ABSTRACT
This chapter offers an overview of the role of geopolitics in informing diplomatic thinking and shaping international order. It helps readers understand why the international order is shaped by different cultures of anarchy which diplomats actively constitute and reproduce. The chapter provides an analytical framework for understanding the day-to-day construction of diplomatic relations through the collective assignment of functions to objects and beings. It examines the role of geopolitics in shaping international order through the pursuit of territorial ambitions and the control of natural resources. The chapter draws on Alexander Wendt's work to explain the making of the world via diplomatic interactions. It draws on John R. Searle's deontological theory to explain the diplomatic construction of the world via the assignment of functions to objects and beings. The deontological perspective emphasizes the role of collective intentionality in creating 'order as value' and the importance of international treaties, diplomatic precedents and soft law in establishing 'order as fact'.
