Democratic Ideals and Reality

Halford J. Mackinder

• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Year: 2014
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• eBook ISBN:
  9780571316861
• Subtopic: Political History & Theory
• Index: Politics & International Relations

1919 saw the publication of two major polemical works: The Economic Consequences of the Peace by John Maynard Keynes and Democratic Ideals and Reality by Halford J. Mackinder. The former is famous, the latter much less so - but it was its own way a prophetic book.
Mackinder's message, his warning - addressed to the peacemakers at Versailles - was memorably summarized thus: 'Who Rules East Europe commands the Heartland: / Who rules the Heartland commands the World-Island: / Who rules the World-Island commands the World.'
Mackinder contended that power was shifting from the sea-borne empires to countries that encompassed the great land masses: Eastern Europe he designated as 'the geographical pivot of history.' His thesis made a notable impression on German geopolitician Karl Haushofer who was keenly read, in turn, by Hitler. But Democratic Ideals and Reality has endured as a critical study of imperial ambitions and geographical realities.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Landing Page
• Title Page
• CONTENTS
• MAPS AND DIAGRAMS
• NOTE TO THE 1942 REISSUE
• PREFACE
• FOREWORD
• INTRODUCTION
• Chapter One: PERSPECTIVE
• Chapter Two: SOCIAL MOMENTUM
• Chapter Three: THE SEAMAN’S POINT OF VIEW
• Chapter Four: THE LANDSMAN’S POINT OF VIEW
• Chapter Five: THE RIVALRY OF EMPIRES
• Chapter Six: THE FREEDOM OF NATIONS
• Chapter Seven: THE FREEDOM OF MEN
• Chapter Eight: POSTSCRIPT
• Appendix: NOTE ON AN INCIDENT AT THE QUAI D’ORSAY 25th JANUARY, 1919
• Index
• Copyright