József Kiss: Slovakia’s Place and Role in Milan Hodža’s Geopolitical Conception (2. part)
Hodža’s draft draws the attention to the connection between his geopolitical conceptions and foreign policy directions, and also to the ambivalent character of his ideas. He gives evidence of those difficulties that arose during the implementation of the complexly interpreted geopolitical conception to the foreign policy direction that extended to the economic and social, cultural and civilisational sphere. Hodža during the introduction of the “Duna-plan” in efforts of taking it into real framework and during political temporizing he did not forget the motives in connection with Russia and arising from the necessity and function of joining, resulting from middle-European aspirations of Germany that had grown to threats. Hodža, to the contrary to Beneš, intended to drop the importance of Czechoslovak–Soviet co-operation agreements and to maintain the independence of Middle-Europe that was threatened by the agressive acts of Germany and to maintain the distance with the activities of the Soviet Union, while it wanted to find compromise with Germany. Apparently, Hodžának had no illusions in connection with Germany’s aggressive intents.
In this Hodža’s attitute taking into consideration of those geopolitical abilities was present that resulted that his conceptions did not loose their timelyness under the recent conditions of the process of getting united in Europe.
Coordinates of Slovakia’s placement in Hodža’s geopolitical conception evidence efforts of creating syncretical equalization between catching connectivities and political expediency, and the dynamism functioning with signs of permanent approrism and appropriatness, connecting susceptibility, the ability to discover with imagination, racionalism with abstractness. Hodža’s geopolitical conception intended to put Slovakia into international thinking.