The Hungarian Quarterly Summer 1997 [antikvár]

It is not the intention of the present study to explain the necessity for NATO enlargement, nor does it deal with the chances of accession. Taking the NATO accession of Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic for granted, it seeks to address the geopolitical meaning of this enlargement that is expected to be accomplished within the next two years. Geopolitics is philosophical geography (Mackinder), a special approach which perceives geography as unified (Yves Lacoste), but the world as limited and cut across by borders. It is a store of knowledge, says Strabo, that traders and militaiy leaders find useful so they will not lose their presence of mind should they find themselves in a place where they do not recognize the constellations. Although the author of the Geography considers his work to be serious and worthy of a philosopher, he believes that a geographer should not delve too deeply into philosophical investigations, because a politician does not have enough time for such things, or, at least, not always. (See Strabo, 1. 21; 23) Geopolitics is a synthetic view of the geographical and civilizational determination of history. Its approach is the objective observation of correlations between geographical and civilizational generalizations, which allows hypotheses to be made about history as a living process. Historians rummage through the objectified ruins of power, while geopoliticians are interested in power not yet objectified. From the geopolitical point of view, NATO enlargement is simply the marking out of the new East-European boundaries of the West; in other words, its goal is to prevent the organization of Eastern and Western Europe into a unified geopolitical structure. In this context, the use of the terms "Eastern Europe" and the marking out the boundaries of the West instead of Western Europe should be explained. As we shall see, these new boundaries will not mean a reciprocal recognition of the spheres of influence 3 Gusztáv Molnár, philosopher, heads the Geopolitical Research Group of the Teleki László Foundation-Institute for Central European Studies, Budapest The Geopolitics of NATO Enlargement