This book is about the role of geography and civilization in past, present, and future world politics, developed in the mid-1980s Geographically the world had been badly served by a division into three parts: “free” meaning capitalist, socialist, and the poor “Third World”; East, West, and South. Left out was a Fourth World in the Southeast, with China, Japan, and other countries taking the world by surprise, first the Japanese miracle, then China. There is more to come.

Civilizationally the Northwest is Catholic-Protestant-secular; the Northeast Orthodox-secular, Muslim, and Hindu; the Southeast Daoist and Buddhist. Civilizations leave strong imprints on the worlds and their relations. One of them, Western civilization (but also Islam) sees itself with the right and duty to impost itself on others, even eliminating them.

Based on this analysis and diagnosis, the book offers a view into the future, a prognosis, and proposals for strategy away from war, toward peace.

This book is intended for students and specialists in international relations as an overview seen from the world, not one particular region.