12.1 National Political Systems

• Most significant element in human geography is the nearly complete division of the Earth’s land surface into separate country units

• States, Nations, and Nation-States

  • State

    • Any of the political units forming a federal government (e.g., one of the United States)

    • An independent political entity holding sovereignty over a territory (e.g., the United States)

  • Nation

    • An independent political unit holding sovereignty over a territory (e.g., a member of the United Nations)

    • A community of people with a common culture and territory (e.g., the Kurdish nation)

  • Nation-State

    • A state whose territorial extent coincides with that occupied by a distinct nation or people or, at least, whose population shares a general sense of cohesion and adherence to a set of common values

• The Evolution of the Modern State

  • Concept and practice of the political organization of space and people arose independently in many parts of the world

• Challenges to the State

  • The world is increasingly under assaults from multiple new agents of economic and social power

• Spatial Characteristics of States

  • Size

    • Area that a state occupies may be large, as is China, or small, as is Liechtenstein

  • Shape

    • A country’s shape can affect its well-being as a state by fostering or hindering effective organization

  • Location

    • Size and shape as factors in a national wellbeing can be modified by a state’s location

  • Cores and Capitals

    • Grew outward from a central region, gradually expanding into surrounding territory

    • Core area

      • Contains its most developed economic base, densest population, and largest cities, as well as the most highly developed transportation systems

• Boundaries: The Limits of the State

  • Natural and Geometric Boundaries

    • Natural boundaries

      • Based on recognizable physiographic features, such as

        • Mountains

        • Rivers

        • Lakes

    • Geometric boundaries

      • Segments of parallels of latitude or meridians of longitude, they are found chiefly in Africa, Asia, and the Americas

    • Boundaries Classified by Settlement

      • Antecedent boundary

        • Drawn across an area before it is well populated

      • Subsequent

        • Boundaries that are drawn after the development of the cultural landscape

        • Consequent

          • Type of subsequent boundary

      • Relic boundary

        • Former boundary line that no longer functions as such is still marked by some landscape features or differences on the two sides

    • Boundary Disputes

      • Positional disputes

        • They occur when states disagree about the interpretation of documents that define a boundary and/or the way the boundary was delimited

        • Once the area becomes populated and gains value, the exact location of the boundary becomes important

      • Irredentism

        • When the people of one state want to annex a territory whose population is ethnically related to that of the state but now subject to a foreign government

      • Resource disputes

        • They are closely related to territorial conflicts

      • Centrifugal forces

        • Destabilize and weaken a state

• Centripetal Forces: Promoting State Cohesion

  • Centripetal

    • When a state is characterized by forces that promote unity and national stability and by others that disrupt them

  • Nationalism

    • One of the most powerful of the centripetal forces

    • States promote nationalism in a number of ways

  • Unifying Institutions

    • Institutions as well as symbols help to develop the sense of commitment and cohesiveness essential to the state

    • Schools are expected to instill the society’s

      • Goals

      • Values

      • Traditions

    • Institutions that advance nationalism are the armed forces and, sometimes, a state church

  • Organization and Administration

    • Another bonding force is public confidence in the effective organization of the state

  • Transportation and Communication

    • Transportation network fosters political integration by promoting interaction among areas and by joining them economically and socially

    • The capital city is better connected to other cities than the outlying cities are to one another

    • Canada and America not only opened up new areas for settlement but increased interaction between rural and urban districts

    • Roads and railroads have played a historically significant role in promoting political integration

    • The higher the level of development, the more resources there are to be invested in building transport routes

    • Mechanisms of control include restrictions on trade through tariffs or embargoes

• Centrifugal Forces: Challenges to State Authority

  • State cohesion is not easily achieved or, once gained, invariably retained

  • Destabilizing centrifugal forces are ever-present, sowing internal discord and challenges to the state’s authority

  • Sub-nationalism

    • Country whose population is not bound by a shared sense of nationalism is split by several local primary allegiances

  • Nationalism has created currents of unrest within many countries, even long established ones

12.2 Cooperation Among States

• Supranationalism

  • The state or condition of transcending national boundaries, authority, or interests Global health governance

  • Associations among states represent a new dimension in the ordering of national power and national independence

• The United Nations and Its Agencies

  • Maritime Boundaries

    • Division of the Earth's water surface areas

    • Water covers more than two-thirds of the Earth’s surface

  • An International Law of the Sea

    • Unrestricted extensions of jurisdiction and disputes over conflicting claims to maritime space and resources led to a series of UN conferences on the Law of the Sea

    • The high seas beyond the EEZ. Outside any national jurisdiction, they are open to all states

      • EEZ

        • exclusive economic zone

  • UN Affiliates

    • Specialized international agencies with affiliated relationships with the United Nations and operating under its auspices

      • FAO

      • World Bank

      • ILO

      • UNICEF

      • WHO

      • WTO

• Regional Alliances

  • These groupings can be economic, military, or political

  • Economic Alliances

    • Common market with a customs union

    • Participant countries have both common policies on product regulation, freedom of movement of goods, services and the factors of production

  • Military and Political Alliances

    • Military

      • Based on the principle that unity assures strength

      • Depend on the perceived common interests and political goodwill of the countries involved

    • Political

      • Generalized mutual concerns or appeals to historical interest

12.3 Local and Regional Political Organization

• The Geography of Representation: The Districting Problem

  • Reapportionment

    • The number of representatives allotted to each district may be modified

  • More than 85,000 local governmental units in the United States

  • Electoral geography

    • Analyzing how the shape and location of voting district boundaries influences election outcomes

  • Gerrymandering

    • Practice of drawing the boundaries of electoral districts

  • Affirmative racial gerrymandering

    • Advantage classes of candidates in a way that attempts to right historical injustices and achieve greater fairness in the electoral system

• The Fragmentation of Political Power

  • When political groups want to maximize their representation and minimize that of opposition groups, drawing boundaries at any electoral level is not always easy

  • The United States is subdivided into great numbers of political administrative units whose areas of control are spatially limited