Book Review: The Revenge of Geography: What the Map Tells Us About Coming Conflicts and the Battle Against Fate

Well-known strategist Robert Kaplan in his Foreign Policy article of May/June 2009, points to geography along with culture, tradition, and history as a “[force] beyond our control that constrain human action”. Thus, to him, any attempt to grapple with the innate drawbacks of geography’s, similar to the adversities of tradition and history, must entail, has to hold “a modest acceptance of fate”. This fate - full of conflicts and instabilities - is predetermined and shaped by geography; hence it is geography that dictates the inevitable battles. Kaplan’s article forms the basis of his later book, “The Revenge of Geography – what the map tell us about coming conflicts and the battle against fate”, published in early September of this year.

Authors: Husrev Tabak
422