Space

(From L. spatium). Container of all coexisting perceptible objects; the part of this container occupied by each object; extent of a site, terrain, or place. One of the most general concepts characterizing the universe. Its conception varies in different cultures and grows richer with scientific-technical progress. Different philosophical schools accord it dissimilar and even contradictory interpretations. In the sociol-cultural and political arena, the positing of s. as an absolute has contributed to its being overvalued in military strategy and modern political geography, especially following the creation of the pseudoscience known as “Geopolitics.” Its use by the ideologues of fascism, racism and ethnocentrism has contributed to the justification of acts of aggression (*) and colonization of weak countries, to the practice of genocide, and to the uprooting, removal and mass relocation of conquered populations. The conversion of s. into an absolute is at the root of the aggressive doctrine of national security and the expansionism of modern empires, whose justification is adorned with the false conception of needed “vital space.” In reality, as the example of postwar Japan attests, scientific-technical progress along with measures for demographic control make the development of a country possible without the expansion of its territory. These possibilities increase with the growth of regional and international integration.