They therefore never bring enough force to settle anything and they leave behind debris of empire. The term petty, we should add, is not meant to be derogatory, but merely connotes the scale of regional interests compared with the grand geopolitics of global forces. To understand the region, it is important to understand the interplay between the regional geopolitics and the grand geopolitics of the global system. Relations among the native regional powers are a permanent feature. As great empires rise, they intrude, taking advantage of local animosities to build their own power.
Empires reshape the region, but are also reshaped in the process.
Grand geopolitics rise and fall. Petty geopolitics last forever. The last generation's regional geopolitics were defined by the collision of the Soviet and American empires. At the end of World War II, the United States chose to defend Western Europe by building a defensive line surrounding Russia. The defense of Western Europe depended on a coalition stationing forces in western Germany.