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Alexandros Stogiannos Dismissing the Myth of the Ratzelian

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Alexandros Stogiannos Dismissing the Myth of the Ratzelian Historical Geography and Geosciences Alexandros Stogiannos The Genesis of Geopolitics and Friedrich Ratzel Dismissing the Myth of the Ratzelian Geodeterminism Historical Geography and Geosciences This book series serves as a broad platform for contributions in the field of Historical Geography and related Geoscience areas. The series welcomes proposals on the history and dynamics of place and space and their influence on past, present and future geographies including historical GIS, cartography and mapping, climatology, climate history, meteorology and atmospheric sciences, environmental geography, hydrology, geology, oceanography, water management, instrumentation, geographical traditions, historical geography of urban areas, settlements and landscapes, historical regional studies, history of geography and historic geographers and geoscientists among other topically related areas and other interdisciplinary approaches. Contributions on past (extreme) weather events or natural disasters including regional and global reanalysis studies also fit into the series. Publishing a broad portfolio of peer-reviewed scientific books Historical Geography and Geosciences contains research monographs, edited volumes, advanced and undergraduate level textbooks, as well as conference proceedings. This series appeals to scientists, practitioners and students in the fields of geography and history as well as related disciplines, with exceptional titles that are attractive to a popular science audience. More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/15611 Alexandros Stogiannos The Genesis of Geopolitics and Friedrich Ratzel Dismissing the Myth of the Ratzelian Geodeterminism 123 Alexandros Stogiannos Faculty of Turkish Studies and Modern Asian Studies National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Athens, Greece ISSN 2520-1379 ISSN 2520-1387 (electronic) Historical Geography and Geosciences ISBN 978-3-319-98034-8 ISBN 978-3-319-98035-5 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98035-5 Library of Congress Control Number: 2018950798 Based on a translation from the Greek language edition: H Cέmerη sη1 Cexpokisijή1 jai o Friedrich Ratzel. H Amaίqerη sot Mύhot peqί sot Pasrekiamoύ Cexcqauijoύ Nseseqlimirloύ by Alexandros Stogiannos Copyright © Keilώm (Leimón) Publications, 2017 All Rights Reserved © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland To my Teacher, Ioannis Th. Mazis, and his honest scientific efforts for the international establishment of Systemic Geopolitical Analysis and its scientific rationalism. With deep respect Alexandros Stogiannos Foreword The excitement about the prospect of drafting a doctoral dissertation about the father of Geopolitics, Friedrich Ratzel, was soon succeeded by a feeling of apprehension and slight disappointment. It arose after reading for the first time the original text and the Greek translation of Living Space, a text brimming with references to animals, plants and, to an extent, primitive tribes. It was then that the lack of any association (verifying my initial impression) to Geopolitics became obvious. Over time, this concern—which I obviously never confessed to my supervisor, Prof. I. Mazis, who enthusiastically introduced me to the work of Friedrich Ratzel through his foreword to the Greek translated edition of Der Lebensraum—namely the fact that the adventure in the labyrinthine paths of Friedrich Ratzel’s work was likely to lead to no fortunate results, was exacerbated by further difficulties, such as the hampered access to a part of Ratzel’s monographs—more than 1200—and articles, the relatively limited secondary literature, which included the most controversial and occasionally extreme views, and the multidimensionality of his writings, ranging from Zoology and Political Geography to Biogeography, Ethnography, etc. Given the above, my participation as an observer at the conference titled “The Spaces of Ratzel’s Geography” of the Leibniz-Institut fürLänderkunde (IfL) [18–20 November 2004] was on many levels invigorating for my research. I managed to establish a communication channel with the scientists of the IfL (the institute housing Ratzel’s archives), who were extremely hospitable and helpful during my next two research trips, as well as with other, mainly German, scientists. Apart from providing practical solutions to many problems, this step led to the deciphering of the first part of my research. Especially, the lecture presented during that conference on the discontinuity between Ratzel’s Political Geography and Kjellen’s Geopoli- tics made meaningful the need for a comparative research on the general guidelines of the Ratzelian scientific framework with more contemporary geopolitical power analysis systems—especially the Greek Systemic Geopolitics School of Prof. I. Mazis. This comparative approach eventually disclosed the enormous confusion over the use of terms, which is the min- imum requirement for any epistemological discussion. This fact would always be pointed out during the lectures of Prof. Mazis who wittily described it as a “dialogue of the deaf in Babylon”. ix x Foreword Numerous contradictory approaches in the secondary literature, presenting Ratzel as both humanist and racist, geo-determinist and multidimensional analyst, organicist and social scientist, precursor of Geopolitics and opponent to the same idea, led—after many discussions with I. Mazis—to the need to create a research, which would thoroughly analyse the structural components of the Ratzelian thought. In combination with Ratzel’s biography, the somewhat extensive presentation of his less known articles and his complete bibliography [the biography and bibliography are not included in this ver- sion], the ambition of the present work is to provide to scientists or readers a well-documented supportive source to understand Friedrich Ratzel’s episte- mological and philosophical background. I. Mazis considered such a research contribution both original and essential for the study of the theoretical background and the history of Geopolitics, a research that would rehabilitate Geopolitics with regard to both its ethical self-awareness and its epistemo- logically accurate geographical basis. To my burning questions on this issue, Prof. Mazis would cite his own teacher, Maurice Wollkovitsch: “The geographer is a ‘chef d’ orchestre’, my dear. He plays only some of the instruments of the symphonic orchestra he conducts, but he knows very well how to produce harmony by what he conducts!” While researching the two key questions, namely the influence of Frie- drich Ratzel’s ideas in more contemporary geopolitical analytical systems and the geodeterminism commonly attributed to him (incorrectly, as will be shown), more particular issues were approached: • the need to define and establish the scientificity of Political Geography [Sect. 1.3] • the methodological approach of his heterogeneous and multidisciplinary work, [Sect. 1.4] • the redefinition of his geopolitical period [Sect. 1.5] • his notion of state and the evaluation of sociological and cultural parameters as factors of state power [Chaps. 2, 3, and 4] • the biogeographical content of the notion of Lebensraum and its demar- cation with regard to Political Geography [Chap. 3] • his attitude towards the racist theories flourishing at the time, as well as towards the Darwinian theories, the theories of evolution and regression [Chaps. 4,and5] • his overall worldview and the confrontation with cosmopolitism rising during a period of national conflicts [Chaps. 4, and 5] • his contribution to an interdisciplinary, positivist and scientific approach in analysing social and international affairs [Chaps. 1, and 5] • his thoughts on the architecture of Europe [Chap. 6] The submission of the present work does not in any way mean that the potential for further research on Friedrich Ratzel has been exhausted. This would in any case require a large multidisciplinary team. Even at a strictly political–geographical/geopolitical level, there are many issues to be inves- tigated. Therefore, the thesis in question should be rather considered a Foreword xi theoretical guide to help read and study his political–geographical works,
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