Revisiting Mackinder 1904-2004

hese thoughtful articles reflect constructively on Mackinder's 1904 Pivot paper, documenting the ways in which his ideas were transposed to other parts of the world and interrogating his very imperial geopolitics a century on. In revisiting Mackinder for this centenary issue, I am reminded that plus ga change, plus c'est la m6me chose. Geographers continue to probe the edges of empire, as critics, patriots, and scientists. Mackinder's 'panoramic view of global imperialism' (see Blouet, this issue) can be juxtaposed with more current occupations, such as 'pre-emptive protection' in Iraq. Mackinder's observation of the shift from sea to land power under the rubric of colonialism may be outdated by contemporary military might, but his imperial logic of geopolitical influence is not. From another perspective, Hardt and Negri (2000) argue in Empire that the United States holds a position of privilege and power in an empire without a centre, one transformed not by the advent of air or land power but by the informational mode of production. One cannot, of course, read Mackinder outside of the strategic debates and international relations of his time (see Venier, this issue), nor can we interpret his 1904 writing in the context of current debates, but tracing critically the ways in which imperial visions are developed and deployed is as relevant as ever. From Mackinder's 'imperial protectionism' (Blouet, this issue) to the Bush Administration's 'pre-emptive' war in Iraq, thinking about geopolitical strategy appears to have changed less than one might like to believe. Mackinder's pivot theory interprets and portrays 'other' landscapes in a detached, neutral manner that naturalizes people and place and scientifically justifies 'intervention' (see Hepple, this issue). For the Bush Administration, in contrast, the 'axis of evil' is vilified in dominant geopolitical discourse, underwritten by scientific claims about the existence of weapons of mass destruction, yet the same kind of justification for imperial invention is made.