Lavia y obra

Jaime Enrique Valderrama

Universidad Sergio Arboleda

Geopolitics and security

The origins and evolution of geopolitics

Interview: What are natural boundaries (limits) in geopolitics?

1. Is our current environment nature-directed, nature-limited or man-directed?

Nature-directed environment refers to the way in which ancient geopolitical schools conceived geopolitics, where everything was given and arranged by God and the climate was not changing but rather static. Also they think the idea that the geographical environment can determine to any significant extent the nature of modern man. Meanwhile, nature-limited refers to the way in which modern authors conceive geopolitics, in which they don’t look at the map of the world to discover what nature impose us to do anymore, but what nature advises us to do, given our preferences.

So I think our current environment is nature-directed, because there are things that modern man simply cannot control, such as hurricanes, earthquakes, thunderstorms, floods among other natural phenomena from which modern man cannot escape and is subjugated to the force (or fury) of nature.

2. Apply the following statement to analyze Colombia's reality:´Climate and national character are closely related; heterogeneity of the territory of a state breeds heterogeneity among the people and prevents the achievement of unity and peace within a country."

Colombia is a country that has a wide variety of climates, in the north we have the Caribbean region that is hot, in the center of the country we have mountain ranges and a cold climate, and a jungle climate in the south of Colombia, among others. Besides this, it is a country divided by its mountainous terrain which has influenced the non-existence of a synergy between all the regions and there is not heterogeneity throughout the territory, also influenced by its excessive centralism, therefore these factors could influence internal violence throughout the year in the country, preventing complete peace.

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