Upload
annice-taylor
View
221
Download
0
Tags:
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Political GeographySabiha Zaman
What is political geography?
It concerns:o why political spaces emerge in the places that
they doo how the characteristics of those spaces affect
social, political, economic, and environmental practices.
Sovereignty, States, and Nations
Sovereignty:o Internationally recognized control a place has over
the people and territory within its boundaries State:
o Political unit with permanent population• Requires citizenship, territorial boundaries that are
recognized by other states, sovereignty, effective government, and a working economy
Nation:o a group of people who share a common culture and
identify as a cohesive groupo Requires language, religion, shared history, and
sometimes territory
Types of States and Nations
Nation-stateo State with only one nation in its borders
Multinational stateo Country that includes more than one nation within its
borders
Stateless nationo When a nation does not have territory to call its own
Types of States and Nations
Multinational State Stateless
nation
Nation state
Ethnonationalism Ethnonationalism- identification or loyalty
someone may feel to their nation Often occurs when a minority nation within a state
feels different from the rest of the state’s people Irredentism- A movement by a nation to reunite
its parts when they have spread across other borders
Example of ethnic conflict:o South Asia; India and Pakistan fighting over control of
Kashmir
Boundaries Geometric
o Straight lines that serve as political boundaries; aren't related to physical or cultural differences
Physicalo A political boundary that follows a feature of the natural
environment Cultural
o A political boundary that follows some cultural border, such as religion or language
Frontier (not a boundary): o Area where boundaries are weakly developed, no state
exercises complete political control
Creation of Boundaries Antecedent boundaries: existed before human cultures
developed into current forms Subsequent boundaries: grew out of human interaction Superimposed boundaries: forcibly put on the landscape Relict boundaries: no longer used as boundaries Steps to creating a boundary:
o Definition: the exact location of a boundary is legally described and negotiated
o Delimitation: the boundary’s definition is drawn onto a mapo Demarcation: the visible marking of a boundary on the
landscape (fence, wall, etc)o Administration: the enforcement by a government or
people of the boundary that has been created
Shapes of States Compact- the distance from
the center to any boundary does not vary significantlyo Capital at center and
shortest boundaries to defend
Elongated- long and narrow shapeo May have poor internal
communications and transportation
Fragmented- includes several discontinuous pieces of territoryo Separated by other
states or by water
Perforated- a state that completely surrounds another oneo Can cause tension
between the perforated state and perforating state
Prorupted/protruded-compact state with large protruding extensiono Can provide access to
a resourceo Protruding piece might
be separated from core
Shapes of States
Compact Elongated Protruding
Perforated Fragmented
Unitary and Federal States
States are either of unitary or federal governments
Unitary-power is concentrated in the central governmento Works best in nation-states with few cultural differences;
strong sense of unityo Requires effective communications; more common in
smaller states Federal-power is in units of local government
within the countryo local governments that adopt their own laws
Can empower nationalities in multinational stateso Suitable for larger states where capital is far away
United States, Russia, Canada, Brazil, India
Confederations, Enclaves, and Exclaves Confederation
o governmental structure that has a weak central government and majority power in regional governments
Enclaveo a state or part of a state that is completely surrounded
by another state Exclave
o land that is a political extension of another state
Colonization Control of one state by another; the colonizing state
has a more industrialized economy than the one it is taking over
First period of colonization o after Columbus discovered the western hemisphere in the 15th
century Second period of colonization
o late 1800s, when the western European powers competed for Africa in order to appear more powerful and gain more resources/land for industrial economies
Mercantilism- economic system in which a state gets raw materials from its colonies to ship back to its mother country and use in making products for its country
Imperialism Fueled by colonization The process of establishing political, social, and
economic dominance over a colonized area Europeans imposed their culture on the people
and landscapes• Dependence Theory
• many countries are poor today because of their colonization by European powers
• They were unable to recover from imperialism and are still dependent on the colonizers
Neocolonialism Based on Dependence Theory Continued economic dependence of new states
on their former colonizers Education, health care, roads, communication, etc
were not set up in colonies to thrive on their own when colonizers lefto New states had to turn back to colonizers and ask
for loans to start their economies
Geopolitics How states interact and
compete in the political landscape
Organic Theory- Freidrich Ratzel▫ States are living organisms
that want land and grow larger through acquiring more nourishment in the form of land
Heartland Theory- Halford Mackinder▫ The era of sea power was
ending and control over land was key to power
▫ Control over Eurasia was the key to dominating the world
Domino Theory▫ Democratic allies must
protect lands from falling into the Communists
Rimland Theory- Nicolas Spkyman Built on Mackinder’s
theory Includes Western
Europe, and Southeast, South, and East Asia in order to balance power in the rimland to prevent a global power from emerging
Political-Territorial Arrangements
Primate citieso A capital city that is
not only the political nucleus but is also more economically powerful than any other city in the state
Gerrymanderingo Redrawing electoral
boundaries to give a political party an advantage
o Illegal in 1985
Three types of gerrymanderingo Wasted vote
• Opposition voters are spread across many districts
o Excess vote• Opposition voters are
concentrated into fewer districts
o Stacked vote• Like-minded voters are
linked together in oddly shaped boundaries
Centripetal and Centrifugal Forces
Centripetal- unifies a state’s people and regionso Unifying symbols, pledge of allegiance, strong identity
based on cultural traits Centrifugal- divides a state’s people and regions
o Leads to Balkanization; the break down of a nationo Separation in regions, boundary conflicts, religions
divisions Devolution- transferring some power from the
central government to regional governments
Supranationalism Organization of three or more countries for
cultural, economic, or military reasons.o Created so that states can collectively reach a common
goal they may not be able to reach independently International and regional organizations were
made to prevent a third world war and to protect countries from a foreign attacko The United Nations (UN); established at the end of WWIIo Has peacekeeping forces, usually involved in separating
warring groupso Tries to maintain neutral
Regional and Military Alliances
Many states joined military regional alliances after WWIIo Led to the era of two
superpowers; U.S. and U.S.S.R., and the Cold War
Examples of regional allianceso Organization on Security
and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
o Organization of American States (OAS)• Promotes social, cultural,
political, and economic links among member states
Africa Union (AU)o Founded to end
colonialism and apartheid in Africa
o More emphasis on promoting economic integration in Africa
Economic Supranationalism
Integration of three or more states in order to achieve collective economic goalso European Union (EU)- 1958o Main goal is to promote development within the member
states through economic cooperation
Terrorism The use of violence by a
group in order to intimidate a population or coerce a government into granting its demands
Terrorist attacks against the US:o 1988: Pan Am Flight 103o 1993: World Trade Centero 1995: Oklahoma Cityo 1996: Saudi Arabiao 1998: US Embassieso 2000: USS Cole o 2001: World Trade Center
and Pentagon
Al Qaeda- Founded by Osama bin Laden in 1990o Bin Laden was a Saudi
billionaireo Around 20,000
memberso Not a single unified
organizationo Located in 34 countries
• Members are called “cells”
o Responsible for most attacks in 1990s and 9/11
Sovereignty
State
Nation
Multinational state
Irredentism
Geometric boundary
Physical boundary
Compact
Elongated
Fragmented UnitaryFederal
TerrorismDevolution
Centripetal
Centrifugal
Gerrymandering
Primate city Domino
Theory
Heartland TheoryImperialis
m
Neocolonization
Enclave
Exclave
Antecedent
Subsequent
Superimposed
Relict