Political Geography

Chapter 8

State

– An area organized into a political unit and ruled by an

established government that has control over its

internal and foreign affairs

Sovereignty

– A state having control over its internal affairs without

interference from other states

A World of States

Fertile Crescent - Mesopotamia

City-state

• A sovereign state that comprises a town and the

surrounding countryside

Egypt - Ancient Greece

European States – Roman Empire: Controlled most of Europe, North

Africa, and Southwest Asia from modern day Spain to

Iran and from Egypt to England.

– Collapsed in fifth century because of attacks and

internal disputes.

– European portion fragmented into estates.

Ancient States

Self-determination

– The right of ethnic groups to govern themselves

within sovereign states

Nation state

– A state whose territory corresponds to that occupied

by a particular ethnicity that has been transformed into a nationality

Multinational states

– Contain two or more ethnic groups with traditions of

self determination

– Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)

Nation and Multinational States

Three Baltic states

– Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania

Three European states

– Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine

Five Central Asian states

– Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan

Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan

Three Caucasus states

– Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia

The Former USSR

Korea: one state or two?

– Divided into two occupation zones after defeat of

Japan in WWII.

– Two Korean Governments

• Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North

Korea)

• Republic of Korea ( South Korea)

Western Sahara (Sahrawi Republic)

– Considered a sovereign state

– Morocco claims the territory

Challenges in Defining States

Who owns Antarctica?

Who controls the seas?

Colony – A territory that is legally tied to a sovereign state rather than being completely

independent

• European colonies

Colonialism • The effort by one country to establish settlements in a territory and to impose its political,

economic, and cultural principles on that territory

European colonies: motives

– Promotion of Christianity

– Resource extraction

– Establishment of political power

– “God, glory, and gold”

– UK and France largest colonizers

Colonization

Colonies then and now...

Remaining colonies

– 68 places globally (U.S. State Department)

– Entities not included as colonies by entities

other than the State Department

• Greenland, Hong Kong, Macao

– Entities considered as colonies by other entities but not by the State

Department

• Lord Howe Island (Australia)

• Ascension Island (Great Britain)

• Easter Island (Chile)

Are there still colonies?

Elongated states: potential isolation

– States that have long narrow shapes

• Malawi

• Gambia

Shapes of States

Fragmented states: problematic

– States that include several discontinuous

pieces of territory

• Tanzania

• Angola

Shapes of States

Prorupted states: access or disruption

– States with large projecting extensions

– Created because:

• Access to resources

–Congo

• To separate two states

–Namibia

» Caprivi Strip

Shapes of States

Compact states: efficient – Distance from center to boundary in any

direction does not vary by much

• Burundi

• Rwanda

• Uganda

• Kenya

Shapes of States

Landlocked states

– No direct outlet to the sea

• Lesotho

• Zambia

• Botswana

• Zimbabwe

Shapes of States

Perforated states: completely surrounded

– A state that completely surrounds

another state

• South Africa and Lesotho

Shapes of States

Boundary

– An invisible line marking the extent of a state’s territory

Physical boundaries

– Deserts, Mountains, Water

Cultural boundaries

– Geometric and Ethnic boundaries

Frontiers

– A zone where no state exercises complete political control

– Historically, frontiers separated states.

Boundaries of States

National government

• Autocracy

– A country that is run according to the interests

of the ruler rather than the people

• Anocracy

– A country that is not fully democratic nor fully

autocratic

• Displays a mix of the two types of government

Governing States

Unitary state

• Allocates most power to the federal government

• Local governments have relatively little power

Federal state

• Strong powers are allocated to units of local

government

Local government

– Redrawing legislative boundaries for the

purpose of benefiting the party in power

Gerrymandering

Military alliances

– North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

– Warsaw Pact

Economic cooperation

– European Union

– COMECON

Superpowers

– Balance of power

• A condition of roughly equal strength between

opposing forces

Cooperation Among States

The systematic use of violence by a group in

order to intimidate a population or coerce a

government into granting its demands

Terrorism

State-sponsored sanctuary for terrorists

Afghanistan and Pakistan

– Taliban

• Arabic for “students of Muslim schools”

Providing supplies to terrorists

– Iran: The U.S. has accused Iran of developing nuclear weapons.

Providing supplies to terrorists

– Iraq: The U.S. lead an attack against Iraq in 2003, in order to depose Saddam

Hussein.

• 1991 Operation Desert Storm

State-sponsored terrorist attacks

– Libya: Muammar el-Qaddafi brutally attacked Libyan protesters.

State-sponsored terrorism