The article describes the process of the emergence and development of geopolitics as a science and a method of multifactor analysis: from traditional to civilizational, from global to regional and even local. The author considers the main postulates of the founding fathers of the Anglo-Saxon, German, Russian and French geopolitical schools. Special attention is paid to the origin and development of Russian geopolitics, its current state. Among a number of directions, the Eurasian and the neo-Eurasian ones, their general and special features are distinguished. The milestones of the development of geopolitical thought in the South of Russia are spelled out, while it is noted that the geopolitical method, which has absorbed the achievements of “weak” French geopolitics, is effective, productive and is a good help in the political, sociological and strategic analysis of not only global problems of our time, but also important issues of national, regional and even local levels.
geopolitics; geopolitical method; traditional geopolitics; new geopolitics (geo-economics); the latest geopolitics, thalassocracy; tellurocracy; Russian geopolitics; Eurasianism, neo-Eurasianism; the law of fundamental dualism; South of Russia.