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Political Geography
Study of human political
organization of the Earth at
various levels
Studied at three scales
• Supranational scale
 Ex. United Nations
• Country/nation scale
 How government is
organized
• Sub-national (local) scale
 Boundaries for voting
districts
Political geographers also
study the changing role of
the country in the world’s
political affairs
Geopolitics
• The state’s power to control
space or territory and shape
international political relations
During the 20th century, the collapse of large political federations such as
existed in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) led to the
understanding that countries should have common economic goals to solidify
connections between their governments. These goals should overcome their
resistance to work together because of ethnic conflicts.
Geographic concepts helps us to Political Geography
understand the changing
When looking at earth, it’s easy
political organization of Earth’s
to distinguish places
surface
 What we cannot see are
boundaries
Can use geographic methods to
examine the causes of political
One of Earth’s most
change and instability and to
fundamental cultural
anticipate potential trouble
characteristics is the division of
spots throughout the world
our planet’s surface into a
collection of spaces occupied by
individual countries
When a nation undergoes political turmoil such as a
revolution, its population tends to disperse into
neighboring countries. This leads to the potential for
more ethnic diversity in countries that surround the
nation that is experiencing political problems
Political Geography
Today Globalization means more connections among states
Individual countries have transferred military, economic, and political
authority to regional and worldwide collections of states
Power is exercised through connections among states created
primarily for economic cooperation
The act of locating environmental hazards close to regions or
neighborhoods that are mainly populated by minorities,
accomplished via political representation, has been termed
environmental racism. This practice disadvantages certain
groups because of their race and ethnic origin.
Territoriality is creating
ownership over a defined space
Territoriality can apply to your
bedroom or an entire country
 Often evokes emotional response
• Ex. Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait
triggered the Gulf War
• Ex. Germany’s invasion of Poland
triggered WWII
Human Territoriality
Personal Space
 Territoriality can also be applied to
personal space
 Personal space is the area we
claim as our own territory into
which others may not enter
without our permission
• How much is personal varies
A country that contains distinct environmental
zones that encourage different ways of life is
more likely to be home to a population that
sees itself as socially and politically divided.
Definition: Sovereignty
Internationally recognized control a place has over the people and
territory within its boundaries
• Nearly 200 countries on earth with sovereignty
• Disputes
 Sovereignty of Taiwan
 Sovereignty of Kurdistan
 Sovereignty of Kosovo
 Oceans
When two states compete with one another economically, they are
likely to become political antagonists. Economic competition
encourages political competition. A state that wants to reach the same
markets and utilize the same resources as another state is likely to
develop political concerns about the actions of its competitor
State refers to:
Arguably most powerful
institution in globalization
To be a state:
• Political unit with permanent
population
 citizenship
• Territorial boundaries that are
recognized by other states
• Effective government
• Working economy
• Sovereignty
Nation refers to:
 a group of people who share
a common culture and
identity as a cohesive group
Needed:
 Language
 Religion
 Shared history
 Territory (not always)
 Example: Jewish nation
A nation-state is most often defined by its twin
attributes of sovereignty and ethnic homogeneity.
A nation-state is a country in which the population
is ethnically uniform, which allows for a shared
language, cultural heritage, and religion
Stateless nation
Multinational state
 Country that includes more than
one nation within its borders
• Ex. Soviet Union
Nation-state
 State with only one nation in its
borders
• Ex. Japan, Iceland
 When a nation does not have territory to
call its own
• Assyrian Christians of Iraq
• Kurds of Iraq, Turkey, Iran
• Ughirs of Western China
History of Nation-State Concept
 Humans have organized political space
in different forms throughout their
existence
 Early humans organized into clans
 When conquered became kingdoms
and empires
 Ancient Greeks and Romans created
city-states
 Political space revolved around a central
city and surrounding farmland
 After fall of Roman Empire, Western
Europe was divided into a feudal
structure
 Mainly based on religion
 Eventually faded, strong monarchies
emerged
Stronger monarchies led to
more internal cohesion and rise
of nation-states
 More cohesive group of people
linked to their territory through a
shared government and common
goals
Pattern diffused throughout
Europe
 Goal of WWII
Idea of linking people who share
strong send of unity a way to
prevent ethnonational violence
The Peace of Westphalia, signed in 1648, was a set of European
peace treaties that ended different conflicts between Spain and
the Dutch Republic. These treaties did not lead to peace in
western Europe but allowed the heads of nations to meet and
agree that each country held sovereign powers
Ethnonationalism and Conflict
Definition
 A powerful emotion attachment to
one’s nation that occurs when a
minority nation within a state feels
different from the rest of the
state’s people
When a minority feels that they
do not have enough selfdetermination, or the power to
control their own territory and
destiny, ethnonationalism can
lead to conflict
Example
• The Chechen people comprise
a minority nation that live in
Russia and have a strong
sense of ethnonationalism
that has led to violent conflict
with the Russian government.
A political leader might use popular media to push for the
idea of a united, relatively homogenous and shared national
culture. The traditional concept of a nation-state involves
the population of the country having cultural solidarity and
remaining resistant to change from outside
Irredentism
Members of a nation do not
always live in just one place
• The Serbs are a nation, but they
exist in several countries, not just
the land that is considered Serbia
Conflict can arise when a
nation’s homeland is spread
into the territory of another
state or several states
Definition
• A movement by a nation to
reunite its parts when they
have spread across other
borders
 Ex. Irredentism occurred
when Hitler believed that
the German nation had
spread into Czechoslovakian
territory, he wanted to take
control of that land to
reunite Germans into one
state
Examples of Ethnonational Conflict
Place
Conflicting Parties
Reason
South Asia
India and Pakistan
Two parties are fighting over
control of Kashmir
Palestine,
Southwest Asia
Jewish Israelis vs Muslim
Palestinians and Arab allies
The stateless nation of Muslim
Palestinians and their Arab
allies are warring against the
Jewish-controlled state of Israel
for autonomy
Southeast Asia
Mainland China and Taiwan
Taiwan founded in the 1940s.
China does not recognize
Taiwan as a sovereign state
Former
Yugoslavia
Serbs vs all the other
nationalities that were once
part of “Yugoslavia”
In the 1990s different nations
in the multinational state of
Yugoslavia warred to break
away from the Serb-dominated
government in Belgrade.
Russia
Russia vs Chechnya
Chechnya is a state in the
Russian republic, governed by
Moscow.
Ethnonationalism and Conflict
Buffer States and Zones
 A buffer state is an independent
country located between two larger
countries that are in conflict
• Russia and China have warred over
boundaries for centuries, but
Mongolia, a buffer, has helped
reduce direct confrontation between
the two states
Satellite States
 Countries controlled by another,
more powerful state
• During the Cold War, the Soviet Union
worked to dominate the Eastern
European buffer zone and install
Communist satellite states there
 Called the “Iron Curtain”
Shatterbelts
 State or group of states that exists
within a sphere of competition
between larger states and is often
culturally, economically, and
politically fragmented and
splintered
• Eastern Europe
 Existed as a sphere of
competition between U.S.S.R.
and western powers
A nation-state is partially defined by its sovereignty. The
state government’s most important responsibilities
include defending the state from invasion and outside
rule. The state government must also prevent conflicting
populations within its borders from fragmenting the state
Geometric
Three types of boundaries
 Geometric
 Physical
 Cultural
 Straight-line boundaries that do
not related to the cultural or
physical features of the territories
involved
 Ex. North/South Korea 38th
parallel
Physical (or natural)
Best boundaries are those to
which all affected states agree,
regardless of the rationale used
to draw the line
 Separate territories according to
natural features in the landscape,
such as mountains, deserts, or
rivers
 Ex. France and Spain are divided
by the Pyrenees
A nation-state that experiences a large influx of
immigrants is the most at risk to suffer a crisis of
identity, which could fragment it politically and socially
and lead to a nation no longer being a nation-state
Cultural Boundaries
Mark changes in the cultural
landscape, such as
boundaries that divide
territories according to
religion or language
Sometimes drawn according
to geometric straight lines
 Religious
• Only a few cases where religion has
been used to select the actual
boundary line
• Example:
 South Asia, partition of India and
Pakistan
 Ireland and North Ireland
 Language
• Europe best example
• Idea spread during 20th century
 Versailles Conference
The leader of a nation-state would not be likely to
agree with an intergovernmental action that
mandated that her or his country exchange
territory with another country. Nation-states tend to
view the land of their country as nontransferable
Cyprus “Green Line” Boundary
 Contains two nationalities
 Turkish= north, eastern
• 18% of population
 Greek= south
• 78% of population
 Cyprus gained independence in 1960
 Constitution guaranteed Turkish minority
rights
 Cyprus never peacefully integrated the Greek
and Turkish nationalities
 Series of Coups led to Turkish section declaring
itself independent in 1983
 no one except Turkey recognizes
independence
 Wall constructed between two areas
 Buffer zone patrolled by UN
 Accepted to EU in 2004
Gerrymandering involves redistricting a legislative territory to provide
one party with an unequal advantage during the electoral process
Frontier:
 Region where no state exercises
complete and political control or
boundaries are weakly developed
 Antarctica
 Saudi Arabia and Yemen
A frontier area is uninhabited or
sparsely settled by a few isolated
pioneers
19th Century (1800s)
 Vast amounts of frontiers
Tangible geographic area
whereas a boundary is a
infinitely thin, invisible,
imaginary line
 Frontier provides an area of
separation but a boundary brings
two neighbors into direct contact
•
•
•
•
Australia
American West
Canadian North
Sub-Saharan Africa
The Arab League, an international organization of Arab countries,
acts to coordinate free trade among member states and reduces
each nation’s sovereign authority over its economic affairs
Evolution
 Another way to classify boundaries
depends not on how they were
created, but how they evolved
over time
• Antecedent boundaries
 Existed before humans cultures
developed into current forms
• Subsequent boundaries
 Grow to divide space as result of
human interaction
• Superimposed boundaries
 Forcibly put on the landscape
• Relict boundary
 No longer functions has a boundary
Boundary Creation
 Several steps on the growth of
boundaries into final form
• Definition
 Phase in which the exact location of
a boundary is legally described and
negotiated
• De Jure or De Facto
• Delimitation
 Is the step when the boundary’s
definition is drawn onto a map
• Demarcation
 Is the visible marking of a boundary
on the landscape with a fence, line,
sign, wall, or other means
• Administration
 Is the enforcement by a government
or people of the boundary that has
been created
The fragmentation of the Roman Empire that occurred between the first and
third centuries BCE led to the destabilization of the empire’s outer frontiers. An
empire’s political fragmentation is most likely to lead to instability in frontier
regions. This is what occurred as the Roman Empire declined, especially in
the areas that today composes France and Germany
 Conflicts over boundaries are divided
 Type of Disputes
into different categories
 Definitional disputes
 Can include mix of categories
• Fight over the language of border
agreement in a treaty or contract
 Japan and Russia
 Locational disputes
• Occur when conflicting parties agree
on the definition but not on where
the boundary exists on a map
 Operational disputes
• Conflicts over the way a boundary should
operation or function
 Allocational boundary disputes
• Fights over resources that may by
Devolution involves the distribution of powers formerly held by the central government
to regional or state governments. Devolution may be temporary or can be a permanent
arrangement, but the central government continues to hold most of the authority
Territorial Morphology
 Relationship between a state’s
geographic shape, size, relative
location, and it’s political situation
Shape of states
 Controls the length of its
boundaries with other states
 Shape affects potential for
communication and conflict with
neighbors
 Shape is part of its identity
 Shape can determine the difficulty
or ease of internal administration
and social unity
5 basic shapes
 Compact
 Elongated
 Prorupted
 Perforated
 Fragmented