Culture Regions

1. Culture Regions • Political culture regions • Political diffusion • Political ecology • Politico-cultural integration • Political landscapes

3. Politico-cultural integration • The nation-state • Characteristics • A type of independent country which results when people have a common heritage, homeland, and culture • The people speak the same language and/or share a particular religion • They possess a desire for nationhood and achieve political independence • Nationality is culturally defined • The raison d’être lies in the cultural identity • The more people have in common culturally, the more stable and potent is their nationalism

4. The nation-state • Nation-states, at least on a regional level, have characterized much of human history and might be linked to instinctual territoriality • Examples of modern nation-states that have culturally homogenous populations, with only small minority groups • Germany • Sweden • Japan • Greece • Armenia • Finland

5. The nation-state • Many other countries function as nation-states because power is held by a dominant, nationalistic cultural group • Contain sizable ethnic minorities treated as second-class citizens • Minorities represent centrifugal forces • Israel is trying to cope with a sizable Arab minority • New nation-states contain large, territorially compact ethnic minorities — former Soviet Union and Yugoslavia

6. The nation-state • Nation-states, at least on a regional level, have characterized much of human history and might be linked to instinctual territoriality • Examples of modern nation-states that have culturally homogenous populations, with only small minority groups • Germany • Sweden • Japan • Greece • Armenia • Finland

7. The multinational country • Make up the majority of independent countries and are not nation-states • Usually have federal rather than strong central governments — examples include: • Switzerland • Canada • The United Kingdom • South Africa • Belgium • All are older multinational countries

8. The multinational country • A much larger number have arisen in recent decades • Result of the collapse of European-based colonialism • Most in Africa • Political boundaries drawn without regard to the integrity of cultural or tribal groups

9. Ethnic separatism • We live in an age of rising ethnic nationalism • One ethnic minority after another demands independence or autonomy

12. Ethnic separatism • Results of rising ethnic nationalism • Old stable multinational countries are feeling the effects — Canada, the United Kingdom • Some multinational countries have splintered — the former Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia • Ethiopia discarded its unitary government and adopted an ethnic-based federalism in hopes of preserving unity

13. Ethnic separatism • The impact ranges from: • Simple unrest to insurgencies • Forced deportations • Attempted genocides • Secessions

14. The problem in Quebec, Canada • Contains most of Canada’s approximately 7 million French Canadians • Constitute a cultural-linguistic minority seeking autonomy or even secession • Descended from French colonists who immigrated in the 1600s and 1700s • Lived under English or Anglo-Canadian rule from 1760 until well into the twentieth century

15. The problem in Quebec, Canada • Laws of Quebec retain a predominantly French influence • French is the sole legal language • The visible use of English, illegal until recently, was expunged • In several elections, a sizable minority voted for independence • Many Anglo-Canadians have emigrated from Quebec

16. Quebec, Canada • Canada has two official languages, French and English. • All provincial signs are supposed to be in both languages, yet this sign, welcoming visitors to Quebec’s capital, is in French only.

17. Quebec, Canada • Contrary to national policy, Quebec has French-only laws and all signage, by provincial law, must be in French. • Although the separatist Parti Quebecois was voted into power in 1994, the majority did not vote to separate.

18. Quebec, Canada • This implies that, at least for now, most Francophones want to actively preserve and promote their unique cultural heritage within the Canadian federal system.

19. Politico-cultural integration • The international political map has taken on a linguistic-religious character • Border wars and forced migration of minorities could become common in the future

21. The cleavage model • Originally proposed by Stein Rokkan and Seymour Lipset • Proposes that persistent regional patterns in voting behavior can usually be explained in terms of tensions pitting: • National core area versus peripheral districts • Urban versus rural • Capitalists versus workers • Power-group culture versus minority culture

22. The cleavage model • Commonly, tensions coincide geographically, with the result that the core area: • Monopolizes power and wealth • Is more urbanized • Links government to the ruling elite culture • Ethnic minorities often live in peripheral, largely rural, and less affluent areas

23. The cleavage model • Nature of the majority of ethnic separatist movements that have moved beyond unrest to violence or secession • Involve groups living away from core areas • Seceded republics from the former U.S.S.R.—lie outside Russia • Slovenes and Croats occupied border territories in Yugoslavia • Northern Ireland lies on the periphery of the United Kingdom • Kurdistan is on the edge of Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Turkey who now rule Kurdish lands

26. The cleavage model • Nature of the majority of ethnic separatist movements that have moved beyond unrest to violence or secession • Restive Tibet is on the margin of China • Arab West Bank-Gaza districts under Israeli rule are peripheral • Slovakia, poor and more rural than the Czech Republic was remote from the center of power at Prague

27. The cleavage model • In fewer cases, the secessionist peripheries were actually more prosperous than the political core area • Federalist government reduces core versus periphery tensions • Reduces appeal of separatist movements • Switzerland has been able to join speakers of German, French, Italian, and Raeto-Romansh into a single, stable country

28. The cleavage model • Canada developed under Francophone pressure toward a Swiss-type system • Russia has been obliged to adopt a more federalist structure to accommodate demands of ethnic minorities • Has 31 ethnic republics within • One republic, Chechnya has fought and won de-facto independence

29. Sakba Republic • Located in Russia’s Siberia province • Example of rising ethnic demands • Forms one-fifth of Russia’s land area and contains about one million people • Roughly 35 percent of population is ethnic Sakha or Yakut—people of Turkic origin • Russians, who outnumber Sakha are concentrated in ten urban areas

31. Sakba Republic • Sakha dominant in rural/small-town core of republic • Demands of Sakha led to declaration of state sovereignty in 1990 • Has its own elected president and parliament • Has its own flag, coat-of-arms, and a constitution • Has attained some measure of genuine economic independence

32. Sakba Republic • A 1995 survey revealed 72 percent of all ethnic Yakuts felt more loyalty to Sakha than to Russia • A third of all Russians expressed same loyalty to Sakha over Russia • Sakha had not yet tried to seek independence • Autonomy represents embryo of a nation-state • Ongoing Russian emigration from Sakha complicates the matter

33. Cleavage model • Political imprint on economic geography • In the cleavage model economic contrasts clearly reveal the internal spatial arrangement of the country’s economic influence

34. Cleavage model • Laws differing from one country to another often impact on economic land use giving political boundaries an economic character • United States-Canadian border in the Great Plains • Crosses an area of environmental and cultural sameness • Different laws and regulations, foster differences in agricultural practices • In the United States, an act passed in the 1950s encouraged sheep raising by guaranteeing an incentive price for wool • In Canada, farmers devoted more attention to hogs

36. Cleavage model • Borders also usually cause economic disruptions • Highway networks become fragmentary in border zones • Need to control border crossings • Some countries close borders stopping the flow of goods

37. Austrian-Czech border

38. Sumdo, Himachal Pradesh, India • This military post not only guards the Indian-Tibetan border, but is also the source of the Sutlej River. • Irrigation water from this Himalayan river is critical for survival in both India and Pakistan.

39. Sumdo, Himachal Pradesh, India • The blue sign (in Tibet) says “Welcome to the Land of God.” • The English reflects the colonial influence. • Since it is very difficult to clearly demarcate borders in mountainous regions, such areas are often disputed.

40. Sumdo, Himachal Pradesh, India • India has deliberately constructed roads into the border regions to ensure control. • Because of snow, these roads are only open three or four months a year and are frequently destroyed by landslides and floods.

41. Sumdo, Himachal Pradesh, India • Under army supervision, local and migrant labor is employed to repair the damage. • Work is done by men, women and children.

42. Culture Regions • Political culture regions • Political diffusion • Political ecology • Politico-cultural integration • Political landscapes

43. Imprint of the legal code • Laws regulating the land-survey system can be quite noticeable • Often require that land be divided into specific geometric patterns • Political boundaries as a result, become highly visible • Quebec encourages land survey in long, narrow parcels • Most English-speaking provinces of Canada adopted a rectangular system

45. Imprint of the legal code • Legal decisions made long ago by a vanished government can remain imprinted on the landscape • Example of former Danish provinces of Schleswig and Holstein now German • Danish laws broke up farm villages and dispersed rural populations in isolated farmsteads • Many fragmented landholding were combined into unit-block farms • In nearby German-ruled provinces different laws prevailed • Over a century later the old border is still visible

46. Imprint of the legal code • Legal imprints can be seen in the cultural landscapes of urban areas • In Rio de Janeiro, building height restrictions resulted in a waterfront lined with buildings of uniform height • Most American cities have no height restrictions resulting in a jagged skyline

47. Rio de Janeiro - control

48. NYC – no control

49. Physical properties of boundaries • Usually most visible where tight restrictions limit movement of people between neighboring countries • Between the United States, nearly invisible in many places • Even undefended borders are marked by boundary pillars and custom houses