geometric boundary
physical-political boundary
Friedrich Ratzel German School:
lebensraum
Germany starts WWII
Sir Halford Mackinder’s Heartland
Theory
Nichols Spyman’s Rimland Theory
Cooperation vs…
Unilateralism: Vietnam
United States
58,220 dead; 303,644 wounded
South Korea
5,099 dead; 10,962 wounded; 4
missing
Australia
500 dead; 3,129 wounded
Thailand
351 dead;1,358 wounded
New Zealand
37 dead; 187 wounded
Philippines
9 dead
1. Compact States: Efficient
• In a compact state, the distance from the
center to any boundary does not vary
significantly.
• The ideal theoretical compact state would be
shaped like a circle, with the capital at the
center and the shortest possible boundaries to
defend.
2. Prorupted States: Access or
Disruption
• An otherwise compact state with a large projecting
extension is a prorupted state.
• Proruptions are created for 2 reasons:
• Access to a resource such as water
• They can also separate two states that otherwise
would share a boundary.
3. Elongated States: Potential Isolation
• There are a handful of elongated states, or
states with a long and narrow shape.
• Elongated states may suffer from poor internal
communications.
4. Fragmented States: Problematic
• A fragmented state includes several discontinuous
pieces of territory.
• 2 kinds: those areas separated by water,
and those separated by an intervening state.
5. Perforated States: South Africa
• A state that completely surrounds another is a
perforated state.
1. Compact States: Efficient
• In a compact state, the distance from the
center to any boundary does not vary
significantly.
• The ideal theoretical compact state would be
shaped like a circle, with the capital at the
center and the shortest possible boundaries to
defend.
Compact State - Rwanda
2. Prorupted States: Access or
Disruption
• An otherwise compact state with a large projecting
extension is a prorupted state.
• Proruptions are created for 2 reasons:
• Access to a resource such as water
• They can also separate two states that otherwise
would share a boundary.
When the British ruled the otherwise compact
state of Afghanistan, they created a long, narrow
proruption to the east that was to prevent
Russia from sharing a border with Pakistan.
3. Elongated States: Potential Isolation
• There are a handful of elongated states, or
states with a long and narrow shape.
• Elongated states may suffer from poor internal
communications.
4. Fragmented States: Problematic
• A fragmented state includes several discontinuous
pieces of territory.
• 2 kinds: those areas separated by water,
and those separated by an intervening state.
The most extreme example is
Indonesia, made up of 13,677 islands.
5. Perforated States: South Africa
• A state that completely surrounds another is a
perforated state.
• The one good example is South Africa which
completely surrounds the state of Lesotho.
• Lesotho must depend entirely on South Africa
for the import and export of goods.
Fragmented States
• The most extreme example is Indonesia, made up of
13,677 islands.
• The fragmentation hinders communications makes
integration of of people living on remote islands
nearly impossible.
• A difficult type of fragmentation occurs if the 2
pieces of territory are separated by another state.
• Imagine the difficulty of communicating between
Alaska and the lower 48 if Canada were not a friendly
neighbor.
Fragmented States
• An unusual case of fragmentation is in India on a tiny strip of
land called Tin Bigha.
• The Tin Bigha corridor measures only 600 feet by 300 feet.
• It fragments Dhagram and Angarpota from the rest of
Bangladesh.
• The problem is a legacy of the British who divided the region
according to religion with Hindu enclaves to India and Muslim
enclaves to Bangladesh.
• India agreed to lease the Tin Bigha corridor to Bangladesh.
• This created another fragmentation - Cooch Behar from the
rest of India.