All de facto states find themselves in the middle of geopolitical competition. This may pose a risk for their survival as geopolitical competition may always be transformed into active warfare with unpredictable results. But this may be also seen as a guarantee for de facto state survival, thus being in the interest of patron states to actively engage on the side of secessionists. For de facto states in between, such rivalry creates opportunities to (re-)negotiate their geopolitical roles with the reference to what they would like to be and how they should interact in relationships in order to gain the expected role.
While traditionally roles are constructed by using agents’ capacity to act, then by adding a modifier such as ‘geopolitical’, new roles are created with values derived from their geographic markers. Geopolitical roles develop in the course of interactions with external actors and are shaped according to the security needs and prosperity outlooks of respective countries. The crucial issue here is how de facto states define themselves in relation to others, and more importantly, in specific geographical setting: e.g. de facto state in relations to its patron state, parent state, and interested Third parties, in geopolitical context characterised by the competition between major powers.
De facto states may clearly favour one or the other role: they may function as bridgeheads to create secure defensive lodgement areas, as buffers to form barriers between incompatible or antagonistic territories, or as gateways to penetrate into unfriendly territories and induce the change, or safe havens to provide shelter and stability against the overwhelming chaos. Presumably, de facto states are well aware about their ‘geostrategic value’ and therefore are eager to exchange it for increased security provisions, economic benefits or simply for cash to back up their budgets. We aim to explore the techniques of geopolitical roles constructions and see how de facto states and external players interact and navigate in the context of geographic markers (population, territory, resources).
