Political Geography State

State – a politically organized territory with a permanent

population, a defined territory, and a government. To be a
Political Geography – state, an entity must be recognized by such by other states.
the study of the political
Unit Four: Political Organization organization of the world.
of Space (13-17%)
What is political geography? What is
geopolitics? What is the difference between a
nation and a state? How and why are
boundaries drawn? How is national identity
created?

• Territoriality – The Modern State Idea Nations

“the attempt by an individual or group to affect,
influence, or control people, phenomena, and
relationships, by delimiting and asserting control over a • The idea of a state that is tied to a • Nation – a culturally defined group of people with
geographic area.” – Robert Sack particular territory with defined boundaries a shared past and a common future who relate
came out of Europe and diffused through: to a territory and have political goals.
• Sovereignty – – mercantilism
having the last say over a territory – legally. • People construct nations to make sense of
– colonialism themselves.
• Territorial Integrity – • Nations are “imagined communities”
a government has the right to keep the borders and -Benedict Anderson
territory of a state in tact and free from attack.
• imagined = you will never meet all the people in your nation
• community = you see yourself as part of it

States and Nations The nations we

perceive as Nation-State
“natural” and
• Nation “always existing”
are relatively • Nation-State –
• Nation-state recent a politically organized area in which nation and state
• Sovereignty phenomena. occupy the same space.

• Citizenship
Where did the ideal of the nation-state originate?
• Nationalism

How did the ideal of the nation-state diffuse?

Are there any nation-states in the world today?

Nationalism in the Baltic Republics East European devolution

In 1648, Europe was divided into dozens of small territories.

Multinational Stateless Nation –
State – a nation without a state Nation and Territory
A state with more
than one nation. “The control and maintenance of a territory
is as crucial as the control and
maintenance of a national language,
religion, or particular way of life. Indeed, a
language, religion, or way of life is difficult
to maintain without control over territory.”
- George White

The Former Yugoslavia

European Colonialism and the Colonialism

Diffusion of the Nation-State Model
• Colonialism -
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
Dominant Colonial Influences, 1550-1950
This map shows the dominant influence, as some places were
colonized by more than one power in this time period. Africa: 1496-1912 South America/Caribbean: 1496-1667

Decolonization and Independence Theories and Practices of States

Decolonization of Africa
• Imperialism
Immanuel Wallerstein’s World-Systems
Theory:
• Colonialism

• North/South Divide 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.
Independence in South America British colonialism in India
Construction of the World Economy Three Tier Structure
Core Periphery
Capitalism – people, corporations, and states produce Processes that incorporate higher Processes that incorporate lower
levels of education, higher levels of education, lower
goods and services and exchange them in the world salaries, and more technology salaries, and less technology
market, with the goal of achieving profit. * Generate more wealth in the * Generate less wealth in the world
world economy economy

Commodification – the process of placing a price on Semi-periphery

a good and then buying, selling, and trading the good. Places where core and periphery
processes are both occurring.
Places that are exploited by the
Colonialism – brought the world into the world core but then exploit the
economy, setting up an interdependent global economy. periphery.
* Serves as a buffer between core
and periphery

Nigeria’s Federal Government – The U.S. Federal Government –

Allows states within the state to determine Allows states within the state to determine “moral” laws such as
Forms of Government whether to have Shari’a Laws death penalty, access to alcohol, and concealed weapons.

• Unitary – highly centralized government

Minnesota’s
where the capital city serves as a focus of concealed
power. Shari’a Laws weapons law

Legal systems requires the posting

based on
• Federal – a government where the state is traditional
of signs such as this
on buildings that do
organized into territories, which have Islamic laws
not allow concealed
control over government policies and weapons.
funds.

Ethnocultural Devolutionary
Movements
Devolution –
Movement of power from the central government
to regional governments within the state. Eastern Europe
devolutionary forces
What causes devolutionary movements? since the fall of
communism
Ethnocultural forces
Economic forces
Spatial forces
 Economic
Geopolitics Classical Geopolitics
Devolutionary
Movements • Geopolitics – the interplay among geography, • German School
power, politics, and international relations. eg. Ratzel’s organic state theory
Catalonia, Spain
Barcelona is the
center of banking and • British / American School
commerce in Spain eg. Mackinder’s Heartland Theory
and the region is
much wealthier than
the rest of Spain.

New World Order: Afghanistan Us versus Them Us versus Them

Terrorists “come from “They [the terrorists] stand Terrorists “come from “They [the terrorists] stand
diverse places but share against us because we diverse places but share against us because we
a hatred for democracy, a stand in their way.” a hatred for democracy, a stand in their way.”
fanatical glorification of fanatical glorification of
violence, and a horrible violence, and a horrible
distortion of their religion, distortion of their religion, President George W. Bush
“I’ve said in the past that
to justify the murder of to justify the murder of
nations are either with us
innocents. They have innocents. They have
or against us in the war “I’ve said in the past that
made the United States made the United States
on terror.” nations are either with us
their adversary precisely their adversary precisely
or against us in the war
because of what we because of what we
on terror.”
stand for and what we stand for and what we
Taliban militiamen > stand against.” stand against.”
President George W. Bush
The Kyber Pass President William J. Clinton

Terrorism
Supranational Organizations U.N. Member Countries
A separate entity composed of three or more
states that forge an association and form
an administrative structure for mutual
The Northern Caucasus
benefit in pursuit of shared goals.

* How many supranational organizations

exist in the world today?

Oklahoma City A renewed effort was made to establish an international organization aimed at
instituting a system of international peace and security.
Grozny refugees
 Transnational Political Integration Growth and Sectionalism The Former Yugoslavia
The Maastricht Treaty Regionalism is a
– EU citizenship for every feeling of
person in each member collective identity
state based on a
– Enhanced EEC customs population’s
and immigration politico-territorial
agreements identification
– Established the euro as a within a state or
common currency
– Governance occurs
across state
through supranational boundaries.
European institutions and
governments of member
states Basque separatists in Spain
Sectionalism is an
extreme devotion
to local interests
and customs, as
in the U.S. South
during the Civil
War, and should
not be confused
with regionalism.

Regional Scale – The European Union