Political Geography Excerpts from De Blij text Jan

Political Geography Excerpts from De Blij text Jan. 2011

Definition Political Geography is the study of how people have organized the Earth’s surface into countries and alliances, the reasons for the arrangements, and the conflicts that result. Political Geography helps to explain the cultural and physical factors that underlie political unrest in the world. Rubenstein (2008)

What were the reasons/conflicts that contributed the US border?

What is a State(Country)? The idea of a state was created by people. A politically organized territory that must have: 1. a permanent population 2. defined territory (borders agreed upon) 3. government 4. ? ? Next slide Approximately how many states are there today in the world? What are microstates?

Is Antarctica a state?

Other Examples: Korea China and Taiwan Western Sahara

What is, Territoriality? Robert Sack, “ the attempt to affect, influence, control, by delimiting and asserting control over a geographic area” it other words a state has sovereignty over their geographic area. Must be political and militarily. Name some examples of how the following control their territory: dog, individual, family, school, city government, governor, President, United Nations.

City-States of Mesopotamia and Greece

Empires

Middle Ages

Peace of Westphalia 1648 Recognized and defined statehood Defined borders=states Guarantees of Security Examples: Buying a house

Mercantilism Economic system whereby a state becomes rich by taking over territory and using it for resources to help its own economy. Examples? ? Helped build a middle class which eventually led to revolutions around the world and the rise of political clout for the ordinary citizen.

What then is a nation?

Nations- imagined community? Culturally defined People within a states borders? Shared past, common future, relationship to a particular territory, political goals, religion, language, ethnicity. Rarely does a nation inhabit the exact borders of a state. Is there an American nation based on this example?

Nationalism and Conflict People of nation that have a strong belief and loyalty to a particular nation. Examples from history where this ended up in conflict? A state is easier to rule if all inside its borders are of the same nation, why? why not? How might a stats create cohesion among different nations within its borders?

Nation-State Most states are Multinational states, meaning what? Multistate Nation? Japan Denmark England United States

Stateless Nations that do not have sovereignty over their territory. 1600? ? Examples: Basque Kurds Palestinians Scotland Cherokee

Colonialism Britain's influence on the modern state, sovereignty, nation-states through colonialism in the 1500 -1600 and then again in the late 1800’s. System of control of territory and population. When over the political organization of space still remained. (PG 229) North America (US and Canada) Africa China India

Colonialism's Consequences? Global Order, think Core and Periphery Subservient relationship between states Allowed the expansion of US and Russia Uneven Wealth between countries Wealthy Countries: US, Canada, EU Poor Countries: Most in Africa, South America

Wallerstein World systems theory To understand any state (country) we must understand its spatial and functional relationships within the world economy. (pg 232) 1. One market but a global division of labor. (Capitialism and Commodification) Automobile industry 2. Everything takes place in the world economy, interdependency

Wallerstein World systems theory Three Tier Structure: (Page 233 map) 1. Core 2. Semi-Periphery 3. Periphery Name some of the regions/countries of the world at each tier.

Question Imagine you are the leader of a newly independent state in Africa/Asia. Determine what your government can do to build a nation that corresponds with the borders of your state. Consider the roles of education, government, military, and culture in your nation-building.