Teritorijalizacija i druga utemeljenja političkog - prilog metodologiji političkih znanosti
Territorialisation and Other Foundations of Politics - A Contribution to the Methodology of Political Sciences

Summary/Abstract: One of the disciplines comprised by political science is the so-called new geopolitics, a term that draws an adequate and definite line between that science and the notorious Nazi geopolitical school. One of the fundamental (methodological issues) in the study of all aspects of politics is the question of its foundations. For, politics and the political sphere do not exist in a vacuum and are not exhausted within the frame of reference of questions concerning power and the accomplishment of goals: the political sphere, at least as it commonly exists in social consciousness, is just a manifestation and expression of a much more profound and different essence. A number of illustrations are given, in order to demonstrate that politics is often not concerned with issues from its own sphere but with some other things matters from the sphere of its foundations. The understanding of the groundwork of politics, and particularly in the fields of geopolitics and global geostrategy, world economy, historical and current international political relations, and in international public law, is one of the main factors in distinguishing between the true basis of reality and its, often much more spectacular and interesting, manifestations in the political sphere. Whereas the manifest aspects of politics frequently occur in the form of spectacular political developments, with all the underlying possibilities of manipulation, the foundations, although only they have the true relevance and weight, mostly remain concealed; both public opinion and mass media of communication, the major factors of political life, take insufficient notice, if any, of them. Some of the main foundations of politics, international political relations and international public law are: 1) Historical factors, of a a) territorial, b) raw-material, and e) ethnic or similar character; we have termed them historical for two reasons; firstly, they imply contents that are also the motive force of history and, secondly, because they have been conceived in the past. Naturally, only some of the historical motivations are mentioned. In this, of course, the most important thing is not left out of sight, i.e. that both the driving force of history and itself are the result of the development of productive forces and of class struggle, an advancement towards freedom and the humanisation of man, which is the sole reason and purpose of human existence. 2) The economic basis is the most important factor of all social• events and social evolution; this economic foundation is reflected in certain essential interests. 3) The geopolitical and geostrategic groundwork is one of the expressions of those interests; it is the territorialisation of the economic and political factors, of course, territorialisation, not in the sense of an answer to the question "where is what?" , but in the sense of the dialectic, and therefore also functional, interrelation between social trends and the corresponding spatial framework, and in conformance to appropriate spatial relations; only in naive and unscientific theories, or in malicious ruses, is »where?« declared to be the vital geographic or geopolitical question; the same applies to history, since the question »When?« is, likewise, not the most important question of history. 4) Only the mentioned groundwork of a historical, economic and geopolitical character makes possible a true insight into the international political and economic relations, being the main substance of politics, at least in its international aspect; still - these relations do not exist .by themselves, however spectacular or apparently significant they may be; they merely solve problems from the fundamental sphere, they are a manifestation of those foundations, and do not even exist as separate entities. S) Finally, all of these foundations and relations can assume the form of obligations, thus becoming a subject of international law. The author illustrates his views by a series of examples from contemporary political and economic relations.

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