A klasszikus geopolitikáról

Abstract

The term geopolitics first appeared in academic discussions 120 years ago.
The content of the term has somewhat changed, and geopolitics has become a specialized discipline by now. It is the common ground between geography and political science, while it can also refer to practical activity in international relations: foreign policy deliberately based on geographical conditions. The academic and cultural history of geopolitics consists of two great periods. The first period, the era of classic geopolitics, lasted from the origin of the term until 1945. The second period, considered the decades of modern and postmodern geopolitics, started after 1945 and continues up to the present. When Rudolf Kjellen first coined the term, he identified it as the political geography of Friedrich Ratzel. The discipline became an independent academic field after World War I, during the era of classic geopolitics, under the leadership of Karl Haushofer, although it could not distinctly be separated from political geography.
After 1933, the German fascist regime often used the terms of classic geopolitics with altered content, and it supported geopolitical research; thereby managing to discredit classic geopolitics. As a result, the academic community kept its distance from classic geopolitics after 1945, which lead to the discipline’s academic results sinking into oblivion, not to be utilized even today.
The present paper discusses the history of classic geopolitical science until 1945. It examines the circumstances of its origin and increasing popularity, the relationship of classic geopolitics and political geography, and it also reviews the academic values of Haushofer’s geopolitics.