Abstract
History of Greek Geopolitics is the first documentation in both Greek and international bibliography of the history of Greek geopolitical thought, as the latter is manifested in Greek-language bibliography during the 19th, 20th and the early 21st centuries. The author uses extensively primary and secondary bibliographical literature in his approach. The author examines the initial primary formulations of the 19th century (mainly connected to Anthropogeography), the views held during the early 20th century, the Interwar Period and the Cold War, up until the proposal of a concrete and inherent hermeneutical model offered by Systemic Geopolitical Analysis of Ioannis Mazis. The author considers not only the thematic field of Geopolitics, but also related fields, such as Anthropogeography, Economic Geography, Military Geography. The author examines such issues, as the transfer of fundamental loci of Classical Geopolitics (Rimland, Heartland) in Greek bibliography, the intertextual influence ...
History of Greek Geopolitics is the first documentation in both Greek and international bibliography of the history of Greek geopolitical thought, as the latter is manifested in Greek-language bibliography during the 19th, 20th and the early 21st centuries. The author uses extensively primary and secondary bibliographical literature in his approach. The author examines the initial primary formulations of the 19th century (mainly connected to Anthropogeography), the views held during the early 20th century, the Interwar Period and the Cold War, up until the proposal of a concrete and inherent hermeneutical model offered by Systemic Geopolitical Analysis of Ioannis Mazis. The author considers not only the thematic field of Geopolitics, but also related fields, such as Anthropogeography, Economic Geography, Military Geography. The author examines such issues, as the transfer of fundamental loci of Classical Geopolitics (Rimland, Heartland) in Greek bibliography, the intertextual influence exerted on Greek authors by various external sources, as well as the historical development and the geopolitical background of the views of the Greek authors in every historical period. The study is based on a series of fundamental hypotheses that underlie the development of his arguments and the relevant documentation and constitute original contributions to Greek bibliography. The first fundamental hypothesis is that the only existing inherently concrete and original hermeneutical model in Greek bibliography is Systemic Geopolitical Analysis by Ioannis Mazis, Professor of Geopolitics and Economic Geography at the University of Athens. The second fundamental hypothesis proposed by the author is that the view often held in secondary Greek bibliography concerning Geopolitics as an irrational, overtly ideological, discipline is a serious methodological and textual error. The appearance of the primary manifestations of Greek geopolitical thought during each historical period cannot be attributed to an ‘irrational approach’. Geopolitics is the theoretical expression of a rational approach to manipulate and evaluate the geophysical realities of space, therefore it is connected to a technocratic perception of the physical realities of space and the state connection to power. The third fundamental hypothesis and an original contribution to Greek bibliography in general is the typological distinction between the various political and ideological views and geostrategic orientations of Greek authors according to Classical Geopolitics. Kotoulas proposes an original new hermeneutical model of reading Modern Greek history by correlating political views with the geostrategic orientation towards sea powers or land powers. This hermeneutical model is based on a macro-historical view of Greek politics and geopolitics and the fundamental typological distinction between sea power and land power and the corresponding distinction of state actors between sea powers (actors) and land powers (actors). The dissertation also asserts that the term geopolitics itself can be located for the first time in Latin in 1679 in an unpublished draft by the German philosopher G.W. Leibniz. The introduction of the term geopolitics in modern bibliography was made in 1899 in by the Swedish political scientist Johann Rudolf Kjellén. Finally, other original contributions include the historical typological distinction between the expansive identity and the intensive identity of Hellenism.
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