International relations have been viewed through a variety of lenses, introduced over the past century as a way to analyze and explain contemporary events.
In 1899, Swedish political scientist Rudolf Kjellen coined the term geopolitics to describe the activities of hyperactive European states who frequently found themselves competing with each other for territorial gains.
Almost a century later, commercial competition replaced territorial contests as economics took center stage in a post-Cold War world. A state’s geographic location became a significant determinant of its economic potential and the idea of geoeconomics was popularized.