THE STATE POLITICAL-GEOGRAPHY IS IN

Political geography is just a century old, It was initiated by Ratzel, who published his 'Politische Geographie' at about the same time that in the Hague the first Peace Congress was held. This was close to the location of the IGU 1996 congress where this paper was first presente d. The continuing differences in approaching the subject of internatio nal relations and of polities at large are highlighted by these two ev ents, Political geography is concerned with the territorial basis of t he political order, the actual systems of territorial control and thei r economic and cultural conditions and consequences. The paper elabora tes on these three problem areas and presents a research agenda derive d from them.