Ratzel's Organic State Theory

One of the most infamous geopolitical theories developed out of Germany at the end of the 19th Century. Between 1897 and 1901, Geographer Friedrich Ratzel published a series of essays on the nature of the state and its relationship to man. Of these essays, “Lebensraum”, “Politesha Geographie”, and “Volkerkunde” would form the broad political theory known today as the Organic State Theory.

At the time of publication, Ratzel was working as a lecturer at Leipzig University, where he taught several prominent students that would later create the environmental determinist philosophy within the field of geography. He is considered today as the progenitor of Social Darwinism and national socialist philosophy developed two decades after his death.

According to Ratzels theory, the state is a living organism that must eat, drink, and grow in order to survive. In his first analysis on the nature of man and space, titled Völkerkunde, Ratzel organized people into groups called Völkers, which primarily consisted of cultural units similar to nationalities. Her argued that most Völkers were mixed-race and largely based on common political and cultural values. He argued that individuals that make up a Völker worked together like cells in a complex organism. In order for the Völker to survive, it needs space to grow, otherwise with will die.

Link to the full article and references: https://jmlane8.wixsite.com/jessemlanephd/videos-documentaries.

YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/yz_NS3ejho4