Revisiting Mackinder’s Heartland Theory: Identifying The Emergence of a Complex Power Competiton in the Indian Ocean Region

Abstract

Competition amongst great powers is not new in international politics. It has traditionally been the driving force for the creation and collapse of empires and states. In the 19th–20th centuries, the British Empire established its dominion in the world over and maintained an uncontested global supremacy. To secure Britain’s global dominance, in 1904, Sir Halford Mackinder dazed the world with his heartland theory. Ever since then, the theory remains one of the most discussed geopolitical theories. The article does not pretend or oblivious of the heaps of criticism Mackinder’s theory has received over several decades, it nonetheless, employs the theory in the context of the contemporary international political environment, with particular reference to the happenings around the Indian Ocean, Persian Gulf, and Arabian Sea. So therefore, the point of analysis here centres around the applicability of the theory and the implications posed by Mackinderian geographical rationalisation in formulating foreign policy around what the article considers as the contemporary pivot area – the Indian Ocean. Through the theoretical understanding of Mackinder’s thesis, the article argues that the Indian Ocean and its adjoining seas corridors and Straits are ‘pivot areas’ potential enough to generate competition amongst regional and global powers. The new ‘pivot areas’ is enormously endowed with natural resources and is the major energy highway(s), upon which global economies are dependent. The article concludes by arguing that a complex power competition (CPC) is brewing along the neo-pivot region.

Iran–USA Relations: From Exceptionalism to Containment Policy

“…Today's form of containment is markedly done through proxy and is not necessarily ideological as was played out during the Cold War. Geopolitics in the post-Cold War has taken a dramatic turn; unlike the peculiar bipolar tussle that characterised the Cold War era, today's geopolitical scenario is characteristically multipolar and distinctively depicted as complex power politics (CPC) (Bakare & Minahil, 2019).…”

Dilemma of National Narrative The Case for Building Domestic and Regional Narratives for CPEC

“…Sher, Khetran, and Khalid dubbed CPEC as a gateway to Central Asia (Sher & Khan, 2019). As a grand strategy, the Heartland theory "tapped Central Asia as the strategic 'energy' heartland of the world and whoever dominates it, could rule the world (Bakare & Toor, 2019). A common narrative that must be shared and celebrated in the country is that despite all odds, Pakistan strategically holds and provide transitory help to reaching the heartland.…”

“…A common narrative that must be shared and celebrated in the country is that despite all odds, Pakistan strategically holds and provide transitory help to reaching the heartland. While China might be the major gainer, Pakistan will also have a strategic edge as China will be penetrating and connecting the "pivot area -of Central Asia" (Bakare & Toor, 2019), which according to Mackinder would remain the "pivot of the world politics (Venier, 2004). This strategic importance must be reiterated at both national and provincial levels.…”