State, territory and borders through the prism of political realism

Abstract

This article makes an overview of the 250 years’ shift in the classical geopolitical thought, the way space is framed within this paradigm and the impact on the state and its essential elements: sovereignty, territory and borders. Several stages of the development of the scholarly research, which are actually involved in a more or less open dialogue with one another, are explored through an approach, called historical cartography. The conceptual framework relates to International Relations theory, and more specifically –political Realism, as defined in Hans Morgenthau’s six postulates. The structure of the argumentation sets out at the more primitive and deterministic perceptions of state territory as a living organism, fighting for survival, goes through the drive for domination and the expansionist aspirations for large spaces, and arrives at the final destination – extreme political dogmas for a hegemonic world order. The conclusions attempt at finding some rationality in this evolution and at clarifying the reasons why sometimes revolutionary turns do happen.

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