Marshall is a retired foreign affairs correspondent for Sky News, and he seems quite expert in these discussions. Within Spain the Basque and Catalan regions still have separatist ideas that, if they went too far, could complicate the policies and politics of Spain and the European Union.

It is a “nation state comprised of nations”. Its mountains have divided it into regions whose peoples each have their own dialects or languages. Spain for example is a mountainous country. This includes discussions of the ethnic and religious history of each country, which can shed light on current circumstances and future possibilities. I really enjoyed the way Marshall used history and geography to outline what are and aren’t options for each country / region he discussed. So, in that context we dive into some really well written, very readable discussions. He asserts that the world order that defined the Cold War is but a distant memory, and we are headed back to a Great Powers rivalry, with the “minor players” jockeying for their place. In the first few lines of the Introduction Marshall lays out his world view and defines the premise that underlies his geopolitical analyses. With those two out of the way Marshall then explores and assesses the potential geopolitical ambitions of the countries, keeping their history and geography in mind. In each chapter there’s a summary of the history and an overview of the geography of the area. It’s broken into 10 chapters, each focused on one country or region. The sequel to The Prisoners of Geography (which I admit I haven’t read) this book explores the geopolitics of eight countries, a region, and outer space. Reading Tim Marshall’s The Power of Geography while the Russians are invading Ukraine has been an interesting experience. The Power of Geography: Ten Maps That Reveal the Future of Our World by Tim Marshall

The power of geography by tim marshall