1. APHG Topic IV: Political Organization of Space
Forces of Globalization Challenging Contemporary Political-Territorial Arrangements

2. The changing nature of sovereignty: Remember that the current state-territorial system is based on the ideal of the nation-state.

4. The state isn’t disappearing…
It is adjusting to a new set of processes.
It is no longer a container of political or economic power; it is more a site of flows and connections.
This has come about in the context of the new world order, organized around global capitalism
emerged with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the consequent end of a bipolar world
availability of advanced telecommunications
the transnational reorganization of industry and finance
the liberalization of trade
the emergence of a global culture

5. What is challenging the state-territorial system?
Forces leading to
supranationalism
and
devolution

7. At one end of the spectrum there is supranationalism and varying degrees of cooperation. At the other end of the spectrum, there are forces of devolution - those that divide and destabilize. Advances in communication technology have facilitated supranationalism, devolution, and democratization.

8. Supranationalism
the association of three or more states for mutual benefit; usually entails some loss of sovereignty in favour of group interests; a supranational organization reduces the independence of individual states
expressed in the creation of multinational organizations: political, economic, military, cultural
examples:
The United Nations
NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)
The European Union
ASEAN (Association of Southeast Nations)
OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries)
NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement)
WTO (World Trade Organization)
These organizations achieve goals that could otherwise be blocked by international boundaries.
Freer flow of goods and information
More cooperative management of shared resources

9. Forces leading to supranationalism:
Economies of scale
Cost advantages to manufacturers that accrue from high-volume production, since the average cost of production falls with increasing output
e.g. Royal Dutch Shell; Toyota; Petro China Ltd.; Exxon Mobil; Apple; Samsung
Trade agreements
any contractual arrangement between states concerning their trade relationships; trade agreements may be bilateral or multilateral—that is, between two states or between more than two states.
e.g. EU; NAFTA; ASEAN
Military alliances
international agreement concerning national security, when the contracting parties promise to support each other in case of a crisis that has not been identified in advance
e.g. NATO; African Union; NORAD; UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations
Transnational environmental challenges
e.g. air pollution; climate change; freshwater quality and supply

10. The European Union A regional supranational organization
Began in 1952 as a trading bloc (the EEC)
Now an economic union with integrated economic policies among member states
Total population: million
Common EU passport and a single currency among most member states
Has a president, a parliament, foreign policy powers, and court whose decisions are binding on member countries and individuals
World’s largest internal market and exporting power
Other international orgs: factbook/appendix/appendix-b.html

11. The European Union

12. At the global scale is the United Nations, an international organization (a group that includes 2 or more states seeking political and/or economic cooperation with each other) . See a list of member states at

14. The Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)
A UN convention (law) establishing states’ rights and responsibilities concerning the ownership and use of the earth’s seas and oceans and their resources
The High Seas
Mineral resources beneath the high seas constitute a “common heritage of humandkind” and their exploration is subject to UN mandate.
Territorial Sea
States may delimit their territorial seas up to 12 nm from their shorelines; state sovereignty in all its forms extends over this zone; ships of other countries have the right of passage through these seas.
Median Line Principle
States closer than 400 nm to each other follow this principle.
Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)
A state has economic rights up to 200 nm from shore; in this zone the state has the right to control exploration and exploitation of natural resources (fish, minerals, oil) in the water, seabed, and subsoil below; if the continental shelf extends beyond 200 nm from shore, the coastal state has exclusive rights to the resources it contains up to 350 nm from shore.

15. Devolution defined:
The process whereby regions within a state demand and gain political strength and growing autonomy at the expense of the central government
Devolutionary pressures are present throughout the world. Governments have tried various methods to deal with the forces that drive the process; these methods range from suppression to accommodation.

16. Forces leading to devolution: physical geography ethnic separatism
A common definition of separatism is that it is the advocacy of a state of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, governmental or gender separation from the larger group. While it often refers to full political secession, separatist groups may seek nothing more than greater autonomy.
Examples: Basques; in the Caucasus (South Ossetia; Chechnya); in China (Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region; Tibet Autonomous Region)
terrorism
The use of violence in a controlled and intentional way to force attention onto issues
Examples: 9/11; India; Sri Lanka; Israel; Russia and Chechnya; Oklahoma City bombing (domestic terrorism)
economic and social problems
Example:
Irredentism
Assertion by the government of a country that a minority living outside its formal borders belongs to it historically and culturally
Examples: South China Sea; Russia in Ukraine

17. Devolution is expressed in the fragmentation of states into
autonomous regions – e.g. Nunavut; Native American reservations
subnational political-territorial units – e.g. Spain, Belgium, Canada
Balkanization – e.g. former Yugoslavia, Caucasus

18. Ethnocultural Devolutionary Movements
Eastern Europe
devolutionary forces since the fall of communism

19. Economic Devolutionary Movements
Catalonia, Spain
Barcelona is the center of banking and commerce in Spain and the region is much wealthier than the rest of Spain.

20. Spatial Devolutionary Movements
Honolulu, Hawai’i
A history apart from the United States, and a desire to live apart in order to keep traditions alive.

21. Political units exist…
Below the state
Electoral districts
Municipal boundaries
County boundaries
Provincial and state boundaries
Ethnic territories

22. Above the state supranational organizations
international organizations
The United Nations
Regional integration schemes and alliances
NATO
European Union
NAFTA
APEC
MERCOSUR

23. Centripetal and Centrifugal Forces
A centripetal force = an attitude that tends to unify people and enhance support for a state.
nationalism, unifying institutions, organization and administration, transportation and communication
An identification with the state and the acceptance of national goals
Promoted in several ways, including iconography, national anthems, flags, national sports teams, rituals and holidays, armed forces
Other examples?

24. Centrifugal forces = forces that tend to divide a country
A country can be destabilized by its shape or great size, which presents challenges to transportation and communication
Some centrifugal forces include
Organized religion that competes with the state for people’s allegiance (e.g. the USSR) or that creates conflict between majority and minority faiths (e.g. between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland)
Nationalism and subnationalism (the feeling that one owes primary allegiance to a traditional group or nation rather than to the state), including groups claiming self-determination, separatism, or autonomous nationalism
Accommodation of such demands are devolutionary

25. …and then there’s Sealand…