By: Nika Chitadze
President of the George C. Marshall Center Alumni Union, Georgia –
International and Security Research Center
February, 2007
Introduction
The purpose of the paper is to discuss about the development of the
concept of the Geopolitics in the 19th and 20th centuries
or so-called in new and industrial era. There will be provided information on
philosophers like J.J. Russo, E. Kant, S. Montesquieu, G. Spenser, etc. The
ones who played greater role in the understanding of Geopolitics.
J.J. Russo
(1712-1778)
French philosopher, writer and
politician, Jean Jacques Russo was born in Geneva, in the Huguenot family.
Since his family died, fourteen-year old boy stayed on his own.
In 1742, Russo moved to Paris
where he met with various philosophers like Deidre, Condors, and Fontanel.
In 1750, he won Dijon academy
award. His essay “Discourse on the Arts and Science”. Where he argued, that the
advancement of art and science had not been beneficial to mankind. He proposed
that the progress of knowledge had made governments more powerful, and crushed
individual liberty. He concluded that material progress had actually undermined
the possibility of sincere friendship, replacing it with jealousy, fear and
suspicion.
In 1753, Russo participated in
the contest again and highlighted “Background of the inequality among the
people”, though he did not receive an award; he was highly marked from his
colleagues.
In 1754, Russo published a
pamphlet on “Political Economy”, in which he described three principles of the
government.
1. “To distinguish your own and public will”.
2. “Kingdom of Virtue” – meaning link between the
own and public will.
3. “It is not enough to have citizens and protect
them, it is necessary to think about the feeding them and gratification of the
public will”
In this above-mentioned essay,
the most interesting was that the author was comparing so-called “Political
body” to living organism. (Ratzel was the first who came to this idea and
started his geopolitical discussions).
Rousseau's most important work
is "The Social Contract" that describes the relationship of man with
society. Contrary to his earlier works, Rousseau claimed that the state of
nature is brutish condition without law or morality, and that there are good men
only a result of society's existence. In the state of nature, man is flat to be
in frequent competition with his fellow men. Because he can be more successful
facing threats by joining with other men, he has the impetus to do so. He joins
together with his fellow men to form the collective human presence known as
"society." "The Social Contract" is the "compact"
agreed to among men that sets the conditions for membership in society.
One of the primary principles of
Rousseau's political philosophy is that politics and morality should not be
separated. When a state fails to act in a moral fashion, it ceases to function
in the proper manner and ceases to exert genuine authority over the individual.
The second important principle is freedom, which the state is created to
preserve.
It is also very important to point out his ideas about the land and
citizens. He claims that the state is measured by the size of the land and
number of citizens. And that the mankind can not live without the land, after
all if the land is too big it is hard to protect it, and if it is too small
than the state becomes depended on the neighbors. And that is the reason of the
future wars he admits.
Emmanuel Kant
(1724-1804)
Great German philosopher Emmanuel Kant was born in East Prussian city of
Königsberg. Soon after the graduation of the University, he started to work as
a private teacher. In 1755, he was lecturer at the Königsberg University, where
he got his PHD.
In the Königsberg University, he
was teaching almost everything, including Geography. In 1757, he published
“Plan of teaching Geography”, also “Causes of earthquakes”, etc. As for the
Geopolitical works he wrote: “Thoughts of pure appreciation of vivid powers”
(1746), “probable beginning of the mankind history” (1786), etc.
In his treaty of the “Eternal
World” (1795), he continued anti war traditions, of the European philosophy of
the new era, started in the 1517 “world complaint” – Eresm Rotterdam’s.
In 1713-1717, notable French
Diplomat Charles De San-Per, published “Project of Eternal World in Europe”.
Where he mentioned that there should be created a community of the states, with
their national organs. The community afterwards would regulate the
International Relations and prevent wars.
The works of the Emmanuel on the “Eternal World” is considered as a
response to the San-Per’s works.
The idea of the “eternal peace» (perpetual
peace) is related to the “natural status of the nation”. This is the condition,
which must be left apart in favor to get legitimate status. The status which
can only be guaranteed in the community.
Kant saw that the states bigger
than the size that was in antique policy, were about to loose their political
stability. That was the reason why the philosopher was pessimistic about the
“eternal world” concept. The only key he saw was that, he wanted people to
create laws and rules and with that regulate relations of the nations. He
believed that the man, who obeys moral and ethical rules, could become citizen
of the world community.
Charles
Montesquieu (1689-1755)
Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron
de La Brède et de Montesquieu, famous French philosopher, social commentator
and political thinker was born in Bordeaux.
Soon afterwards, he achieved
legendary success with the publication of his Persian Letters (1721) a satire
based on the imaginary correspondence of an Oriental visitor to Paris, pointing
out the absurdities of contemporary society. He next published Considerations
on the Causes of the Grandeur and Decadence of the Romans (1734), considered by
some scholars a transition from The Persian Letters to his masterwork. The
Spirit of the Laws was originally published anonymously in 1748 and quickly
rose to a position of enormous influence. In France, it
met with an unfriendly reception from both supporters and opponents of the
regime. The Roman Catholic Church
banned the thesis – along with many of Montesquieu’s other works – in 1751.
However, from the rest of Europe, especially Britain, it received the highest
praise.
The story “Persian Letters” is
told in epistolary form, and comprises 161 letters dated over a span of nine
years, 1711-1720. Published anonymously in Amsterdam in 1721, it pointed out
the "barbaric" absurdities of contemporary French life from an
outsider's perspective, and was a symptom of a widening movement towards
Enlightenment thought, where questioning the authority of the church and the
state was emerging.
One of his more exotic ideas,
outlined in “The Spirit of the Laws” and hinted at in Persian Letters, is the
(meteorological) climate theory, which holds that climate may significantly
influence the nature of man and his society. He goes so far as to declare that
certain climates are superior to others, the temperate climate of France being
ideal. His view is that people living in very warm countries are "too
hot-tempered," while those in northern countries are "icy". The
climate of middle Europe is therefore optimal. On this point, Montesquieu may
well have been influenced by similar statements in Germany by Tacitus, one of
Montesquieu's favorite authors. Montesquieu devotes four chapters of”The Spirit
of the Laws” to a discussion of England, a contemporary free government, where
liberty was sustained by a balance of powers. Montesquieu worried that in
France the intermediate powers (i.e., the nobility) which moderated the power
of the prince were being eroded.
Georg Wilhelm
Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831)
German philosopher Georg Hegel was born in Stuttgart, Germany, in
functionaries family.
Soon after the graduation, he started to work as a teacher in Bern
1793-1796, than in Frankfurt in 1797-1799.
While studding at seminary of the Protestant Church in Württemberg Hegel
met with Schelling and Hölderlin. The three watched the
unfolding of the French Revolution and immersed themselves in the emerging
criticism of the idealist philosophy of Immanuel Kant. To be more precise,
Hölderlin and Schelling immersed themselves in theoretical debates on Kantian
philosophy; Hegel's interest in theory came later, after his own abortive
attempts to work out a Kant-inspired popular philosophy — which was his
original ambition. The Popularphilosophen were writers who introduced and
debated issues of the day, as a way of promoting the values of the Enlightenment.
Most of them were influenced by
English or Scottish thinkers such as Locke or Reid; Hegel wanted to
"complete" the critical philosophy of Kant in the mode of a
Popularphilosoph. At Tübingen he was skeptical of the
highly theoretical (and technical) discussions that Hölderlin and Schelling
engaged in. It was only in 1800 that Hegel admitted the need to resolve the
difficulties of the Kantian system before it could hope to be put into
practice.
In 1801, he published his first
philosophical thesis “Distinction between the philosophies of Fichte and
Schelling”. In Jena Shelling and Hegel started publishing
of the “Critical Philosophical Journal” where he was issuing his scientific
articles like “Phenomenology of Spirit” (1802).
With the conquest of Prussia by
Napoleon in 1806, Hegel moved to Bamberg, where stayed only for a year and then
moved to Youngberg, where he published “The Science of Logic”, Hegel attained a
post at the University of Heidelberg in 1816. He published “The Encyclopedia of
the Philosophical Sentences in Outline”, a summary of his philosophy for
students attending his lectures. In 1818, he accepted a job at the University
of Berlin as a full professor of philosophy, where he taught until his passing
away.
Hegel’s Geopolitical views can be
found in the “Lectures on Philosophy of History”. He connected world’s history
with the geographical environment. By the history, he meant that all the
nations are obtaining their national distinction from other nations. However if
we look at this from the geographical point of view it can be said that the
state is attaining its types and characteristics from the geographical
settings. This characteristics comes from where the state stands in
history and what position it has in geography.
It would be interesting to point
out that Hegel is somehow responding to Montesquieu’s ideas, about the
influence of the climate on the man and society. Hegel was dividing the land into two, South
and North. As a professional geopolitical Hegel describes New Light, patterns
of nature in the South and North America. USA is united federal state, fast
developing with free and ordered citizens. While in Latin America, there is
political instability and military revolutions. The reality that between the South
and North there is such a big distinction is caused by the fact that the
southern America was colony of the South-West Europe, While Northern one was
occupied by the Spain in order to
enrichment and sway over the Indians. “America – concludes Hegel, is state of
the future.”
Old light, as he called “Arena
of the Global History”, started to describe from it’s geographical location.
The Mediterranean Sea, which at the same time unites and separates three parts
of the Old Light, is the Heart of the ancient world- he admits.
Hegel ranks all the ancient
countries to one out of three geographical types.
·
Waterless
plateau with extensive steppe.
·
Lowland,
irrigating with great lakes.
·
States,
directly adjacent to the sea.
Hegel thought that the sea was pushing a man towards conquers and piracy.
European Countries Hegel divided
into three groups by their geographical location.
1. North Europe, here in Italy and Greece there
was a arena for the global history.
2. Heart of the Europe, - France, Germany, England.
3. South-West Countries, - Russia, Poland.
He admitted that the History took place in Asia and will end in Europe.
“Childhood of the History” he
called the period of the Babylon, Persia, Syria, Egypt, etc. where freedom was
only in substantial form.
“Awkward age” was in Hegel’s words, world of
front or middle Asia. Where there was not infant credulity or tranquility.
As for the third moment of the
history, he named Ancient Roman State. The only aim at that moment is to reach
your own individual goals through the public aims. In other words, the private
will is dominant.
Fourth moment of the history he
connected with Germany and called the senile age of the man. At that, age man
is getting more intelligent and the spirit is aiming for the unity. However,
that is only spirit.
To the end West – Childhood, Greece – youth,
Ancient Rome – maturity, Germany - old age. At that point was the end of the
history, he thought.
With his philosophical
conceptions on history and social attitude, he prepared path to the famous
geopoliticians like Ratzel, Kjellen and Haushofer.
Carl Philipp Gottfried (or Gottlieb) von Clausewitz
(1780-1831)
Carl Philipp Gottfried
(or Gottlieb) von Clausewitz
military theorist and
strategist was born in Burg, Prussia excise official’s family. In 1792, he went
to Prussian military. In 1808-1809, Clausewitz as a member of the military organizational committee participated in
the preparing of the military reform.
In 1812, he printed “three symbols of faith” – document of military
reforms.
Liberal ideas of the great French revolution had an impact on the Karl’s
political views. However, his liberalism had a shade of the Prussian
nationalism and military authoritarianism. In his military historical works, he
used Hegel’s methodology. Clausewitz most notable work is “About War”.
In the above-mentioned thesis, he discussed that the politics has
national character and that it demonstrates national interests. “All the epochs
have it’s own wars” he admits, caused by the changing of the relations among
the nations and progresses. New conditions dictate to modify military theories,
however only politics set war strategies. German scientist connected this
military strategies to the geography because, all the wars happen on determined
territory.
After all, the main, he thought
was unification of the political and military strategies. Whatever conflict it
could, be all the correct strategies are sat by the politics. It can be said
that the political relations among the governments cause confrontations and the
war is only instrument for the dilemma.
It can be pointed that Clausewitz`s
views on politics and wars are one of the great paradigms of the military
strategies and geopolitics.
Oswald Spengler
(1880-1936)
The German historicist writer, Oswald Spengler, was born at Brandenburg,
Harz, studied at Halle, Munich and Berlin and taught mathematics (1908) in
Hamburg before devoting himself entirely to the compilation of the prophetic
philosophy of history, “The Decline of the West” (Vol. I,
1918, Vol. II, 1922).
In this book, he discussed his worries that Western civilization
expressed by Europe was in a steep, inevitable decline. Spengler argued that if
one compared the 'eight great civilizations' it was clear that each lasted a
cycle of 1000 years to end in collapse. That Europe, like the other seven (Egyptian,
Chinese, Babylonian, Indian, Arabian, Greco-Roman, and Mayan) was headed for
disaster, particularly in view of World War I. Hitler and his boys thought
Spengler meant the Third Reich was a really great idea; but Spengler disagreed
with the persecution of the Jews and the biological determination of the Nazi
party. Oswald was more concerned with the present and future rather than with
the origins of civilization.
Spangler’s “Years of Decision” (1933), in which he develops his own
fascist racism and illuminates the significance of the Nazi attack of power.
However, his political views did not suit neither fascists nor communists. That
was why most of his works were prohibited.
Herbert Spencer
(1820-1903)
Herbert Spencer an English philosopher and prominent classic-liberal
political theorist was born in Derby, England.
Spencer developed an all-embracing conception of evolution as the
progressive development of the physical world, biological organisms, the human
mind, and human culture and societies. The lifelong bachelor contributed to a
wide range of subjects, including ethics, metaphysics, religion, politics, rhetoric,
biology, sociology, and psychology.
While he is now best known for,
his political theories related to what has become known as “Social Darwinism”
and for inventing the term survival of the fittest after reading Charles
Darwin's “The Origin of Species”, his ideas predated Darwin's publication and
were quite distinct.
The first clear expression of
Spencer’s evolutionary viewpoint occurred in his essay “Progress: Its Law and
Cause”, which later formed the basis of the “First Principles of a New System
of Philosophy” (1862). In it, he explained a theory of evolution, which
combined insights from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's essay “The Theory of Life” –
itself copied from Friedrich von Schelling's Naturphilosophie – with a
generalization of von Baer’s law of embryological development. Spencer disposed
that all structures in the universe develop from a simple, undifferentiated,
homogeneity to a complex, differentiated, heterogeneity, while being
accompanied by a process of greater integration of the differentiated parts. This evolutionary process could be found at work, Spencer believed,
throughout the cosmos. It was a universal law, applying to the stars and the
galaxies as much as to biological organisms, and to human social organization
as much as to the human mind. It differed from other scientific laws only by
its greater generality, and the laws of the special sciences could be shown to
be instantiations of this principle.
This concept of evolution was
radically different to that to be found in Darwin’s “Origin of Species”, which
was published two years later. Spencer is often quite incorrectly, believed to
have merely appropriated and generalized Darwin’s work on natural selection.
Nevertheless, although after reading Darwin's work he created the phrase
“survival of the fittest” as his own term for Darwin's concept, and is often
misrepresented as a thinker who merely applied the Darwinian Theory to society,
he only unwillingly incorporated natural selection within his overall system.
It is interesting to mention
that his ideas on living organisms and evolution are not first in the history,
however all his works were a good path to the future development of the social
theories and geopolitics.
Theodore Mommsen
(1817-1903)
Schleswig, Germany. A great effect on Mommsen’s getting
professor had Hegel and Kant.
He was always very interested in
politics; and even entered the national liberal party.
His significant book “History of
the city of Rome” distances 2,800 years of the existence of a city that grew
from a small Italian village in the 9th century BC into the center of a huge
civilization that dominated the Mediterranean region for centuries.
Nevertheless was eventually swarming by Germanic tribes, marking the beginning
of the middle ages, and that eventually became the seat of the Roman Catholic
Church and the home of a sovereign state within its walls, Vatican City. It has continued to play a major role in global politics, just as it
has enormously influenced the history and culture of European peoples for
millennia.
The traditional date for the founding of Rome, based on a mythological
account, is April 21, 753 BC, and the city and surrounding region of Latium has
continued to be inhabited with little interruption since around that time.
Many modern geopoliticians try
to describe the history the way Theodore did. History of the Ancient Rome
carries politico military character. Even more, political problems dominate
over the military strategic tactics.
The beginning of the politics of
the ancient Rome Mommsen thought was since Cesar’s ruling.
Though, Theodore did not
considered himself as geopolitician because he was only interested in the
ancient times, all his theories, political conceptions and many more let us
call him great geopolitician.
Karl Ritter
(1779–1859)
German Geographer Karl Ritter was born in Quedlinburg, Germany. He traveled
a lot in Europe and studied the climates and histories of France, Italy, etc.
This was the result of his greater works “Geography in accordance to nature and
history of people.” The author was inspired by the works of J. J. Russo.
Much of Ritter's writing was based on Pestalozzi's ideas of the three
stages in teaching: the acquisition of the material, the general comparison of
material, and the establishment of a general system. Ritter
was largely concerned with comparison; some interesting general ideas emerged
in his work, such as those of the water and land hemispheres, the contrast
between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the contrast in form between the
Old and the New World (the Old having great east-west length, and the New
north-south), and the concept of the "space relations" of particular
countries, meaning their position in relation to neighboring areas. Africa, he
noted, had relatively the shortest and most regular coastline of all the
continents, and the interior had little contact with the ocean. Asia was far
better provided with sea inlets, but the interior was isolated from the
margins. Europe was the most varied of all the continents, with a complex
interpenetration of land and sea.
Ritter's impact on geography was especially
notable because he brought forth a new conception of the subject. In his view, "geography was a kind of
physiology and comparative anatomy of the earth: rivers, mountains, glaciers,
etc. Where so many distinct organs, each with its own appropriate functions;
and, as his physical frame is the basis of the man, determinative to a large
extent of his life, so the structure of each country is a leading element in
the historic progress of the nation."
Ritter's
writings thus also had implications for political theory. His organic conception of the state was used to
justify the pursuit of lebensraum, even at the cost of another nation's
existence, because conquest was seen as a biological necessity for a state’s
growth. His ideas were adopted and expanded by the German geostrategist
Friedrich Ratzel.
Conclusion
In general can be concluded, that the Age of Enlightenment and Industrial
epoch (also known as the Age of
Reason or simply the Enlightenment) was
an intellectual and philosophical movement that dominated the world of ideas in
Europe during the 18th century, the "Century of Philosophy", which
played the decisive role for the development of geopolitical science since the
period of the establishment classical geopolitical theory since the end of the
19-th century.
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