View source for Shatter belt (geopolitics)

{{Short description|Concept in geopolitics}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
'''Shatter belt''', '''shatter zone'''<ref name="Raffield">{{Cite journal |last=Raffield |first=B. |year=2021 |title=Broken Worlds: Towards an Archaeology of the Shatter Zone |journal=Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory |volume=28 |issue=3 |pages=871–910 |doi=10.1007/s10816-021-09520-y|s2cid=234870497 |doi-access=free }}</ref> or '''crush zone'''<ref name="O'loughlin">{{Cite journal |last=O'loughlin |first=J. |year=1999 |title=Ordering the 'crush zone': Geopolitical games in post-cold war eastern Europe |journal=Geopolitics |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=34–56|doi=10.1080/14650049908407636 }}</ref> is a [[concept]] in [[geopolitics]] referring to strategically-positioned and -oriented regions on a political map that are deeply internally divided and encompassed in the competition between the great powers in geostrategic areas and spheres.<ref name="Cohen">{{cite book|title=Geopolitics of the World System|last=Cohen|first=Saul|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|year=2003|isbn=978-0847699070|pages=43}}</ref>
The term was first applied in geopolitics in 1961 by Gordon East, an American scholar from [[Indiana University Bloomington]].<ref name="Gosar">{{cite journal|last=Gosar|first=Anton|date=2000|title=The Shatter Belt and the European Core – A Geopolitical Discussion on the Untypical Case of Slovenia|journal=GeoJournal – Spatially Integrated Social Sciences and Humanities|volume=October vol. 52, 2|issue=2|pages=107–117|doi=10.1023/A:1013306804212|s2cid=140390836}}</ref> It was borrowed from geology, in which a shatter belt refers to a [[Fault (geology)|fault line]], i.e. "belt of broken rock, produced by horizontal movement in a more or less vertical plane".<ref name="Raffield"/>
==Definitions==
The conceptual foundation of the shatter belt in [[geopolitics]] stems from the [[Analytic philosophy|analytical]] approach of examining the world map of [[Country|states]] and empires in terms of their [[Geopolitics|geopolitical]] struggles and military and [[Politics|political relations]]. Shatter belts are defined as strategically positioned areas which are characterized by a greater inclination towards [[Balkanization|internal division]], which gives rise to a high number of conflicts, and at the same time are strategically important for the [[great power]]s. The fragility of such regions is the result of long-standing clashes with a great deal of disruptive influence, light chaos, and, in general, a propensity for devastating conflicts in these regions.<ref name="Gosar"/> Hence the term "shatter belt" generally refers to a [[geographical region]] that is endangered by local [[Civil war|conflicts within the states]] or between countries in the region, as well as the involvement of opposing [[great powers]] outside the region.<ref name="Hansen & Diel">{{cite journal|last1=Hensel|first1=Paul R.|last2=Diehl|first2=Paul F.|date=January 1994|title=Testing empirical propositions about shatterbelts, 1945–76|journal=Political Geography|volume=13, 1|pages=33–52|doi=10.1016/0962-6298(94)90009-4}}</ref> Regions marked as a shatter belt are often blamed for interstate [[war]] and conflict, especially in relation to major power conflicts. Regarding their engagement and close connection with major and global conflicts of power, shatter belts are at the same time the main crisis hot spots or hard-to-reach areas in world politics and [[international relations]].<ref name="Шаревски">{{cite journal|last=Шаревски|first=Марио|date=2017|title=Геополитичката положба на Македонија како ранлива точка на балканскиот појас на кршливост во услови на бегалската криза|journal=Геополитичката и геостратегиската положба на Република Македонија во услови на мигрантската и бегалска криза|volume=Македонска академија на науките и уметностите|pages=159}}</ref> Unlike most [[Region|geopolitical regions]] that have a different degree of [[Group cohesiveness|cohesion]], the regions considered shatter belts are [[Destabilisation|global destabilizers]].<ref name="Cohen" />
The [[Balkans]],<ref name="Dictionary">{{Cite web|last=Humanist|date=2 October 2015|title=Dictionary of Geography: Shatterbelt|url=http://dictionaryofgeography.blogspot.com/2015/10/shatterbelt.html|access-date=17 May 2021|website=Dictionary of Geography}}</ref> [[Eastern Europe]],<ref name="O'loughlin"/><ref name="Gosar"/> [[Caucasus]],<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Nation |first=R. C. |year=2015 |title=Russia and the Caucasus |journal=Connections |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=1–12|doi=10.11610/Connections.14.2.01 |jstor=26326394 |doi-access=free }}</ref> [[Roof of the World]] and the [[Middle East]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Cohen |first=S. B. |year=1992 |title=Middle East geopolitical transformation: The disappearance of a shatterbelt |journal=Journal of Geography |volume=91 |issue=1 |pages=2–10 |doi=10.1080/00221349208979330}}</ref> have been associated with this concept.
==See also==
* [[Arc of Instability]]
* [[Buffer zone]]
* [[Political fragmentation]]
* [[Rimland]]
* [[Balkanization]]
==References==
<references />
[[Category:Geopolitical terminology]]
[[Category:Belt regions]]
[[Category:Metaphors referring to places]]