The Geographical Fulcrum of the 21st Century-Revisiting the Heartland Theory

In his article “The Geographical Pivot of History” (1904), H.J. Mackinder highlighted the immense significance of land power and noted that ‘Who rules East Europe rules the Heartland; Who rules the Heartland commands the world Island; and Who rules the World Island command the world’. Perceiving the world from a traditional security perspective, Mackinder highlighted the importance of land power and thus called for the acquisition of masses of land. Since then more than a century has gone by and during this period the world had undergone numerous changes in all frontiers. Today we are living in a highly globalized, interconnected and interdependent world which was hardly expected a century ago. Against this backdrop, this paper revisits the Mackinder’s Heartland theory. The main objective of this study is to understand the dynamics of geopolitical trends of the 21st century and examine how relevant the Mackinder’s Heartland theory is in explaining the geopolitical trends in the 21st century. The paper argues that given the dynamics of international relations in the 21st century, the geographical fulcrum of the 21st century is no longer Eurasia but Asia-Pacific. The paper brings out some of the main shortcomings of the Heartland theory which include the overemphasize on land power, underestimation of sea power and easy accessibility to trade routes and underestimation of regional and international cooperation. On the other hand, the main justifications for Asia-Pacific becoming the geographical fulcrum of 21st century include Asia’s rapid economic progress (Asia’s Century), possession of major sea routes, Availability of natural resources and population. The study attempts to capture the recent developments in international relations and examine how these changes determine the nature and scope of global geopolitics. This study is a desk study and data are collected through secondary sources. Considering the findings of the study, the paper argues that, ‘One who holds the upper hand in Asia-Pacific shall control the destiny of the world’.