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