Power

Power and geography.

Geopolitics as a set of constraints rather than a set of opinions. Rivers and coastlines a country did not choose, the currency the world settles in, the few straits and factories everything moves through, and the machinery of cutting a country off.

Where this stands

All 9 lessons are written.

Every lesson here is a node on the concept map, and the tutor knows all of them whether or not the lesson exists yet.

GP4 · 12 min

The dollar system

The world settles in dollars, which lets the issuer borrow on terms nobody else is offered.

GP5 · 11 min

Chokepoints

A handful of straits and a handful of fabs carry far more than their share of world traffic.

GP9 · 12 min

Sanctions and economic statecraft

Cutting a country off works through specific channels, and each channel has a workaround.

GP1 · 11 min

Geography as constraint

Rivers, coastline, arable land, and buffers set what a state can afford to want.

GP2 · 11 min

Anarchy and the security dilemma

No authority sits above states, so security bought by one reads as threat by another.

GP3 · 11 min

Hegemony and global public goods

Somebody pays to keep the sea lanes open, and that somebody sets the terms.

GP6 · 11 min

Energy as the substrate of power

Energy is the input to every other input.

GP7 · 11 min

Demography

The age structure of a population is knowable decades ahead and very hard to change.

GP8 · 11 min

Institutions and property rights

Whether a contract is enforceable explains more of the gap between rich and poor states than resources do.