Political Geography

(Jordan Chapter 6)

States of the World Today

• Patterns are the result of historical activities.• Source: CIA http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/mapspub/maps/802980.jpg

Boundaries– Flexible – Often change through conquest

• (often considered immutable until they are changed)– Changes take war or agreement.

• Very few countries change borders peacefully (e.g. Czechoslovakia Czech Republic, Slovakia)

– Alsace-Lorraine: changed countries multiple times. (wars)– Yugoslavia (war, genocide, partition… done?)– Korea (North and South, a country divided)

– Want to know potential flashpoints.• Know what and where some people will be fighting about.

– (again).

Definitions:

Look to the book for all definitions.

Colonial Powers

• Spain and Portugal (partition of the world)• England (post-Armada)• France• Italy• Belgium• Russia• Netherlands• Austria• Ottoman Empire• Japan• United States (Ask when and where.)

Why colonize at all?

– Missionaries (religion)– Economic colonies ($)– Military (establish, expand, and project power)

• Over ½ of the world was under colonial rule. – All of the populated world was conquered at least once.

• Present Colonies: mostly Pacific Ocean islands, Puerto Rico– (Text figure)– For discussion: Using the text’s definition and information,

is Iraq a colony? Why or why not?

Important points

• Former colonies often reflect their colonial past.• Different countries treated colonies differently.

– Each country treated its colonies differently.– Treatment varied over time.– This treatment affected the countries and their transitions.

• Transitions to states– Causes for transition vary.

• Some peaceful, some violent. (Ask for a few.)– Some national, some multinational.– Some stable, some unstable.

Sovereignty and Empire

• Sovereignty: state control over its own political affairs (both internal and external)

– Iraq: Countrymen are working to establish this.– Kurds: wish sovereignty, not complete.

• What cultural concept is this linked to?• Imperialism: control of territory already occupied and

organized by an indigenous society.• There are other definitions of empire and imperialism.

– Ex: Chinese, Greek, Roman, English, Russian, Ottoman, Napoleonic, Austro-Hungarian, German, Japanese, etc.

– American empire? (Discuss.)

Borders:

• Often defined by conflict.

• Some conflicts are violent.– Korea: North and South near the 38th

parallel. (more or less)– China: Mainland and Taiwan– Germany– Poland

Border Patterns

a

Border type Text Description Examples:

Compact state Efficient Rhodesia, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda (p. 272)

Prorupted state Access or Disruption Afghanistan, Namibia (p. 272) , India (p. 273) Congo (p. 272)

Elongated state Potential Isolation Chile, Italy, Gambia, Senegal, N. Cyprus (p.278), Mozambique (p. 272)

Fragmented state

(Can be) Problematic Indonesia, United States, Russia, S. Cyprus (p.278), Bangladesh (p.273), Angola (p. 272)

Perforated state (external access control of the state you surround)

South Africa (p.272)

Landlocked state (external access control by other states)

Bolivia, Paraguay, Burkina Fasso, Mongolia, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland (p. 272)

Boundaries and Frontiers• Boundaries:

– Physical Boundaries– Cultural Boundaries– Geometric Boundaries

• Frontier: A zone where no state exercises complete physical control.

– (can be a ‘no-man’s land’ between states. Korea?)– Formal Neutral Zone between Saudi Arabia and Iraq

(fixed, almost, p. 275)– Antarctica– Arabian Peninsula: b/w Saudi Arabia and Oman, Yemen,

United Arab Emirates, Qatar, (p. 275)

Physical Boundaries

• Can be found easily, some can shift. (e.g. rivers)• Ocean boundary disputes• Which are better boundaries, rivers or ridges between them?

Mountains Argentina and Chile (They apparently fought over ridge lines and peak to peak lines.)

Deserts Libya and Chad, etc. (fought over the frontier, p. 277)

Water or watersheds

Germany and France, (fought) US and Mexico (treaty)

Cultural Boundaries

• Also, geometric boundaries • Can be arbitrary.• Cultural boundaries are often snapshots in time.• Some work well, some don’t.

Ethnic New nations of the former Yugoslavia

Religious India and Pakistan

Language post-WW I (Versailles) Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia, Cyprus

(See p. 287)

Types of State

• Unitary state: places most of the power in the hands of central governmental officials.

• Federalist state: allocates strong power to units of local government within the country.

• Some believe that there is a general movement from unitary to federalist states.

• Federalist states give more representation to minority cultures in some cases.

– (Ask for a few.)

Political and Military Cooperation

• Global cooperation: International bodies with some power vested in them.

– League of Nations: Woodrow Wilson, not ratified by U.S. Senate. Weak, replaced by…

– United Nations: Response to WW II and other pressures, was ratified by the U.S. Senate.

• Regional (and Global) Alliances– Military: NATO, Warsaw Pact (gone), OAS, etc.– Political: UN (global), EU, OAS, etc.

• One global.

– Economic: COMECON (gone), CAFTA, NAFTA, EEU, Commonwealth of Nations, etc.

• Economic unions and trade treaties

Why cooperate?• Political stability• Military cooperation• Economic cooperation• Examples:

– Treaties can provide mutual assistance if attacked.– (Cold War) Warsaw Pact and NATO provided security. – Japan has little military, (and most of Asia is happier). Japan

pays less for this, & US gets bases.– NAFTA gives Mexico and Canada more direct access to US

markets, and the US better access to Canadian and Mexican goods. Promotes stability.

– EEU and EU provide common markets and voice.

Electoral Geography

• Gerrymandering: redrawing legislative boundaries to benefit the party in power.

– Wasted vote: spread opposition across many districts, but in the minority.

– Stacked vote: link distant areas of like-minded voters, often with odd shaped boundaries

Gerrymandering Example: 5 towns

• Gerrymandering combination:– Start with five separable regions, towns separated by country.– Focus on votes, skip the spatial aspects.– Stack opposing votes in a few districts.– Waste their votes in minority in other districts.– Your side controls the power.

A_town farms B_town hills C_town peaks D_town swamp E_town

green / b green / b green / b green / b green / b

green / b green / b green / b green / b green / b

green / b green / b green / b green / b green / b

green / b cows green / b grapes green / b Cougar green / b bugs green / b

green / b green / b green / b green / b green / b

brown / g brown / g brown / g Deer brown / g brown / g

brown / g brown / g brown / g brown / g brown / g

brown / g brown / g brown / g brown / g brown / g

brown / g brown / g brown / g brown / g brown / g

brown / g farms brown / g hills brown / g peaks brown / g swamp brown / g

Favor Greens: 4:1 representation

• Both wasted and stacked vote districts.

A_town  B_town C_town D_town E_town

green / b   green / b   green / b   green / b   green / b

green / b   green / b   green / b   green / b   green / b

green / b   green / b   green / b   green / b   green / b

green / b   green / b   green / b   green / b   green / b

green / b green / b green / b green / b green / b

brown / g   brown / g   brown / g   brown / g   brown / g

brown / g   brown / g   brown / g brown / g   brown / g

brown / g   brown / g   brown / g   brown / g   brown / g

brown / g   brown / g   brown / g   brown / g   brown / g

brown / g   brown / g   brown / g   brown / g   brown / g

Favor Browns: 4:1 representatives

• Again, both wasted and stacked vote districts.

A_town   B_town    C_town    D_town    E_town 

green / b   green / b   green / b   green / b   green / b

green / b   green / b   green / b   green / b   green / b

green / b   green / b   green / b   green / b   green / b

green / b   green / b   green / b   green / b   green / b

green / b green / b grapes green / b cougar green / b bugs green / b

brown / g   brown / g   brown / g   brown / g   brown / g

brown / g   brown / g   brown / g deer brown / g   brown / g

brown / g   brown / g   brown / g   brown / g   brown / g

brown / g   brown / g   brown / g   brown / g   brown / g

brown / g   brown / g   brown / g   brown / g   brown / g

Terrorism

• Terrorism: Systematic use of violence by a group in order to intimidate a population or coerce a government into granting a group’s demands.

– Systematic violence, – Intimidate a population, – coerce government, – grant demands

• Often an extreme response to internal or external pressure

Terrorist Targets

• Aimed at ordinary people– A… “terrorist considers all citizens responsible for

actions being opposed, so therefore equally justified as victims.” (p. 291)

How is this related to:• culture and globalization? • previous (e.g. U.S.) activities?

Examples:

• Internal: Black Panthers, McVey, et. al. , • International: al-Qaeda, Shining Path• State Supported: Libya, PLO,

– Providing sanctuary for wanted terrorists. • Ex: Afghanistan

– Supplying weapons, money, and intelligence to terrorists• Ex: Libya, United States (Reagan Era: Contras),

– Planning attacks using terrorists

Responses / Reprisals

• Bomb the country• Sanctions against the country• Send in troops to impose order.

– (Lebanon, 100+ died in a ‘reprisal’ attack. Somalia…)

• Invade the country. (Afghanistan, Iraq)• Assassinate the leader (Tried in Libya, Cuba. Failed.)

– (Need a country or a leader to focus on. Internally, you have to differentiate.)

Don’t always get it right: US bombed a medicinal factory in Sudan and invaded Iraq.

:

Globalization: (from Chapter 1)

• leads to more (and more complex) connections.• Political considerations:

– Globalizing religions– Globalizing technologies– Globalizing political institutions– Globalizing agricultural practices– Globalizing manufacturing and service industries– Globalizing warfare– Globalizing travel methods– (etc.)

Political Transitions:

Military confrontation is giving way to

Economic competition and cooperation

(but not everywhere, or all the time)

Sovereign?Principality of Sealand

• Sovereign?

– Why?

– Why not?

• Self declared, but

• Unrecognized.• Self-advertisement: http://www.sealandgov.org/• Article: http://geography.about.com/od/politicalgeography/a/sealand.htm

http://news.thomasnet.com/IMT/archives/The%20self-proclaimed%20sovereign%20principality%20of%20Sealand,%20aboard%20an%20artillery%20platform%20built%20during%20World%20War%20II,%20as%20seen%20in%201999.jpg

Review:• Handouts:

– Look for key info, and review within the text.• Text:

– Key points– Key terms– Figures– Headings– Text

• Notes:– Reinforce your learning.

(STOP)