Political Geography é

POLITICAL GEOGRAPHYPOLITICAL GEOGRAPHY

UNITED STATES AND CANADA

STATES AND NATIONSSTATES AND NATIONS

Political GeographyPolitical Geography

States and Nations: this two words are used differently by political scientists.

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.


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.


Almost all of the earth’s land 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.


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.


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.


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.


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 GeographyPolitical GeographyJapan, Denmark, and Poland are

examples of nation-states.Such an arrangement minimizes

conflicts > 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.


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.


Centrifugal and Centripetal Forces: Centrifugal and Centripetal are two

terms that crop up frequently in political geography and in political science.


In Political Geography, Centripetal forces are those forces that bind a country together.


The unifying factors such as language and religion 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 GeographyPolitical GeographyCentripetal forces can be reinforced by

a threat of foreign aggression.This has always been very effective in

unifying a population.

Political GeographyPolitical GeographyThe United States has had strong

centripetal forces such as shared beliefs in the ideals of democracy and economic freedom.

They are ready to go to war in order to defend these fundamental rights.

Political GeographyPolitical GeographyThis has helped unite their country

during critical times.This helped the country survive such

tests as the civil war and disruptions caused by enormous immigration.

Despite that, they emerged as a world power.

Political GeographyPolitical Geography These includes such things as

iconography and political pageantry. Examples are:

– the flag, – reciting the Pledge of Allegiance [ə

ˈliːdʒəns],– celebrating independence day, – singing the national anthem.

A sense of shared history and struggle is also important.


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.


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.


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.

Political GeographyPolitical GeographyMany 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.


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.


Unitary states entail oneness and a high degree of internal homogeneity and cohesiveness.


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.


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.


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 GeographyPolitical 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–dictatorship


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 GeographyPolitical GeographyIn federal states, the responsibilities of

government are divided formally between the central authorities in national capitals and lower levels of government.

Political GeographyPolitical GeographyThe word federal is derived from the

Latin word foedus “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.


In a weak federation, the power of the constituent state is large and that of the central government small – Switzerland is a good example.


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.


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.


An important power of these entities is 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.


Examples are such things as:

–Divorce laws,–Minimum driving ages,–Educational systems,–Environmental regulations,–Certification requirements for

teachers and–Motor vehicle codes.


In Canada, Quebec has taken advantage of this and fostered a separate French-language-based society.


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 StatesU.S. And Canada As Federal States

The responsibilities of governing as stipulated by the constitutions of both countries rest with Washington and Ottawa.


Down the ladder: the state/provinces and then the local governments.

State governments delegate powers to lower levels of governments such as the municipalities and counties.


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.


During the formation of the United States in the 18th century, differences between the former colonies made a unitary state impossible and undesirable.


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.


It grants a number of Executive Legislative and Judicial powers to the national government.

Powers such as:

–Foreign affairs.–minting of currency.–National defense.


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.


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.


The Supreme Court resolves conflicts between national and sub national governments.


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.


Local Governments: There are 3 levels of governments

in the United States and Canada.


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 [ˈlɛvɪ] taxes in order to provide services.


Under the American federal system, the local government = rights bestowed on them by the state government.

There are four major categories of local governments: – counties, – townships, – municipalities, and – special districts.


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.


They are the basic units of local governments immediately following the states.

Exceptions are the District of Columbia and Alaska.


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.


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.


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.


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.


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.


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.


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.


Annexation is the incorporation of additional areas into a city.

City boundaries have changed considerably through this process of annexation.


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.


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.


GERRYMANDERING: This is a deliberate manipulation of

political district boundaries to achieve a particular electoral outcome.


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.


To understand the politics of gerrymandering it will be noteworthy to classify elections when voting is done.


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.


Excess votes are those cast above what is expected to win.

Wasted votes are cast for losing candidates.


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.


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.


NAFTA: stands for North American Free Trade Agreement.

The participants are the United States of America, Canada and Mexico.


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.


NAFTA means the elimination of all tariffs on goods so that in time the trade between the countries will be tariff free.


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 StatesU.S. And Canada As Federal StatesIn 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.

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