science

Geopolitical economy

Geopolitical economy is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Geopolitical economy rather than just read about it. In short: Geopolitical economy is a contemporary Marxist approach to understanding the capitalist world historically. It was proposed by Radhika Desai in her Geopolitical Economy: After US Hegemony, Globalization and Empire as a critique of contemporary mainstream theories of International political economy (IPE) and International relations (IR).

Key takeaways

Geopolitical economy belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Geopolitical economy to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Geopolitical economy from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Geopolitical economy is a contemporary Marxist approach to understanding the capitalist world historically. It was proposed by Radhika Desai in her Geopolitical Economy: After US Hegemony, Globalization and Empire as a critique of contemporary mainstream theories of International political economy (IPE) and International relations (IR). Geopolitical economy's critique rests on a rejection of orthodox views of the world economy as a seamless whole, united either by markets or by a single leading state, as in free market, free trade "globalization" and "hegemony" theories respectively. Instead, geopolitical economy emphasizes the interplay of political entities, namely, states, in the development of capitalism by going back to classical political economy and to the Marxist theories of imperialism, which geopolitical economy argues should be considered the first theories of international relations.

Background The terms "geo-political economy" and "geo-politics’ had been used by British geographer Stuart Corbridge in his work relating to human geography in a 1991 article seeking to designate an approach "which builds upon uneven development theory and which affirms, once again, the insistently spatial foundations of capitalist production, exchange, and regulation." Around the same time Edward Luttwak, economist and author of military-strategy books also made use of similar terms to proclaim a shift from "geopolitics" to "geo-economics" as the Cold War ended. Desai's work has operationalized the term geopolitical economy into a full-fledged approach to understanding the international relations of the capitalist world. Her geopolitical economy approach has traced its roots in the works of Marx and Engels and other Marxists, linked that tradition to the developmental state tradition and placed the dialectic of imperialism and anti-imperialism, or what Leon Trotsky called Uneven and combined development, at the centre of the understanding of world affairs.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Geopolitical economy

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Geopolitical economy claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Geopolitical economy before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Geopolitical economy ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Geopolitical economy

In research: Geopolitical economy appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Geopolitical economy in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Geopolitical economy is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Geopolitical terminology, Globalization, Marxian economics, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Geopolitical economy outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Geopolitical economy in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Geopolitical economy means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Geopolitical economy out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Geopolitical economy in simple terms?

Why does Geopolitical economy matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Geopolitical economy?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Geopolitical economy.