Political Organization of Space

1. Political Organization of Space UNIT IV

2. Political Geography • The study of human political organization of the earth at various geographic levels

3. Key Questions • How do political patterns reflect ideas about how the earth should be organized? • How do political patterns affect human activities and understandings? • What is the evolution of the nation-state from its original form to its modern form? • What forces have shaped the world political map into its current form? How are those forces related to the rise of the modern state in Europe and to colonialism? • How do political boundaries relate to economic, cultural, and environmental boundaries?

4. Key Questions cont… • What is the role of the modern country in the contemporary political landscape? How do forces such as ethnic separation, economic globalization, regional supranationalism, and regional environmental problems affect the role of the country in the modern world? • What are the forms and roles of political units above and below the country level? • How do specific political policies, such as racial segregation, affect the organization of spatial and cultural life?

5. Human Territoriality • Territoriality • Creating ownership over a defined space • Can apply to your bedroom or an entire country and often evokes an emotional response • Ex. Iraq invading Kuwait that triggered the 1st Gulf War • Germany invading Poland in 1939… France and England join Poland • Is it like animal territoriality?

6. Personal Space • The area we claim as our own territory into which others may not enter without our permission • How many times have you accidently brushed against someone’s arm and said “Sorry”… this indicates you knew you had invaded their personal space • In Japan’s subway you might be less likely to say that

7. States and Nations • State • A political unit with a permanent population, territorial boundaries that are recognized by other states, an effective government, a working economy, and sovereignty • Used interchangeably with “country” • Sovereignty • Internationally recognized control a state has over the people and territory within its boundary

8. Nations • Nation • Refers to a group of people who share a common culture and identity as a cohesive group • Maybe the USA is a Nation… we are all Americans • Multinational State • A state that includes more than one nation within its borders • Some say the USA has a Mexican American Nation, an Islamic Nation, a Jewish American Nation, etc… • Russia is a Multination State

9. Nation-State • A state with only one nation in its borders • Japan and Iceland are examples • Contrasts with STATELESS NATIONS • When a nation does not have a territory to call its own • Kurdish people • Assyrian Christians of Iraq • Ughirs of Western China

10. Ethnonationalism and Conflict • Ethnonationalism • A powerful emotional attachment to one’s nation that is a minority within a state and feels different from the rest of the state’s people • SELF-DETERMINISM • Power to control their own territory and destiny • Can lead to conflict • Ex. Chechen people comprise a minority in Russia and have strong feelings of Ethnonationalism… they are a republic within Russia and have tried to secede from Russia leading to conflict/violence

11. Irredentism • A movement to reunite a nation’s homeland when a part of it is spread into another state’s borders • Hitler believed the German people had spilled into Czechoslovakian territory and wanted to reunite them • Albania’s people live mainly in Albania but a large pocket also live in Serbian territory called Kosovo… lead to violence and Serbia tried to “ethnically cleanse” Kosovo of all Albanians.

12. Recent Examples of Ethnonational conflicts • S. Asia/Indian subcontinent • Indians vs. Pakistanis • Fighting over Kashmir (overlaps each country’s territory) • Palestine/SW Asia • Jewish Israelis vs. Muslim Palestinians/Arab Allies • Stateless nation of Muslim Palestinians and their Arab allies are warring against the Jewish-controlled state of Israel for autonomy in a deeply layered historical conflict • Southeast Asia • Mainland China vs. Taiwan • Taiwan was founded in the 1940s after anticommuntists fled the communist government established on mainland China. China does not recognize Taiwan as sovereign but Taiwan does.

13. Cont… • Former Yugoslavia • Serbs vs. ALL other nations once part of Yugoslavia • Former Yugoslavia comprised many nations, including Serbs, Croats, Kosovar Albanians, Bosnian Muslims. • Serbs dominated the government others wanted to break away • Several new states were created as a result of that war • Russia • Russia vs. Chechnya • Chechnya is a territory in the Russia Republic, governed by Moscow • Chechen people want independence from Russia which has caused conflict

14. Buffer States • Buffer state • An independent country located between two larger countries in conflict • Ex. Mongolia in between China and Russia (war over boundaries)

15. Buffer Zone • Exists when two or more countries sit between two larger countries in conflict • Ex. Eastern Europe was a buffer zone in between Western Europe and Russia after WWII • May lead to SATELLITE STATES • A country that revolves around the ideas of another country

16. Shatterbelt • A state or group of states that exists within a sphere of competition between larger states • Often they are victims of invasion, boundary changes, and poor economic development

17. Boundaries • Are at the root of many conflicts and shape our lives • International boundaries • Separate states’ territories… defines what the state owns above and below the ground

18. Types of Political Boundaries • Geometric boundaries • Straight line boundaries • Do not relate to cultural or physical features • Physical political boundaries • Natural boundaries

19. Cont… • Cultural political boundaries • Mark changes in the cultural landscape • Ex. Dividing by religion or language • Ex. Pakistan and Bangladesh were created to give Muslims a territory

20. Frontiers • Regions where boundaries are very thinly or weakly developed • Territoriality is unclear

21. Cont…

22. Boundary Creation • Definition • The phase in which the exact location of a boundary is legally described and negotiated • Delimitation • When a boundary is drawn on a map • Demarcation • Visible marking in the cultural landscape • Ex. Great wall of China (but now is a RELICT BOUNDARY) • Administration • Enforcement by a government or people of the created boundary

23. Ocean Boundaries • Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS) • Coastal states can stake their claims to the sea up to 12 miles from shore but other countries ships have the right to pass • Coastal states can claim up to 200 nautical miles as an EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE • Has economic control… to explore and mine natural resources • When there is not 400 nautical miles or more between two countries they will split it (MERIDIAN LINE PRINCIPLE)

24. Types of Boundary Disputes • Definitional boundary dispute • Fight over language of the border • Ex. Japan and Russia have not agreed on borders surrounding islands North of Japan • Locational boundary dispute • Conflict over location… NOT the definition • They agree on the definition but not on where it exists on the earth or map

25. Cont… • Operational boundary dispute • A conflict over the way a boundary should operate or function • Ex. Disagreement over migration over the border • Allocation boundary dispute • A fight over resources that my not be divided by the border • Ex. Natural gas or Oil beneath the border

26. Territorial Morphology • Territorial morphology • Relationship between a state’s geographic shape, size, relative location, and political situation • 5 classifications • Fragmented state • Elongated state • Compact state • Prorupt (or protruded) state • Perforated state

28. Unitary and Federal States • A state’s size and cultural composition are also factors in its political situation and internal organization • MICROSTATE • A very small state (can be size wise or population wise) • Ex. Singapore • Often microstate can come together to form a UNITARY GOVERNMENTAL STRUCTURE • One main decision making body governs the entire state • It can be…

30. Federal Governmental Structure • Federal Governmental Structure • Has a central government and strong regional governments that share power with the central government • Ex. US (States) and Germany (States) • Ex. Canada (provinces) • Ex. Mexico (estados) • Works well with countries that have regions desiring power however it may lead to secession

31. Cont… • Landlocked • Countries without coastal access to a body of water • Forced to depend on their neighbors for trade • CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENTAL STRUCTURE • Weak central government with regions holding the most power • Ex. US under the Articles of Confederation

32. Political Exclaves and Enclaves • ENCLAVE • A state, or part of a state, surrounded completed by another state • Ex. Lesotho • The surrounding state is called a Perforated state • EXCLAVE • When an enclave is land that is a political extension of another state • Ex. Alaska and the USA • Ex. Russia • Ex. Azerbaijan

34. In Azerbaijan… • Muslim majority • Neighboring Armenia has a Christian majority • In Azerbaijan, a Armenian Christian enclave exists • Armenians have fought to control this enclave and have created an exclave of Azerbaijan in the process • Azerbaijan is therefore a perforated state

35. Rise of the Nation-State concept • Humans have always seemed to organized their political space • Clans, tribes, villages • CITY-STATE • Greeks and Romans • Political space revolved around a central city and surrounding farmland • Prior to consolidation of Nation-States in Europe • Sovereignty relied on loyalty • Feudal Structures • Typically religious in nature • Before 1500 Europe was not Centralized

36. Cont… • 1500s Europe integrated Feudal structures • Monarchies grew • Strong monarchies eliminated feudalism • Nation-States rise • Led to conflict even though it seemed to eliminate a lot of it

37. Colonialism and Imperialism • 16thcentury world empires emerge • COLONIALISM • The control by a state over another area or people • Usually the more dominant is more industrialized • Mercantilism • A state acquires colonies that provide it with raw materials • Creation of favorable trade balances • Tariffs imposed

38. Other motives to colonize… • Religion • More land

39. 2nd Wave of colonialism • 1800s • Europe carved up Africa • England and France controlled 70% of Colonized Africa • Colonialism fuels IMPERIALISM • The process of establishing political, social, and economic dominance over a colonized area

40. Dependency Theory • Many countries are poor because of their colonization by European powers • Former colonies not able to “heal” since they still depend on the colonial power • Boundaries during this time was drawn based on resources not religion… leads to conflict as seen in Nigeria and Sudan

41. Cont… • Infrastructure not built • Only there for colonizers benefit • Had to borrow from former colonizers and left them in deep debt • NEOCOLONIALISM • The continued economic dependence of new states on their former colonial maters

42. World systems analysis • IMMANUEL WALLERSTEIN • Looks at the world as a capitalistic system of interlocking states • Posits that the situation in one country is directly linked to that country’s role in the greater capitalistic system • Therefore neocolonialism is not just a result of internal struggle but of the country’s relationship in the overall system • Argues that the world is divided into three categories

43. Three categories • Core is MDCs • Periphery is LDCs • Semiperiphery is the third… sits in the middle

44. Geopolitics • Analyzes how states behave as political and territorial systems • ORGANIC THEORY • States are living organism that hunger for land and, like organisms, want to grow larger by acquiring more nourishment in the form of land • HEARTLAND THEORY • The era of sea power was ending and the control of Eurasia would be key to power • Influenced DOMINO THEORY • RIMLAND THEORY • Must balance Eurasia to keep major powers from developing

45. Mackinder’s Heartland theory

46. Spykman’s Rimland theory

47. Core and Multicore states • CORE • The region in a state wherein political and economic power is concentrated, like the nucleus of a cell • A healthy core helps expand a state • Multicore states • Have more than just one core region • If they fight for control and no one in dominant is can result in division • Ex. Nigeria… several cores all fighting for control… jeopardizes unification

48. Capital cities • PRIMATE CITY • Not only the political nucleus but is many more time more powerful that any other city in the state • Often are found in LDCs where resources are drawn to it and OLD NATION-STATES like Britain and France • Ex. Paris, France • Ex. Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia • Governments may try to limit this focus of resources

49. Forward Capital • A capital city built by a state to achieve some national goal • Ex. St. Petersburg • Ex. Brazilia • Ex. Berlin after the fall of the Berlin wall in 1990

50. Gerrymandering • Redrawing electoral boundaries to give a political party an advantage • Always considerable debate surrounding the placement of electoral district boundaries