Democratic Ideals and Reality

SIR HALFORD JOHN MACKINDER (1861-1947) was a British political geographer and academic, who is regarded as one of the founding fathers of geopolitics and geostrategy. He was the first Principal of University Extension College, Reading, from 1892 to 1903, in 1895 a founder of the London School of Economics, and the Member of Parliament for Glasgow Camlachie from 1910 to 1922. From 1923, he was Professor of Geography at the London School of Economics.

"Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland; Who rules the Heartland commands the World Island; Who rules the World Island commands the World." -Sir Halford Mackinder, in Democratic Ideals and Reality, 1919 Democratic Ideals and Reality-A Study in the Politics of Reconstruction, published in 1919, expands on Halford Mackinder's Heartland Theory as earlier described in his 1904 paper The Geographic Pivot of the History. Mackinder was the first to describe the concept of geography as a bridge between the natural sciences and the humanities: In essence, this was the founding moment of geopolitics. In Democratic Ideals and Reality, he further makes a case for fully taking into account geopolitical factors at the Paris Peace conference and contrasts geographical reality with Woodrow Wilson's idealism.
The theories of Democratic Ideals and Reality are as relevant as ever for students of history, political scientists, and others interested in geopolitics.