ABSTRACT
T he oppo sing d e s ire s to co n tro l and to r e s i s t , to dom in a te and to be fre e from dom ination have ac ted d ia lectically upon one an o th e r th ro u g h o u t m odern tim es. G eopolitically , th ey have been re sp o n s ib le fo r w hat H enrikson r e fe r re d to as ’th e n ea tly segm en ted , m ultico loured w orld of th e s ta n d a rd po litical m ap .’[2] Nowhere is th e com plexity of th is more in ev iden ce th a n in E urope and th e M ed ite rran ean , th e w este rn ecum ene of th e W orld-Island . [3] While th e po litical map h e re is a pa lim p sest, re ta in in g co n sid erab le ev iden ces of o lder and la rg e ly su p e rse d e d po litical fo rm s, th e s ta n d a rd u n its a re now th e ’n ea tly segm en ted ’ te r r i to r ia l s ta te s . Known, u su a lly qu ite w ron g ly , as ’n a t io n -s ta te s ' o r sim ply as 'n a tio n s ', th e ir p r e p o n d e ra n t c u ltu ra l u n ity h as been used as a b as is fo r po litical u n ity and fo r th e c en tra lisa tio n of con tro l o v e r a wide ran g e o f a c tiv it ie s . As p a r t of th e p ro c e ss of c o n tro l, q u a litie s have been a t t r ib u te d to th e s ta te well in ex ce ss of th o se which it ac tu a lly p o s se s s e s . In th is way p o p u la r s u p p o r t , sometimes of a h ig h ly em otional c h a ra c te r , is ga ined fo r i t s con tinued ex is ten c e and fo r th e regim e which co n tro ls i t . T his na tio na l ism may th e n su p p ly th e em otional and in te lle c tu a l foun dation s fo r a f u r th e r en larg em ent of th e s ta te , and th u s fo r th e commencement o r con tinua tio n of an ex p an s io n is t p ro c e s s . I ts
BIDS FOR SUPREMACY
in itia l o b jec t, w h e th e r con sc io usly e x p re s s e d o r n o t, is to a tta in some ideal o r id ea lised g eo g rap h ica l te r r i to r y in w hich th e s ta te will be in close conform ity w ith th e p h y s ica l and hum an env ironm en t in w hich i t e x is ts . T h is en ta ils th e a tta in m ent of a te r r i to r y in w hich th e re is a la rg e m easure of p h y s ica l u n ity b o u n d ed by c lea rly d efin ed ’n a tu r a l’ f ro n tie r s . Such con d itio ns c o n s titu te th e p h y s ica l b a s is fo r w hat is en v isag ed as a more s e c u re , p ro s p e ro u s an d e a s ily -g o v e rn e d s ta te . I ts u ltim ate ju s tif ic a tio n h a s b een e x p re s se d as th e c rea tio n of th a t p a r t ic u la r m orphology w hich God, N a tu re o r R eason was deem ed to h av e o rd a in ed fo r i t . Such a m or ph ology may tak e th e form of a hom ogeneous g eo g rap h ica l a re a , a reg io n o f p h y s ic a l u n ity , an am orphous 'l iv in g sp ace1 o r a sh ap e w hich can be re d u c e d to a geom etrical f ig u re , su c h as a tr ia n g le o r a h ex ag o n . P e rh a p s th e most pow erfu l fa c to r of all u n d e r ly in g th e se a rc h fo r th e ideal m orphology h as been th e m yth of a na tio na l ’go lden ag e1 in w hich th e re was fu lfilm ent and g lo ry w ith in a la rg e an d im p ress iv e home la n d . G oblet saw th is as ’su p e r-im p o sin g m aps of dream land em p ires’ upon fa r b le a k e r con tem p o rary re a lit ie s , [4] a phenom enon w hich K ris to f called ’th e sh if t to w ard s an id ea l ise d p a s t . . . w hen th e fa th e r la n d an d people w ere t r u e to th em se lv es’ . [5] W hether i t was sp ace o r time w hich was in v o k ed , th e c e n tra l them e was w hat R atzel called th e ’S ta a ts id e e ,’ a ph ilosop h ica l and m oral concep tion of th e m ission and d e s tin y of th e s ta te and th e im age of w hat i t sho u ld becom e. [6] T he n a tu re of th e na tio na l te r r i to r y , and th e n a tu ra l env iron m en t occup ied b y th e people th e n become w oven in to th e fa b ric of th e c u ltu ra l h e r ita g e .
