In places such as Iraq, Lebanon, and Israel, moving a few feet in a territorial boundary can be a matter of life or death, dramatically highlighting the connections between place and politics. Even far away from these "danger zones"- in Europe or the US for example - geopolitics remains an important part of everyday life. A country´s location and size as well as its sovereignty and resources all affect how the people that live there understand and interact with the wider world. In this new edition, Klaus Dodds takes into account several world developments that have occured since original publication, including the Arab Spring, the worldwide economic crisis, and the developing role of China in international politics.