2 . President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy address the nation on 20th March 2022 during the Russo-Ukrainian War . ( Wikimedia Commons )
2
Geopolitics between the 20 th
and 21 st centuries
When the journal Geopolitics was founded in France in 1981 , one of its founders , General Pierre Gallois , provided us with a definition of geopolitics to which we have adhered since the journal ’ s inception . It is pertinent to recall the definition here :
« Geopolitics is a combination of political science and geography , but it also consists of a study of the relationships between the implementation of power policies internationally and the geographical context in which they occur .» 2
We were in the midst of an international crisis linked to the story of the Polish trade union Solidarność ( Solidarity ) and the declaration of martial law by General Jaruzelski . Memorial studies were missing from the geopolitical approach , even if the most astute analysts associated the idea of the existence of a more or less static mental map of “ world communism versus Western democracy ” in the European geographical arena .
Upon its conception , at the beginning of the 20 th century , geopolitical thinking was based on a sort of Darwinian theory , i . e . weak versus strong states . It was dominated by the thinking of Friedrich Ratzel , who considered that the driving force behind the formation of states was the struggle for “ living space ”. The person who most inspired Germany ’ s geopolitical strategies in the early 20 th century was a geographer and senior officer , General Karl Haushofer , who was in close contact with the leaders of the Nationalist Socialist German Workers ’ Party ( NSDAP ). His relations with Nazi dignitaries , such as Rudolph Hess , gave him access to Hitler ’ s politics . His geopolitical concept of reconfiguring Germany ’ s living space , claiming to be a victim of the Treaty of Versailles , became an inspiration for war . 3 ( Jakub Potulski , Poznan , 2021 )
2
Karl Haushofer , De la géopolitique , quoted by Jean Klein , Fayard , Paris , 1986 , p . 11
3
Jakub Potulski , Ksztaltowanie sie wyobrazen przestrzennych w rosyjskiej mysli i praktyce politycznej ( Formation of the Spatial Imaginary in Russian Thought and Political Practice ), FNCE , Poznan , 2021 , pp . 42-44
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Observing Memories Issue 6