Mark Hecht

The Rules of Invasion: Why Europeans naturally invaded the New World Mark Hecht

Why are there invaders and the invaded? In this provocative rethink, Mark Hecht, a former university geography instructor with deep experience in the environmental field, offers a clarity through which to view global migrations and to give a set of tools for understanding what lay ahead. In The Rules of Invasion, Hecht builds on recent insights within the fields of ecology and biogeography surrounding patterns in nature. He applies those revelations to humans in order to make sense of history and the future through the lens of 'humans-as-nature.' Hecht traces the history of key European powers since 1500, examining their plants, animals, climates, topographies, and the influence, or lack of influence, on facilitating outward migrations. The Dutch landscape of waterlogged peat, and the constant struggle to keep the North Sea at bay, forced cooperation and a decentralized decision-making system upon its inhabitants which turned out to be the necessary ingredients for creating the world's first truly multi-national trading corporations, for example, while the Spanish Meseta produced highly assertive men in rugged landscapes of honour that attached their self-worth to the glory to fighting which would propel them to the New World for very different reasons than the Dutch. Hecht applies the lessons of ecologists and biogeographers, first to the European continent to make sense of how natural patterns have given us the European nation states we see today, why Brexit was inevitable, and why the European Union will disintegrate. He then applies a similar analysis to the post-colonial New World, with a focus on North America. The result is a holistic interpretation of how the natural environment has long shaped political boundaries in Europe and how it will increasingly do so in North America. Don't expect the USA nor Canada to remain the way they are, he argues. The future can be understood in the context of biodiversity, topography and other natural patterns that result in often crisply delineated human cultural boundaries: of all pre-Columbian indigenous languages in North America, 60% existed on the Pacific coast which coincides with 60% of biodiversity; a pattern likely to repeat given enough time. The most biologically diverse regions in North America such as California, also have, not coincidentally, the greatest number of secession movements. He goes on to take a look at the factors that make some societies invasive while others are not, with specific attention on Australia and China. He makes a conclusive comparison between the factors that make for brilliant invasive species in nature and their corollary in human societies. Finally, Hecht posits that the United States and Canada will see great internal pressures to splinter but not in the places one might first assume. He argues that California, Utah and the entire west coast, bubbling with rapid socio-cultural changes and underlying influences of geography, will foment desires for greater self-determination. With a final word, he also speculates on who will be the next 'invader' and where they will go. A brilliant rethink on geopolitics, the natural world, and our human place within. Globalists will not be pleased with this updated and indispensable rethink on environmental determinism that shows what many already intuit. Natural facts can guide us and help make sense of the tensions we will confront in the 21st century.