ACADEMICIAN ARKADIY ZHUKOVSKY: SCIENTIFIC CONTRIBUTION TO POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY

Arkadiy Zhukovsky made a weighty contribution to the theory, methodology and practice of political geography. Study of the territorial organization and geographical patterns of formation and development of the political sphere of public life, reflecting the essence of political geography as a science, underlie many of his researches. The purpose of this article is to reveal and clarify the main works of the scientist, which characterize important political and geographical events. The work “All-Russian Constituent Assembly” by A. Zhukovsky is an interesting exploration related to political geography. It is valuable because it highlights the role of the highest electoral institution of the former Russian Empire through the prism of all-Ukrainian interests. World political map, its stages of formation and existing state constitute another key area of political-geographical research, constantly staying in the focus of A. Zhukovsky. This is evidenced by his “World Wars” exploration. Doubtless, Ukraine was in the center of his research. The next, equally important direction of political geography, contributed by A. Zhukovsky, are peculiarities of national territory formation, the place and significance of national capitals, and the issues of administrative-territorial division of the countries. Finally, the territorial organization of political activity, being an instrument of individuals or communities to implement their political interests, was an aspect that A. Zhukovsky also made a lot of effort to investigate.