1. AP Human Geography Political - Chapter 8 Political Geography
Warm Up: Thinking like a (political) geographer… What does political organization of space mean?
llhammon Spring 2014

2. What is a “political” geographer?
Studies human claims and conflicts concerning the use, patterns, and ownership of the land and its resources

3. The World As We See It?

4. The World In Reality What is the difference?

5. Why do we divide the world?

6. How to influence decision making?
Geography
Where?
Why there?
Consequences?
Politics
How to influence decision making?
Political Geography

7. 6 Themes of Political Geography
Political Identity
6 Themes of Political Geography
Resources and Power
People and Their Competing Needs
Institutions
Authority and Sovereignty
Role of Strategic Action

8. Defining States and Development of the State Concept
Problems of defining states
Almost all habitable land belongs to a country today
In 1940, there were about 60 countries
Today, there are 193 countries (as evidenced by United Nations membership)
Some places are difficult to classify
Korea: one state or two?
Western Sahara (Sahrawi Republic) or Morocco?
Claims to polar regions: Many claims.
China and Taiwan: one state or two?

11. What is a state? The term country is a synonym for state 4 elements:
People – contains a permanent population
Territory – occupies a defined territory on the earth’s surface
Government – rules people
Sovereignty - control over its internal and foreign affairs, independent from other states
Concept of dividing world into independent states is recent
What is a state?

12. What is a nation? A social/cultural concept, more so tied to ethnicity
Historical community that shares common ancestry; a people with a sense of union with one another
Not every nation has a state
Kurds, Palestinians
Some states contain more than one nation
Belgium, UK, Canada
Some nations are larger than one state
About 4 millions Jews live in Israel, many members of the Jewish nation living elsewhere in the world (US/Eastern Europe)
What is a nation?

13. The “Perfect” European Model of State
Nation-state:
A political unit wherein the territorial state coincides with the area settled by a certain national group or people.
Although seldom achieved in practice outside of European core, it is the standard to which other global states are compared today.
The “Perfect” European Model of State
State:
Nation:
Laws
------
Nation-State:
nationalism

14. Nation-state?
Self-determination – concept that every nation/ethnicity has the right to govern themselves
Very few, if any, nation-states
Iceland, Sweden, Japan, Greece are mostly culturally homogenous with few minorities
Advantages of a nation-state?
Why is the idea of a nation-state not necessarily realistic?

15. How many Nation-States would there be?
What would Africa look like if divided by Ethnicity?
How many Nation-States would there be?

17. How would you define the following and give an example?
Multistate nation
Example? ISRAEL
Multiethnic state
Example? USA
Multinational state
Examples? RUSSIA
Stateless Nation
Example? Tibetans
How would you define the following and give an example?

18. Geographic Relationships between States and Nations WS
Match the descriptions (1-8) to the corresponding graphic (A-H)
Next to each graphic, write how many states are present and how many nations are present
If possible, identify the states based on the description
We’ll do the first one together
Take your time and discuss with your group
Geographic Relationships between States and Nations WS

19. Answers Palestinians, 3 states (Israel/Jordan/Syria), 1 nation
Icelanders, 1 state (Iceland), 1 nation
Flemings and Walloons, 1 state (Belgium), 2 nations
Albanians, 2 states (Albania/Kosovo), 1 nation
Hungarians, 2 states (Hungary, Romania), 1 nation
USSR, 1 state, over 100 nations
Bretons and Basques, 1 state (France), 2 nations
Germans, 3 states (Germany/Austria/Switzerland), 1 nation
Answers