Studied by 9 people
Political Geography
Study of the political organization of the planet, constantly changing collage of countries
Humans have divided their living space into:
political unites or territories
How many nation-states is the world divided into?
nearly 200
Landlocked
completely surrounded by land, with no coasts or seas around
The modern state systems originated from ______ roots
European
Government
Leadership and institutions that make policy decisions for a country
Politics
ALL ABOUT POWER Who has the power? How'd they get the power? How do they keep the power?
Politics of Place
how land space is organized according to who assets power over what area
Territoriality
efforts to control pieces of the earth's surface for political and social ends, trying to to control a certain place
Political Culture
The collection of political beliefs, values, practices and institutions that the government is based on
boundaries
invisible lines that mark the extent of state's territory and the control that its leaders have
Examples of boundaries
-physical -separate ethnic groups -negotiation of war
Frontier
a zone separating two states in which neither state exercises political control
Examples: of frontier control: France and ______ fought over _______
France and England fought over frontier land in NA during the French and Indian War
Top two places left with neutral zone areas
Antarctica and the Arabian Peninsula
Physical Boundaries
-easy to see -mountains, deserts, water
Median-line principle
Lines made to distribute water ways when states are within 200 miles of each other
Law of the Sea
(1983), standardized territorial limits at 14 land miles (12 nautical miles), gave rights to marine life within 200 miles
Cultural boundaries
borders based on culture traits, like language and religion
Cultural boundaries are also called
consequent boundaries
Example of Cultural Boundary
1947, border between India and Pakistan, to separate Muslims from Hindus
Example of Cultural Language Boundary
Europe after World War 1
Balkanization
Process by which a state breaks down through conflicts among its ethnicities
Shatter belts
A zone of great cultural complexity containing many small cultural groups
Geometric boundaries
-boundaries that follow regular, geometric patterns --boundaries of convenience drawn along lines of latitude or longitude without consideration for cultural or ethnic differences in an area
Example of Geometric boundary
-North and South Korea were divided during the cold war, the 38th parallel -Vietnam split at the 17th parallel to separate the north(hanoi) from the south(saigon)
Territorial morphology
A state's geographical shape, size, and relative location, which can determine opportunities available and challenges for the country and citizens
Shape of states control:
length of boundary with other states, communication and conflict with neighbors, cultural identity, social unity, and how easily the rulers and rule
5 shapes of states
compact, prorupted, elongated, fragmented, perforated
compact state
A state that posses a roughly circular shape from which the geometric center is relatively equal in all directions. Capitol in the middle= easy ability to rule, good communications with all regions EX: Hungary
prorupted states
an otherwise compact state with a large projecting extension, used to death a natural resource EX: Democratic Republic of Congo, Thailand
elongated states
states with a long and narrow shape, can create communication problems since cities can be so far away EX: Chile, Gambia
fragmented states
A state that includes several discontinuous pieces of territory, EX: remote islands, Indonesia; Bangladesh separates the state of West Bengal from the rest of India
perforated states
a state that completely surrounds another EX: South Africa, apartheid separated Lesotho from the rest of the country
Exclaves
a bounded territory that is part of a particular state but lies separated from it by the territory of another state. EX: Cabinda separated from Africa by the Democratic Republic
Enclaves
landlocked within another country, completely surrounded EX: Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia demands its part of their territory when its really Azerbaijan
Largest state size
Russia, over 6.5 million square miles, or over 11%
Examples of microstates
Liechtenstein, Andorra, and San Morino -land space over just a few square miles
T or F Large states are more likely to have homogeneous populations
False, small states are more likely to hold homogeneous populations, which decreases potential conflicts within the country
T or F Size is critical to determining a country's power and stability
neither, its not critical, but it is definently a factor
Landlocked states are at a disadvantage for
trade, sea resources, transportation, and communication
how many landlocked states are there in the world
about 40
sovereignty
ability of a state to govern its territory free from control of its internal affairs by other states
nationalism
love of country and willingness to sacrifice for it, sense of unity and loyalty, also known as patriotism
Internal boundaries
just like boundaries between countries, can be physical, cultural or geometric
Since _______ over half of the worlds states have been involved in _____
Since World War II over half of the worlds states have been involved in border disputes
Four different types of boundary disputes
Positional(definition) disputes, territorial disputes, resource(allocational) disputes, functional(operational) disputes
Positional Disputes
-also known as Definitional Disputes -where they argue about where the border is EX: united states and mexico, argentina and hile
Territorial Disputes
ownership of a region, a disagreement over the possession/control of land between two or more states, or over the possession or control of land by one state after it has conquered it from a former state no longer currently recognized by the occupying power.
irredentism
a form of nationalism whose goal is to regain territory lost to another state; it can lead directly to violent interstate conflicts
Resource Disputes
-also known as allocational -disputes over natural resources, like mineral deposits, fertile farmland, rich fishing groups EX: united states and canada over fishing ground in the Atlantic ocean, iraq and kuwait with oil
Functional Disputes
-also known as operational -when people can agree on policies that apply in a border area EX: US and mexico with the transport of people and goods across their border
Nation-states first started
Europe in the early 19th century
Egyptians ruled by:
Pharaohs, who were believed to be descendants from the gods
Early organizations:
Ancient greece= city-states Empire: military ruler who conquered and ruled large amounts of territory=Persia, Alexander the great, Roman Empire, Han Dynasty of China Muhammad= caliphate: religious state Medieval Europe= kingdoms: relatively small areas dominated by kings Largest: Mongol Empire of the 13th Centure, ruled by a "Khan"(universal ruler) Central America=large Aztec group South America=Inca formed a short lived but powerful leader
Power is organized into
states, or countries, that control what happens within their border
German scholar ___ _____ defined a state as:
Max Weber, state defines who can and cannot use weapons and force
Institutions
organizations where governmental power is exercised
Examples of institutions
bureaucracies, legislatures, judicial systems, political parties
Institutions help promote General Welfare including
health, safe transportation and effective communication systems
nation
a group of people with a common culture living in a territory and having a strong sense of unity
Binational State
-or multinational -contains more than one nation EX: Soviet Union
"breakaway movements"
effect of ethnic pressure that challenges the sovereignty of the government EX: Chechnya
Stateless nations
Nations lacking a state. This complication arises from lack of fit between nations and states. (Kurds)
Two important clues to understand how a state is organized
-core areas -the size/function of its capital city
Core areas
where the growing of a state begins. the growing stops after they bump up against another nation-state
periphery
outlying areas away from the core areas
multicore states
states with more than one core area, can be very problematic EX: Nigeria, with half being Muslim and half being Christian, so they moved the capitol into the middle
Primate city
a city that ranks first in a nation in terms of population and economy, second is no where near as big
forward capital
Capital city positioned in actually or potentially contested territory, usually near an international border; it confirms the state's determination to maintain its presence in the region in contention EX: Japan moving Tokya, Brazil moving Brasília
Electoral process
the process of holding an election, to select a leader EX: United States voting for their president
Geographic scale info
national, regional, and local
Electoral geography
The study of the interactions among space, place, and region and the conduct and results of elections.
US has _____ legislative districts, with each electing one representative to the lower house of the legislature- the ______________
435, House of Representatives
T or F Boundaries are redrawn every 5 years to make sure the representation is fair
False, every TEN years the boundaries are redrawn
Gerrymandering
Process of redrawing legislative boundaries for the purpose of benefiting the party in power.
_______ first started gerrymandering in _______ and had a _______ shaped district to win the election of a _________ in the __ century
Eldrige Gerry first started gerrymandering in Massachusetts and had a salamander shaped district to win the elation of a Republican in the 19th century
Minority/Majority districting
Rearranging districts to allow a minority representative to be elected -caused peoplle to think they were discriminating against the majority white in North Carolina
18th century European philosophers came up with the idea of a modern state, which says:
people awe allegiance to a state and the people it represents rather than its leader -went to the French Revolution in 1789, then Western Europe during the 19th century
colonies
dependent areas, first to be created that were given boundaries where non head been before -Mughal in India, Aztecs in Central America, Manchu in China
Imperialism
A policy in which a strong nation seeks to dominate other countries poitically, socially, and economically. -characterized the political landscape during the 19th and early 20th century
When colonies first gained their independence their biggest problem was...
their states' boundaries ignored cultural differences among populations, then the idea of nation-states came along during the middle of the 20th century
A well-integrated states consist of
-a stable, clearly bounded territory -an effective administrative framework -productive core area -influential capitol city
Unitary System
where all the decisions are made by one central geographic place EX: Europe
Confederal System
spreads the power among many sub-unites(like states), and has a weak central government EX: Switzerland, US under the Confederate States of America and the Articles of Confederation
Federal System
divides the power between the central government and the sub-units(like states) EX: United States, Canada, Australia
Devolution
-transfer of power from the central government to the sub-governments -transferring responsibility for policies from the federal government to state and local governments
Supranational organizations
cooperating groups of nations that operate on either a regional or international level
Centripetal force
binds people of a nation together and gives it strength, unites them -flags, rituals, holidays, schools, armed forces, religion
Centrifugal force
the forces that divide people and countries -bad government, USSR, different languages or customs, devolution, ethnonationalism
Separatist movements
A movement advocating separation from government or another large organization.
Ethnic group
shares a well-developed sense of belonging, based on unique mixture of language, religion, and customs
Ethnonationalism
When ethnic groups see themselves as an individual nation and believe that they deserve their own state. -Quebec
Devolution occurs from
Ethnic forces, Economic forces, and spatial forces
Economic forces
when there are economic differences in a country pulling it apart -Italy, north and south so different
Spatial Forces
-mostly occurs on the margins of states EX: US claims Puerto Rico , yet its separated by the water in between
Geopolitics
the study of the relationship between geography and politics
Friedrich Ratzel
German who originated geopolitical theory. Pioneered environmental determinism. Stated that there are 7 laws of state growth
heartland theory
'pivot area' holds the resources to dominate the globe (Eurasia)
Rimland Theory
challenged heartland theory, Spykman said Eurasian rim held the key to global power, not its heart
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