AP Human Geography Unit 4 Notes

Political Geography 4.1

• Political Geography

  • Landmasses rarely have natural boundaries.

• Sovereignty

  • Authority or power given to self-govern.

• Independent States as Building Blocks

  • Society organized by:

    • City-state

    • Empires

    • States (countries) - synonymous

    • The U.S. has 50 local governments.

• What is a state?

  • A political unit with a government and a fixed territory.

  • Must have:

    • Defined boundary

    • Permanent population

    • Maintains sovereignty

    • Recognition by other states

• Number of states in the world

  • The U.S. currently recognizes 195 states.

  • The U.N. has 195 countries.

• Political geography

  • Territoriality

    • Process of enforcing control over a geographic area.

    • One political line can change everything.

• Relationship between states and nation

  • There are several different types of political entities in the world

    • States

    • Nations

    • Nation-States

    • Stateless Nations

    • Multination States

    • Multi-state Nation

    • Semi-autonomous regions

    • Autonomous regions

• Evolution of the Modern State

  • Easier to lead an ethnic group/culture with one’s own.

    • Creates a need to protect their own culture/identity.

    • Protect land/history

4.2

• Nation

  • A group of people bound together by some sense of common culture, ethnicity, language, shared history, and attachment to a homeland.

• Self Determination

  • Concept that people of nations have the right to govern themselves without interference

• Nation-State

  • Homogenous

  • National groups homeland coincides with the borders of the state

  • Nation-state - Japan

    • 138 million residents 99% Japanese

• Multinational-State

  • Country with several national groups within their borders

  • Ex. Canada, United Kingdom, Russia, USA.

• Multi-State Nation

  • National group is spread out over several different states

  • Nationals groups homeland has own state

  • People spreads across border into other countries

• Autonomous Regions

  • High degree of self government

  • Freedom from its parent state

    • States often grant this authority to geographically, ethnically, or culturally distinctive areas

• Semi-Autonomous Region

  • Having a degree of, but not complete, self-government

• Evolution of the Contemporary Political Map

  • Reflects the evolution of politics, economics, and warfare over the last 600 years.

• The modern nation state concept

  • Most of european history

    • Language spoken by people did not match the ruler

• Nationalism

  • Belief people’s greatest loyalty should be to the nation not king

    • Focuses on

      • Religion

      • Language

      • Ethnicity

    • Often inspires a feeling of loyalty and patriotism

• Enlightenment

  • By 1700s the idea people should live in nation-states had caught hold in europe

  • 1800s saw an explosion of nationalism

• Core area

  • Small territorial nucleus from which a country grows in area over time

  • Historically an area rich in resources/geographically advantageous

    • Ex. timber, fertile soil, natural harbor, river valley

• Independent movements

  • Groups of people inspired by nationalism, advocating for separation from larger political entity

• Imperialism

  • Controlling economic, political, and cultural systems - starts with need for natural resources

• Colonialism

  • Occupation with settlers, and exploiting poor country for its raw materials

• Why nationalism leads to imperialism/colonialism

  • God, gold and glory show of power

  • Economics leads to intense competition

  • Modern european imperialism and colonialism are the most relevant to current political map

• Physical Environment

  • Countries survival often aided by some sort of physical, natural protection

    • Escarpments

    • Mountains

    • Coastlines seen as logical limit

    • Russia, USA.

• Devolution

  • Movement of power from central gov. to regional gov.

  • Not necessarily bad

    • Achieve peace

    • Reduce threat of fragmentation

• Ethnonationalism

  • Several reason for division

    • Natural resources (economics)\territorial

    • Ethnocultural

  • Ethnonationalism

    • Support political interests of particular ethnic group

• Devolution Territorial

  • Devolution held four nation of Great Britain together (as of 2020)

  • Spain is been able to keep the restive Basque Country and Catalonia within its controls

    • Allowing its 17 autonomous regions to run

• Regionalism

  • Devolution is expressed through Regionalism

    • The breaking up of an area into autonomous regions

• Superimposed Boundaries

  • Drawn on the landscape by outside powers

  • Often follow physical lines but not cultural boundaries

  • Dominate the regions colonized by european powers

• Decolonization

  • Decolonization after WWII (1945-1970)

  • Nationalist movement forces various european neo-colonizers to leave asia, africa

• Rwanda Genocide

  • German loss Belgium takes over WWI

  • Belgians favor minority Tutsi

  • 1959 Hutu revolution forces Tutsi monarch into exile

  • Rwandan president, a Hutu, plane shot down

  • Revenge by killing Tutsis and moderate Hutus on a vast scale (Genocide)

  • 3 months later - 800,000 dead

• Forces influencing today map

  • Colonies in Africa and Asia did not last long but legacy was strong

4.3

• Neocolonialism

  • The control of less developed countries (LDCs) (peripheral) by developed countries (core) through indirect means

    • Transnational companies

      • Control extraction of resources and labor in former colonies

      • Cheap labor

• Worlds System Theory/Peripher-Core Model

  • Geopolitical theory refers to the division of labor with World Systems Theory

  • Framework to understan how the Capitalist World Economy was created

    • The world economy has one market (capitalism) and a global division of labor

    • Many countries but only one world economy

• Periphery

  • Low on technology

  • Lack of education

  • Little wealth

• Semi-periphery

  • Both core and periphery processes occur

• Core

  • Technology

  • Education

  • Wealth

• Neocolonialism

  • Foreign governments lease farmland for large scale commercial farming

    • Food bound for wealthier nations

    • Cash Crops - coffee, chocolate

  • How

    • Coffee farmers (ethiopia) make 4 for kilogram of coffee

    • Coffee corporation sell for 200 a kilogram (2.2 pounds)

• Coordination of Neocolonialism

  • British companies

    • Control $1 trillion worth of Africa’s most valuable resources

      • Gold

      • Diamonds

      • Platinum

• Foreign Aid - Debt

  • Foreign countries have loaned money to developing countries

  • Unable to pay back

• Neocolonialism Fault or User

  • Fairtrade changes the way trade works through

    • Better prices

    • Decent working conditions

    • Fairer deal for farmers and workers in LDCs

• Neocolonialism and Military power

  • Developed countries exert political and military power of developing countries

  • US. has intervened military in

    • Latin America

    • Africa, Asia

    • Middle East

    • Treaties allow for military bases inside

• Neocolonialism and Culture

  • Developed countries exert

  • Cultural power over developing countries

    • Loss of language

    • Religion (missionaries)

    • Western clothing has become synonymous with dress worldwide

• Shatterbelts

  • Regions of continuing and persistent fragmentation

  • Buffer zone between two hostile countries

  • High level of diversity between both

  • Like gunpowder

    • Local conflict

    • Middle east

    • World wars

    • Korean war

    • Vietnam war

• World Shatterbelts

  • Important resource deposits attract world powers

  • States are subject to invasion, boundary change and lack of development

• Choke Point

  • Limits access to people, land, and resources making control of these access points crucial

  • Military strategy - occupy/control a choke point

• Territoriality

  • Political and cultural strategy used to claim power over

    • Land

    • People

    • Resources

  • Territoriality is fluid

    • Boundaries can change

• Territoriality Connects Culture and Economy

  • Leads to conflicts as groups disagree over

    • Borders

    • Cultures

    • Economic interest

4.4

• Boundaries

  • Clearly demarcated line

• Borderlands

  • Regions straddling both sides

• Enclave

  • Territory surrounded by a country, but not ruled by it

• Exclave

  • Territory separated from the main body of country

• Geopolitics

  • effects of geography + power + politics + international relations in global scale

• 3 theories to explain the distribution of power in the world

  • Organic Theory (German School)

    • argues that states are born and that they need nourishment and living space to survive - their nurishment = weaker states

    • Colonialism and Imperialism drives this theory

  • Heartland Theory (British American School)

    • “Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland; Who rules the Heartland commands the World Island; Who rules the World Island commands the world.”

    • Belief that control of Eastern Europe (Russia and Central Asia) would lead to domination of the “world island”

    • Factored into policy decisions of world powers for both world wars and numerous Cold War conflicts

  • Rimland Theory

    • The Rimland comprises densely populated coastal areas of the world. -crucial- more varied resources than the heartland - “Godfather of containment”

    • His writing influenced western policymakers throughout the Cold War (NATO and containment of Communist expansion by Harriet Truman)

    • “Who rules the Rimland rules Eurasia; Who rules Eurasia controls the destinies of the world

• Political Boundaries

  • Invisible line that separates one state from another

  • Cultural boundary

  • Physical boundary

• Natural Boundary

  • Political boundaries can be natural or geometric

  • Based on physical features to separate entities

• Relic Boundary

  • National border that no longer exists, but still holds some kind of significance

  • Economic inequalities still exist

• Antecedent Boundary

  • Boundary that existed before human settlement

• Geometric Boundary

  • Usually straight lines without consideration for environment or cultural patterns

    • Can also be superimposed or antecedent

    • Ex. US Geometric Boundary: South Pole

  • South Pole

    • Not part of a state

    • Research purposes only

    • No military activities are permitted

      • Demilitarized zone

• Subsequent Boundaries

  • Established after human settlement

  • Evolution of cultural landscape often influence these boundaries

  • Drawn to accommodate developments due to a certain event, such as a war

• Consequent Boundary

  • Established in order to accommodate cultural or physical differences that preexist between two areas

  • Constructed as a consequence

• Superimposed Boundary

  • A boundary drawn by outside powers

• International and Internal Boundaries

  • Boundaries are created to show the limits of political power

  • Crossing boundaries implies that some rules, expectations, or behavior change

4.5

• Defined boundary

  • Established by a legal document

    • Treaty that separates countries

    • Legal document that shows property lines

• How boundaries are established

  • 2nd the Delimited Boundary - line drawn on a map

  • 3rd the Demarcated Boundary - represented on the landscape (sign, border wall, fence)

  • 4th administered - how the boundary will be maintained or enforced

• The function of Political Boundaries

  • Number of states increased

    • More international boundary disputes

  • 4 main categories of disputes

    • Definitional (positional)

    • Locational (territorial)

    • Operational (function)

    • Allocational (resource)

• Limited Sovereignty and International Boundary Disputes

  • States contest boundaries for many reasons

    • Pre-GPS surveyors were often “off” in their measurements

    • Making it harder to correct later

    • Ex. 4 corners is off by 1800 feet

• Definitional Boundary Dispute

  • Parties disagree over how to interpret the legal documents or map

• Locational Boundary

  • Locational disputes

    • A lake/river is not questioned

    • Interpretation of the border is

• Operational Boundary

  • Disagree on a major issue involving the border

    • Ex. US and Mexico border cannot agree on how to handle border crossing

• Allocation Boundary

  • An allocation dispute

    • Boundary not in question

    • Resources around it

• Effects of State Morphology

  • The states shape, or morphology, can influence how people in estate interact

• Types of State Morphology

  • Compact State

    • borders are equidistant from center

    • Pro - military mobilization, efficient trade, communication from center

    • Cons - lack resources because of small size

  • Elongated State

    • states are twice as long as they are wide

    • Pro: Transportation because so narrow

    • Con: Potential isolation for those living on ends, challenging to govern and defend

  • Prorupted State

    • state has protrusion extending out

    • Usually drawn by colonizers to ensure access to raw material or water transport (trade)

    • Pro: access to raw materials, trade, taxable income

    • Con: Limited access into, fighting over resources

  • Perforated State

    • state has an entire country inside its borders

    • Con: transportation, trade, or communication

  • Fragmented State

    • state is in pieces (islands)

    • Pro: hard for enemy to occupy/control your country

    • Con: problem with trade, communications, travel, and distribution of power

  • Enclave

    • (inner) is territory completely surrounded by the territory of other state

  • Exclave

    • (outer) is territory separated from the main country

• Landlocked Countries

  • Any landlocked country is at a distinct political and economic disadvantage

• Boundaries Influence and Laws of the Sea

  • Boundaries and Treaties

    • Influence national and regional identity

    • Encourage and complicate interactions between groups

    • Contribute to disputes regarding resources

• International Law of the Sea

  • Land Boundaries

    • Vertical plane extends above and below ground along a states boundary

    • Also applies to the sea

  • UNCLOS

    • 1. Territorial sea (water)

      • Extend 12 nautical miles from land

      • Considered sovereign territory of a state

      • Beyond that, anyone can travel in international water

      • Activities not permitted

        • Threat. Military exercise, practice with weapons, surveillance, etc.

    • 2. Safety - Contiguous zone 12-24 nautical miles from land

      • Not sovereign

      • Considered part of international waters

      • May exercise control for security purposes

    • 3. Resources - Exclusive economic zone (EEZ)

      • Explore, extract minerals, and manage up to 200 nautical miles (continental shelf)

• Arctic Council

  • Gives a forum for issues faced by the arctic governments and the indigenous people of the Arctic

4.6

• Voting Districts

  • Political power in U.S. tied much closer to geography than popular will

    • Electoral college

      • Ensures presidents elected based on state results not national one

    • Determined by redistricting which then affect politics and elections at various scales

  • Voting districts

    • Local geographic area in which you vote for representatives to congress

• Suffrage

  • The power to vote

  • Women started voted in 1920

• Reapportionment

  • Census - we count who is here

  • Reapportionment

    • Deciding how many seats a state will have based on population changes (census)

• Electoral College

  • Consists of 538 electors

  • Majority of 270 electoral votes is required to elect the president

• Redistricting

  • Process of deciding how a state will be divided into districts based on the number of seats

• Gerrymander

  • The redrawing of political boundaries for political advantages by one of the major political powers

    • Packing

      • Bundles votes into one district

    • Cracking

      • Breaking up large groups into small districts to dilute vote

• Consequences of Gerrymandering

  • Partisan Power

    • Primary election draw more partisan voters

    • No need for compromise

      • Creating lack of social cohesion

      • More extreme candidate likely to win

        • Only threat coming from the same party

  • Political Minority voters do not bother to vote

    • Lower participation

    • Create or preserve minority - majority district

      • District favoring an ethnic group

    • All leading to beginning stages of devolution of the state

4.7

• Unitary States

  • Have strong centralized government structure

  • Power is concentrated in a National Assembly inside a national capital city

• Federal States

  • Have a decentralized government structure

  • Power is shared between a national assembly inside a national capital city and local assemblies inside local capital cities

• In a unitary government

  • all decisions are made by the national (central) government

    • Little power is given to the local government

    • Geographically small

• Unitary: How does it work?

  • Laws and policies applied uniformly throughout the country

    • Can be undemocratic (china and saudi arabia)

    • Or fairly democratic (france and indonesia)

• Unitary: Negative Impacts

  • Minority often marginalized

  • Laws and policies interest dominant cultural group

• Federal Governments

  • share political power with lower levels of governments

    • Most laws are passes at the state level

    • Laws and policies can differ

    • Local government provide most public services

• Federal: Why does it work?

  • Large land to govern

    • The population is heterogeneous (diverse)

    • Local governments can react faster

      • Minority groups are allowed to maintain their identity

• Democracy

  • Power is shared among competing groups

  • Right to form political parties

  • Elections held without influence

  • Free press

  • The judiciary is independent

  • Lately, a shift to authoritarian by:

    • Removing opposite parties

    • Restricting press

    • Censure social media

    • Imprison rivals

    • Extend the length of time a leader can remain in power

• Anocracy or semi democracy

  • A country that is a mixture of democratic and autocratic

• Autocracy

  • Authoritarian (autocracy) regimes concentrate power

    • Can be a single dictator or a political party

    • Dissent is not allowed and control typically enforced by state secret police

• Nationalist Groups Rise

  • Authoritarian gaining root tend to be very anti-immigration, tough on law and order

    • Nationalistic groups in:

      • France

      • Britain

      • Italy

      • Austria

• Anocracy

  • Elements of both democracy and dictatorship

  • “Voting” has allowed for these “presidents”

• Apartheid

  • Apartheid or apartness

    • Segregation of non-white citizens of South Africa until ‘91

      • Land acts

    • Nelson Mandela was incarcerated from 1963-1990

    • Mandela voted for president

4.8

• Factors leading to devolution

  • Devolution

    • Breaking up a state into smaller units or the passing of power from central to lower government

• Devolution factors

  • Division of group by physical geography

    • Ethnic separatism (abuse of power/discrimination)

    • Ethnic cleansing

    • A combination of these factors ad more have created the current geographic map

• Divisions of groups by physical geography

  • Mountains, etc

    • Distance decay

      • Ex. Basque

    • Island

    • Isolated by water

• Ethnic Separatism

  • When there are many ethnic groups in a country, or one ethnic group wants stronger political power.

  • Especially if there is a history of self-rule

• Civil Wars

  • Ethnic cleansing/civil war

• Yugoslavia War Result

  • The political map changes again with 7 new countries

• Balkanization

  • originally referred to Balkan Peninsula

    • Historic break up after control by the Ottoman Empire following WWI

      • Fragmented or division of a state or region into smaller regions, often hostile with one another

• The Cold War

  • From the post WWII era until early 1990’s with the collapse of the berlin wall 1989 and the breakup of the soviet union in 1991

    • The Cold War was a period of diplomatic, political and military rivalry between the US and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)

      • The US and USSR did not fight in a direct war

        • Proxy wars

          • A war instigated by a major power that does not itself become involved

    • Satellite states

      • A state dominated by another state politically and economically

• Factors that lead to Devolution: Terrorism

  • Terrorism

    • An organized violence aimed at government and civilian targets

      • Create fear/terror in furtherance of political aims

        • Hopes of achieving devolution

          • On a global scale

          • terrorism often has its roots in specific regions or countries

            • Attacked the U.S. World Trade Center 9-11-2001

              • Al-Qaeda

              • Taliban

              • ISIS

              • Boko Haram

• Economic and Social Problems and Devolution

  • Devolution held four nations of Great Britain together

    • Spain is been able to keep the restive Basque Country and Catalonia within its controls

      • Regionalism

        • Devolution is expressed through Regionalism, the breaking up of an area into autonomous regions

          • Nunavut

            • Semi-autonomous - maintains own culture and local government, reducing the threat of fragmentation

• Devolution Factors: Irredentism

  • Irredentism

    • The effort to reunify a “lost” territory

    • Done through literature, radio, TV, internet

    • Ex China/Taiwan, Russia/Ukraine - Crimea

4.9

• Sovereignty

  • States' right to govern themselves

• Effects of communication on Devolution

  • Advances facilitated devolutionary action

• Effects of communication

  • Social media

    • Helps groups organize protests

    • Communicate quickly during protests

    • Videos show abuses by government forces to gain sympathy for the protesters

• Sovereignty

  • Challenges lead to

    • Restrictions on the internet

      • Censorship

        • Limiting access

          • Want to maintain power

            • Autocracies

              • Keep the status quo

              • Keep ideas from spreading

    • Unintended consequences

      • Spread of false or fake news

• Civil Wars

  • Cultural conflicts led to many civil wars

    • Undercurrent of discontent within Africa, propelled by a generation of drought, famine, and economic stagnation

• Supranationalism

  • Multiple countries form an organization

    • First - League of Nations

      • Founded after WWI

• Technology and Supranationalism

  • Advances in communication have facilitated supranationalism

    • Communication technology connect people and countries faster across time and space

      • Efficiently link countries involved in military alliances

        • Link the markets and banks of economic alliances

• Economic Supranationalism

  • Globalization has led to supra-nationalism

• Supranationalism Organizations

  • The United Nations

    • North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

      • The European Union (EU)

        • The Paris Climate Accord

• Military Supranationalism

  • Countries work together to protect themselves and their allies

    • Strong alliances - less likely to be attacked by other countries and more likely to receive help when at war

      • Alliances share technology, training, intelligence and bases

• NATO Vs UN

  • NATO

    • Military and political alliance of created to counter Soviet Power (32)

      • United Nations

        • UN (1945) organization to promote international cooperation (193)

• Who is the UN

  • Created at the end of WWII (1945) by the victorious allies

    • The main goal was to keep the peace

      • Prevent another world war

• Environmental Supranationalism

  • Work together to cooperate on environmental issues

    • Protect animal species from being overharvested (fish) and endangered

• Economic Supranationalism

  • Economies of scale

    • NAFTA/USMCA

      • 1993 NAFTA

        • U.S., Canada and Mexico

          • Benefits: inexpensive labor markets

            • Quality of production

              • Less regulations - safety and environmental
                Replaced NAFTA with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA)

• EU

  • Two major steps to overcome nationalism in Europe

    • Formation of the EU

      • Euro (common currency)

        • Strength:

          • Provided European corporations with easy access to a large market

            • Weakness:

              • All 28 are linked financially together

• WTO 164 Countries

  • WTO deals with the rules of trade between nations

    • Benefits:

      • Independent forum to negotiate trade

        • Problems:

          • Globalization /inability to enforce rules

• Other Supranational Organizations

  • Seeking mutually beneficial trade agreements

    • ASEAN

      • The second fastest-growing economy in Asia

        • Supranationalism Problems

          • Countries may have to seed some sovereignty to the organization

• Transnational Corporations

  • Companies that conduct businesses on a global scale, has dramatically weakened state sovereignty

    • No strong connections

      • Takes advantage of:

        • Lower taxes

          • Lower wages

            • Weaker laws on worker safety and environmental protections

4.10

• Centrifugal Forces

  • Forces that pull countries apart

    • Multiple ethnicities or nationalities

      • Economic inequality

        • Territorial disputes

          • Lack of infrastructure

            • Can lead to

              • Failed states

                • uneven development

                  • Stateless nations

                    • Ethnic nationalist movements

• Failed states

  • The state is unable to perform basic governmental responsibilities and lacks proper authority over its land

    • Unable to provide school, food in a civil war

• Stateless nations

  • The nation is fighting to establish its own state

• More Equitable Infrastructure

  • Equitable economic development includes:

    • Built infrastructure

      • Roads

        • Internet access

          • Promotes

            • Trade (prosperity)

              • Dependence

• East Germany

  • Not equitable economic development

    • Crime

      • Education (drop-out rates)

• Increased Cultural Cohesion

  • Government unifies institutions (schools)

    • Teach historical accomplishments

      • Promote holidays historically significant

        • Promotes a sense of belonging (nationalism)