Territorial-political and regional geopolitical systems: correlation of concepts


                TERRITORIAL SYSTEMS




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TERRITORIAL-POLITICAL
AND REGIONAL
GEOPOLITICAL SYSTEMS:
CORRELATION
OF CONCEPTS


A. B. Yelatskov*


     &

Saint Petersburg State University 7-9 Universitetskaya embankment, St. Petersburg 199034, Russia

Received 12 October 2011

doi: 10.5922/2079-8555-2012-1-7


     The article examines the notions of ‘territorial political system’ and ‘regional geopolitical system' as well as a correlation between them from the viewpoint of the so-called activity-based geospatial approach.
     A regional geopolitical system includes geopolitical relations between the states within the region and those with powerful external actors. A geopolitical region itself can be characterized by integration, autonomization or a permanent geopolitical conflict. A territorial political system is studied in a broad sense (all political phenomena of a certain territory) and in a narrow context (geopolitical relations of a certain territory). The latter is considered to be a subsystem of regional geopolitical system.
     The research results can be applied in the study of geopolitical regions and geopolitical systems. The article develops a methodology for regional geopolitical and political geographical studies.
     The author wishes to thank his colleagues from Saint Petersburg State University for their comments on earlier versions.

     Key words: territorial political system, regional geopolitical system, geopolitics, political geography, geopolitical region

     Territorial political systems (TPS) in their correlation are conventional targets of political geography [7, p. 243] and regional political studies [13]. This notion is also studied by geopolitics, which treats this concept as a local geopolitical system. Thus, there are many interpretations of the notion of TPS, which take into account priorities of the respective field of study. We shall present two interpretations that are considered the most advanced [3].
     First — to consider ‘a political system’ as a generic term for TPS. The TPS


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