The geopolitics of territorial relativity. Poland seen by Rudolf Kjellén

Abstract Rudolf Kjellén (1864–1922) discusses the birth, death, and possible rebirth of the state as a ‘living organism’. His concept of the nation, based on Renan, as a voluntary community is linked to the attainment of statehood. Poland is an example in this discussion, beginning in his book Stormakterna – The Great Powers – in 1905, with the nation under subjugation by three of these powers, continuing with his Staten som lifsform in 1916 where the possibility of rebirth is in sight, and finalized in 1920 in questioning the future of the world geopolitical order. His writings also include statements on the vulnerability of borders, the need for domestic autarky, and, on the problems of territorial autonomy, discussions of importance for the post-World War I geopolitical history of Poland; but these have mostly been neglected by post-World War II discourses. The aim of this article is to analyse how Poland's geopolitical situation is reflected in the viewpoints of Rudolf Kjellén against the background of the historical, spatial development of the Polish state and Polish ethnicity.