Political Culture and the Evolving State

Chapter 14

Concept of Territoriality

• Humans have the need to belong to larger group that controls its own piece of the earth.

• Some believe that humans are territorial animals, motivated by the same instinct that affects animals.

• Others believe that territoriality is a cultural strategy used to assure control of resources.

• Protection of home and family.

The ultimate territorial creation is an independent country. (193 altogether)

• .

A Nation is a group of people with a common ancestry--regardless of whether

the group controls its own territory.

A state is the same thing as a country.

• These are states (as opposed to States--political divisions within countries).

The term nation-state applies if a nation’s homeland corresponds to a

state’s territory.

A stateless nation is a cultural unit that has no country.

A multinational state includes more than one ethnic/cultural group.

The Rise of Nation-States

Under feudalism

--multi-ethnic empires ruled by a monarch

--power relationships were hierarchical

(lords, monarch, pope)

--boundaries were not fixed

The Rise of Nation-States

Changes in military technology (guns and cannon) made the feudal manor less defensible.

Defense needed to be based on maneuverability--required a territorially larger state.

The Rise of Nation States

Early 1500s--decline in papal authority with Reformation

1648--Peace of Westphalia (30 Years’ War)

--ended period of religious wars

--created a system that depended on a balance of power based on clearly-defined, centrally-controlled, independent entities that recognized each other’s sovereignty and territory.

The ideal of the nation-state

• Dates from the French Revolution

• Sovereignty rests with the nation--the people.– Loyalty was to the state, not the monarch.

• Each nation should have its own sovereign territory.

Europe controlled much of the world and defined the ground rules of the emerging

international state system.

• Japan remodeled itself in the mid-19th century.

• At the end of the colonial period, newly-liberated peoples created “nation-states” on the European model. (With differing degrees of success.)

Characteristics of states and implications for governance

Size• Large--access to natural resources and large

population base, but can be difficult to administer.

Size

• Small--can be a disadvantage, but it is difficult to generalize. (W. Africa vs. Singapore)

Shape

• Afghanistan is a prorupt state.

Relative location can be a blessing or a curse.

• Can benefit greatly if close to resources, harbor sites, proximity to friendly nations, accessibility.

• Landlocked countries can face challenges.

Enclaves and Exclaves

• Exclaves are “outliers.”

• An enclave is an area within a state that belongs to another state.

Boundaries

• Definition--legal description

• Delimitation--drawn on the map

• Demarcation--physically marked on the ground

Definitional boundary disputes

• focus on legal language

Locational Boundary Disputes

• focus on delimitation or demarcation of border

Operational Boundary Disputes

• focus on how the boundary should function

Allocational Boundary Disputes

• focus on resources.