ABSTRACT
The geopolitical situation of the United States – its ability to maintain security, stability, and dialogue with other nations – depends much less over the long term on how Americans see themselves than on how the rest of the world represents and conceptualizes "America." This chapter examines the idea of geopolitical representation, beginning with the particular geopolitical representation the question is –America as it is viewed and understood from without – then progressing to the dynamic interrelations between geopolitical representations, conceptions and perceptions. Within the larger subject of geopolitical discourses an important area of study concerns "official and public reactions in different countries during and in the wake of a critical international event". The reality of geopolitical context – conflicts, treaties, relative power, and so on – rises above any of its elements and involves objective technological, material, spatial and historical conditions – the richness of history and geography.
