本文介绍了地缘政治学家关于地缘政治学学科的不同定义;探讨了不同层次地缘政治学研究的核心概念和研究方法论,分析了长期存在的学科内涵争论;探索了九十年代地缘政治学新的研究领域和发展方向:旨在推动我国地理学家参与国家和全球的地缘政治,地缘战略研究,繁荣和发展我国人文地理学的学科体系。

Based on the history and literature, after the origin and historical evolution of geopolitics have been traced back, this paper introduces some different definitions of the discipline of geopolitics suggested by a few famous geopoliticans in the history of geopolitics. The paper approaches the core concepts of geopolitical researches in different scales and the methodology of the discipline. The controversies about the connotations of discipline existing in geopolitics for a long time have been analysed in detail in the paper. Facing the new situations in the world in the 1990's of the post-cold-war era, authors suggest that the new research fields and the developmental directions of the geopolitics will be focuse on the following topics:
1. to research the changing state definitions.
2. to research the global interdependence in the uniting tendence of the world.
3. to research the regional peace and security.
4. to research the function of peace and security of the U. N. in the new situations in the world and to research how to bring into play the specific role of China in the global affairs.