Human Geo Unit 4 Political Geography (Chapter 8)

• Political Geography: Examines the spatial organization of political practices and the relationships between space and power.

8.1 Where are states distributed?

• as recently as the 1940s, the world only contained 50 countries compared to now at 200

• largest state is Russia with 11% of the world's entire land area, following states are canada, USA, china, brazil, and australia

• about 24 microstates, the Vatican being the smallest and Monaco the 2nd

• Nauru is the smallest island state

Challenges in Defining States:

• Korea: One state or two?

    Korean peninsula is divided between the Democratic People’s Republic (North) and Republic (South). After the US and SU defeated Japan in WW2, the victors divided Korea, which had been a colony of Japan. The SU installed a communist government in the North and a pro-US government was put in the south. North invaded South in 1950 sparking a 3-yr war ending with a cease-fire. both would like to return to one state but want their government. North is very poor and isolated and spends money testing nuclear weapons then essentials. public support from south is declining due to younger generation

• Sahrawi Republic/ Western Sahara: Who is Sovereign?

    Western sahara is considered by most a sovereign state but Morocco claims territory and built a 2,700 km wall around it to keep out rebels. Spain had controlled the area until 1976, and then Sahrawi Republic was declared by the Polisario Front. Morocco and Mauritania settled in north and south parts. 3 yrs later Maur withdrew and Moro claimed all territory. morocco controls most of the populated area but Polisario Front operates in sparsely inhabited deserts especially East

• China & Taiwan

    Most recognize them as separate, but china claims taiwan is not sovereign. civil war in china during 1940s between nationalists and communists. After losing in 1949, nationalists fled to Taiwan and claimed they were still the rulers of the entire country of China. US had not acknowledged the communists controlling china until the 1970s.

• Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands: Conflicting Claims

    China, taiwan, and japan all claim sovereignty over several small uninhabited islands in the East China Sea. Known as Diaoyu in China, Diaoyutai in Taiwan, and Senkaku in Japan. Japan has controlled the islands since 1895 except between 1945 and 1975 when the US did after defeating them in WW2. China and Taiwan claim that the islands have history belonging to them and that Japan illegally seized them

8.2 Why are states challenging to create?

Evolution of States:

• Ancient States

-first states can be traced back to ancient SW Asia (fertile crescent). situated at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa, it was a center for land and sea communications

-east end of fertile crescent was Mesopotamia between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers were the first states to evolve as city-states

-walls clearly showed boundaries of the city, and the outside for agriculture and attack

-often one city or tribe would gain military dominance over the others informant Empire

• Roman Empire to Medieval States

political Unity in the ancient world reached its site with the establishment of the Roman Empire which reached modern day Spain to Iran and from Egypt to England. It collapsed in the 5th Century after a series of attacks and internal disputes. The European portion was split into large number of estates. the unified control of a king formed the basis for modern development of European states like England France and Spain

Nation-states:

• in Europe

after World War 1, leaders of the Victorious countries met at a peace conference to redraw the map of Europe. Isaiah Bowman. The goal was to divide Europe into a collection of nation states using language as the criteria for identifying ethnic groups. this created some clear-cut ex of nation-states.

During the 1930s germany's National Socialists (nazis) claimed all German speaking people in Europe should be unified into one state. War was finally declared by the UK and france when they invaded Poland, a non-german-speaking state. After it's defeat in WW2, germany was divided into two states from 1949 to 1990. The territory became part of the german Federal Republic

• reorganizing Europe’s Nation-states

by late 20th century many Europeans the ethnicity was insignificant, but in 21st century ethnic identity became important because of the multinational states of Yugoslavia Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union breaking up. Czechia and Slovakia were peacefully separated, but former Yugoslavia has failed because of ethnic cleansing and genocide.

• Ethnic diversity within states

japan is a great example of a nation state because 98.5% are Japanese. many of the world’s states with the least ethnic diversity are in Europe. most ethnically diverse are in Africa.

Nation-States in the Former Soviet Union

Between 1992 and 1991, the USSR consisted of 15 republics. Russians were 51%, Ukrainians 15%, and Uzbeks 5%.

• Armenia & Azerbaijan:

  • the caucasus region is between the Black and Caspian Seas after breakup, split into Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia

  • Armenia- 3000 years ago armenians controlled an independent Kingdom It was converted to Christianity and 303 CE, but ruled by Turkish Muslims. A century ago about 1 million were killed by Turks. After World War 1 armenia was an independent state but then in 1921 Turkey and the SU divided it between them. They now have a homogeneous country of 98% Armenians.

  • Azerbaijan- roots from Turkish Invaders. A 1828 treaty gave the northern part to Russia and the southern part 2 persia (now Iran). Nakhichevan is separated from country with a corridor that belongs to Armenia

  • Both countries wanted nation states but after Independence from the SU, the two went into war over the boundaries. It was about Artsakh, which is within Azerbaijan, but is primarily inhabited by Armenians. It was given to Azerbaijan by the SU in the 1920s, but it functions as a sovereign state.

• Estonia, Latvia, & Lithuania-

  • located on the Baltic Sea, was independent from 1918 to 1940, then the SU annexed them under agreement with Nazi Germany

  • these three countries have clear cultural differences

  • Lithuanians are Roman Catholic and speak a language of the Baltic group

  • Latvians are mostly Lutheran, but some Roman Catholic and speak a language of the Baltic group

  • Most Estonians Are Protestant and speak Uralic language

• Belarus & Moldova

  • all are between russia and european countries

  • ethnic distinction is blurred because all three speak similar East Slavic languages and have common ethnic Heritage

  • Belarusians and Ukrainians separated from Russians when they were isolated from each other after invasions from the Mongols, Poles, and Lithuanians in 13th century. russians conquered Belarus and Ukraine again in the late 18th century but then after exposure to non-slavic influences, they displayed enough cultural differences to consider themselves distinct from Russia.

  • Moldova became part of the SU in 1940, the SU Government increased the size of Moldova transferring some land from Ukraine. The majority of the inhabitants of this area are Ukrainian and Russian. They oppose Moldova's reunification with Romania and have claimed to be an independent state.

• Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan

  • Turk. and Uzbek. are pretty stable nation states but Tajikistan has suffered from a Civil War between Tajiks who were former communists and an unusual alliance of Muslim fundamentalists and Western oriented intellectuals.

  • 15% were made homeless between 1992 and 1997 the Civil War

Multinational States in the Former SU:

• Russia:

  • after the breakup of the SU, Russia is now the world's largest multinational state

  • 81% ethnic Russians

  • not Russian ethnic groups are clustered in three principal locations. Three of the four are located primarily in the center of Russia, they speak turkish languages

  • others are in the far Southwest, includes Caucasian, Turkish, and indo-European

  • Russia's constitution grants autonomy over local government affairs to about two dozen of the most numerous ethnicities. They are allowed to designate the ethnic language as an official language in addition to Russian.

• Ukraine

  • after the SU, ukraine was supposed to be stable because of its coal deposits steel industry and it was next to wealthy countries of Western Europe. However Ukraine had a minority Russian population which started an uprising in the East. Russia invaded Eastern Ukraine and seized Crimea.

  • crimea was a peninsula which had a 60% Russian population. Russia took control in 1783 and in 1921 it became an autonomous republic within the Soviet Union. In 1954 the Soviet gave the Ukrainian republic responsibility for it.

  • When the Soviet broke up in 1991 It became an autonomous republic again in Ukraine. In 2014 Russia invaded it again.

• Georgia

  • more diverse than it's neighbors, ethnic Georgians compromise 71% of the population

  • cultural diversity has been a source of unrest especially among the Ossetians and Abkhazians

  • both declared Wars and fought for control. Russia has recognized both as independent countries and has sent troops there but not many other countries recognize them.

• Kazakhstan & Kyrgyzstan

  • the five states in Central Asia from the SU together can provide an important reminder that multinational states can be more peaceful than nation states

  • kazakhstan- is relatively peaceful with 67% Kazakhs and 18% Russians. Kazakhs are muslims who speak turkic language

  • Kyrgyzstan- has suffered from ethnic conflict. The population compromises 69% Kyrgyz, 15% Uzbek, and 9% Russian. Kyrgyz and Uzbek peoples both speak Altaic languages and are Muslim but with overthrowing of presidents and violence in 2010.

Colonies:

• Current colonies-

    The UN identifies 17 places in the world that it calls “non-self governing territories”. Some of the most populated are the Western Sahara, french Polynesia, and New Caledonia. All but Western Sahara are islands. Smallest is Pitcairn Island controlled by the UK since 1790.

• The UN does NOT classify these territories as colonies:

  • Puerto Rico- commonwealth of the US, puerto Ricans are citizens but they don't participate in elections.

  • Greenland- autonomous unit within kingdom of Denmark, runs its internal affairs but Denmark controls foreign Affairs and defense

  • Hong Kong and Macao- attached to China as special administrative regions, was a colony of the UK until reverted to CHina in 1997, a year later portugal returned its Colony of Macao, have some autonomy in economic matters but China controls Foreign Affairs and defense

• Colonialism-

  • European states came to control much of the world through Colonialism. The establish colonies for three basic reasons-

    • to promote Christianity

    • to extract useful resources to use for their products

    • to establish relative power to number of colonies claimed

  • The Colonial Era began in the 1400s when European explorers sailed West for Asia but encountered the Western Hemisphere instead. US declared Independence in 1776 and most Latin American states between 1800 and 1824.

  • European states then turn to Africa and Asia. At Berlin Conference of 1884-85 They wanted to convert most of Africa into their colonies and defined areas.

  • The UK had the largest Colonial Empire, they claimed their “Sun never set”

  • France was second, primarily in West Africa and Southeast Asia. They tried to assimilate its Colonies into French culture and after Independence most of these leaders were still close with France

  • most African and Asian colonies became independent after WW2. Only 15 were members of the UN when it established in 1945.

  • Japan had the most colonial power in Asia during the early 12th century. It controlled Korea, Taiwan, multiple Pacific Ocean Islands and some of China. Control ended in 1945 with end of WW2.

8.3 Why Do States Face Threats?

Global Cooperation and Competition

the most important global forum is the United Nations formed after WW2 by the victorious Allies. the early years of the UN were dominated by the Star of the Cold War era

• The Cold War

-Late 1940s until the early 1900s

-the World's 2 superpowers were the US and Soviet Union, both very large states and could quickly deploy armed forces into different regions of the world

- both repeatedly demonstrated that they would use military force if necessary to prevent an ally from becoming independent, for example the Soviet Union sent troops to Hungary and Czechoslovakia while the US set troops to the Dominican Republic and Granada

• Cuban Missile Crisis

a major confrontation during the Cold War was in 1962 when SU began to construct missile launching sites in Cuba. President John F Kennedy ordered the missiles to be removed and the Soviet ambassador for the UN denied that his country had placed the missiles. The US showed evidence so the Soviet Union ended the crisis by dismantling them.

• The United Nations

-the United Nations was organized in 1945 with 51 original members. The UN membership has increased rapidly on three occasions:

   - 1955. sixteen countries joined, mostly European that had been liberated from Nazi     Germany during WW2

    -1960. seventeen members were added, all but one were a former African colony of     Britain or France.     

    -1990-1993. twenty-six were added, primarily due to the breakup of the Soviet Union     and Yugoslavia, membership also increased in the 1990s because of the admission of     several microstates

- replaced an earlier organization known as the League of Nations which was never effective

-The UN members can vote to establish a peacekeeping force and request that states contribute military forces. They have interfered in conflicts between or within member states

- any one of the five permanent members of the security Council (China, France, Russia, the UK, and the US) can veto a peacekeeping operation

-During the Cold War the US and Soviet Union veto to prevent undesired UN intervention and the UN voted only to send troops to support South Korea after the Soviet Union walked out of a security Council meeting in 1950. More recently the opposition of China and Russia have made it difficult for the international community to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

-for the first time, virtually all the states in the world can meet and vote on issues without resorting to war. It has been a major role in global economic problems, promoting human rights, and providing humanitarian relief.

Governing States

• National Scale: Regime Types

Democracies and articles differ in three essential elements: selection of leaders, citizen participation, and checks and balances.

The world has had more democracies since the 1970s. Some reasons are: the replacement of increasingly irrelevant and out of touch monarchies with elective governments that broaden individual rights and liberties, more participation and policy making for all citizens three rates to vote, and the diffusion of democratic government structures created in Europe and North America

• Local Scale: Unitary & Federal

the size of a state is not always an accurate predictor of the form of government. For example tiny Belgium is a federal state whereas China is a unitary state.

-Unitary state: these governments work best in a relatively compact Nation-state characterized by few internal cultural differences and strong sense of national Unity. It's common in Europe. for example, France whose very strong national government dominates local decisions.

-Federal State: more suitable for very large States because the national capital may be to remote provide effective control . Most of the world's largest states are federal including Russia, Canada, Brazil, India, and the US.

-In recent years there has been a strong Global trend toward federal government. Unitary systems have been curtailed in a number of countries in scrapped in others. With the increasing demands by ethnicities for more self-determination states have reconstructed their governments to be more local. This is because an ethnicity that is not numerous enough to gain control of the national government, may be content with control of its territory through a local unit.

• State Fragility

the Fragile states index calculated by the fund for peace measures the relative stability of every country. It includes factors including fairness of the legal system, extent of Youth unemployment, level of violence, and freedom to express diverse political views. The most fragile states are clustered in sub-Sahara Africa probably due to its highest population growth, poorest health, great extent of ethnic cleansing and genocide, and problematic shapes of states.

Weapons of Mass Destruction

no treaty or international law contains in authoritative definition. The term was initially applied to nuclear weapons but in recent years it has been expanded.

• Nuclear Weapons

-the US collaborated with Canada in the UK to develop the nuclear weapons during WW2. They dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, ending the war in 1945. Many died immediately from the effects of the blasts as well from heat and radiation and more later from sickness and related cancers.

-No government has dared to use these bombs in a war since then

-all together eight countries have successfully detonated nuclear weapons in this order US 1945, SU 1949, the UK 1952, France 1960, China 1964, India 1974, Pakistan 1998, and lastly North Korea 2006

-Israel is suspected of possessing nuclear weapons but is not admitted to it

- the Treaty of Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in 1970 has been signed by 191 countries to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and technology to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy. The US, France, Russia, China, and UK have been designated as nuclear-weapon States. Other 186 signatories agreed never to acquire nuclear weapons. In exchange the five nuclear-weapon States agreed to share their technology for peaceful purposes and to pursue the ultimate elimination of all nuclear arsenals.

-since the treaty, the number warheads possessed by the US and Russia have declined after they agreed to destroy large percentage of them. Together they have 92% of the world’s total. South Africa, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine agreed to dismantle their arsenals.

-India, Israel, Pakistan, and South Sudan never signed. North Korea withdrew in 2003.

• Suspect States

some states that signed the treaty have been suspected of still developing weapons of mass destruction

-Libya: longtime leader Muammar al-Gaddafi bought technology blueprints form Pakistan and tried to enrich imported uranium

-Iraq: saddam Hussein employed chemical weapons against Kurds and Iranians during 1980s. The United States successfully drove Iraq out of Kuwait . They also located and destroyed Iraq's chemical weapons pile. Then they let a second attack against Iraq in 2003 to depose Saddam Hussein. They asserted Iraq still possessed weapons and had close links with terrorist. Not many agreed so the US then argued that they needed to replace their government with a democracy.

-Iran: hostility between the US and Iran dates from 1979 when Shiite Muslim group supporters held hostage 52 Americans from the US Embassy. Iran claimed that its nuclear program was for civilian purposes but most likely it is to develop weapons. President Trump took the US out of the treaty in 2018 claiming that the treaty did not do enough to prevent Iran from continuing to pursue nuclear weapons.

-Syria: under the leadership Bashar al-Assad, they have repeatedly employed chemical weapons in it's long running multi-sided Civil War. Countries have failed to get Sarah to eliminate its stockpile.

Europe’s Fragile Cooperation:

• Europe’s Economic Alliances:

    European Union (EU)- formed in 1958 with 6 members, designed to heal scars from WW2

    Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON)- formed in 1949 with 6 members, ten ultimately joined, designed to promote trade and sharing of natural resources in communist eastern europe

• The European Union in the Twenty-first Century

The EU expanded to 12 during the 1980s and 28 during the first decade of the 21st century. The most recent additions have been former members of COMECON

The main task is to promote development through economic and political cooperation. A European Parliament is elected by the people of each member state. Most goods can cross borders without stopping. A citizen of one EU member state is permitted to work in other states.

• The Eurozone

The creation of the Eurozone turned Europe's nation states into a regional organization. the European Central Bank was given responsibility for setting interest rates and minimizing inflation throughout the Eurozone.

A common currency, the Euro was created for electronic transactions beginning in 1999 and in notes in coins beginning in 2002. 25 countries use the euro including 19 EU members.

the economically weaker countries within the Eurozone such as Grace Italy in Spain have been forced policies and taxes, economically strong countries like Germany have been forced to subsidize the weaker states.

many Europeans do not feel connected to the EU. Opposition to EU policies especially free movement of citizens among EU countries sparked in 2016 United Kingdom voters supported the countries withdraw from the EU in 2019.

future enlargements are possible like maybe Albania, Montenegro, and Serbia

• Europe’s Military Alliances

    North atlantic treaty organization (NATO)- military alliance among 16 democratic states in Europe, plus US and Canada

    The Warsaw Pact- a military agreement among communist Eastern European countries. destroyed in 1991 bc of end of communism in Eastern Europe.

Both were designed to maintain a bipolar balance of power in Europe. For NATO, the objective was to prevent the SU from overrunning West Germany and other smaller countries. The Warsaw Pact provided the SU with a buffer of Allied States between it and Germany to discourage a third German invasion of the SU.

Hungary’s leaders in 1956 asked for help of Warsaw Pact to crush an uprising that threatens communist control. They also invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968 to depose a government committed to reforms.

When Europe was no longer dominated by military confrontations between two blocs, the Warsaw Pact was disbanded and number of NATO troops declined. NATO expanded its membership to 28 States by adding the former Warsaw Pact countries except for Russia and several states formally within the SU. Nato gave Eastern European countries security against Russia. Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 and support of Rebels in Eastern Ukraine has heightened fears.

Terrorist Attacks Against the United States

Must be met to be considered terrorism:

1. the incident must be intentional, the result of conscious calculation on the part of a perpetrator

2. the incident must entail some level of violence or threat of violence , including property damage as well as violence against people

3. acts of terrorism conducted by one state against another state are not included

Two of these three criteria must also be met in order to be considered an act of terrorism:

1. The violent act was aimed at attaining a political, economic, religious, or social group

2. The violent act included evidence of an intention to coerce, intimidate, or convey some other message to a larger audience other than the immediate victims

3. The violent act was outside the precepts of international humanitarian law

the term Terror was first applied to the period of the French Revolution between March 1793 and July 1794 known as the Reign of Terror. The committee of Public Safety headed by Maximilien Robespierre, guillotined thousands of political opponents.

Terrorism differs from assassination and other acts of political violence in the attacks are aimed at ordinary people rather than military targets or political leaders.

• September 11, 2011, Attacks

the 110-story twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City were destroyed and the Pentagon was damaged. the attacks resulted in 2,977 civilian fatalities.

-88 on American Airline flight 11 which crashed into World Trade Center Tower 1

-60 on United Airlines flight 175 which crashed into World Trade Center Tower 2

-2,6005 on the ground at World Trade Center

-59 on American Airlines flight 77 which crashed into the Pentagon

-125 on the ground at the Pentagon

-40 on United Airlines flight 93, Which crashed near Shanksville Pennsylvania after passengers fought with terrorists on board preventing an attack on another Washington DC target

19 Terrorists died on the four hijacked airplanes. The al-Qaeda Network was responsible for this and most anti-US terrorism in the 1990s.

• Other Tourist Attacks Against Americans

-Lockerbie, Scotland, 1988: a bomb destroyed pan Am flight 103 on route from London to New York killing 243 passengers 16 crew and 11 on the ground. Only person convicted was a Libyan intelligence officer. In 2003, Libya's long time leader Gaddafi accepted responsibility for the bombing and paid compensation to the families of the victims. Attacks on Libyan protesters in 2011 again brought many states into active opposition to Gaddafi's regime which was overthrown. He was captured and killed and Libya has been in civil war ever since.

-Oklahoma City, 1995: a car bomb killed 168 and injured at least 680 in the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. Timothy McVeigh was convicted and killed. Terry Nichols was also convicted. McVeigh claimed that his act was provoked by the US government for the FBI’s 51 day siege of the Branch Davidian religious compound in Texas, where 80 died.

-Kenya and Tanzania, 1998: truck bombs killed 213 in the US Embassy in Kenya and 11 in the Embassy in Tanzania. Ordered by al-Qaeda in retaliation for the US's alleged role in capturing four al-Qaeda Operatives in Albania.

-Orlando, 2016: a gunman killed 49 and injured 58 in a nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Suspect was Omar Matine a US citizen. He was killed at the nightclub in the FBI was unable to establish a motive.

Terrorist Organizations:

• Al-Qaeda:

-founded around 1988 by Osama Bin Laden 29 several groups of Fighters in Afghanistan as well as his supporters elsewhere in SW Asia.

-Osama's father had a billion dollar construction company and had close connections to the royal family. He was one of about 50 children and used his several hundred million inheritance to fund al-Qaeda.

-He moved to Afghanistan during mid-1980s to support the fight against Soviet Army and their government. He recruited militant Muslims from Arab countries. After the Soviet Army withdrew from Afghanistan he returned to Saudi Arabia but was expelled in 1991 for opposing the government's decision permitting the US troops during the 1991 war against Iraq. He then moved to Sudan but was expelled in 1994 for attacks against US troops in Yemen and Somalia. Moved to Afghanistan where he lived as a guest to the Taliban.

-He issued a declaration of war against the US in 1996 because of its support for Saudi Arabia and Israel. He thought Muslims had a duty to have war against the US because they were protecting the state of Israel and maintaining the rulers of Saudi Arabia.

-His most deadly attack since 9/11 has been in Iraq especially between 2007 and 2011. A famous attack was in 2015 at the Paris offices of French newspaper Charlie Hebdo for having cartoons depicting Muhammad.

-US forces tracked and killed bin Laden in 2011, but adapted structures with al-Qaeda’s ideology are still making attacks.

• Boko Haram: Arabic for “Western education is forbidden”, founded in 2002 and Northeastern Nigeria. Wants to transform Nigeria into an Islamic State, opposes adoption of Western cultural practices especially by Christians in the south of the country. has killed 20,000 Nigerians and displaced 26 m. It's first 7 years, it ran a religious complex and school for poor Muslim families. An uprising and 2009 resulted in the arrest of hundreds of followers and the death of founder Muhammad Yusuf. 600 Brook out of prison the following year and have now resorted to terrorist attacks.

• Taliban: means “religious students”, gained power in Afghanistan 1996, they were welcomed as performable to previous corrupt warlords. US and Western officials liked them against Russia who had invaded Afghanistan in 1979 who then withdrew in 1989. Once in control of government in 1990s, they imposed very strict laws inspired by Islamic values how they interpreted them. “ western non-islamic” leisure was banned like music, watching TV, and the internet. Stadiums were converted to settings for execution. Men were beaten for shaving and women wearing nail polish had their fingers cut off. Lots of really bad stuff. A US-led coalition overthrew in 2001 and replaced it with a democracy. The Taliban were able to regroup and has control of parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan

• Islamic State: originated in 1999 and affiliated with al-Qaeda in 2004. split in 2014. Aka ..Iraq and Syria or ..Iraq and Levant. Sunni muslims who want strict religious law in SW Asia. maintained control through human right violations, massacres, destruction of Shiite shrines, and torture. controlled much of northern Iraq and E Syria for several years. Its control dropped to 40% in 2014 and 2% in 2018.

• Distribution of World Terrorism: the number of deaths from terrorism increased from 5,000 in 2000 to 32,000 in 2014 but then declined 25,000 in 2016. Most Terrace incidents have occurred in: Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Syria.

8.4 Why Do States Have Distinctive Geographic Structure?

Boundaries

historically Frontiers separated States not boundaries, but now have been replaced

• Three types of Boundaries:

    -cultural boundaries follow the distribution of cultural features

    - geometric boundaries are based on human constructs such as straight lines and latitudes

    - physical boundaries our with significant features of the natural landscape

a boundary line which must be shared by more than one state is the only location where direct physical contact must take place. So the boundary has potential to become a point of conflict.

• Cultural Boundary: Religion in Ireland

cultural boundaries have been placed to separate speakers of different languages religions or ethnicities. The most notable example of a religious boundary was when the British turned India into two states of Pakistan (muslims) and India (hindus).

Religion was also used for the boundary on the island of Erie (Ireland). The Northeast known as Northern Ireland remains part of the UK which has only 41% roman catholics. the Republic of Ireland has 84%.

Language is important for boundaries especially in Europe. France Portugal and Spain were formed around distinct languages. And later Germany and Italy were unified by language.

• Ethnic Boundary: Cyprus

Cyprus, a large island in the Mediterranean Sea, is Greek and Turkish. Turks are 24 percent whereas Greeks are 63%. Britain guaranteed the Turks a share of elected offices and power but they never peacefully integrated the ethnicities. Some Greeks who wanted unification with Greece she's control in 1974. Turkey invaded to protect the minority and you're moved the Greek coop within a few months but the Turkish Army remained. The northern 36% of the island declared itself the independent Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. only turkey recognizes it. A wall, between the areas, zone patrolled by the UN. they are now closer and able to cross to the other side after three decades. the entire island was accepted into the EU in 2004.

Physical Boundaries:

• Desert Boundaries:

Can be effective because they are hard to cross and sparsely inhabited. Most common in Africa in Asia. In North Africa the Sahara separates Algeria, Libya, and Egypt on the north from Martiana, Maui, Chad, and Sudan.

• Mountain Boundaries

can be effective boundaries if difficult to cross. Contact living on opposite sides may be limited or impossible if passes are closed by winter storms.

Argentina and Chile agreed to be divided by the crest of the Andes mountains but could not decide on the precise location the two countries almost fought a war over the boundary line but with the help of the US they finally decided on the line connecting adjacent Mountain Peaks

• Water Boundaries

Rivers, lakes, and oceans are the most common physical boundaries. Historically they offered good protection against attack because the invading state would have to transport by air or ship. Especially common in East Africa. The Rio Grande separated the US in Mexico meandered since it became part of the boundary in 1848. Land that once had been the US has came to be on the Mexican side and vice versa.

• The Law of the Sea

the United Nations Convention on the law the sea defies the rights and responsibilities of countries with respect to the world's oceans and management of marine resources. 164 states (NOT including the US) have signed.

Geometric Boundaries:

• in North America:

part of the northern US boundary with Canada it's 2,100 km line along 49 north latitude. Quebec’s boundary with New York in Vermont it's also geometric along 45 North latitude.

• in North Africa:

many boundaries are a legacy of treaties among European countries. The 1000 km boundary between Chad and Libya is a straight line across the desert in 1899 by the French and British to set the northern limit of French colonies in Africa. Libya claimed that the Straight line should be 100 km south to include territory known as Aouzou Strip. They seized it in 1973 but Chad regained control in 1987 when the International Court of Justice ruled in favor of Chad's claim.

• in South Pole:

contains the only large land masses on Earth's surface that are not part of a state . Seven states claim portions of the South Pole region: Argentina, Australia, Chili, France, New Zealand, Norway and the UK. These claims are divided by Meridians that converge on South Pole. Claims by Argentina, Chile, and the UK are conflicting. The US and Russia and a number of other states do not recognize the claims of any country to Antarctica. The Antarctic treaty, signed by 47 states in 1959 says research stations can be established for scientific investigations but no military activities are permitted.

• North Polar Regions:

the 1982 United Nations Convention let countries submit claims to the Arctic Circle. Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, the US, and Russia made conflicting claims. The heart of the dispute is Lomonosov Ridge. Russia and Denmark both claim as an extension of their land masses. The territorial claims around the North Pole are based on differing interpretations of the Law of the Sea.

Shapes of States:

five basic shapes- each with their own problems. can have the value of a centripetal force or centrifugal.

• Compact states: Efficient

an ideal, theoretical compact state would be a circle, with the capital being the center. examples in sub-saharan Africa are Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda. can be centripetal in smaller states bc good communications can be more easy. Compactness doesn’t mean peace, as they are just as likely to experience civil wars and ethnic rivalries.

• Prorupted States: Access or Disruption

created for two different reasons: to provide a state with access to a resource (The DRC has a 500 km proruption ro the west along the Zaire RIver. The Belgians created it to give their colony aces to the Atlantic.) OR to separate two states that would otherwise share a boundary. (Namibia has a 500 km proruption to the east, the Caprivi Strip. when it was a colony of germany, the strip was used to disrupt communications between the british colonies of southern Africa. also gave access to the Zambezi)

• Perforated State: South Africa

the surrounded state may face problems of dependence on or interference from the surrounding state. (South africa completely surrounds Lesotho. It relies on SA for the import and export of goods. This was a huge problem when SA was controlled by whites who discriminated against the black majority in Lesotho.)

• Elongated States: Potential Isolation

The Gambia extends along the banks of the Gambia River abt 500 km east to west but only 25 km north to south. established when the British controlled the mouth of the river but then french controlled most of the surrounding area.

Malawau abt 850 km N to S but only 100 E to W. British declared territory a Protectorate to deter the Portuguese on the west side of Lake malai from claiming.

may suffer from poor internal communication, the extreme ends may be isolated

• Fragmented States: Problematic

two types: fragmented by other states (Angola is in 2 fragments by the DRC. A movement is trying to detach Cabinda as a separate state by saying there are distinct ethnic groups) OR fragmented by water (Tanzania was created in 1964 as the union of the island Zanzibar with the mainland Tanganyika, the two agreed to join bc they shared political priorities.

• Landlocked States

direct access to an ocean is critical bc of international trade so this means they have to arrange to use another country’s seaport. 15/55 states in africa are landlocked. remnant of the colonial era when Britain and France had large regions that were they divided into states, not caring if lots were landlocked. Europeans built railroads to connect the interior of Africa and the sea. minerals from mines went to sea ports while mining equipment and supplies went to the interior.

Electoral Geography

the drawing of legislative district boundaries can be a way for political parties to bend the rules. The 435 districts of the US House of Representatives are redrawn every 10 years following the census.

• Gerrymandering

Named for Elbridge Gerry, who as a governor signed a bill that restricted the state to benefit his party. An opponent saw that an oddly shaped new District looked like a “salamander” so they called it a “Gerrymander”. Gerrymandering can take two forms: cracking and packing.

Packing has been especially attractive for creating districts inclined to elect people of color. African Americans and most Hispanics ( other than Cubans) tend to vote Democratic in some elections more than 90% of AAs do. So creating a majority African American District basically guarantees the election of a Democrat. Republicans support a “packed” Democratic district bc then they're able to draw boundaries that are favorable to them in the rest of the state.

Redrawing Boundaries:

in most European countries independent commissions redraw boundaries. They create compact homogeneous districts. 6/43 US States Also use non-partisan commissions. But in most the state legislature does. Only about 1/10 of Congressional seats are competitive, so making a shift of more than a few seats is unlikely.

Pennsylvania has altered its Congressional districts to eliminate gerrymandering. In 2018 the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that the map violated the state constitution. The court gave the legislature time to create a new map but the deadline passed, so the court made its own which was used starting with the 2018 election.

ohio was considered among the most extreme cases. Democrats were packed into a handful of districts. In 2018 Ohio voters approved a process of the majority and minority parties in the legislature would first try to make a map and if they couldn't, an independent commission would come in. They also had specific geographic features that must be used like: a city with a population less than 750,000 couldn't be split into two, and of the 88 counties, at least 65 must be in one District.