MA Seminar Series Burning Issues Geopolitics Today States

MA Seminar Series – Burning Issues: Geopolitics Today States, Nations, Territories Stuart Elden Room E 2. 16 stuart. elden@warwick. ac. uk

Tue 8 Oct Tue 15 Oct Tue 22 Oct Tue 29 Oct Tue 12 Nov Tue 19 Nov Tue 26 Nov What is Geopolitics? States, Nations, Territories Borders and Walls Humanitarian Intervention The Ongoing ‘War on Terror’ Environmental, Health and Resource Geopolitics The Geophysics of Geopolitics

Examples today… Brexit Kurdish areas in Northern Syria Catalonia Scotland What is the relation between nations, states and territories?

https: //www. bbc. co. uk/ne ws/world-middle-east 49963649

Jail terms for Catalan independence leaders – following 2017 vote, declaration of independence and Spain’s imposition of direct rule.

Land Reform Review Group Final Report - The Land of Scotland the Common Good, 2014 http: //www. gov. scot /Resource/0045/004 51087. pdf • 200 nautical mile Scottish Seas boundaries • Civil jurisdiction offshore activities boundary • 12 nautical mile Scottish Territorial Seas boundaries • Continental Shelf

Land Reform Review Group Final Report - The Land of Scotland the Common Good, 2014 http: //www. gov. scot /Resource/0045/004 51087. pdf 1. The Land of Scotland is the area covered by the boundaries of Scotland as a sovereign territorial nation. Scotland’s territorial area is covered by the jurisdiction of Scots law and is the area encompassed by Scotland’s system of land ownership.

Land Reform Review Group Final Report - The Land of Scotland the Common Good, 2014 http: //www. gov. scot /Resource/0045/004 51087. pdf 2. Scotland’s rights of sovereignty over its territory are vested in the Crown with its distinct constitutional and legal identity in Scotland under Scots law, compared to the Crown in the rest of the United Kingdom under English law. This distinct identity was not affected by the Union of Crowns in 1603 and has continued since the Treaty of Union in 1707, when Scotland ceased to be an independent state but continued to be a sovereign territorial nation.

What is the relation between nations, states and territories?

Africa http: //www. guardian. co. uk/world/interactive/2 012/sep/06/africa-map-separatist-movementsinteractive

http: //www. guardian. co. uk/world/interactive/2012/sep/06/afri ca-map-separatist-movements-interactive

http: //www. guardian. co. uk/news/datablog/gallery/2012/oct/02/africa-maps-history

Map Exercise The sheet has six countries on it, A to F. These countries were formerly part of a much larger empire. Two or three groups of people live in these countries, but they no longer want to live together Where, if anywhere, would you draw the boundary lines? Be prepared to justify your decisions, and think of examples in history or the present that are comparable.

A B C D E F

States, Nations, Territories The formation of states with a centralised administration over a clearly defined geographical territory preceded the articulation of ideas of the nation… Example of where this is the case – France – French Revolution and national consciousness Two counter-examples – Germany and Italy – Movements for unification in the 19 th Century And then 20 th century ‘nation-building’

France “The modern conception of France as a tightly bounded space within which the French state was sovereign was opposed to an older conception of power as varying bundles of privileges related to different groups and territories”. John Breuilly, “Sovereignty and Boundaries: Modern State Formation and National Identity in Germany”, in Mary Fulbrook (ed. ), National Histories and European History, London: University College London Press, 1993, p. 108.

Les limites naturelles Cardinal Richelieu, Testament Politique – “les limites naturelles” of France: Rhine, Alps, Pyrenees. To promote security of territory (which might require further conquest) and the consolidation of territory. Could work both ways: France’s aim of a straight line instead of the random South Netherlands border – adjoining territories assimilated and absorbed; the geographically isolated were lost. Pursued following the French Revolution – attempt to get rid of anomalous areas; consolidate France’s rule.

Germany Internal boundary disputes (whether part of a state was in the confederation or not) External boundaries more or less secure depending on who that boundary was with: - – France – fixed with political-administrative precision – South – simply a line drawn on the map of Austria – North – disputed province of Schleswig-Holstein, a ‘boundary’ dispute which arose via the question of ‘national sovereignty’.

Key Changes 1. Gain of Schelswig. Holstein 2. Removal of Austrian Power 3. Defeat of France and incorporation of Alsace-Lorraine region

Germany Only with the Weimar Republic did Germany actually become a state – under Bismarck it had been a Reich, an Empire. “the tragedy was that this state was also the product of defeat – its boundaries were seen as artificial and its constitution as imposed”. Breuilly, “Sovereignty and Boundaries”, p. 132. So with Germany it was well into the nineteenth century before some territorial issues were resolved, and its boundaries have been redrawn since – crucially in 1919, 1945 and 1989.

What is a Nation? natio – birth nasci - to be born, natal, native Principles? – – – Race Language Religion Shared Interests Geography Spiritual Principle

What is a Nation? “Forgetting, and, I would even say, historical error are an essential factor in the creation of a nation” “The Nation is an everyday plebiscite” Ernest Renan, What is a Nation? , 1882 Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities (1991) Michael Billig, Banal Nationalism (1995)

Self-Determination The idea that people should govern themselves; therefore that a distinct group should have their own state. National self-determination is especially problematic – the people decide, but who decides who the people are? Role of American war of independence (American Revolution) and the French Revolution; then Peace of Paris after World War I, with Woodrow Wilson’s ‘ 14 points’.

IX. A readjustment of the frontiers of Italy should be effected along clearly recognizable lines of nationality. X. The people of Austria-Hungary, whose place among the nations we wish to see safeguarded and assured, should be accorded the freest opportunity to autonomous development. XIII. An independent Polish state should be erected which should include the territories inhabited by indisputably Polish populations, which should be assured a free and secure access to the sea, and whose political and economic independence and territorial integrity should be guaranteed by international covenant. XIV. A general association of nations must be formed under specific covenants for the purpose of affording mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike.

US State Department list of Foreign Terrorist Organisations https: //www. state. gov/j/ct/rls/other/des/123085. htm “Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) are foreign organizations that are designated by the Secretary of State in accordance with section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), as amended. FTO designations play a critical role in our fight against terrorism and are an effective means of curtailing support for terrorist activities and pressuring groups to get out of the terrorism business”.

The State - The State has universal jurisdiction - The State has compulsory jurisdiction - Its ends are broader than those of other associations which pursue ‘privately conceived ends’ - The State has legal supremacy or sovereignty over other associations - The State ranks as equal with other nation-states, being ‘selfsovereign’ D. D. Raphael, The Problems of Political Philosophy

Raphael’s Terms - The State has universal jurisdiction [over all activity] - The State has compulsory jurisdiction [not elective] - Its ends are broader than those of other associations which pursue ‘privately conceived ends’ [i. e. business, or trade unions – though note the Marxist account] - The State has legal supremacy or sovereignty over other associations [provides framework within which they operate] - The State ranks as equal with other nation-states, being ‘selfsovereign’ [against terra nullius idea, but note colonialism as counter-example]

Examples of states with more than one nation? Examples of nations with more than one state? Examples of nations without a state?

What is the State? The modern state is a set of institutions comprising the legislature, executive, central and local administration, judiciary, police and armed forces. Its crucial characteristic is that it acts as the institutional system of political domination and has a monopoly of the legitimate use of violence.

Max Weber “The state is that human community, which within a certain area or territory [Gebietes] – this ‘area’ belongs to the feature – has a successful monopoly of legitimate physical violence” Max Weber, Economy and Society, edited by Guenther Roth & Claus Wittich, New York: Bedminster, 1968, p. 56

Max Weber The state is therefore defined by four features: - 1. 2. 3. 4. human community territory, area, region monopoly of the means of physical violence legitimacy (traditional, charismatic, legalrational)

Territory is… A portion of geographical space under the jurisdiction of certain people (Jean Gottman) A portion of space occupied by a person, group, local economy or state (John Agnew) The geographical domain under the jurisdiction of a political unit, esp. of a sovereign state (Collins English Dictionary) Much more complicated than this…

Territory is a relation that can be understood as an outcome of territoriality Territory is a bounded space, with the state as a “bordered power-container” (Anthony Giddens) Jonssen, Tagil and Tornqvist, Organising European Space: ‘a territory is defined as a cohesive section of the earth’s surface that is distinguished from its surroundings by a boundary’ (2000, 3). Anssi Paasi: ‘boundaries, along with their communication, comprise the basic element in the construction of territories and the practice of territoriality’ (2003, 112).

Jean Gottman Although its Latin root, terra, means ‘land or ‘earth’, the word territory conveys the notion of an area around a place; it connotes an organisation with an element of centrality, which ought to be the authority exercising sovereignty over the people occupying or using that place and the space around it. Jean Gottman, The Significance of Territory, Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1973, p. 5.

Edward Soja Conventional Western perspectives on spatial organisation are powerfully shaped by the concept of property, in which pieces of territory are viewed as ‘commodities’ capable of being bought, sold, or exchanged at the market place. Space is viewed as being subdivided into components whose boundaries are ‘objectively’ determined through the mathematical and astronomically based techniques of surveying and cartography. Edward Soja, The Political Organisation of Space, Commission on College Geography Resource Paper No 8, Washington: Association of American Geographers, 1971, p. 9.

David Storey Most usually used in reference to the area of land claimed by a country. However territories exist at a variety of spatial scales from the global down to the local. Territory refers to a portion of geographic space which is claimed or occupied by a person or group of persons or by an institution. It is, thus, an area of ‘bounded space’. David Storey, Territory: The Claiming of Space, London: Prentice Hall, 2001, p. 1.

‘The Territorial Trap’ John Agnew, ‘The Territorial Trap: the Geographical Assumptions of International Relations Theory’, Review of International Political Economy, Vol 1, 1994, pp. 53 -80. - States as fixed units of sovereign space - That there is a strict distinction between domestic and foreign politics (between political science and international relations) - That the state acts as a ‘container’ for society

Saskia Sassen, Territory, Authority, Rights: From Medieval to Global Assemblages (2006) Where does the nation-state end and globalization begin? In Territory, Authority, Rights, one of the world’s leading authorities on globalization shows how the national state made today’s global era possible. Saskia Sassen argues that even while globalization is best understood as “denationalization, ” it continues to be shaped, channeled, and enabled by institutions and networks originally developed with nations in mind, such as the rule of law and respect for private authority… Sassen builds her case by examining how three components of any society in any age — territory, authority, and rights — have changed in themselves and in their interrelationships across three major historical “assemblages”: the medieval, the national, and the global.

Land, Terrain, Territory Land is a relation of property, a commodity to be bought, sold and exchanged, a finite resource that is distributed, allocated and owned; a political-economic question. Terrain is a relation of power, with a heritage in geology and the military; the control of which allows establishment and maintenance of order. As a ‘field’, a site of work or battle, terrain is a political-strategic question. Territory must be approached in itself rather than through territoriality; and in relation to land terrain.

Territory beyond Land Terrain 1. The political-legal Questions of power/authority; notions of sovereignty • Disputes in the Middle Ages concerning temporal and spiritual power • Territorium as an object of political rule • Leibniz on the distinction between sovereignty and majesty • Modern notion of territorial integrity

Territory beyond Land Terrain 2. The political-technical Techniques, based on calculation • Advances in geometry (especially coordinate or analytic geometry) • Cartography and land-surveying • Latitude, time and longitude • Military technologies

Territory No longer merely the economic object of land; nor a static terrain; but a vibrant entity, “within its borders, with its specific qualities” (Foucault, ‘Governmentality’). A rendering of the emergent concept of ‘space’ as a political-legal category.

Territory as a political technology: techniques for measuring land controlling terrain… Measure and control – the technical and the legal – alongside land terrain Territory as a political question – economic, strategic, legal, technical

The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Political Geography, edited by John Agnew, Virginie Mamadouh, Anna J. Secor, Joanne Sharp, 2015 Territory outside of the Anglophone tradition; territory beyond the Western model; feminist accounts of territory – work by Cristina del Biaggio, Anne-Laure Amilhat Szary, Sam Halvorsen, Chih Yuan Woon, etc.