The story of ExploringGeopolitics started in 2006 when dr Leonhardt van Efferink (photo) founded the Dutch website Geopolitiek.nl. Three years later, he decided to start an English website and became the founding editor of Exploring Geopolitics.
This website now hosts 200+ contributions by 130+ scholars from 25+ countries. These scholars offer valuable insights into geopolitical approaches, geopolitical concepts and geopolitical trends.
Leonhardt’s article “The Definition of Geopolitics – The Classical, French and Critical Traditions” has been among the most read contributions.
Leonhardt enjoys teaching at Maastricht University. He teaches Country Risk Analysis, Doing Business in Emerging Markets and other modules. Moreover, he offers Summer School courses at Maastricht University. These courses are about Geopolitical Trends Analysis, Geopolitical Scenario Planning, Country Risk Analysis and Media Representations Analysis.
Leonhardt also works as an independent Trainer-Analyst at Van Efferink Training & Research. In this capacity, he helps companies, government agencies and international organizations with country assessments. His focus is on country risks, geopolitical trends and media representations.
Leonhardt holds Master’s degrees in Geopolitics, Territory and Security (King’s College London) and Financial Economics (Erasmus University Rotterdam).
In 2019, he completed his PhD thesis on geopolitical framing in Germany. He conducted this research at Royal Holloway, University of London.
Moreover, the Geographical Journal published his article “Polar Partners or Poles Apart?” in 2012. Leonhardt is also author of the Geopolitics section in the Oxford Bibliographies.
Finally, if you would like to share questions and comments with Leonhardt, please contact him.