Political Entities:

• States:

  • the primary building blocks of the world political map

  • Must have:

    • clear boundaries

    • Permanent population

    • Sovereignty: recognized government authority that can control and defend its land area

• Nation: A group of people tied together by common culture, ethnicity, history, and attachment to homeland

• Nation-State: The cultural borders of a nation correspond with the state borders of a country

  • Japan, Denmark

  • 75% of pop. is ethnic or higher

• Multinational State: A state that contains more than one nation/ without a dominant ethnic group

  • USA, Canada, South Africa

• Multi-State Nation: An ethnic group across borders and living in more than one state

  • South & North Korea, Austria-Hungary

• Autonomous region: An area that has a high degree of self-governing within a larger political entity

  • Svalbard, Norway; Greenland, Denmark

• Semi-Autonomous Region: An area of a country that has some degree of governing within a larger political entity.

  • Hong Kong, Catalonia, Indigenous reservations

Political Processes:

• Sovereignty: recognized government authority that can control and defend its land area

• Self- determination: a group of people believe they have the right to form their own state and self govern.

• Colonialism & Imperialism:

  • Colonizers and Imperialists took over the land and changed/placed borders in the area, resulting in current state borders today.

• Independence Movements:

  • When a group of people due self-determination to try to separate from a state and make a new one

• Devolution: the transfer of power to a lower level

  • USA, UK

Political Power expressed geographically:

• Shatterbelt: a region with conflict that involves outside powers

  • Korean War, Vietnam War

• Choke point: a narrow passage where trade & travel can be restricted

  • Panama Canal, Strait of Malaca

• Territoriality: connection of people’s culture and economy to the land

• Neocolonialism: use of economic, political, or cultural pressures to influence other countries

  • former dependencies (African countries to European ones)

Boundaries:

• Relic: a former boundary that is still marked by cultural landscape feature

  • Great Wall of China

• Superimposed: placed over and ignores cultural pattern

  • Colonization, Scramble for Africa

• Subsequent: established after settled and reflects culture of bounded area

  • North Vietnam & China

• Consequent: coincide with cultural divide

  • religion, language, ethnicity

  • India & Pakistan

    • Pakistan was split for Muslims (Muslims move to Pakistan from India)

• Geometric boundary: created by a straight line or arc “Artificial boundary”

  • line of latitude for USA & Canada (49th parallel)

  • Many African borders today:

    • Egypt, Libya, Algeria

Boundaries II:

• Defined: written, legal description

  • through a treaty or document

• Delimited: drawn on a map

  • cartography

• Demarcated: placing of political boundary on a landscape

  • physical boundary

  • wall, fence, barrier

• Demilitarized Zone: area that forbids military activity based on an agreement or treaty

  • Korea DMZ, Kuwait & Iraq

• Berlin Conference (1884-1885): Boundaries in Africa were negotiated by Europeans to control resources

  • Created superimposed, geometric boundaries.

Boundary disputes:

• Definitional: disagree over description of how a boundary was written in a treaty.

  • Chile & Argentina

• Locational: Disagree over the delimitation or demarcation of a boundary

  • Morocco & Western Sahara

• Operational: Disagree over the actual function of a boundary

  • Often migration control

  • USA & Mexico, EU

• Allocational: disagreement over control and/or location of economic resources near boundary

  • Iraq & Kuwait

Law of the Sea (UNCLOS):

• UNCLOS: The code of maritime law approved by the UN in 1982 that authorizes territorial waters extending 12 nautical miles from shore and 200 nautical-mile-wide exclusive economic zones

• International Waters/ High Sea:

  • Regulated by the International Seabed Authority

• Exclusive Economic Zone: the state has economic control over resources in zone

• Territorial Waters: The state has sovereignty over waters

• Median Line: If the EEZ or territorial waters between two states overlap, a middle line is placed between the two zones.

Voting Boundaries:

• Voting district: Subnational regions used by governments to organize elections with clear boundaries

• Redistricting: Each state redraws boundaries of voting districts to reflect population changes

  • Districts must be equally populated

  • Gerrymandering: the process of manipulating boundaries of voting districts to favor one political party

US Census:

• Every 10 years

• Used for Reapportionment: Redistribution of the 435 seats for local rep. in national legislature

• Used for Redistricting

Forms of Governance:

• Unitary State: a top-down, centralized form of government

  • power is help primarily by central government

  • not much power given to sub-national governments

  • France, UK, China, North Korea, Japan

  • Pros:

    • Decisions are made quicker

    • Lower cost of government

    • Standardization of laws & taxes

    • good for compact states

  • Cons:

    • Ignores local needs

    • Can lack infrastructure

    • Can lead to abuse of power

    • Marginalization of local cultures

• Federal State: power is shared between the central government and subnational governments (more locally based, dispersed power centers)

  • USA, Germany, Brazil, Australia

  • Pros:

    • Can prevent tyranny or corruption

    • Better addresses multiculturalism

    • More effectively address local issues

    • Better for larger or fragmented states

  • Cons:

    • more costly government spending

    • Regional inequalities

    • overlapping roles and powers

    • Regionalism over Patriotism

Devolutionary Factors:

• Ethnic Separatism:

  • minority ethnic groups advocated for autonomy or sovereignty

• Ethnic cleansing:

  • ethnic group is targeted to eliminate them through expulsion or mass murder

• Terrorism:

  • organized violence aimed at government or civilians intended to create fear and chaos to accomplish political aims

• Irredentism:

  • an ethnic group claims territory from neighboring state due to shared culture or history with people residing across the border

  • Russia & Ukraine/Crimea

• Physical Geography:

  • separation by physical features

  • fragmented states

Supranationalism: an organization of 3 or more states with common goals and/or represents interests on the global level

• Advantages:

  • More military or political strength

  • More access to resources

  • More economic growth

    • trade, open borders, common currency

  • More global representation

  • Easier travel

    • Open borders

• Disadvantages:

  • Less sovereignty

    • must follow policies & laws internally

  • Financial costs can spill to other members

  • Unequal costs/benefits to member states

  • Interdependency or overreliance can occur

  • Security/border issues

  • Protests within pop. against membership

• United Nations:

  • Goals: safeguard peace, protect human rights, promote economic and social progress

  • Founded in 1945

  • HQ: New York City

  • 5 permanent security council members: USA, France, UK, Russia, China

• NATO:

  • Holds immense power

  • Article 5: collective defense

    • an attack against one is considered an attack against all

    • members must contribute to defense

    • Article 5 was invoked after 9/11

• European Union:

  • Euro-zone

    • common currency: Euro

  • Promote peace, improve environment, promote human rights

  • Greek debt crisis affects everyone else

• ASEAN:

  • Is argued that it is not collectively responding to:

    • Chinese-US tensions

    • South China sea territorial claims

    • Myanmar: civil war

  • Accelerates economic growth of countries

  • Leads to increased employment rates

• Arctic Council:

  • fights pollution

  • fights to protect the Arctic

  • protects environment

  • protects indigenous people

• African Union:

  • Helps people of Africa

  • Promote cooperation

  • Eradicates colonialism

Centripetal and Centrifugal forces:

• Centrifugal forces can lead to:

  • Ethnic Nationalist Movements:

    • Catalonia, Quebec

  • Stateless Nations:

    • Kurdistan, Palestine

      

• Centripetal forces can lead to:

  • Ethnonationalism:

    • Semi-autonomous region Nunavut, Canada

      • Allows indigenous group to maintain their own culture and local government

  • Increased cultural cohesion