Unit 8

POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY

CATEGORILLA

TOP TEN

LARGESTAND SMALLEST

STATES

GEOPOLITICS

GEOPOLITICS is the study of the influence of such factors as geography, economics, and demography on the politics and especially the foreign policy of a state. This

chapter will study how geography interacts with politics.

Other definitions: A) those parts of geography that are dedicated to studying power, territory, sovereignty, states and governance. B) Any approach to explaining political outcomes in the

world or devising political strategy by looking at or making a map.

DEFINING A STATE

COMPARISON NATION STATE

ORIGINS OF TERM

BOUNDARIES

ORIGIN OF THE ENTITY

RECOGNITION

MEMBERSHIP

CENTRIPETAL FORCES

LOYALTY

From Staus Rei PublicaeThe Roman legal code

Political, military(formal region)

Datable, intentionally designed, legal

By other states, taught within schools/media

Citizenship, legal

Legal codes, ideals

Nationalism (2nd and 3rd kinds)

From natio (born into a place, native)

Cultural

Evolves historically from shared identity

Self-identified, taught within the culture, passed by generations

Kinship and shared culture

Artifacts, mentifacts, customs

Nationalism (1st kind)

DEFINING A STATE

DEFINITION An area:

Organized into a political unit,Ruled by an established governmentWith SOVEREIGNTYOccupying a defined territoryContaining a permanent population.

A group of people with:

A common culture,a common homelandoccupying a perceived territoryAnd are self-defined/identifiedWith shared aspirations.

COMPARISON NATION STATE

The terms STATE and COUNTRY are synonyms

States have defined Boundaries (a line marking the extent of a state’s territory)

Most states are divided into civil divisions (legally defined subdivisions of a state)

NATION STATES & STATELESS NATIONS

A nation who currently has no state in which to exercise its sovereign authority. (Remember that a nation is a people that considers itself distinct from others with a history autonomy.)

A state whose borders largely match the area occupied by a given nation (ethnic group), which was established as a state for that nation, and in which that nation is the clear majority.

NATION STATE STATELESS NATION

COUNTINGSTATES

The UN reports that it has 193 member states worldwide

Korea reports that it exports its goods to 244 states worldwide

Coca Cola says it sells products in over 200 states worldwide

Oddly enough, it’s hard to say how many states exist.THE NUMBER CHANGES OVER TIME

Since about 1900, the number of states has increased over 100 with the fall of empires and the rise of nation states.

NOT EVERYONE AGREES ON WHO’S A STATE

CGP Grey’s “How Many Countires are There?”

PROBLEMSTATES

THE KOREAS

The entire peninsula was a colony of Japan (sorry Henry)

After WWII, US and the USSR split it into two occupation zones along 38° N Lat. and later established separate Govs

Despite the Korean War and the DMZ along the 38th parallel, both governments are commited to reunification

CHINA AND TAIWAN

In the 1940s, Nationalists and Communists fought to control China.

In 1949, the Nat’s fled to Taiwan and declared themselves the Republic of China (and mainland China’s official government)

The Communists declared the mainland the People’s Republic of China and themselves as China and Taiwan’s official government

WESTERN SAHARA

Most African countries recognize Western Sahara as a sovereign state

Morocco claims the territory as its own and has built a wall around it to prove it

Spain controlled the area until 1976 when it withdrew and the Polisario Front declared it as the independent Sahrawi Republic

MORE MURKINESS:

COLONIALISM AND IMPERIALISM

COLONIALISM: an existing state seizes uninhabited or sparsely inhabited land and attempts to impose political, economic and cultural control there.

Europe’s colonial motives wereGOD, GOLD AND GLORY

Colonialism mostly refers to Europe’s activities in the Americas

IMPERIALISM: an existing state attempts to impose political and economic (often cultural) control over a territory already occupied and organized by an indigenous society

Imperialism refers to Europe’s activities in Africa and Asia

Europe’s colonial/imperial activities began in the 1400s and then began to wane after WWII as many former colonies gained independence.

New states often formed along colonial lines thus adding to the number of states.

RISE OF NATION-STATES IN EUROPE

European Nation-States

The map or Europe has changed drastically over that last 200 years from a few, large empires to many, smaller countries (states).

As empires broke apart, the often broke into several, smaller countries/states formed as homes for various, specific ethnic groups.

So the map of the world increases and decreases in number from year to year.

MORE MURKINESS:

COLONIALISM AND IMPERIALISM

The US State Department currently lists 43 remaining colonies worldwide with indigenous populations (although the list is contested)

ANYWAY…

As of 2011, the UN officially recognized 193 member states. (not 192 as in the above 2005 map)

10 LARGEST STATES

10. ALGERIA2.38 MIL SQ KM

9. KAZAKHSTAN2.72 MIL SQ KM

8. ARGENTINA2.78 MIL SQ KM

7. INDIA3.28 MIL SQ KM

6. AUSTRALIA7.74 MIL SQ KM

5. BRAZIL8.51 MIL SQ KM

4. CHINA9.59 MIL SQ KM

3. UNITED STATES9.82 MIL SQ KM

2. CANADA9.98 MIL SQ KM

1. RUSSIA 17.09 MIL SQ KM

10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

21

10 smallest states (microstates)

10. TOKELAU12 SQ KM

9. GIBRALTAR7 SQ KM

8. WAKE ISLAND7 SQ KM

7. CLIPPERTON ISLAND6 SQ KM

6. NAVASSA ISLAND5 SQ KM

5. SPRATLY ISLANDS5 SQ KM

4. ASHLEY & CARTIER5 SQ KM

3. CORAL SEA ISLANDS3 SQ KM

2. MONACO2 MIL SQ KM

1. VATICAN CITY <1 SQ KM

10

9

87 6

5

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3

2 1