A Study on the Theories of the State in Political Geography

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  • 政治地理学における国家研究
  • セイジ チリガク ニ オケル コッカ ケンキュウ

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Political geography is thought to have originated with the writings of Friedrich Ratzel, who defined it as the study of states. That is to say, a state was regarded as an organic entity with a lot of emphasis on its physical elements such as shape, location and climate. Needless to say, it was the introduction of this kind of thought into Japan that led to the founding of Japanese political geography. In addition, the organic theory of the state, as expanded by K. Haushofer in his German Geopolitik also greatly influenced the development of Japanese Geopolitics, Chiseigaku, during World War II. However, with Japan's defeat in the war, the entire field of political geography became to be regarded as something of a taboo by Japanese geographers. After the war, although a functional approach was developed by R. Hartshorne, on the whole, political geography was considered something of a "moribund backwater" in English speaking countries. However, with the development of social welfare policy in advanced countries throughout the 196Os, the role of the state increased significantly. As a result, geographers also became more concerned with the role of the state and at about the same time, the Marxist "Renaissance of the theories of states" gained much ground and became highly influenced in geographical circles. This new approach, as opposed to the more traditional one, was characterized by its focus on the function of a state and its relation to various social groups. However, this kind of new trend in thinking never materialized in political geography in Japan. In fact, most areas that should enter into the field of geography are dealt with by political scientists and there has been an increase in the number of political science studies that deal with the spatial distribution. Therefore, in order to try to reverse this trend, we would like to see a revitalization of the field of political geography, which includes increased studies on the state.

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