Connecting States vs. Dividing States

Although Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez are often lumped together in the same Latin American "populist left" basket, the fact that Correa is involved in mediating the latest manufactured crisis between Venezuela and Colombia underscores the difference between the two.

It also suggests that power in the emerging geopolitical landscape will increasingly relocate toward the connecting states that manage to bridge differences between various feuding nodes. Clearly, Turkey is the most visible example of how that will work, but Qatar is another. And a detail from this NY Times article on the impact of sanctions on Iran's efforts to develop its South Pars gas field jumped out at me in this regard:

Qatar, the Arab emirate that shares the gas field with Iran, exported $62 billion of mainly gas products in 2008, while Iran's gas exports brought in about $6 billion. But Iran's potential profits are huge, project managers said. They estimate that Iran could earn up to $130 billion a year from natural gas . . .

That's a pretty stark numeric reflection of the cost-benefit differential between connecting states and divider states. In an age of persistent conflict, the demand for conflict resolution will obviously rise. Which means the peacemakers will not only be blessed, but richer and more powerful, too.

Keep reading for free!

Get instant access to the rest of this article by submitting your email address below. You'll also get access to three articles of your choice each month and our free newsletter:

Or, Subscribe now to get full access.

Already a subscriber? Log in here .

What you’ll get with an All-Access subscription to World Politics Review:

A WPR subscription is like no other resource — it’s like having a personal curator and expert analyst of global affairs news. Subscribe now, and you’ll get:

  • Immediate and instant access to WPR’s fully searchable library of 16,000+ articles
  • Daily articles with original analysis, written by leading topic experts, delivered to you every weekday
  • Weekly in-depth reports on important issues and countries
  • Daily links to must-read news and analysis from top sources around the globe, curated by our keen-eyed team of editors
  • The Weekly Wrap-Up email, with highlights of the week’s most important coverage, and what’s to come.
  • Completely ad-free reading.

And all of this is available to you when you subscribe today.

More World Politics Review