POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY
UNITED STATES AND CANADA
STATES AND NATIONS
Political Geography
 States and Nations: this two words
are used differently by political
scientist.
 A State is a political unit that
occupies a precisely defined,
permanently populated territory.
 It has full control over its internal
and foreign affairs.
 In short it is an independent State.
Political Geography
 The United Nations recommended
that the word State be capitalized
to distinguish it from a “state” which
is a lower-order political unit.
 The State is the dominant form of
political unit in the world
organization.
Political Geography
 Almost all of the earth’s land unit
is included in such units.
 The only exception is Antarctica
which has neither a permanent
population nor an established
government.
 However, parts of Antarctica are
claimed by certain countries.
Political Geography
 State is synonymous with Country.
 Nation: refers to a reasonably
large group of people with a
common culture that occupy a
particular territory.
 They are bound together by a
strong sense of unity arising from
shared beliefs and customs.
Political Geography
 As a result, nations share one or
more important cultural traits such
as religion, language, history,
values and political institutions.
 Nations have an attachment to a
particular territory and their identity
is intimately associated with that
territory.
Political Geography
 A multi-cultural state consists of
several nations:
 A good example is India.
 Some nations do not have their
own state and therefore are
scattered across several countries
– Kurds in the middle east.
Political Geography
 The Palestinians are a nation and
only now beginning to have a state
of their own.
 Nation-state: this is when the
territory of a state is occupied by
only one distinct nation or people.
 In that case, there are no important
minority groups.
Political Geography
 Japan, Denmark, and Poland are
examples of nation-states.
 Such an arrangement minimizes
conflicts, and makes for strong states.
 On the other hand, there are strong
states with sizeable minorities.
 The existence of such states is that
the sizeable minorities have safe
ways to express themselves.
Political Geography
 Canada is often termed two nations
within a state, because Canadians
speak French and English.
 Canada uses the term “first nations” to
refer to the indigenous groups of
Canadians.
Political Geography
 Centrifugal and Centripetal Forces:
 Centrifugal and Centripetal are two
terms that crop up frequently in political
Geography and Political science.
Political Geography
 In Political Geography, Centripetal
forces are those forces that bind a
country together.
Political Geography
 The unifying factors such as language
and religion that give people a shared,
positive vision of what their country is
all about.
 Things like a strong sense of shared
history and values and a shared
language.
Political Geography
 Centripetal forces can be reinforced by
a threat of foreign aggression.
 This has always been very effective in
unifying a population.
Political Geography
 The United States has had strong
centripetal forces such as shared
beliefs in the ideals of our democracy
and economic freedom.
 We are ready to go to war in order to
defend these fundamental rights.
Political Geography
 This has helped unite our country
during critical times.
 This helped the country survive such
tests as the civil war and disruptions
caused by enormous immigration.
 Despite that, we still emerged as a
world power.
Political Geography
 These includes such things as
iconography and political pageantry.
 Examples are:
– the flag,
– reciting the Pledge of Allegiance,
– celebrating independence day,
– singing the national anthem.
 A sense of shared history and struggle is
also important.
Political Geography
 Centripetal forces are fostered by an
educational system that socializes
children into a national ideology.
 It is fostered by the media (Radio,
Television, and written press).
 Centrifugal forces are forces of
disunity – the presence of more than
one language or religion.
Political Geography
 Another problem is that of political
and economic inequality (economic
Hierarchy) – Upper, middle and lower
class.
 Many people think that in recent
years centrifugal forces have been
gaining grounds in the United States.
 Remember the Vietnam war.
Political Geography
 Remember the 2000 election.
 Remember the problem between Muslims
and Christians
 All these become centrifugal forces that can
kill a Country.
 In Canada, Language is its most centrifugal
force.
 Currently in the United States we have
opposition to the war in Iraq.
Political Geography
 Many French Canadians see
themselves as a separate nation and
therefore advocate an independent
state.
 Canada’s population distribution works
to the disadvantage of a Canadian
centripetal force because their
provinces are much closer to the united
states than to Canadian states.
Political Geography
 All of these people see themselves
differently among the Canadian
State.
 Unitary and Federal States:
–the world’s countries are divided
into two broad categories –
Unitary and Federal states.
Political Geography
 The word unitary means unity – it is a
Latin word Unitas.
 Unitary states entail oneness and a
high degree of internal homogeneity
and cohesiveness.
Political Geography
 Unitary states are organized around a
single political core, the national
capital.
 This means that the whole country is
under the direct control of the central
government.
 The whole country is divided into units
for administration purposes.
Political Geography
 In that case a local government
can deal with local issues.
 In unitary governments,
provinces and states which are
sub national governments, owe
their very existence to the central
or national government.
Political Geography
 The national government:
– Creates the administrative units,
– Determines how many of them
are to be created,
–Determines where their
boundaries should pass and.
– Who should rule those areas.
Political Geography
 In most unitary states government
subdivisions within the state have no
legislative or judicial functions and little
decision making power.
 These subdivisions operate as
administrative districts that are designed
to make the workings of the central
government easier and more effective.
Political Geography
 These subdivisions are financed by the
national government as well as the
appointment of the chief executives.
 A unitary state can be all of the following
–
–monarchy, Ruled by a royal
–democracy, Free and equal
representation of the people
–or a dictatorship form of
government.
Political Geography
 A dictatorship ruled by a single
individual with absolute power.
 A good example of a unitary state is
France and some former French
colonies practice this type of a system
including Cameroon.
Political Geography
 In France, the first order civil
divisions, the provinces are ruled by
governors that are appointed in Paris.
 The governors have very limited
powers and only carry out the laws
which have been mandated by the
national government.
 Unitary states tend to be small or
culturally homogeneous.
Political Geography
 Most Arabic, Latin American, and
African countries have this kind of
arrangement.
 Other examples of unitary states
would include the united kingdom,
Sweden, Japan, and new Zealand.
 The largest unitary state in the world
is china.
Political Geography
 In federal states, the responsibilities of
government are divided formally
between the central authorities in
national capitals and lower levels of
government.
Political Geography
 The word federal is derived from the
word league and implies alliance,
contract and the coexistence of the
state’s diverse regions and peoples.
 Under the federal system there are a
variety of power centers.
Political Geography
 In a weak federation, the power of
the constituent state is large and
that of the central government
small – Switzerland is a good
example.
Political Geography
 The German system has a strong
federal government and the power
is more centralized.
 The United States, Canada and
Mexico do have a federal structure
of government.
Political Geography
 Under the federal framework, the
central government represents
the first order of divisions within
the states where there is shared
common interests.
 First order entities are very
powerful and are represented by
the states.
Political Geography
An important power of these
entities are the power to tax.
This is the single most
important measure of
“sovereignty”.
 The powers of the states and
provinces have been exercised in
many different ways.
Political Geography
 Examples are such things as:
–Divorce laws,
–Minimum driving ages,
–Educational systems,
–Environmental regulations,
–Certification requirements for
teachers and.
–Motor vehicle codes.
Political Geography
 In Canada, Quebec has taken
advantage of this and fostered a
separate French-language-based
society.
Political Geography
 They have a legal code based on
the Napoleonic model rather than
on English common law.
 Today the tendency is for many
unitary states to move toward
decentralization of power, while
federal states are moving toward
centralization.
U.S. And Canada As Federal States
 The responsibilities of governing as
stipulated by the constitutions of both
countries rest with Washington and
Ottawa.
U.S. And Canada As Federal States
 Down the ladder is the state/provinces
and then the local governments.
 State governments delegate powers to
lower levels of governments such as
the municipalities and counties.
U.S. And Canada As Federal States
 Thus the powers of cities and counties
depend entirely on the role assigned to
them by the various states.
 In short, states and provinces behave
somewhat like unitary states.
U.S. And Canada As Federal States
 During the formation of the United
States in the 18th century, differences
between the former colonies made a
unitary state impossible and
undesirable.
U.S. And Canada As Federal States
 At that time, the federation was the
only solution that could preserve
unity while allowing diversity.
 The United States Constitution is
the basic framework for American
Democracy.
U.S. And Canada As Federal States
 It grants a number of Executive
Legislative and Judicial powers to
the national government.
 Powers such as:
–Foreign affairs.
–minting of currency.
–National defense.
U.S. And Canada As Federal States
The Tenth Amendment to the
U.S. Constitution indicates that
powers not specifically given to
the federal government are
reserved “for the states” or to
the “people” respectively.
U.S. And Canada As Federal States
 Among the most important functions of the
state are:
 education,
 police powers, and
 health care.
 States can do as they please within their
boundaries provided they do not violate the
federal constitution, federal laws or
treaties.
U.S. And Canada As Federal States
 The supreme court resolves conflicts
between national and sub national
governments.
U.S. And Canada As Federal States
 In Canada, the situation is reverse in
that the constitution has assigned
specific powers to the provinces and
all the powers not so assigned are
reserved for the federal government.
U.S. And Canada As Federal States
 Local Governments:
 There are 3 levels of governments
in the united states and Canada.
U.S. And Canada As Federal States
 Below the national and state levels
in the United States, there are more
than 80,000 units of local
government.
 Each of those 80,000 has
jurisdiction over a specific area and
most have the authority to levy
taxes in order to provide services.
U.S. And Canada As Federal States
 Under the American federal system,
the local government have rights
bestowed on them by the state
government.
 There are four major categories of
local governments:
 counties,
 townships,
 municipalities and
 special districts.
U.S. And Canada As Federal States
 All of these divisions vary in certain
variables such as taxing and other
powers and structures.
 General purpose governments in
the United States are the Counties
also called Parishes in Louisiana.
U.S. And Canada As Federal States
 They are the basic units of
local governments immediately
following the states.
 Exceptions are the District of
Columbia and Alaska.
U.S. And Canada As Federal States
 The states assign functions to
the counties and the functions
vary considerable from one
state to another.
 The number of counties within
the states also vary and they
range from 3 counties in
Delaware to about 254 in
Texas.
U.S. And Canada As Federal States
 The counties vary in area as well
from 24 sq. Miles to 20,000 sq.
Miles the latter being in San
Bernardino county in California.
 In Alaska the divisions are called
Boroughs and their functions
resemble those performed by
Counties or Parishes.
U.S. And Canada As Federal States
 In Connecticut and Rhode Island
their counties have been deprived
of all functions so that they are
mere statistical and judicial units.
 In new England, the towns perform
the functions that would otherwise
have been performed by counties.
U.S. And Canada As Federal States
 SPECIAL PURPOSE DISTRICTS:
 These are districts created to serve
specific public functions.
 They make up the most numerous
forms of local authorities.
 The more than 14,000 school
districts are special districts.
U.S. And Canada As Federal States
 Because of the advantages of
consolidation, the districts have
been merged into Unified School
Districts (USD).
 These school districts are given
considerable administrative, fiscal,
and curricular freedom.
U.S. And Canada As Federal States
 Most of these districts are
administered by elected board
members for free – they do not
earn a salary.
 The smallest general purpose
administrative units in the United
States are the cities, or
municipalities.
U.S. And Canada As Federal States
 There are over 19,000 such
units, ranging in population from
fewer than 100 people to 7
million in new York city.
 Urban services have been
provided to people in an
urbanizing area around the city
through a process called
ANNEXATION.
U.S. And Canada As Federal States
 Annexation is the incorporation of
additional areas into a city.
 City boundaries have changed
considerably through this process
of annexation.
U.S. And Canada As Federal States
 The problem with this kind of action
is that in some cases they turn to
be very politicized
(Gerrymandering).
 This is especially true when cities
want to annex high income areas.
U.S. And Canada As Federal States
 Texas and Oklahoma are two
states that grant great powers of
annexation.
 States in the northeast and the
great lakes region have very limited
powers of annexation.
U.S. And Canada As Federal States
 GERRYMANDERING:
 This is a deliberate manipulation of
political district boundaries to
achieve a particular electoral
outcome.
U.S. And Canada As Federal States
 Gerrymandering was named after
an early governor of
Massachusetts, called Elbrige
Gerry who practiced it in the 1800s.
 If electoral boundaries are drawn
by elected officials it can be a good
weapon in the fight to stay in
power.
U.S. And Canada As Federal States
 To understand the politics of
gerrymandering it will be
noteworthy to classify elections
when voting is done.
U.S. And Canada As Federal States
 Votes that have been cast can be
classified into three categories:
effective votes, excess votes,
wasted votes.
 Effective votes are those needed to
win a seat and in a two candidate
race half the total number of votes
cast plus 1 vote are effective.
U.S. And Canada As Federal States
 Excess votes are those cast above
what is expected to win.
 Wasted votes are cast for losing
candidates.
U.S. And Canada As Federal States
 In gerrymandering, the objective of
the party in power is to draw district
borders so as to force the opposition
to cast as many excess and wasted
votes as possible.
 There are two techniques used to
achieve this and it is based on the
geographic distribution of voters.
U.S. And Canada As Federal States
 The two techniques most commonly
used are:
 (1) opponent-concentration
gerrymandering also known as
excess vote gerrymandering and
(2) opponent-dispersion
gerrymandering or wasted vote
gerrymandering.
U.S. And Canada As Federal States
 NAFTA: stands for North American
Free Trade Agreement.
 The participants are the United
States of America, Canada and
Mexico.
U.S. And Canada As Federal States
 NAFTA was implemented on
January 1, 1994 and its main
objective was to achieve open
borders among the three countries
for trade in both goods and
services by January 1, 2004.
U.S. And Canada As Federal States
 NAFTA means the elimination of all
tariffs on goods so that in time the
trade between the countries will be
tariff free.
U.S. And Canada As Federal States
 In theory, NAFTA should
benefit all three countries
because it will lead to
international specialization,
increase in trade and economic
growth.
U.S. And Canada As Federal States
 In the united states there have
been concerns over its negative
impacts.
 Many think that jobs are going to be
shipped away to Mexico where
labor is cheap.
 Probably the situation is going to be
worst if CAFTA succeeds.
U.S. And Canada As Federal States
 President Bush recounted one of
the policies for Free Trade by
placing tariffs on iron and steel.
 This led to retaliation from other
nations within the free trade zone.
END OF LECTURE