Political Geography Sabiha Zaman What is political geography

Political Geography Sabiha Zaman

What is political geography? It concerns: o why political spaces emerge in the places that they do o 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 group o Requires language, religion, shared history, and sometimes territory

Types of States and Nations Nation-state o State with only one nation in its borders Multinational state o Country that includes more than one nation within its borders Stateless nation o When a nation does not have territory to call its own

Types of States and Nations Multinational 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 Physical o 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 map o 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 significantly o Capital at center and shortest boundaries to defend Elongated- long and narrow shape o May have poor internal communications and transportation Fragmented- includes several discontinuous pieces of territory o Separated by other states or by water Perforated- a state that completely surrounds another one o Can cause tension between the perforated state and perforating state Prorupted/protruded-compact state with large protruding extension o Can provide access to a resource o Protruding piece might be separated from core

Shapes of States Compact Elongated Perforated Fragmented Protruding

Unitary and Federal States are either of unitary or federal governments Unitary-power is concentrated in the central government o Works best in nation-states with few cultural differences; strong sense of unity o Requires effective communications; more common in smaller states Federal-power is in units of local government within the country o local governments that adopt their own laws l Can empower nationalities in multinational states o Suitable for larger states where capital is far away l 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 Enclave o 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 15 th century Second period of colonization o late 1800 s, 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 left o 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 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 cities o A capital city that is not only the political nucleus but is also more economically powerful than any other city in the state Gerrymandering o o Redrawing electoral boundaries to give a political party an advantage Illegal in 1985 Three types of gerrymandering o 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 regions o 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 nation o 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 attack o The United Nations (UN); established at the end of WWII o Has peacekeeping forces, usually involved in separating warring groups o Tries to maintain neutral

Regional and Military Alliances Many states joined military regional alliances after WWII o Led to the era of two superpowers; U. S. and U. S. S. R. , and the Cold War Examples of regional alliances o 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 goals o European Union (EU)- 1958 o 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 o o o 1988: Pan Am Flight 103 1993: World Trade Center 1995: Oklahoma City 1996: Saudi Arabia 1998: US Embassies 2000: USS Cole 2001: World Trade Center and Pentagon Al Qaeda- Founded by Osama bin Laden in 1990 o Bin Laden was a Saudi billionaire o Around 20, 000 members o Not a single unified organization o Located in 34 countries • Members are called “cells” o Responsible for most attacks in 1990 s and 9/11

Geometric boundary Compact Multinational state Fragmented Unitary Sovereignt State Federal y Terrorism Centrifugal Devolution Primate city Domino Theory Elongated Anteceden Gerrymanderin t Relict g Exclave Superimposed Enclave Neocolonization Subsequen Heartland Theory t Imperialism Nation Physical boundary Irredentism Centripetal