ICS Analysis

During the 19th and early 20th centuries, the geopolitical theories of Halford J Mackinder and Alfred Thayer Mahan emphasized the centrality of continental land power and maritime power respectively as the fulcrum of world power. China's Belt and Road Initiative(BRI) combines both dimensions as part of its overall strategy. This is being presented as a modernized version of the historical Silk Road, which consisted of caravan routes across Eurasia and sea borne trade across a vast ocean space linking the Western Pacific, the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean.