Chapter 8

“Political Geography”

Political Geography or Geopolitics involves …

How the ‘geography’ (climate, raw materials, rivers, lakes, mountains, arable land etc.) of a country affects the economics and politics of that country. How a countries location (including the country’s it borders) influences it’s economics and politics.

The term geopolitics also describes how nations exert their influence over their own people and over other nations in order to achieve greater international power.

A nation's political stance is often dictated by that countries geographical situation.

Most of the international news these days deals with issues such as war, conflict, disputes, terrorism, peacekeepers, and the involvement of international organizations ie. UN, G8/G20.

Political Geography or Geopolitics involves examining the political, environmental, social, and economic interactions within and among countries. Studying the geopolitics of an issue helps us to understand specific world events.

Innovative communication technologies, high tech weapons and surveillance devices, international agreements and the emergence of globalization is constantly changing the face of geopolitics.

These changing forces can shape foreign policy and government decisions. Sometimes these forces can lead to conflict within or between states as we have seen in the last few years.

Sometimes these forces lead to extreme frustration among people that feel they have to take things into their own hands to achieve a certain goal. This frustration can take the role of civil war, coup d'état (overthrow of a government) or terrorism.

We begin by trying to clearly distinguish between a State, a Nation and a Nation-State.

Define and give examples of countries:

• Nation

• State

• Nation State

•Multi-nation State

•Multi-state Nation

• Ethno-Nationalism

• Regional Autonomy

• Irredentism

• Diaspora

• Unitary State

• Federal State

• Nationalism

• Patriotism

• Homeland

• SupraNationalism

• Devolution

Unitary State: a country that places most of its power in the hands of a central government - China

Federal State: a country that allocates most powers to units of local government - Canada

A. Multi-State Nation: Eg. Palestinians have no nation. They are spread over Israel, Jordan and Syria.

B. Nation State: Eg. Iceland is a country entirely comprised of Icelanders.

C. Multi-Nation State: Eg. Belgium is made up of Flemings (north) and Walloons (south). Canada can also be considered a Multi-Nation State.

D. Albanians live in Albania, but a number of Albanians also live in a new state called Kosovo (recently part of Serbia)

E. Most of Hungarians live in Hungary, but there is a group that lives in the middle of Romania.

F. Multi-Nation State: Eg. Russia has over 100 different nationalities. The USSR ceased to exist in part because a lot of these nationalities wanted their own country.

G. Eg. The majority of people in France are French but there are two small groups the Bretons and Basques.

H. Eg. There are two German states; Germany and Austria but 70% of Switzerland is German speaking.

How Boundaries are made:

1. Definition - Identify the boundary- Physical Barrier – mountains, rivers etc.- Religious, Language, Ethnicity, Historical event- War

2. Delimitation – Survey the boundary - Bordering countries have to agree

3. Demarcation – Build an actual marker – start drawing it on a map

- Fences, Flags, Pillars etc.4.Neighbouring countries have to agree and accept the new boundary5.Global Community (eg. UN) has to recognize it.6. Administration Defending – Border guards

- Begin administering the area – impose rules and laws

What is the difference between a boundary and a frontier? What is a DMZ?

There are 6 types of boundaries (on a map) that can establish a state:

•Mountain – the Andes – Argentina/Chile•Desert – Sahara – Niger/Algeria•Water – Great Lakes – Canada/USA•Geometric – 49th Parallel – Canada/USA•Religious – India/Pakistan•Language – Italy/France

What is a landlocked country?

The Andes: A Mountain Boundary Lake Victoria:

A Water Boundary

Arabian Desert: A Desert Boundary

Aozou Strip: A Geometric Boundary

Cyprus: An Ethnic Boundary

Once boundaries have been incorporated – they are 5 shapes that countries can have:

•Compact•Prorupted•Elongated•Fragmented•Perforated

See the next slide for examples.

Elongated

Fragmented

Prorupted

Perforated

Compact

What is a Frontier?

You can even classify how history plays a role in describing the boundaries in the following way:

Antecedent – The boundary was set up before a settlement – Land was surveyed first. Ontario and it’s Concession System.

Subsequent – The boundary was set up after the settlement established itself. Most of the borders in the world were established after the fact so to speak.

Superimposed – Another country puts down the boundary. Colonial powers. Most of Africa was done this way – this is one of the reasons why Africa has issues

Relict - Boundaries that are no longer there, but still exist in a cultural sense. French Canada is somewhat like this.

Ever heard of the game called Risk. Geopolitics sometimes refers to how countries, especially world powers are concerned about what other countries are doing in the sense of political ideology and the allies they keep.

Countries will strategically align themselves with others so that they can have influence on other countries.

There are a number of theories (they are old now), that try and explain why countries do what they do in terms of allies, enemies, trade, embargoes, expansion, influence and conflict.

Heartland Theory - Halford Mackinder (1861-1947)

• Eurasia (Europe and Asia) is considered the World Island - it is the largest in area and in population (in the world). Its interior is called the Heartland - it is the most inaccessible area in the world - by water. It’s coastlines are vulnerable - but not the interior which is dominated by Eastern Europe.

• Who rules Eastern Europe commands the Heartland. The Heartland would be the base for world conquest.

• Who rules the Heartland commands the entire World Island.

• Who rules the World Island rules the rest of the World.

The Heartland Theory

• The Heartland Theory is based on Land Power!

• Not valid today since we can attack with Air Power and ICBM’s (Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles)

• But think of History - Think of Napoleon Bonaparte and Adolf Hitler. They both went after Eastern Europe first.

• Think of the U.S.S.R. and their attempt to expand by taking over Eastern Europe (Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia etc.) Think of Vietnam, think of North Korea.

• The USSR tried to set up an Iron Curtain. The USA used a plan called Containment. When the Soviets moved to North Korea the US contained them by moving into South Korea. The Soviets moved to North Vietnam and the US moved into South Vietnam

Rimland Theory - Nicholas Spykman (1894-1943)

• Eurasia was the key to world domination, but the coastal regions were more important than the interior (heartland) – based on Land and Sea Power.

• The Coastal regions had a large population, resources, ports and access and control over the seas.

• Control the coast and your control the interior - this was the Rimland Theory.

• Again the Soviet Union has always been desperate to have control over land that has access to water, especially a warm water port. That is why they tried Korea, Vietnam, Cuba and Afghanistan. They wanted Eastern Europe to have access to the Black Sea.

Rimland Theory

Rimland Theory

Domino Theory

The USA believed that countries and their adjacent neighbours are lined up like dominoes and if one fell to communism (or any type of oppressive rule) the others would follow. Think of Northern Africa today – Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Syria?

Again that is why the US has intervened in Vietnam, Korea, Central America, The Balkans and now the Middle East. By the way if you look at Iraq - it is in the center of the Middle East - the heartland of the middle east.

Also to maintain the Balance of Power.

This is interesting stuff!

Let’s discuss the following terms from your chapter reading:

•Nationalism/Ethno-Nationalism•Patriotism•Supra-Nationalism•Annexation, Separation, Succession•Sovereignty•Regional Autonomy•Irredentism•Diaspora•Unitary State•Federal State•Centripetal Force•Centrifugal Force – Devolution•Balkanization•Gerrymandering

Red – words not defined earlier

•Microstate•Imperialism/Colonialism•Balance of Power

What is Ethnic Cleansing?

Proceed to view some maps……..

Kosovo went Independent in 2008

What makes up Ethnicity?-Language-Religion-History-Race-Culture

Ethnic groups of Southwest Asia

Devolution and today – Supranationalism

Supranationalism

-ODA?-CIDA?-NGOs?-Foreign Aid?-Unilateral Aid?-Multilateral Aid?-Boomerang Aid?-Blowback Aid?

Members of the United Nations1.Antarctica – not a sovereign state2.Korea – One or Two states3.Taiwan – a sovereign state?

Terrorism: Systematic use of violence by a group in order to intimidate a population or coerce a government into granting its demands. State Terrorism is where the actual government resorts to terrifying their own citizens.

First Wave - Anarchist - overthrow established order

Second Wave - Achieving independence from colonial powers

Third Wave - Political Ideology of Communism vs. Capitalism

Fourth Wave - Religious Fundamentalism

Read “History of Terrorism’

Environmental scarcity is a scarcity of renewable natural resources that, if not addressed by technological, social, or economic means, may cause social disruption or violent conflict

Thomas Homer-Dixon has identified three main types of environmental scarcity:

Demand-induced: due to population growth or increasing per capita consumption

Supply-induced: due to degradation or depletion of natural resources

Structural scarcity: due to an unbalanced distribution of resources that affects less powerful groups in society

Vocabulary List

Unit IV. Political Organization of Space—Basic Vocabulary and Concepts Annexation Antarctica Apartheid Balkanization Border landscape Boundary, disputes (definitional, locational, operational, allocational) Boundary, origin (antecedent, subsequent, superimposed, relic) Boundary, process (definition, delimitation, demarcation) Boundary, type (natural/physical, ethnographic/cultural, geometric) Buffer state Capital Centrifugal Centripetal

City-state Colonialism Confederation Conference of Berlin (1884) Core/periphery Decolonization Devolution Domino theory EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone)

Electoral regions Enclave/exclave Ethnic conflict European Union Federal Forward capital Frontier Geopolitics Gerrymander Global commons Heartland/rimland Immigrant states International organization

Iron Curtain Irredentism Israel/Palestine Landlocked Law of the Sea Lebanon Mackinder, Halford J. Manifest destiny Median-line principle Microstate Ministate

Nation National iconography Nation-state Nunavut Raison d’être Reapportionment Regionalism Religious conflict Reunification Satellite state Self-determination Shatterbelt Sovereignty State

Stateless ethnic groups Stateless nation Suffrage Supranationalism Territorial disputes Territorial morphology (compact, fragmented, elongated, prorupt, perforated) Territoriality Theocracy Treaty ports UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) Unitary USSR collapse Women’s enfranchisement

The End