Abstract ▼

The paper presents an effort to contribute to the foundations of astropolitics by presenting the central characteristics of outer space as a geographical domain. Given that current international trends point to the increasingly active role of states and private companies in the utilization of space, understanding the opportunities and limitations that the environment of outer space poses on human action represents the foundation of a systematic analysis of the international politics of outer space. Starting from the assumption that space can be viewed as a geographical domain, similar to land, sea or air, the paper presents key physical characteristics of space and the central problem fields of the social constitution of space, which are then placed in the context of geopolitical thought. The paper is divided into three parts where the first part provides a brief history of astropolitical thought, the second presents the universe as a geographical domain by identifying physical and social properties of the space environment, and the third part observes the space environment through the “ecological triad” of Harold and Margaret Sprout and Harvey Starr’s “opportunity and willingness” framework to explain how the physical and social properties of outer space impact international politics. The author concludes that, since outer space will be a more and more important area in the future, academic study of international relations in space will be increasingly relevant, thus requiring knowledge of the basics of astropolitics, i.e., outer space itself and the features that characterize it as a geographical domain.

Abstract ▼

The article deals with the process of the transformation of outer space into a warfighting domain in the 21st century. During the Cold War, outer space was a place of understanding and peaceful competition between superpowers. Militarization has existed since the beginning of the Space Age, excluding the weaponization of space until the beginning of the 21st century. The absence of an international regime to prevent the weaponization of space and technological advances opens up new opportunities for states in their quest to increase power. The theoretical paradigm is a realistic perspective of international institutions as a reflection of the most powerful state’s minimum consensus on a mechanism for reducing their costs. Successfully tested anti-satellite weapons open new questions about the defense of vulnerable space installations from enemy attacks. The authorʼs prognostic thesis refers to the new race in space weapons and the matter of time when lasers, plasma weapons, kinetic bombardment, and other types of space weapons will see the light of day. The strategic balance will remain untouched until the invention of a superior space weapon able to neutralize the existing offensive capacities of the states and erase the second strike capability appears. The author concludes that international institutions cannot limit the ambitions of states in conquering space because they do not want to give up that potential, but that a limited space war is unlikely.

Abstract ▼

The paper analyses the European space policy towards space energy resources viewed from a geo-economics perspective. In a context where pessimistic forecasts regarding the existing Earth’s energy resources result in countries’ shift towards outer space, the Moon, asteroids, and other celestial bodies having large and still insufficiently explored energy potential are becoming the subject of strategic interest for many actors. To address this issue, the author argues that the European space program is geo-economics in its basis. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to map the key geo-economic characteristics of European space policy on the example of space energy resources. In the analytical sense, the research subject is bounded by the concept of geo-economics and the key geo-economic instruments that countries dispose of in their search for space energy. In the methodological sense, the defined research goal was achieved by reviewing literature and official data and by content analysis of key European strategic documents in the field of space policy. The author concludes that the European space program regarding space energy is one of the best examples of the materialization of geo-economics in practice.

Abstract ▼

The commercialization of outer space has created new challenges for international law, aside from the traditional issues of demarcation and militarization. International norms that regulate space activities were adopted at a time when one could not imagine a private company being able to economically exploit space resources. The doctrine is divided between the supporters and opponents of the interpretation that allows for freedom of enterprise and ownership over space resources. The majority of states are prone to accept freedom of enterprise, limited by the interests of mankind and environmental protection. At the same time, except for states that allow for such a possibility through their internal laws, states are against ownership rights, believing that the non-appropriation principle is absolute. Economic exploitation is in accordance with the object and purpose of the Outer Space Treaty since it can undoubtedly benefit mankind. Ownership rights, however, are impossible to conceive under the existing legal framework. There is a need to reform the legal framework, if possible, through amendments to the Outer Space Treaty, although the more realistic avenue is through informal standards that would prevent the chaos of freedom to exploit outer space. The sustainable development of outer-space commercialization would, in the author’s opinion, encourage an internationally regulated economic initiative, which would not exclude freedom of access to space resources for every state.

Abstract ▼

The paper provides an overview of the current and potential social practices in the realm of space politics from the perspectives of critical theory of international relations and critical geopolitics, with the aim to find an answer to the question of what the purpose of collective human action in space ought to be to secure the cosmic flourishing of civilisation instead of opening new areas for imperial politics. The author employs a broader definition of space politics, understood as a complex of social and institutional practices related to decision-making on public issues concerning the design and implementation of national, transnational, and international programmes for the exploration and governing of outer space. The departing hypothesis is that there are a series of ethically challenging spots in space politics, which may be sparked by a utilitarian calculus, instrumentalised to preserve the neoliberal continuum of exploitation of natural resources, production and world trade in the age of late capitalism. The analysis focuses on the points of collision between the utilitarian calculus – embodied in the corporate innovative endeavours and technological achievements – and the principles embedded in the imperative of responsibility, as well as the concepts of the global commons, space sustainability, and interstellar flourishing. The author concludes that the harmful long-term or even permanent effects of the plausible development of space imperialism, grounded on the misuse of scientific and technological knowledge to pursue national or corporate interests to the detriment of marginalised groups of the world population, could be prevented only by the intellectual and political rejection of anthropocentrism in favour of the idea of interstellar flourishing.

Abstract ▼

The paper is an attempt at geopolitical contextualization and realpolitik reading of comic works by Alejandro Jodorowsky. The focus of the analysis is on the so-called “Jodoverse” - a segment of Jodorowsky’s opus which includes three great science-fiction sagas – “The Incal”, “The Saga of the Metabarons” and “Technopriests”. These works, which can be defined as “space operas” in terms of genre, vividly evoke a futuristic vision of one of the possible cosmic futures of humanity. This paper aims to map those motives in this fictional universe that draw inspiration from the tradition of classical geopolitics, i.e., the practice of political realism. The author’s initial assumption is that the Jodoverse is designed to function as a (popular-cultural) reflection of earthly geopolitical principles in the mirror of outer space and that, therefore, the depiction of astropolitics in the works of Jodorowsky is nothing but cloning of realpolitik in infinite space above the earth’s orbit. In order to confirm this assumption, the author will use the geopolitical and astropolitical concepts of Karl Schmidt and Everett Dolman as a key to unravelling the secrets of the Jodoverse. For that purpose, Schmidt’s concept of the nomos of the earth will be used, as well as the teaching on technological determinism which is present in the works of both theorists. By applying these concepts to Jodorowsky’s comics, the author will try to prove how the ideas of classical geopolitics have their counterparts in the cosmic phantasms of this genius of the ninth art.