275 Miguel Ángel Ballesteros Martín Method for the analysis of geopolitical regions... http://revista.ieee.es/index.php/ieee 2.1.5. Systemic method The systemic method derives from the General Theory of Systems which, as A. Rapoport14 indicates, is a methodological perspective that intends to study, in a unified manner, several fields previously separate. This theory was developed by Ludwig von Bertelanffy,15 and it considers that between the classical physical sciences, and biology, as well as between these sciences and other fields of knowledge, there should not be any essential difference regarding methodology. Nonetheless, the open system concept poses a complex dilemma, which is none other than to define the relations between the environment and the system, as D. Silverman16 has pointed out. In view of this problem, one must question where each one begins and ends. In this respect, Cohen,17 without giving a specific solution to this dilemma, marks an attitude: “Geographic analyses normally begin and end in and with the place. But the place becomes a geographic entity only when it is examined as part of the earth’s surface, within which certain processes act among each other, especially to create areas of political action. Understanding the dimensions that grant them scale, time, and movement is necessary to evaluate these areas of political action.” When speaking of political action areas, in this reflection, Cohen is speaking of open systems that must be defined and limited, in accordance with scale, time, and movement. In a study by Saul Bernard Cohen and Lewis D. Rosenthal,18 the geopolitical system was anticipated as the unit within which the political process interacts with the geographic space. Political transactions, political structures, and social forces are the components of the process; while location, area, and landscape are the components of the geographic space. From this perspective, the use of the analysis of systems in political geography is particularly required, given the application of the theory of systems to the political processes, as is manifested in the works of David Easton and E.R. Leach, according to 14 RAPOPORT, A. General Theory of the Systems, International Encyclopedia of Social Sciences, Vol. 9. Ed. Aguilar., Madrid, 1976. 15 BERTALANFFY, Ludwig von. General System Theory, Ed. Harmondsworth, Penghin, 1973, p. 16. 16 SILVERMAN, D. The Theory of organisations, Heineman, Londres, 1970,. p. 27. 17 COHEN, Saul Bernard. Opus cit., p. 211. 18 COHEN, S. y ROSENTHAL, Lewis D. A Geographical Model for Political Systems Analysis. The Geographical Review, January 1971,LXI, number 1.
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