Writers, observers, and practitioners of international politics frequently invoke the term "geopolitics" to describe, explain, or analyze specific foreign policy issues and problems. Such generalized usage ignores the fact that geopolitics as a method of understanding international relations has a history that includes a common vocabulary, well-established if sometimes conflicting concepts, an extensive body of thought, and a recognized group of theorists and scholars. In Geopolitics, Francis P. Sempa presents a history of geopolitical thought and applies its classical analyses to Cold War and post-Cold War international relations.

While mindful of the impact of such concepts as "globalization" and the "information revolution" on our understanding of contemporary events, Sempa emphasizes traditional geopolitical theories in explaining the outcome of the Cold War. Using the work of Halford Mackinder, James Burnham, Nicholas Spykman, Alfred Thayer Mahan, and others, he shows that, even though the struggle between the Western allies and the Soviet empire was unique in its ideological component and nuclear standoff, the Cold War fits into a recurring geopolitical pattern. It can be seen as a consequence of competition between land powers and sea powers, and between a potential Eurasian he-gemonic power and a coalition of states opposed to that would-be hegemony.

The collapse of the Soviet empire ended the most recent threat to global stability. At the dawn of the twenty-first century, no power or alliance of powers poses an immediate threat to the global balance of power. Indeed, the end of the Cold War generated hopes for a "new world order" and predictions that economics would replacegeopolitics as the driving force in international politics. However, as Sempa points out, Russian instability, the nuclear dimension of the India-Pakistan conflict, and Chinese bids for dominance have turned the Asia-Pacific region into what Mahan called "debatable and debated ground." Russia, Turkey, Iran, India, Pakistan, China, Japan, the Koreas, and the United States all have interests that collide in one or more of the areas of this region.

The timeliness and deep historical perspective of Sempa's analysis will remind statesmen, strategists, and interested citizens that the current world situation will not last forever. The defeat of one would-be hegemonic power is likely to be followed by a new challenger or challengers to current stability in the international system.

In Somewhere in France, Somewhere in Germany, Francis P. Sempa tells the story of father's journey through the Second World War. Frank F. Sempa entered military service as part of the 29th Infantry Division in April 1941, landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day-plus one, fought in the treacherous hedgerows of Normandy, participated in the capture of St. Lo and the siege of Brest, assaulted the fortifications of the Siegfried Line, crossed the Rhine River, and reached the west bank of the Elbe River. He earned the Bronze Star, Combat Infantryman's Badge, the Arrowhead, four campaign ribbons, and the Good Conduct Medal. Throughout, Sempa dutifully wrote letters home to his parents and brother. Using those letters, local newspaper articles, the 29th Division's After Action Reports, and several books about the history of the 29th Division in World War II, Francis Sempa traces his father's steps from training camps in the United States and England to the battlefields of France and Germany.

America's Global Role, a collection of essays and reviews on national security, geopolitics and war, combines a broad historical and geopolitical overview of U.S. national security policy with commentary on historical events and biographical sketches of historical figures. This book offers insights into the evolution of U.S. national security policy from the founding to the present. Sempa shows how the United States began as a sliver of territory on the eastern seaboard of central North America; pursued a policy of westward expansion by diplomacy, war, and conquest, exploiting the European balance of power; formulated and implemented national security doctrines designed to protect its security and promote further expansion; and survived a terrible Civil War that threatened to halt that expansion. Afterwards, America began to play a larger role on the global stage. During the first half of the twentieth century, the U.S. acted as an "offshore balancer" to restore the balance of power on the Eurasian landmass. Later, the U.S. became the geopolitical successor to the British Empire. The end of the Cold War produced an initial period of uncertainty in U.S. national security policy that ended with the events of September 11, 2001, as U.S. national security policy focused on efforts to defeat global Islamic terrorists and rogue states seeking to acquire weapons of mass destruction. Sempa points out the political, demographic, and geopolitical developments of the early twenty-first century that have shifted the focus of U.S. national security policy from Europe to Asia.

America's Global Role, a collection of essays and reviews on national security, geopolitics and war, combines a broad historical and geopolitical overview of U.S. national security policy with commentary on historical events and biographical sketches of historical figures. This book offers insights into the evolution of U.S. national security policy from the founding to the present. Sempa shows how the United States began as a sliver of territory on the eastern seaboard of central North America; pursued a policy of westward expansion by diplomacy, war, and conquest, exploiting the European balance of power; formulated and implemented national security doctrines designed to protect its security and promote further expansion; and survived a terrible Civil War that threatened to halt that expansion. Afterwards, America began to play a larger role on the global stage. During the first half of the twentieth century, the U.S. acted as an 'offshore balancer' to restore the balance of power on the Eurasian landmass. Later, the U.S. became the geopolitical successor to the British Empire. The end of the Cold War produced an initial period of uncertainty in U.S. national security policy that ended with the events of September 11, 2001, as U.S. national security policy focused on efforts to defeat global Islamic terrorists and rogue states seeking to acquire weapons of mass destruction. Sempa points out the political, demographic, and geopolitical developments of the early twenty-first century that have shifted the focus of U.S. national security policy from Europe to Asia.