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"Everything Is Revealed in Maps": The European Far Right and the Legacy of Classical Geopolitics during the Cold War
Södertörn University, School of Historical and Contemporary Studies, History of Ideas. Södertörn University, Centre for Baltic and East European Studies (CBEES).ORCID iD: 0000-0001-5692-4171
2023 (English)In: Geopolitics, ISSN 1465-0045, E-ISSN 1557-3028, Vol. 28, no 5, p. 1843-1867Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

This essay examines the engagement of the European Far Right during the Cold War with the legacy of classical geopolitics, above all the work of Mackinder, Spykman, Haushofer and Schmitt. The concerns of geopolitics with immanent spatial "realities" gave it an instrumental utility for the EFR as the latter sought to move beyond the obsessive preoccupation of interwar fascism (in its dominant German version) with factors of genetics and race. Beyond this, classical geopolitics provided conceptual and theoretical support for the EFR as it elaborated new ideological principles and political projects. On the one hand this involved a novel vision of pan-European unity that rested on the principle of continentalist autarky. On the other, with key concepts such as Heartland and Rimland, classical geopolitics offered a sophisticated but strategically flexible meta-geography of Eurasian space that was of immense value, for it could accommodate the EFR's ambivalence regarding the geographical limits of its envisioned pan-Europe and the nature of its relationship to its Eurasian neighbour, the USSR. The essay argues that while the conceptual continuities with the interwar period were vital, the deployment of classical geopolitical theory by the EFR after 1945 was driven by a logic of its own, one that was directly connected to the historical context and political realities of the Cold War. EFR ideologues used classical geopolitics essentially in order to negotiate the particular challenges of their day and to sustain and develop their own political agendas.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Routledge, 2023. Vol. 28, no 5, p. 1843-1867
National Category
Social and Economic Geography
Research subject
Baltic and East European studies
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-49301DOI: 10.1080/14650045.2022.2078709ISI: 000802935300001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85131397789OAI: oai:DiVA.org:sh-49301DiVA, id: diva2:1671626
Part of project
Continentalism And Geopolitics: The Idea Of ‘Bigspace’ Political Formations In Comparativehistorical Perspective, The Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies
Funder
The Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies, 39/2017Available from: 2022-06-17 Created: 2022-06-17 Last updated: 2024-05-16Bibliographically approved

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Bassin, Mark

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