A single, identifiable nation of people spread over multiple states with a unitarian government.
Power is centralized at one level, typically the national level.
Examples: China, France.
Federal State:
Power is divided among different levels: national, state/territory, county, local, city.
Example: The United States, where power is distributed to prevent the national government from becoming too powerful.
Centrifugal and Centripetal Forces
Centrifugal Forces:
Forces that pull or force people apart.
Examples: political party affiliation, language, religion, ethnic identity, history.
These forces can cause conflict and division.
Centripetal Forces:
Forces that pull people together.
These can include the same traits that sometimes act as centrifugal forces (e.g., political party for those within it).
Balkanization and Devolution
Balkanization:
The process where an area breaks apart into independent states, often due to ethnic or cultural differences.
Named after the Balkans in Eastern Europe, where Yugoslavia broke apart into countries like Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Montenegro.
Devolution:
The transfer of power from a central national government to different levels in a hierarchy.
When a country devolves, the national government loses power, which is then shared throughout the country.
Devolution can sometimes lead to balkanization.
Choke Points and Shatter Belts
Choke Points:
Narrow strips of water connecting larger bodies of water that act like funnels for military, shipping, and trade traffic.
Examples: Panama Canal, Suez Canal, Strait of Hormuz, Sea of Azov.
The country controlling a choke point has significant power over military and trade movements.
Shatter Belts:
Countries located between two or more larger, competing powers, causing fragmentation and stress.
Example: Ukraine, caught between Russia and NATO/EU, with internal divisions between pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian factions.
Shatter belts can experience conflict or balkanization due to external pressures.
Irredentism and Territoriality
Irredentism:
A country's belief that it should control a territory or area because it historically belonged to them.
Example: China's claim to the South China Sea based on historical control.
Territoriality:
A country's aggressive assertion and defense of its perceived space or territory.
Territoriality can be caused by irredentism.
Example: China building islands and sending military ships to the South China Sea to assert its claim and scare away other countries' boats.