'Blue national soil' and the unwelcome return of 'classical' geopolitics

This paper discusses how geopolitical visions from an earlier century are being reanimated in certain quarters of the political, intellectual, and military elite in the United States in order to frame recent shifts in China's status in the international system. However, these deterministic geopolitical lenses – like the historical antecedents they draw on – are misconceived and counter-productive, missing the sophistication and fluidity of world politics. It is suggested here that such reductionist geopolitical categories instead work to narrow the space for mutual understanding and deny the multiple versions of power and sovereignty in the world today.