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Political Geography
The Idea of the StateState - Independent political unit that claims exclusive jurisdiction over a defined territory and over all the people and activities within the territory
• Governments are not always able to exercise jurisdiction completely, but states encourage or force people to conform to the political map No territory can be totally sealed off
• Border wars among countries and civil wars within countries are common
• Also try to build national economies• Originated in Medieval Europe
Roman Catholic church dioceses – as people converted to Christianity, it also converted them to the idea of territorial political organization
Territorial political boundary Shift from Regnum - governance of a people to dominium
governance of a defined territory
The Idea of the NationNation – A group of people who want to have their own government and rule themselves. (Cultural entity)
• Feeling of nationality may be based on religion or language, but does not have to be, people may not share any attributes other than living within demarcated borders (cultural concept in its own right)
• Nationalism is one form of political unity – willingness to join together and form government to solve problems
• Evolution of Nationalism – Absolutism → Protestant Reformation → renounced theory of divine right → English Bill of Rights (1689) → Declaration of Independence (1776)
The Nation-StateRousseau laid the foundation for allegiance to the state with the idea of a social contract1789 Declaration of the Rights of ManNation State – a state ruling over a territory containing all the people of a nation
Theory assumes that nations develop first and that each nation then achieves a territorial state of its ownCore areas – historic homelands (Paris, France – Highlands of EthiopiaPolitical culture – unwritten ways in which written rules are interpreted and actually enforced (Reconstruction)
• Economic theory – the more citizens trust one another the better off the society
• Political leaders in regions lacking civic community may lack building blocks for stable democracy
George Bernard Shaw’s “John Bull’s Other Island”
“ A healthy nation is as unconscious of its nationality as a healthy man is of his bones. But if you break a nation’s nationality it will think of nothing else but getting it set again. It will listen to no reformer, to no philosopher, to no preacher, until the demand of the Nationalist is granted. It will attend to no business, however vital, except the business of liberation and unification”
European Nation-States
Napoleonic Wars spread the idea of nationalismNew nations in Europe emerge from empires and feudal states
National self determinationIdeal of the nation-state
President Woodrow Wilson
Territories redrawn after World War I & IIIrredenta
• Territorial claims on a neighbor
Formation of States Outside EuropeSuperimposed boundaries
European imperialists drew borders that ignored indigenous political organizationsSplit indigenous political communities/combines two or more in one colony (i.e. Iraq)
Indirect ruleEuropean use of indigenous rulers as intermediariesHindered indigenous unityWhen independent indigenous bureaucracies had an interest in maintaining power
Threshold principleAs late as 1920’s most diplomats insisted that a nation had to have some minimal population and territory to merit self-determinationIdea abandoned after WWII (now many small independent states, 11-1)
Cultural Sub-nationalism – entire pop. of a state does not have shared nationalism
Allegiance to one’s group not the stateCause of conflict and civil warsMany states consist of several nationalities
Centrifugal forcesPull states apart
Centripetal forcesBring states together
Multinational statesUsually held together by military force and suffer divisive politicsi.e. Nigeria and Biafra, Kurds in Iraq
Creating Nation StatesChanging boundaries (Re-drawing political boundaries)
Matching states to nations
Mass expulsionRemoval of people not accepted as members of the state1989 Bulgaria – expelled 100,000 ethnic Turks
Genocide – systematic eradication of people of a particular ethnic group
Ethnic cleansingCultural cleansingBosnia-Hercegovina – Serbian slaughter and exile of Muslims
Fostering NationalismCoercing allegianceRemoving influence of cultural subnationalism
Example: Kenyan assimilation Masai & their political leadersInstruments of nation building
National religionArmed forces Educational systemManipulating symbols
• IconographyMediaPolitical partiesLabor unions
Democracies & False DemocraciesClaim to be democratic
Government owned mediaOligarchy
• Rule by a privileged elite Kleptocracy
• Government by theft – national wealth is controlled by a privileged few and even taken out of the country
• Foreign aid may not reach the people that need it General Abacha from Nigeria had $670 million in a Swiss account
People not ready for self rule - Eritrean president said with nine languages and two religions, true democracy would cause chaosLow voter turn outTocqueville – NGOs represent the strength of American democracyPreconditions for Democracy?
President of Singapore cites near-universal education and a large middle class to stabilize voting patterns
The Shapes of StatesCircular
Ideal shapeEfficientBorder controlTransportation – center is easily reached
Compact – states w/ shape closest to the circular model
Prorupted – nearly compact have at least on narrow extension (i.e. Thailand)
Corridors
Elongated – long/thinArchipelago - islandsExclave – separated from larger statePerforated – interrupted by other states (Italy/Vatican city)
International Borders
TypesTopographic
Parallels and meridians
Defense lines
Unmarked
Unguarded
Disputes
Economic activity
Informational flow
U.S. Border and Internal SecurityDepartment of Homeland Security
Result of 9/11Cabinet levelControls 46 agencies
Patriot ActStrengthen internal securitySuspends civil libertiesPotential for national ID card
Subdivision & Representation
Defining the balance of power between local and national government
UnitaryPower lies at the center
FederalPower lies with the subunits
Federalism in Canada
The British North America Act of 1867
Provinces have more power than U.S. states
Ontario and Quebec dominate national government
Territorial Subdivisions
States, provinces, districts
Special purpose subdivisionsNumerousRegulatory differences
Federal districts
Capital cities
Representative Districts
Electoral GeographySub-field of political geographyVoting districts and boundaries
GerrymanderingManipulating boundaries to gain advantage
United States issuesElectoral collegeOne person/one vote objective
Individual Rights
MeritocracyAbility to succeed on merit
SexismEducation
Country’s wealth and education level rise together
FreedomDefined and quantified differently
Types of BoundariesFrontier – Where no state exercises complete controlPhysical Boundaries
Mountain BoundariesDesert BoundariesWater Boundaries
Cultural BoundariesGeometric BoundariesReligious BoundariesLanguage BoundariesCyprus “Green Line” Boundary
Political and Military Cooperation
United NationsRegional Military Alliances
Era of Two Superpowers (USA and USSR)Military Cooperation in Europe
• NATO and Warsaw Pact
Other Regional Organizations• Organization of American States• African Union
European UnionBipolar balance ended in 1992 fall of USSR
TerrorismTerrorism – systematic use of violence by a group in order to intimidate a population or coerce a government into granting its demands
American Terrorists – Unabomber, McVeigh
Al Qaeda – “foundation” or “base”
• Membership est. 20,000 in 34 countries
• 9/11 – 3,000 fatalities
• Bin Laden - Al Qaeda Leader 1 of 50 children, excommunicated from wealthy Saudi family Fought with Mujahedeen against Russians in Afghanistan Moved to Sudan – attacked US troops in Yemen and Somalia Issued a religious decree “fatwa” against the US in 1996, b/c he said US
was responsible for power of Saudi monarchy and supporting Israel Wanted proposed “liberation” of Islam's holiest sites (Mecca, Medina,
and Jerusalem)
State Support for TerrorismLibya
Accused of sponsoring a 1986 bombing of a nightclub in Berlin Germany, popular with US military personnel
1986 – US aircraft shot down attacking Libyan planes, disagreement over territory
1988 – Libyan agents killed 270 people on Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie
• Qaddafi later held trial for terrorists and provided compensation to families
Afghanistan
Taliban “students of Muslim Religious Schools” sheltered Al Qaeda
Iraq
1980s Iraq attacked Iran- Shatt Al Arab waterway – 1.5 million died
1988 – Saddam Hussein (Ba’ath Party) ordered the gassing of 5,000 Kurds
1991 – Invaded Kuwait, US led coalition liberated Iraq
1980s – UN inspectors found evidence of weapons of a nuclear weapons, nerve agents, and bio weapons
2003 – US Led attack to oust Saddam Hussein for harboring WMDs
Qaddafi
Saddam Hussein
State Support for Terrorism Cont…..
IranMajority Shiite Population
History of animosity to US
US led coup against Iranian president to install pro-western Shah (King)
1979 – Ayatollah supporters seized US embassy on Nov. 4, 1979, held 62 Americans hostage until 1981
Ayatollah put in place Sharia law
Ayottalah Komeni US Hostage in Iran
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