unit 4

Unit Overview:

The current political map is dominated by independent states where people share a common language and culture. However, in the past, many empires and diverse cultural groups were spread across multiple states.

Governments demonstrate their power over a geographic area by enforcing laws and boundaries, which can be divided between national and local governments. Globalization presents challenges for independent states, as transnational corporations, international organizations, and global environmental problems make state boundaries less significant. Regions with distinctive cultural groups may also seek more autonomy from national governments.

4.1 Introduction to Political Geography

Essential Question: What are the different types of political entities, with current examples, on a world map?

State: a political unit with a permanent population and boundaries that are recognized by other states that allow for the administration of laws, collection of taxes, and provision of de

DISTINGUISHING NATIONS AND STATES

• Nation: people who think of themselves as one based on a shared sense of culture and history and who desire political autonomy. (French, German, Indian)
  Nation-states: a state with a single nation (very few of these exist) (Example: Japan, Iceland, Armenia)

• Stateless nations: a nation that do not have their own independent state (for example, Palestinians, Kurds in the middle east, Navajo in the U.S.)

• Multinational states: a state with two or more nations (most states) (example: France, USA, Mexico, China, Russia)

• Multistate nations: a nation living across states. Can either have a state (Russia), a state divided in two (Korea), or be stateless (Example: Kurds)

• Autonomous region: an area which governs itself but is not an independent country - Examples: Greenland (not for sale), (Example: Hong Kong)
  Semi-autonomous region: an area which can govern itself in certain areas, but does not have complete power to govern. (Examples: Nunavut in Canada, Indian Reservations in US)

Nation

• Kurds

• catalans

• Scots

Nation-State

• France

• japan

• Egypt

state

• United States

• belgium

• nigeria

4.2. Political Processes

Essential Question: What are the processes that have shaped contemporary political geography?

Nationalism: a nation's desire to create and maintain a state of its own.

Sovereignty: final authority over a territory and the right to defend territorial integrity against incursion.

Self-Determination: the process by which a country determines its own statehood and forms its own allegiances and government.

• Imperialism: a broader concept that includes a variety of ways of influencing another country or group of people by direct conquest, economic control, or cultural dominance.

• Colonialism: a particular type of imperialism in which people move into and settle on the land of another country.

..

Independence movements: an area that believes it should be its own country

Devolution: the transfer of decision-making power from a central government to a lower level.

Cold War was a period of diplomatic, political, and military rivalry between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR or Soviet Union), a confederation of 15 republics, including Russia.

Devolution: This process in which one or more regions are given increased autonomy by the central political unit is known as devolution.

4.3 Political Power and Territoriality

Essential Question: What are the concepts of political power and territoriality as used by geographers?

• Choke point: a strategic narrow route providing passage through or to another region (Panama Canal, Strait of Gibraltar).

• Neocolonialism: gaining indirect control of another country through economic or cultural pressures (as opposed to colonialism which generally used military power (Example: After colonization- Africa continued to export raw materials-resulted in underdevelopment of economie)

• Shatterbelt: a region caught between stronger colliding external forces, under persistent stress, often fragmented by aggressive rivals (Israel/Palestine)

Territoriality: the perceived connection of people, their culture, and their economic systems to the land

4.4 Defining Political Boundaries

Essential Question: What are the types of political boundaries used by geographers?

• Boundary: line that determines the limit of state jurisdiction (the official power to make legal decisions and judgement) that is a vertical plane that cuts through the subsoil and extends into the airspace above and often coincides with cultural, national, or economic divisions.

• Relic: boundary that no longer exists as an international border but remnants of its existence remain. (Examples: Berlin Wall)

• Superimposed: boundary that is drawn by powerful outsiders (colonizers) and ignores existing cultural groups (Example: Africa)

• Subsequent: boundary that evolves as the cultural landscape of an area takes shape and changes as cultural landscape changes. (Examples: Ireland and Northern Ireland, Sudan and South Sudan)

• Antecedent: boundary in the natural landscape that existed before the cultural landscape emerged and stayed in place as people moved in. (example: Mountains

between Spain and France and Lakes between

US and Canada)

Geometric: boundary that follows a straight line or arc (example: US and Canada - 49th parallel, North and South Korea 38th parallel)

• Consequent: boundaries that coincide with cultural groups (example: India (Hinduism) and Pakistan (Islam)

4.5 The Function of Political Boundaries

Essential Question: What are the nature and function of international boundaries?

• There are 4 phases that must occur before a border is official:

1. Defined: the boundary is negotiated and legally described.

2. Delimitation: the boundary is drawn on a map

3. Demarcation: markers are placed on the ground (signs, walls, fences, etc.)

4. Administration: the boundary is maintained

• Demilitarized zone: an area previously in conflict from which weapons and military forces have been removed (N&S
Korea border)

Shatterbelt : a place located been two very different and contentious region

The berlin conference : meeting held in berlin in 1884-85 witht he purpose of the European nations

dividing Africa among them for colonization purposes with the intent of preventing conflict over the process.

The superimposed boundaries of Africa remained in place after independence, which has led to much of the current conflict and lack of ability to establish effective leadership

Maritime boundary: the extensions of a country's territory that extend into the oceans around them

UNCLOS: established rights and responsibilities of states concerning ownership/usage of the seas and their resources.

Territorial Sea: zone of water adjacent to a state's coast (12 miles) in which a state has sovereignty.

Median-Line Principle: an approach to dividing and creating boundaries at the midpoint between two place

• Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ): zone of water adjacent to the Contiguous Zone (200 miles) in which the state has a right to explore, exploit, conserve, and manage resources.

• South China Seas - China has built military installations on some disputed islands in the SCS.The CS accounts for 10 percent of the world's fisheries, making it a key source of food for hundreds of millions of people. The region is also home to major oil and natural gas reserves. There are so many countries in close proximity to one another, resulting in high competition for maritime resources and tension over sovereignty.

4.6 Internal Boundaries

Essential Question: What are the nature and function of internal boundaries?

Voting District: subdivision for electing members to a legislative body.

• Census: count of the population, every 10 years, to ensure the national congressional districts have approximately the same number of people.
Redistricting: when voting districts are redrawn due to changes in population.
Gerrymandering: redrawing voting district boundaries to give a political party in power to protect or increase its power.
Discrimination has been a results in attempts to reduce representation of African americans and other minorites.

4.7 Forms of Governance

Essential Question: What are federal and unitary states, and how do they affect spatial organization?

• Democracy: a form of government in which the ultimate power rests with the people through, usually through their

elected representalives

• Unitary state: a country where the national government is strong and the regional governments are weak (U.K., North Korea, France)

• Federal state: a country where the national government is strong and the regional governments are also strong so the share power (United States, Canda, Russia)

4.8. Defining Devolutionary Factors

Essential Question: What factors lead to the devolution of states?

Devolution: the transfer of decision-making power from a central government to a lower level.

: Physicaion: thraran: profiles dais can car some entral as ve was his toric ly hard or resources for states to

maintain autonomy over difficult physical regions (Belgium and Basque)

• Ethnic Separatism: mainly religion, language, or ethnicity related differences. (Quebec in Canada, Basques &
Catalans in Spain)

• • •

Ethnic Cleansing: the mass expulsion or killing of members of an unwanted ethnic or religious group in a society.

Terrorism: violence against (typically) civilians for political reasons

Economic and Social Problems: economic or social strife can lead to the devolution and altering of states.

• Irredentism: when a state wants to annex a territory whose population is ethnically similar (Russia with Crimea)

4.9. Challenges to Sovereignty

Essential Question: How do political, economic, cultural, and technological changes challenge state sovereignty?

• Devolution occurs when states fragment into autonomous regions; sub-national territorial units such as those within Spain, Belgium, Canada and Nigeria
Eritrea: broke from Ethiopia in 1991
South Sudan: broke from Sudan in 2011
East Timor: broke from Indonesia in 2002
Soviet Union: dissolved in 1991

• •

Democratization: introducing democratic systems or principles.

Supranationalism: political and/or economic alliance of three or more states that is formed for mutual benefit to promote shared goals or resolve disputes, but can limit the economic or political actions of member states creating a challenge to state sovereignty. (Example: United Nations)

• Balkanization: the fragmentation of a state or region into smaller, often hostile, units along ethno-linguistic lines. (Ex:
  Yugoslavia)

• Supranationalism: practice of multiple countries forming an organization for the benefit of all members
  Economies of scale: cost advantages gained by an increased level of production. As countries agree to produce more of a good, the revenue received from selling that good is bound to increase.

Trade agreements: treaty between two or more states who agree on trade, tariffs, taxes, and often include investment guarantees. (Example: NAFTA formed to eliminate tariffs between USA, Canada, and Mexico) (European Union EU in Europe) (other Examples: WTO, OPEC, & ASEAN)

Military alliance: alliance between two or more states who agree on mutual protection and support in case of a crisis. (Example: NATO formed to defend against threats by communist countries after WWII.)

4.10 Consequences of Centrifugal and Centripetal Forces

Essential Question: How do the concepts of centrifugal and centripetal forces apply at the state scale?

• Centripetal Force; Force or attitude that tends to unify people and enhance support for the state
  Political - majority/minority relationships, armed conflicts
  Economic - uneven development
  Cultural - stateless nations, ethnic movements

• Centrifugal Force: Force or attitude that divides the state
  Political - national identity, 4th of July
  Economic - equitable infrastructure development
  Cultural - linguistic, religious, and ethnic similarities