Geographic Factors Influence Diplomacy

Geographic Factors Influence Diplomacy

            Geographic factors have a large influence on the ability of a country to control territory and form relationships with other countries. The United Kingdom and Israel illustrate how geographic factors influence these things. These countries have different abilities to defend their territory and form relationships with other countries

            The UK and Israel control their territory differently from each other. The UK is on an island giving it a few advantages. There is less land to defend and is much more difficult to invade a country with boats than by land and much harder to bomb with aircraft who need to refuel. In contrast, Israel is on a crossroads between three continents. Many African countries want the oil in the middle east for the wealth, political power, and cheap energy source it provides. To get to the oil they must first go through Israel. Israel has been invaded four times. This is a source of tension between it and other countries.

            Israel’s relationships with many of its neighbors is not friendly. The political geography of Israel is troublesome. The UN Partition Plan took much of Palestinian land and gave it to the Jewish people in light of the horrific events of the Holocaust. The land included the significant religious site of Jerusalem.. The surrounding Palestinians and Arabs attacked the Jewish State of Israel shortly after the plan was put in place in the belief that the UN had no right to decide who got the land and it was rightfully theirs. Conflict between Arabs, especially Palestinians, and Israel have reoccurred many times and the tension remains. The geography of the United Kingdom has had a different effect. The UK’s position in the Atlantic has historically provided it with a prime position to be a crossroads of trade between Europe and the United States though with trade shifting to the Pacific this is changing. The UK has had good relationships for trade because of its position on the globe.

            The UK is in a prime position to succeed based on its geography. Isolated on an island makes it much easier to defend its territory and being a crossroads of trade over the Atlantic between Europe and the US has caused the formation of good trade relationships with other countries. Israel on the other hand, is less fortunate. Its on a crossroads of 3 continents and is in the path of African countries wanting the oil in the Middle East. It is also under attack from Arabs who believe the now predominantly Jewish state is rightfully their land because the UN took the land illegally. The geographic factors of both the United Kingdom and Israel have had large influences on their ability to control territory and form relationships with other countries.