Theory of Geopolitics Under the Covers

The study of how the private interests, familial connections, secret allegiances, and personal pathologies of national leaders clandestinely drive state policy, often subverting or overriding official ideology and strategic national interest. It's the recognition that geopolitics is not a clean game of rational actors, but is conducted by flawed humans whose vanity, grudges, friendships, and corrupt dealings can alter the fate of nations behind a veil of official rhetoric.

Example: A president launching a trade war not after a strategic review, but because a rival leader personally insulted them at a G7 dinner, is Geopolitics Under the Covers. It's the unspoken, personal driver—ego, a secret business deal for a crony, blackmail—that explains an otherwise irrational or disproportionate state action. Theory of Geopolitics Under the Covers

by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal February 3, 2026