Global geopolitical context: classical interpretation

The necessity of interpreting the global geopolitical con-text is evident for Lithuania. The process of socio-economical development of the state might be made successful by ensuring national security and rational foreign policy. Unfortunately, the term "geopolitics" has become too fashionable in Lithuania and lost its previous strict determination and sense. It has even an amateur interpretation and is often used for the sphere of strictly local affairs. The new Master (comprehensive) Plan of Lithuania (UAB "Urbanistika", 1999) presents a classical interpretation of the global geopolitical context as well as an evaluation of the Lithuanian situation. The basis of the classic approach in geopolitics is determined by these postulates: idea of the state as a living organism seeking its great space; perpetual opposition and competition between the continental and sea powers as well as between the ideocratic and liberodemocratic types of civilisation; doctrine of imperialism with the priority of structural imperialistic thinking; prerogative of thinking on the scale of continents. During the development of classical geopolitical theory, three main concepts were suggested: continentalism, with the priority of continental power; atlantism, with the priority of sea power; globalism (mondialism), with a forecast of global convergence. All these concepts and their neo-branches proposed different scenarios for the global development of the Baltic region. The common feature of all these proposals is the unfavourable geopolitical position of Lithuania, because no space for the sovereignty of small countries is left. An especially negative approach to the Baltic states was expressed in the latest neocontinental strategy of Eurasia Empire (Dugin, 1997). A similar conclusion about the complexity and contradictoriness of the Lithuanian situation was made by R. Baubinas (Baubinas, 1995) after analysis of the political-geographical constructions of the future world. The strengthening of its demographical potential, assurance of social stability, development of economic power and competitions, supporting the sea-oriented development as well as strengthening the nation's moral and ethnic reliability, ensuring the professionalism in all kinds of activity, creation of the system of geopolitical monitoring widening the geographical historical and Lithuanistic education might be nominated as a compensating interior actions in the snhere of increasing the Lithuanian geopolitical resistibility also the sustaining of attempts in the development of the economical passaee Vilnius-Kiev presents a natural historic-obligation of the Lithuanian Stat