seventeenth century. The first chapter, “The Plasticity of the Pirate,” addresses the unstable conceptualization of piracy, contraband, and ransom (rescate) in European legal documents, English, Spanish and Caribbean colonial accounts and literary production. The first part of this chapter analyzes Balthazar de Ayala’s De Iure et Officiis bellicis et disciplina militari (1584), Alberico Gentili’s Hispanicae advocationis (c1613) and Jean Bodin’s On Sovereignty (1576), while the second part studies the various meanings of “rescue” and “ransom” (rescate) in the Caribbean context that also account for piracy’s semantic flexibility. In Chapter 2, “Cruising Outer Spaces,” I put into dialogue the narrative and visual construction of Drake’s figure as a maritime knight—after his circumnavigation of the globe (1577-80)—with European territorial claims of possession displayed by the cartographical representation of the Caribbean archipelago. By analyzing the work of sixteenth-century Flemish, Italian, and Spanish cartographers and sailors—such as Giovanni Battista Boazio, Gerard Mercator, Juan Escalante de Mendoza, and Baltasar Vellerino de Villalobos—I reassess the role of piracy in depictions of Caribbean islands and identify contra-cartographies that dispute the Spanish Crown’s territorial order. Turning to the narrative representations of the Caribbean archipelago, the third chapter, “Setting Sails to Rhetorical Piracy: Francis Drake’s Caribbean Raid (1585-1586),” explores the mechanisms employed by Spanish, English, and colonial authors who at the time, took advantage of Drake’s attack to project varied collective and individual ambitions by appealing to and entwining the religious, economic, and political discourses. By exploring the relationship between piracy and entrepreneurship, found in English, Spanish Peninsular and colonial sources, such as Richard Hakluyt’s compilation, Principall Navigations (c1598-1600), Walter Bigges’s travelogue, A Summary (1589) and Juan de Castellanos’s heroic poem, Discurso del capitán Francisco Draque (c1587) among others, the first part of this chapter emphasizes the tensions and nuances of describing maritime predation as an economic transaction or as a multifaceted concept that moves across religious and political realms. By revisiting Spanish chroniclers of the Indies—such as Bernardino de Sahagún, Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo, and Bartolomé de las Casas—Dutch, English, and Portuguese jurists—such as Hugo Grotius, John Selden, and Serafim Freitas—alongside Iberian legal documents, the second part of the chapter evaluates the debates and descriptions of piracy, in both Caribbean and European waters, to showcase the articulation of the terms “infection” and “infestation” as a means to either legitimize or condemn the right of maritime and territorial possession. Addressing the factual discrepancies, found in historical and literary texts about Drake’s Caribbean raid, the last part of this chapter showcases the production of polemical narratives of blame and their political repercussions in English, Spanish Iberian, and Caribbean scenarios. Chapter 4, “Dropping Anchors: Francis Drake’s Three Deaths and the Beginnings of an End,” tackles the moral, political, and economic considerations that structure the notions of libel and piracy, while also stressing their parallel processes of standardization and criminalization. Through the close-reading of literary texts and divergent historical reports that portray the defeat of King Philip II’s Armada (1588) and Drake’s last Caribbean raid (1595-96) alongside English legal treatises on libeling, the first two parts of this chapter trace the discursive overlapping of piracy and libeling driven by ulterior political and imperial aspirations. In this way, by analyzing Félix Lope de Vega’s La Dragontea (c1598), Henry Savile’s A Libell of Spanish Lies (1596), Thomas Maynarde’s Sir Francis Drake, his voyage (1595) among others, these two parts showcase the textual battles underpinned by English and Spanish disputes of power. Chronologically situated after Drake’s, Phillip II’s, and Elizabeth I’s deaths—1596, 1598, and 1603 respectively— and analyzing legal documents and other material evidence, such as the Treatise of London and Sir Henry Mainwaring’s text Of the Beginnings, Practices, and Suppression of Pirates (c 1617), the last part of this chapter highlights and registers the predominant role played by economic interests within the legal standardization of English libeling and the political agreement between Spain and England to criminalize piracy.

This dissertation will fully research the opportunities and restrictions of European states from the geography of Europe, analyze the key mechanism of transformations of the European geopolitics and the power interactions among European states based on the theories of geopolitics in history. To investigate the European history from the dimension of the changes of geopolitics, we can find that the key element within the whole geopolitical order of Europe is the rise and the fall of Germany. In 1648, the Deutschland was partitioned due to the failed distribution of German interests among the European powers. Furthermore, the dissociation of Germany made the European powers, such as France, Britain, and Russia grow stably in the balance of power. In 1871, Germany unified under Bismarch¡¦s strategy. The unification of Germany destroyed the stable order of Europe, especially the balance of power. Then, two world wars broke out. From 1945 to 1989, Germany was partitioned again. This brought the European order back to a stable situation, also it was the first time for Europe to be integrated peacefully. In 1990, Germany was unified again. From the development of European history, an unified Germany owned the abilities and chances to dominate Europe in politics and economics. Now Germany plays an important role in the geopolitics of Europe once more. No matter what the revival plan of Russian energy geostrategy is, how America extends its sphere of influence in Europe, and how the European states under the Lisbon Treaty oppose the American global hegemony, it is hard to exclude Germany from Europe. Moreover we can say if Germany is absent from Europe, the European strategy will lose its pivot. From the complicated war history of Europe to the power interactions of European geopolitics in the 21 century, Germany is still the key point of the European power politics.