Rudolf kjellén geopolitica
RUDOLF KJELLÉN - THE FATHER OG GEOPOLITICS REAPPRAISED
RUDOLF KJELLEN: THE FATHER OF GEOPOLITICS An essay by Torbjørn l. Knutsen The most important and lasting notion in Norwegian foreign and security policy is the idea that the Nordic countries are inscribed in a triangle of Great Powers: Russia in the east, Great Britain in the west and Europe in the south. This concept was originally formulated by Rudolf Kjellén () – one of the most important political scientists you may never have heard of. He was very influential in his time, especially in Germany. Here his book on the Great Powers – Die Grossmächte der Gegenwart () – was steadily reprinted in ever-expanding editions. Der Staat as Lebensform () came in 22 editions in the wake of World War I and opened up a new branch of International Relations: geopolitics. Kjellén’s books expressed an organic state theory that struck a deep chord in interwar Germany and was embraced by the National-Socialist movement. When geopolitics was removed from academia after World War II, Kjellén was thrown out with the bathwater. The Swedes have not quite decided whether to be proud or embarrassed by him. His reputation has hardly been ser
Center for research on geopolitics
RUDOLF KJELLÉN – THE SWEDISH ‘FATHER OF GEOPOLITICS’
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Rudolf Kjellén ( – ), a Swedish professor and politician, published his works in Swedish, which made him less accessible to those who were not familiar with the Swedish language. This denied large parts of academia the acquaintance with and examination of his work. Some of his books were translated into German, but there has been little interest in him in the Anglo-Saxon world.
The first geopolitician was a prolific writer and published a large number of works not only on geopolitics but in his later years on Swedish internal and utländsk policy. One of his classical geopolitical works, The Great Powers (Stormakterna), appeared in a first edition in Sweden. It had over 20 editions in Germany.
91 years after the term geopolitik in an article on the boundaries of Sweden in his work was for instance lauded in far off India.
But who was this Swedish professor who initiated the term geopolitics?
Rudolf Kjellén was born on Thorsö, a small island in Sweden’s biggest lake, Lake Vänern. He was the third child of seven.
Today he is probably best known in South America, where cl
Rudolf Kjellén
Swedish politician ()
Johan Rudolf Kjellén (Swedish:[ˈrʉːdɔlfɕɛˈleːn], 13 June , in Torsö – 14 November , in Uppsala) was a Swedish political scientist, geographer and politician who first coined the term "geopolitics". His work was influenced by Friedrich Ratzel. Along with Alexander von Humboldt, Carl Ritter, and Ratzel, Kjellén would lay the foundations for the GermanGeopolitik that would later be espoused prominently by General Karl Haushofer.
Kjellén completed gymnasium in Skara in and matriculated at Uppsala University the same year. He completed his PhD in Uppsala in and was a docent there from to He also taught at Gothenburg University from and was professor of political sciences and statistics there from until he received the prestigious Skyttean professorship of Eloquence and Government in Uppsala in
A conservative politician, he was a member of the Second Chamber of the Parliament of Sweden from to and of its First Chamber from to
Ideas
[edit]Kjellén was Ratzel's student and would further elaborate on organic state theory, coining the term "geopolitics" in the process. Geopolitics for Kjellén was theory and war its