Assumption
Maritime mobility was the basis of the new type of geopolitical structure. Spykeman
emphasized that “It is sea power which has made it possible to conceive of the Eurasian
continent as a
unit and it is sea power which governs the relationship between the Old and the New Worlds”. To him
sea power appeared to be the key factor in global strategy.
Amendment to Heartland Theory
Spykeman concluded that Mackinder’s reasoning suffered from several weaknesses as he over-emphasized
the potentialities of the Heartland. Spykeman opined, the actual facts of Russian economy and
geography offer
no basis for the assumption that the Heartland is or will be in the very near future a world centre of
communication, mobility and power potential.
In his opinion, there were many reasons to support such view.
I.
In the first place, the distribution of world climate made it certain that unless revolutionary changes in
agricultural technology took place, the centre of agrarian productivity shall continue to be located in
Western Russia rather than in Central Siberia.
II.
In this region the actual extent of arable land was only a very small part of the total area.
III.
The essential bases for industrialization, at that time, also were mostly found to the
west of Ural
mountain.
IV.
Consequently, the heartland is not capable of supporting a large population from the produce of the
land.
V.
He pointed out that much of the area of the Soviet Union, lying to the west of the Yenisei river and
forming the heartland, was all wasteland.
He, therefore, asserted that the power potential of Eurasia lay not in the heartland but actually in
the belt of
states encircling the heartland on its west, south and east. This area Spykeman named as the ‘Rimland’ which
coincided approximately with Mackinder’s ‘inner or marginal crescent’ (Fig.). The
American scholar considered
the heartland less important than the Rimland, which contained most of world’s population and resources.
Fig.1: Spykeman’s Rimland
Prediction
He was convinced that the control of Eurasia and ultimately of the whole
world was possible through
controlling the Rimland. He, therefore,
formulated his own theory, called the Rimland theory:
“Who controls the Rimland rules Eurasia,
Who rules Eurasia controls the destinies of the world”.
It will be seen that Spykeman not only criticized the British geographer for his
inaccurate heartland
concept, but also suggested another strategy of world domination.
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