• The study of the interaction of geographical area and political process

• It is the formal study of territoriality.• Covers forms of government, borders, treaties,

trading blocs, conflicts and war.

POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY

Interaction of politics and place Interaction of politics and place

How Is Space Politically Organized into States and

Nations?• Political geography: The study of the

political organization of the world • Territoriality: “The attempt by an

individual or group to affect, influence, or control people, phenomena, and relationships, by delimiting and asserting control over a geographic area”

– Robert Sack

Political Organization of Space• Sovereignty: Having the last say over a

territory — legally

• Territorial integrity: The right of a government to keep the borders and territory of a state intact and free from attack

StateA politically organized territory with a permanent population, a defined territory, and a government with sovereignty, and recognized as such by other states

Emergence of States• City-State –

The first states evolved in Mesopotamia generally a town and the surrounding countryside

Empire• When one city-state

would gain military dominance over others and form an empire, which is an extensive territory or a number of territories and peoples under the control of a single political authority

The Modern State Idea

The idea of a state that is tied to a particular territory with defined boundaries• Came out of Europe • Diffused through

–Mercantilism–Colonialism

Monarchies: Constitutional Monarchy Traditional Monarchy Absolute Monarchy

Republics: Democracy Restricted Democratic Practice Authoritarian Regime

      Totalitarian Regime

Non-Sovereign: Protectorate Colonial Dependency Empire

Source: Matthew White, 2003. http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/othergov.htm Adapted from FreedomHouse.org

Forms of Government

Monarchies: Constitutional Monarchy Traditional Monarchy Absolute Monarchy

Republics: Democracy Restricted Democratic Practice Authoritarian Regime

      Totalitarian Regime

Non-Sovereign: Protectorate Colonial Dependency Empire

Source: Matthew White, 2003. http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/othergov.htm Adapted from FreedomHouse.org

Monarchies: Constitutional Monarchy Traditional Monarchy Absolute Monarchy

Republics: Democracy Restricted Democratic Practice Authoritarian Regime

      Totalitarian Regime

Non-Sovereign: Protectorate Colonial Dependency Empire

Source: Matthew White, 2003. http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/othergov.htm Adapted from FreedomHouse.org

Nations

• Nation: A culturally defined group of people with a shared past and a common future who relate to a territory and have political goals – Constructed by people to make sense of themselves – “Imagined communities” (Benedict Anderson)

• Imagined = you will never meet all the people in your nation

• Community = you see yourself as part of it• Nations perceived as “natural” and “always

existing” but really a relatively recent phenomenon

Nation-State• A politically organized area in which nation and state occupy the

same space • Rare in practice• An ideal for governments as source of political loyalty and unity• Origins in French Revolution

– Democracy: People as sovereign– A territorial state for each nation

• Nationalism (video)– Strong sense of loyalty to the state on the part of its people– Government that promotes the nation within the state– Promotion of loyalty to the state in multinational states

Europe in 1648

A state with more than one nation

Multinational State

Stateless NationA nation with no state

Part-Nation State• A single nation

dispersed across and predominant in two or more states ( The Arab Nation)

European Colonialism and the Diffusion of the Nation-State ModelColonialism: A physical action in which one

state takes over control of another, taking over the government and ruling the territory as its own Two Waves of European Colonialism:1500 – 1825 1825 – 1975

Some places were colonized by more than one power in this time period.

Dominant Colonial Influences, 1550–1950

Imperialism• Control of territory already occupied and

organized by an indigenous society

Decolonization• The acquisition, by colonized peoples,

of control over their own territory

The Capitalist World Economy• Result of colonialism• Construction of a world order based on

differences in economic and political power• Immanuel Wallerstein’s World-Systems Theory

1. The world economy has one market and a global division of labor.

2. Although the world has multiple states, almost everything takes place within the context of the world economy.

3. The world economy has a three-tier structure.

Construction of the World Economy

• Capitalism: The system whereby people, corporations, and states produce goods and services and exchange them in the world market, with the goal of achieving profit

• Commodification: The process of placing a price on a good and then buying, selling, and trading the good

• Colonialism: Brought the world into the world economy, setting up an interdependent global economy

Three-Tier StructureCore Processes that incorporate

higher levels of education, higher salaries, and more technology

Generate more wealth in the world economy

Semi-periphery Places where core and

periphery processes are both occurring

Places that are exploited by the core but then exploit the periphery

Serves as a buffer between core and periphery

Periphery Processes that incorporate

lower levels of education, lower salaries, and less technology

Generate less wealth in the world economy

The Three-Tier System

How Do States Spatially Organize Their Governments?

Forms of government• Unitary: Highly centralized government

where the capital city serves as a focus of power

• Federal: A government where the state is organized into territories, which have control over government policies and funds

Allows states within Nigeria to determine whether to have Shari’a laws (legal systems based on traditional Islamic laws)

Nigeria’s Federal System

Allows states to determine “moral” laws such as death penalty, access to alcohol, and concealed weapons

U.S. Federal System

• Movement of power from the central government to regional governments within a state

• Causes– Ethnocultural forces– Economic forces– Spatial forces– Top Ten Countries that disappeared in th

e 20th Century

- The New World –Predictions of Devolution

Devolution

Ethnocultural Devolutionary Movements in Eastern Europe

Devolution in Europe

Irredentism• The policy of a state

wishing to incorporate within itself territory inhabited by people who have ethnic or linguistic links with the country but that lies within a neighboring state

Shatter Belt• Region caught between

stronger, colliding external cultural-political forces, under persistent stress and often fragmented by aggressive rivals

Buffer Zone

• A set of countries separating ideological or political adversaries.

ELECTORAL GEOGRAPHY ELECTORAL GEOGRAPHY Political Geography of ElectionsPolitical Geography of Elections

Variation of voting districtsVariation of voting districtsand voting patternsand voting patterns

Electoral Geography

Part of a state’s spatial organization of government

In the United States• Territorial representation• Reapportionment• Voting rights for minority populations

ELECTORAL ELECTORAL GEOGRAPHY GEOGRAPHY

VOTER TURN-OUT All elections since 1945-1998  Country vote/VAP

%1 Italy 92.52 Cambodia 90.53 Seychelles 96.14 Iceland 89.5

36 Romania 77.237 Spain 7775 Luxembourg 64.176 Nepal 63.795 Malaysia 5996 Zimbabwe 58.897 Jamaica 58.5

106 Honduras 55.3107 Russia 55108 Panama 53.4109 Poland 52.3110 Uganda 50.6114 USA 48.3115 Mexico 48.1116 Peru 48

Source: International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, 2005

“Gerrymandering”

Redistricting forpartisan purposes

Voting Districts• Gerrymandering :

Drawing voting districts to benefit one group over another

• Majority-minority Districts: Drawn so that the majority of the population in the district is from the minority

Tom Delay’s District in Texas

After Texas Republicans won a majority in 2002, they enacted redistricting legislation to protect their wins.

How Are Boundaries Established, and Why Do Boundary Disputes Occur?

Boundary: A vertical plane that cuts through the rocks below and the airspace above, dividing one state territory from another

Politics of GeographyPolitics of GeographyEffect of place on politicsEffect of place on politics

ExampleExample::Political BordersPolitical Borders

U.S.-Canadaboundary

Alberta-Montana

U.S.-Mexicoboundary

Calexico, California-Mexicali, Mexico

Boundaries often divide resources, such as oil between Kuwait and Iraq

Boundaries

Boundaries• Establishing boundaries

– Define– Delimit– Demarcate– Administrate

• Types of boundaries– Geometric boundaries: Based on grid systems– Physical-political boundaries: Follow an

agreed-upon feature in the physical geographic landscape

Boundary Disputes

• Definitional boundary disputes• Locational boundary disputes• Operational boundary disputes• Allocational boundary disputes

GEOPOLITICSGEOPOLITICS

State’s power to control State’s power to control territory, shape international policyterritory, shape international policy

and other states’ foreign policy and other states’ foreign policy

How Americans View the World?

How Do Geopolitics and Critical Geopolitics Help Us

Understand the World?• Geopolitics: The interplay among

geography, power, politics, and international relations

• Choke Points• Classical geopolitics

– German School (Ratzel’s organic state theory)

– British /American School (Mackinder’s heartland theory)

Ratzel’s Organic State Theory

• Based on Darwin’s theories of evolution• Need of a state for territory and

overseas connections in order to survive

• Described expansion of empires and large states in the 19th century

• Eventually contributed to Nazi expansion

Mackinder’s Heartland Theory• Who rules East Europe commands the

Heartland• Who rules the Heartland commands the

World Island • Who rules the World Island commands the

world

Critical Geopolitics

Ideas of intellectuals of statecraft about places

• Influence and reinforce their political behaviors and policy choices

• Affect how ordinary people process notions of places and politics

Us versus Them

• Cold War– Evil Empire (Soviet Union)– Shining city on a hill (United States)

• Replacement of Soviet Union as “them” by terrorists

East versus West: View of Communist “Red Bloc” during Cold War

Lumping failed to recognizedifferences among Communists,or local causes of conflict

Enlargement ofSoviet bloc afterWorld War II

BerlinWall,

1961-89

Geopolitical World Order

Temporary periods of stability in conduct of politics at the global scale

• Bi-polar• Multi-polar• Unilateralism

What Are Supranational Organizations, and What Is

the Future of the State?Supranational organization: A separate entity composed of three or more states that forge an association and form an administrative structure for mutual benefit in pursuit of shared goals

International CooperationTreaties and Trading Blocs

•Economic Treaties and Free Trade Agreements

•Military Alliances

•Supranational Agreements

Map of NATO Countries

Global Scale: The United Nations

United Nations Member States (192)Non-member States

Taiwan (China)

Vatican City

Western Sahara (territory of Morocco)

Palestinian Territories

Tibet (China)

The United Nations System is based on five active principal organs UN General Assembly UN Security Council UN Economic and Social Council UN Secretariat International Court of Justice

Sample United Nations OrganizationsUNDP - United Nations Development Programme UNIFEM - United Nations Development Fund for Women UNV - United Nations Volunteers UNEP - United Nations Environment Programme UNFPA - United Nations Fund for Population Activities UNHCR - Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees UN-HABITAT - United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) UNICEF - United Nations Children's Fund

Trading Blocs

Regional Scale: The European Union

EuropeanUnion

Began as EuropeanEconomic

Community(EEC), 1957.

Stronger in 1994

10 new membersjoined, 2004

Turkey and Romania want to

join but have faced resistance.

OPEC

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is a large group of countries[1][2] made up of Algeria, Angola, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Venezuela, and Ecuador (which rejoined OPEC in November 2007)

Africancolonies

Decolonization, 1940s-1990s