Episode 6

America First: America's New National Security Strategy and its implications

Published on: 16th December, 2025

At the end of November 2025 the US government published America's New National Security Strategy. This punchy, hard hitting, document did not mince its words. The basis of America's new security strategy is very clear:America first. To keep the USA at the forefront of the global economy , technology and defense. It was also clear that the current administration thinks that previous post war American foreign and strategic policy has been misguided and misplaced. It states that America's role is not to be the global proponent of democracy and peace worldwide. Rather, it has to put America's interests first and foremost. There is also a distinct geography to this policy. It is one of hemispheric dominance: the dominance of the western hemisphere stretching west for 180 degrees from the Greenwich Meridian. America sees its sphere of influence being primarily North and South America, stretching up to Greenland but also across the Indo-Pacific Ocean. The primary antagonist is clearly China, Europe is criticized for being weak kneed and Russia is scarcely mentioned except as a potential strategic partner. The Middle East is seen as being now largely sorted out and the rest of the world scarcely gets a mention. American foreign and defence policy under President Trump is reshaping the globe. Here is a link to the document. Its worth a read. https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2025-National-Security-Strategy.pdf

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About the Podcast

Geography Matters
Geography is everywhere
Geography Matters explores the importance of geography in shaping and influencing the world we live in: economy, society, politics and environment. Whether looking at world affairs and geopolitics, at global trade, regional inequality or the character of particular places, geography is important. History looks at when and why things happen. Geography looks at where and why. Everything takes place at particular times and in particular places. You can't escape the importance of geography whether its about conflicts over international borders, religion, the environment or the impact of climate change. Geography is everywhere. It affects who we are, our opportunities and our life chances. You can't escape geography. Follow us at https://feeds.captivate.fm/geography-matters/

About your hosts

Klaus Dodds

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Klaus Dodds is a leading expert in geopolitics and human geography, specialising in the polar regions, border issues, and global security. He is a Senior Research Fellow at RAND Europe and an Honorary Professor of Geopolitics at Royal Holloway, University of London, where he worked for 30 years. He is currently Interim Faculty Dean for Science and Technology at Middlesex University London

Klaus is the author of many books, including the co-written volume Unfrozen: The Fight for the Future of the Arctic (2025), Border Wars (2022), and the best-selling Geopolitics: A Very Short Introduction. His books have been translated into many languages and reviewed in leading newspapers, magazines, and social media platforms.

Beyond the academy, he served as a specialist adviser to several UK parliamentary select committees, including the House of Lords Select Committee on the Arctic and the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee. He has worked with NATO’s Strategic Foresight Analysis group, advising on future geopolitical trends. Dodds has also provided expert advice to the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, amongst other international bodies and companies.

Klaus’s focus is on investigating and explaining how geopolitical and resource competition will shape the present and future. His insights have been gleaned from many years of working with commercial, military, and government stakeholders, alongside global travel which has enabled him to gain first-hand experience of this competition.

Chris Hamnett

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Chris Hamnett is Emeritus professor of geography at King's College London and a visiting professor in the Department of Urban Planning, Renmin University, Beijing. He has held visiting appointments at UBC, Vancouver; University of Cambridge; LSE; Nuffield College Oxford; Sciences Po, Paris; George Washington University, Washington DC, Netherlands Institute of Advanced Studies; UESTC, Chengdu and RUC, Beijing.

He has authored or co-authored several books including 'Cities, Housing and Profits', 1987'; Winners and Losers: the housing market in contemporary Britain, 1998; Safe as Houses: Housing wealth and inheritance in Britain, 1991; A Shrinking world, 1995; London: Unequal city, 2003; Ethnicity, Class and Aspiration, 2011 and Gentrification: An Advanced Introduction, 2021 and over 100 papers in international journals.

He has written for the Times, the FT, the Guardian and the Independent. He is particularly interested in social and housing change in big cities. He was research director of the Nugee Committee on Leasehold flats which led to the 1987 Landlord and Tenant Act, and was a member of both City of Westminster and Ealing Housing Commissions.