ABSTRACT
The shatter belt category is presented as a theoretical concept to characterise areas of the world with high levels of political and military instability. The shatter belt category is a component of classical geopolitics, currently undergoing a renaissance. Its author, Saul B. Cohen, recognised the occurrence of recurring international tensions and conflicts in specific geographic regions during the Cold War. This concept is used to diagnose international tensions in selected regions of the world. A geopolitical analysis of Eastern Europe as a shatter belt, including Baltic Europe, is presented. The authors wish to demonstrate the particular usefulness of the concept in identifying the causes of Russian imperialism. Furthermore, the chapter compares the shatter belt concept to other concepts within classical geopolitics: Mitteleuropa and Intermarium. The authors also explain how the efforts of post-communist European states to join the EU and NATO, conflicts in the Near and Middle East and Russian aggression against Ukraine can be understood from the perspective of the shatter belt concept.
