Nicholas John Spykman (pronounced "Speak-man", October 13, 1893 – June 26, 1943) was an American political scientist who was Professor of International Relations at Yale University from 1928 until his death in 1943.

[1] He was one of the founders of the classical realist school in American foreign policy, transmitting Eastern European political thought to the United States.

[2] He worked as a journalist in various parts of the world during much of the 1910s and also served as a diplomatic assistant for the Netherlands in Egypt and the Dutch East Indies.

[7] Concerned with the balance of power, he argued that isolationism, which relied on the oceans to protect the United States ("hemispheric" or "quarter defense"), was bound to fail.

[1] Isaiah Bowman commented in 1942, "On grounds of merit and public value America’s Strategy in World Politics should be read in not less than a million American homes.

Since geography was "the most fundamentally conditioning factor because of its relative permanence," it is of primary relevance in analyzing a state's potential foreign policy.

The factors that condition the policy of states are many; they are permanent and temporary, obvious and hidden; they include, apart from the geographic factor, population density, the economic structure of the country, the ethnic composition of the people, the form of government, and the complexes and pet prejudices of foreign ministers; and it is their simultaneous action and interaction that create the complex phenomenon known as "foreign policy.

He also argued that "Size is of primary importance as an element of defense, particularly if the vital centers of a country are far removed from the border.

[10] He died of heart complications on 26 June 1943, at the age of 49, in New Haven, Connecticut, a result of kidney disease contracted when young.

He could be considered as a disciple and critic of both geostrategists Alfred Mahan, of the United States Navy, and Halford Mackinder, the British geographer.

Since the political and material center of gravity was in the Western part of the USSR, Spykman sees little possibility of the Soviets exerting much power in Central Asia.

The Rimland (Mackinder's "Inner or Marginal Crescent") sections: While Spykman accepts the first two as defined, he rejects the simple grouping the Asian countries into one "monsoon land."

Neither has ever been the seat of significant power; chaos prevents Africa from harnessing the resources of its regions, and Australia has too little arable territory.

Spykman thought that it was in the American interests to leave Germany strong after World War II to be able to counter Russia's power.