Futures past and futures present: Geopolitical thought and intellectual history

Abstract

Renewed efforts to write geography's intellectual histories hold promise for re-imagining our hereafter. True for the discipline as a whole, this holds particularly true for geopolitics. Beyond restating the infamy of some figures in this tradition, present-day opportunities lie in three growing orientations: (1) pluralizing our canon through the recovery of non-Western and radical progressive thinkers, (2) deepening our study through digital methods and interdisciplinary dialogue; and (3) rewriting the intellectual histories of geopolitics entwined with contemporary concerns such as climate change, racial injustice, democratic failure, and techno-optimism. Through these three orientations, we may give ourselves a powerful means to re-imagine our future more humbly, critically, and creatively. A better appreciation of the past's latent possibilities, cautionary failures, and imperfect successes may yet inspire us to think and act more effectively in struggling towards better worlds. Futures past may then speak to futures present, summoning us to greater boldness and realism.