Chokepoints: The Sea Lanes That Govern the World
The global economy likes to present itself as borderless, flexible, and modern. In practice, it still rests on a handful of narrow passages between seas, continents, and spheres of power.
When one of those passages falters, geography becomes visible again in oil prices, freight costs, emissions, and geopolitical pressure. Globalization did not make territory less important. It concentrated dependence around a small number of routes that other actors can protect, threaten, or exploit.
