Political
Geography
Chapter 8
United Nations Members
Fig. 8-1: The UN has increased from 51 members in 1945 to 191 in 2003.
• Political Geography-the study of political
activity in a spatial context.
• Over 200 countries and territories in the world
• Great inequality of size, relative location,
population, resources and potential
• Some are landlocked or have little coastline
• Some are surrounded by hostile nations
• In the last several decades-the collapse of
empires has added to the number of independent
states.
• Many newly independent nations have problems
Political Culture
• Some state systems separate church & state while
others are theocracies-governments led by
religious leaders.
• Robert Sach coined the term human territoriality
to describe the way political space is organized.
• Robert Ardrey compares human territoriality to the
instinct of animals to control & defend territory.
• Land ownership-some societies have communal
ownership while others emphasize individual
ownership. (Africa-imperialism, Indians of N.
America).
• Challenges to political territory provides a strong
motivation for warfare.
Nation-State
• Earliest rulers “regnum” ruled over a
group of followers-not fixed
territories.
• Medieval concept of the Nation-State
began with the Roman Catholic
Church-that created “dominium”
rule over a defined territory.
• Merovingian Kings 5th-8th cent.
Called themselves “Kings of the
Franks”, later Capetian Dynasty 10th
- 14th cent. Called themselves
“Kings of France”.
• Rise of the modern nation-state saw
the development of distinctive
territory.
Rise of the Modern State
• European Model of the
state diffused from Ancient
Greece & Rome.
• Middle Ages-fragmentation,
on mainland, Dynastic rule
& strong leaders led to
greater national cohesion,
Norman invasion ended the
fragmentation of England.
• Muslim invasion repelled.
New technology-horseshoe,
stirrup, horse collar, wheel
barrow & wind mill
introduced.
Rise of the Modern State
• Renaissance-political
nationalism & economic
nationalism in the form of
mercantilism developedconcept of diplomacy
developed in Italy.
• Mercantilism-states should
acquire wealth throughcolonization, plunder,
protection of home
industries & markets, a
favorable balance of trade.
Rise of the Modern State
• Reformation-brought a
religious split Roman
Catholic versus Protestantled to a series of wars.
Monarchies benefited from
the Church’s loss of political
power.
• Age of Absolutismemerged with Louis XIV of
France as a prime example.
Monarchies became the
focal point of national
awareness-ended
regionalism and aristocratic
local control
Rise of the Modern State
• Powerful dynastiesHabsburgs, Bourbons,
Tudors & Stuarts
struggled for power.
• Thirty Years’ War began
as a religious struggle-but
ended as state & dynastic
struggle for control of
Europe.
• Peace of Westphalia 1648
ended the war-created
defined boundaries &
guarantees of securityModern Europe emerged.
The states we perceive as “natural” and “always existing” are
relatively recent phenomena.
In 1648, Europe was divided into dozens of small territories.
Rise of the Modern State
• The French Revolution of
1789 was the first major
political upheaval in
Europe.
• It was followed by the
Napoleonic Wars that
spread the Enlightenment
ideas of equality and the
French concept of
nationalism.
• 1830 and 1848 another
wave of revolutions swept
over Europe
State
State – a politically organized territory with a permanent
population, a defined territory, and a government. To be
a state, an entity must be recognized as such by other
states.
Nations
• Nation – a culturally defined group of people with a
shared past and a common future who relate to a
territory and have political goals.
• People construct nations to make sense of
themselves.
• Nations are “imagined communities”
-Benedict Anderson
• imagined = you will never meet all the people in
your nation
• community = you see yourself as part of it
State and Nation
• State from the Latin word
“status” or “standing”-a
political entity-used
interchangeably with country.
• Nation-an ethnic or cultural
group with similar language,
religion, customs and territoryhistoric connection.
• Berlin was a divided city
between 2 states-West
Germany and East Germanybut it was a nation split by
divisions of the Cold War
Defining the Nation-State
• A Nation should have
– A single language
– A common history
– A similar ethnic
background
– Unity from a common
political system.
• Cultural homogeneity
not as important as
“national spirit” or
emotional commitment
to the state.
• A Nation-State has:
– Clearly delineated
territory
– Substantial population
– Well-organized
government
– Shared political and
cultural history
– Emotional ties to
institutions or political
systems or an ideology.
European
Boundary
Changes
Fig. 8-13: Twentieth-century boundary changes in Europe, 1914 to 2003. Germany’s
boundaries changed after each world war and the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The State
• A state provides services for
its citizens.
• It demands taxes
• It demands adherence to the
laws.
• It demands military service
• Periods of adversity can
increase a sense of
nationalism-but can backfire
• A state is possible only if a
national attitude or emotional
attachment to the state
develops.
Defining the Nation-State
• The Four Pillars of
Nationalism;
– A population that
considers itself a nation
– A substantial and welldefined territory
– A well-developed
organization
– A measure of economic,
political and military
power.
European Colonialism & the
Diffusion of the Nation-State Model
• Colonialism a physical action in which one state takes over control of
another, taking over the government and ruling the territory
as its own.
Two Waves of
European
Colonialism:
1500 - 1825
1825 - 1975
Dominant Colonial Influences, 1550-1950
This map shows the dominant influence, as some places
were colonized by more than one power in this time
period.
Geographic Characteristics of States
• States vary greatly in Size-some huge like Russia 6.6 m.
sq. miles, others large with 3 m. sq. miles like US, China,
Brazil, Canada-some are microstates-Vatican, Monaco,
Andorra, Grenada.
• Shape-some are compact while other are elongated or
fragmented.
• Demography-some have huge populations like China’s
1.3 billion or tiny like Iceland with 250,000.
• Organization-monarchy, democratic, dictatorship,
theocratic.
• Resources-natural and skilled population
• Development-subsistence to tertiary
• Power-both economic and military
Stateless Nations
• Sovereignty-complete control
over a territory’s political &
military affairs. Some nations
do not have their own state-this
can lead to conflict.
• Palestinians are the most well
known example-a stateless
nation in conflict with Israel
over territory.
• Kurds-about 20 million people
live in Kurdistan-which covers
6 states-since the 1991 Iraq
War-Kurdish Security Zone has
been virtually independent.
• Territoriality –
“the attempt by an individual or group to affect, influence,
or control people, phenomena, and relationships, by
delimiting and asserting control over a geographic area.”
– Robert Sack
• Sovereignty –
having the last say over a territory – legally.
• Territorial Integrity –
a government has the right to keep the borders and
territory of a state in tact and free from attack.
Territory
• Territorial Morphologyshape, size & relative
location of a state.
• Compact-distance from
the geographic center
does not vary greatly.
• Fragmented-consisting
of 2 or more separate
pieces divided by water
or other territory.
• Elongated-long & thin
states.
Territory
• Prorupted-states that are
nearly compact, but have a
narrow extension.
• Perforated-having another
state lie within ones
territory.
• Exclave-an outlier of a
state located within
another.
• Enclave-the counterpart of
exclave-it lies within a
country and is independent
or ruled by another
country.
India: The Tin Bigha Corridor
Fig. 8-7: The Tin Bigha corridor fragmented two sections of the country of Bangladesh.
When it was leased to Bangladesh, a section of India was fragmented.
Landlocked Countries
• Landlocked states have a serious disadvantage in trade and
access to resources.
• Africa has more landlocked states than any other continent.
Sahel is poorly linked to the coastal ports; Uganda linked by
rail; Zimbabwe access via South African and Mozambique
ports; Rwanda & Burundi the world’s most isolated states;
Zambia & Malawi have poor connections.
• Asia-Mongolia & Nepal are landlocked with rough terrain,
great distances and limited communication, Afghanistan,
Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Armenia & Georgia.
• South America-Bolivia and Paraguay-lost coastline in war
• Europe-Austria, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Slovakia,
Moldova, Belarus and Bosnia
Landlocked States
African
States
Fig. 8-6: Southern, central, and eastern Africa include states that are compact,
elongated, prorupted, fragmented, and perforated.