Abstract:

After the collapse of the Soviet Union it has been argued that classical geopolitics has been on the agenda again and that Mackinder's concepts, like World Island and Heartland will dominate geostrategic thinking. Although it is our contention that Mackinder's concepts can be used fruitfully for an analysis in the framework of classical geopolitics it will not be enough to understand today's system of international relations and security challenges. The system of international relations is heavily depending on the processes of globalization. Globalization generates networks and in those networks relevant for international relations the most important actors are (nation)-states, although it is true that the nation-states are not the only actors in the field of international relations anymore. Supranational organizations and coalitions also play a fundamental role. In this paper, it will be hypothesized that the theory of scale-free networks in the sense of Barabási offers insight into the system of the networks of states. This implies that the most highly connected node, i.e. state functions as a hub. It will be argued that network of states and hubs can affect security challenges. This will be illustrated concretely with a case study of Kazakhstan.

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