An Introduction to Political Geography

Political Culture  Political cultures vary  Political ideas vs. religion or language  Theocracies  Territoriality  Key element of political culture

State and Nation  Terminology  “State” vs. “country”  A nation may be larger than a state  Nation has historic, ethnic and often linguistic and religious connotations  Stateless nations

Rise of the Modern State  The European model  The Norman invasion & out of “Dark Age”  Thirty Years’ War treaties  The Renaissance  Mercantilism & religious wars  Money vs. land

The Nation-State  Some democratic, some autocratic, and some parliamentary democracies  Sovereignty remained with the nation—the people  European control  Creation of “nation states”  Are there real nation states?  Internal cultural diversity  Heterogeneous states can share “national spirit”  Emotional commitment to the state and for what it stands  e.g., Confederation Helvetica

Spatial Characteristics of States  Physical and cultural properties  Size and population  Needs legitimacy  Boundaries: centripetal or centrifugal forces  Four main features of the European model: 1. Clearly defined territory 2. Substantial population 3. Certain types of organizational structures 4. Some power

Territory  Territorial morphology  Size, shape, and relative location  Present opportunities and challenges  Size  Large vs. small states  Shape  Compact  Fragmented  Elongated  Protruded  Perforated

Territory  Relative location  Landlocked countries  Exclaves and enclaves

Paraguay Itaipu Dam

Lesotho: an enclave Kaliningrad: an exclave

Land Boundaries  International boundaries  Have a vertical plane cutting through the rocks below, and the airspace above

Land Boundaries  How do we get boundaries?  Three steps of boundary evolution  Define it  Exact location established, via treaty-like legal documents, describing (absolute or relative) actual points  Delimit it  Officially put on a map, by a cartographer  Demarcate it  Actual ground markers—fences, pillars, walls, etc.—if desired  Not all boundaries are demarcated

Land Boundaries  Types of boundaries  Geometric boundary  Straight-line boundaries  Totally unrelated to any aspects of physical or cultural landscapes  Physical-political boundary or natural-political boundary  Outlined by a physiographic landscape features (river, mountain ridge, etc.)  Convenient, but nature & meaning might change over time  Cultural-political boundary  Formerly “anthropogenic” boundaries  Mark breaks in the human landscape

Land Boundaries  Origin-based classification  Richard Hartshorne’s Genetic Boundary Classification  Antecedent boundary  Existed before the cultural landscape emerged  Subsequent boundary  Developed at the same time as the major elements of the cultural landscape  Superimposed boundary  Placed by powerful outsiders on a developed cultural landscape  Relic boundary  Ceased to function, but its imprint is still on the cultural landscape  Frontiers  A frontier is a zone of separation

Functions of Boundaries  “Walls”  Limit state jurisdiction  State symbols

Functions of Boundaries  Internal boundaries  For administrative purposes  Examples: United States or Canada  Some culturally divided countries have internal boundaries that do not show on a map

Functions of Boundaries  Boundary disputes  Four principal forms of boundary disputes  Definitional  Focus on the “legalese” of the agreement  Locational  Focus on the delimitation and/or demarcation of the border  Operational  Focus on neighbors who differ over the way their boundary should function  Allocational  Focus on resources that straddle neighbors

STATE ORGANIZATION AND NATIONAL POWER

Large-area Influences on State Power Colonialism

Large-area Influences on State Power  Economic dimensions of power  Economic trends  Understanding a country’s global economy  World-System Analysis  View the world as an interlocked system of states  Perspective ties political geography more closely to economic geography

Large-area Influences on State Power  Geopolitics  Freidrich Ratzel  Organic theory of State Development  Sir Halford Mackinder  Heartland theory  “Those that rule the land, rule the world…”  Nicholas Spykman  “Rimland”  Recent Developments

The Character of State Territory  Population vs. territory size  E.g., China  Acquisition of colonial empires  ½ world’s states < 5 million people  Organizational capacity more important  Core areas  Usually the original nucleus of a state  Play an important role in a state's development  No core area vs. Multicore states  E.g., Nigeria's three cores mark ethnic and cultural diverse areas of the state

The Character of State Territory  Capital cities  Political nerve center  Former colonies tried to imitate European model  Primate cities  A capital city by far the largest and most economically influential  Common in agriculturally-dominant economies  Forward capitals  Reunification and capitals

Internal Political-Geographic Structure  All states confront divisive forces  The needs of a well-functioning state  Clearly bounded territory with adequate infrastructure  Effective administrative framework, a productive core area, and a prominent capital

Unitary & Federal Systems  Early European nation-states were unitary states  The federal state arose in the New World  Federalism accommodated regional interest by vesting primary power in provinces  Switzerland  Location for a capital city challenging for federations  Britain and India  Today’s divisive forces in Europe

European reconstruction

Internal Political-Geographic Structure  US Electoral patterns  Electoral geographers  Electoral geography  Gerrymander   Maps of voting patterns often produce surprises

Forces of Fragmentation and Cohesion  Centripetal forces  Centrifugal forces Fidel Castro

Discussion Questions  How do human feelings toward state territory affect the political climate?  The theatre of political geography has a very diverse cast, yet when it comes to people, it’s not as influential as language or religion. Why?