Influence of Rimland theory
Writing at a time when the Second World
War was still on, Spykeman advocated that the allied powers
should base their future policy on preventing any consolidation of Rimland and the enemy.
With the defeat of
Germany in the Second World War and the emerge of the USSR as the sole master of the Heratland,
Spykeman’s prescription became the basis of the American “policy of containment” of the spread of
communism in the coastal states of Asia.
Looking at the geo-political and geo-strategic
importance of the Rimland, the United States had
consistently tried to build a tier of defense against the Soviet Union. The North Atlantic
Treaty Organization
(NATO), Baghbad Pact subsequently known as the Central Territorial Organization (CENTO) and the South-
East Asian Territorial Organization were made by USA to keep an eye on the defense of the Rimland and to
prevent the Soviet influence in the warm waters of the Rimland.
The containment of communism, in the opinion
of Domino, was necessary because the fall of any single country in the Rimland
to the Soviets would have
inevitably led to defeat of American interests in the other adjacent countries.
Criticism
I.
The Rimland theory has been criticized on the ground of advancement of war technology and nuclear
limiting.
II.
No world power has so far been able to control all the countries of the Rimland. In
fact the task is not
only difficult but impossible.
III.
It has been criticized on the ground that Spykeman under-estimated the role of world community and
that of the UNO.
IV.
At present, the international law does not permit any territorial expansion. In fact, state is no longer a
living organism in the sense of
V.
Ratzel’s Labensraum. It is the time of economic imperialism and not that of political colonization.