Geopolitics as a concept has been diluted over the years, often being used synonymously with modern international relations. Such passive usage results in definitional tergiversation and ambiguity, raising concerns about its analytical utility. While it is argued that there should be a return to classical geopolitical thought in order to re-centre the ‘geo’ in politics, since geography remains an indispensable instrument of statecraft, it operates today through far more complex and layered modalities. Thus, return should not necessarily mean a return to classical determinism, but rather a way to reconceptualise statecraft in more nuanced and multidimensional terms for both analytical and practical purposes.