Political
Geography
a. Contemporary political map has been
shaped by events of the past
Scramble for Africa
What criteria determines the
boundary lines on this map?
What criteria determines the
boundary lines on this map?
• Which
Which set of
boundary lines
seems more
logical?
Vocab Review
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State
Sovereignty
Nation
Nation-state
Binational State
Multinational State
Multistate Nation
Stateless Nation
Nationalism
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Functional Region
MDC
LDC
Postindustrial
Sectors of the
Economy
– Primary
– Secondary
– Tertiary
Territoriality
• The modern state is an example of a
common human tendency: the need to
belong to a larger group that controls
its own piece of the earth, its own
territory.
• This is called territoriality: a cultural
strategy that uses power to control
area and communicate that control,
subjugating inhabitants and acquiring
resources.
Nature, meaning, and function
of boundaries
• State shapes/boundaries homework
Landlocked States
• No access to major sea or ocean
• Must negotiate rights to move
resources through other countries –
problems exist when countries do not
agree on fundamental policies
Location
• Relative location: Some states are landlocked.
The nation-state concept
–
• Nation state is a
– European idea that the
• map of states should look like the map of
nations
• aspiration of governing elites around the world;
– a politically organized space in which
• nation and state occupy the same space,
• in reality few states are perfect nation states
(textbook example: Japan, why?)
Nation-state: ancient history…
• Ancient states – city-states:
– sovereign state that comprise a town and the
surrounding countryside, walls clearly
delineated the boundaries, land outside the
walls is controlled and used for agriculture,
where a society lived constituted its territory,
• Empires were created when one state
or tribe would gain military dominance
over the other cities (in Mesopotamia)
• Egypt was a separate empire, a narrow
region along the banks of the Nile…
The nation-state:
Early European States around CE100– CE1500
• Roman Empire – height of political unity in the
ancient world (Europe, N Africa, SW Asia), same
set of laws, 38 provinces, massive walls, one
official language, one currency …
• Fall of the Roman Empire – decentralized,
competing estates
• Powerful kings emerge in Europe beginning
CE1100 – basis for modern England, France,
Spain
• (German and Italy – not consolidated until 19th
century)
The nation state concept: 1st emerged
Modern state system –
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Peace of Westphalia, 1648, recognized defined,
demarcated territories,
•
now the territory defines the society
•
territory is a fixed element of political
identity, exclusive, non overlapping
territories…
…
• ….
Across the Aisle Question
• What is the difference in Colonialism
& Imperialism?
Colonialism (1400s – early 1800s)
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A colony is a territory that is legally tied to a sovereign
state and not completely independent, the sovereign
state controls the colony’s military and foreign policy and
sometimes internal affairs also
Colonialism – effort by one country to establish
settlements on previously uninhabited or sparsely
inhabited land and to impose political, economics, and
cultural principles on such territory,
• Europe (Spain and Portugal first) colonized for glory,
gold and God
• organizing the flows of raw materials for their own
benefit, affecting the cultural landscape with
plantations, ports, ………. mines, RR.
–Imperialism 1800s-1900s
• control of territory already occupied and organized by an
indigenous society
–Berlin Conference 1884-1885, projected European
power to organizing political space into the nonEuropean world, became the model adopted around
the world,
–Europe designed the rules of capitalist world
economy, created a system of economic
interdependence that persists today,
–Former colonies, now politically independent remain
economically dependent –
–infrastructure is organized to get raw
materials out
Berlin Conference
(1884):
European countries
decided they could
claim African colonies
just by setting up
government offices in
African territory.
This set off a Great
Scramble as
Europeans rushed to
colonize Africa.
Why???
Europeans: Carving up a Continent
Who is missing from this picture???
Berlin Conference 1884
• Divided Africa with no consideration
for culture
• Results of superimposed boundaries
– African nations divided
– Hostile nations within state
– Historical trade routes disrupted
– Migration routes disrupted
By 1914, there
were only two
independent
countries left
in all of Africa.
What new
countries were
growing
empires?
Where do these lines come from???
“We do not
want to put
anyone in the
shade, but we
also demand
our place in
the sun” –
Germany
African
colonies
Decolonization, 1940s-1990s
Imperialism 1800s-1900s
control of territory already occupied and
organized by an indigenous society
• UK - largest colonial empire, on every continent,
including E and S Africa, S Asia, Middle East, Australia,
Canada
–created different government structures and policies
for various territories
–decentralized approach protected diverse cultures,
local customs, educational systems
–possibility of peaceful transition to independence in
some colonies
–Commonwealth
Imperialism 1800s-1900s
control of territory already occupied and organized by an indigenous
society
• France – 2nd largest – W Africa and SE
Asia
– assimilated its colonies into French culture, educated
an elite group to provide local administrative leadership,
colonies often retained close ties after independence
• Portugal, Spain, German, Italy,
Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium
• Most African and Asian colonies become
independent after WWII
– Most of the colonies that remain are islands in the
Pacific or Caribbean
Democratization
• Process began as land/nobility power declined due to
increasingly powerful wealthy middle class,
upheavals in the 1780s, the French Revolution,
political authority will rest with citizenry not with a
hereditary monarch
• Also the idea that people are sovereign, the nation
has ultimate say over what happens within the state,
• true democracy exists when the nation has its own
sovereign territory
• 1800s quest to form nation-states in Europe
associated with a rise in nationalism as well as
democratization
• Most African and Asian colonies become
independent after WWII and attempted
democratization
…
•….
Forms of Government
Monarchies:
Republics:
Constitutional Monarchy
Democracy
Traditional Monarchy
Absolute Monarchy
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:
Republics:
Constitutional Monarchy
Democracy
Traditional Monarchy
Absolute Monarchy
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:
Republics:
Constitutional Monarchy
Traditional Monarchy
Absolute Monarchy
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:
Republics:
Constitutional Monarchy
Democracy
Traditional Monarchy
Absolute Monarchy
Restricted Democratic Practice Authoritarian Regime
Totalitarian Regime
Non-Sovereign:
Protectorate
Colonial Dependency
Empire
Fall of communism
legacy of the Cold War –post WWII
–The Soviet Union and the
–Iron Curtain
•Countries behind the former Iron Curtain
deal with developing economics and ZPG
or lower, as well as environmental
degradation due to lack of pollution
controls
Fall of communism
legacy of the Cold War –post WWII
–China and the Bamboo Curtain
•
Collapse of the Soviet Union
The World in 1977
Soviet Union and allies
Other Communist countries
US and allies
Other non-Communist countries
Europe in
1977
Soviet Union and allies
Other Communist countries
US and allies
Other non-Communist countries
Changes in Europe, 1990-93
Balance of Power Changes
Political ecology: impacts of
law and policy on the
environment and
environmental justice
“They’re growing houses in the fields between
the towns.”
- John Gorka, Folk Singer