Political Organization of Space

Unit 4

States and Nations: Terms to know

• state

• Sovereignty

• Nation

• Multinational state

• Nation-state

• Stateless nations

States and Nations

• state = political unit with a permanent population, boundaries recognized by others, an effective gov’t, a working economy, and sovereignty.

• state = ‘country’, State= political divisions in US

• http://www.economist.com/node/15868439

• Sovereignty= internationally recognized

• Nation= group of people who share a common culture and identify as a group– Shared language, religion, history, and territory

– American nationality

• Multinational state = more than one nation within its borders– Russia

– United States

• Nation-State = only one nation dominates in the state– Japan

– Iceland

• Stateless nation = nation does not have a territory that belongs to them– Kurds

– Assyrian Christians in Iraq

– Ughirs of China

Irredentism

• Movement to reunite a nation’s homeland when a part of it is spread into another state’s border

Buffer states and shatterbelts

• Buffer state

• Buffer zone

• Satellite states

• shatterbelt

Buffer states and shatterbelts

• Buffer state– Independent country between two other states that

are in conflict

• Buffer zone– Area between conflicting countries/states

• Satellite states– Controlled by another country

• Shatterbelt– Area that many compete for. Suffers from invasions

and border changes

Buffer states and shatterbelts

• Buffer state

– Independent country between two other states that are in conflict

• Buffer zone

– Area between conflicting countries/states

• Satellite states– Controlled by another

country

• Shatterbelt– Area that many compete

for. Suffers from invasions and border changes

Boundaries

• Geometric

• Physical-political

• Cultural-political

• Frontiers – not well developed/unclear

Classifying Boundaries

• Antecedent– existed before people defined them

• Ohio River between Kentucky and Indiana

• Subsequent– Cultural boundary

• USA and Canada

• Superimposed– Forced by outsiders

• Relict – No longer exists

• Berlin Wall

Ocean Boundaries

UNCLOS- Convention on the Law of the Seas

1. Coastal states can claim up to 12 miles from shorelines

2. Costal state can claim up to 200 miles of territory beyond its shorelines as an exclusive economic zone

3. If there is not enough water for each country, two or more countries will have to divide the water evenly

median-line principle

Territorial Morphology

• http://people.hofstra.edu/Jean-paul_Rodrigue/GESA/topic1/territorialmorphology.html

• Compact

• Prorupt

• Perforated

• Fragmented

• Elongated

Unitary VS Federal

Unitary

• One decision making body

• Strong central gov’t

• Ideal for small states

• Can become a dictatorship

Federal

• Central gov’t and strong regional gov’ts

• USA

• States/provinces

• Ideal for large states

Exclaves and Enclaves

Colonialism

Mercantilism

Imperialism

Theories and Whatnot

DependencyNeocolonialism

World-Systems AnalysisGeopolitics

Dependency Theory

• Countries are poor because of colonization

• Countries in South America, Africa and Asia can’t heal from the imperial domination… this is why they are still dependent upon colonizers

• NEOcolonialism = the continued dependence on former colonial masters

Worlds Systems Analysis

• Immanuel Wallerstein

• Capitalism

• Global Economic core

• Global Economic periphery

• Global Economic semi-periphery

Worlds Systems Analysis

• Immanuel Wallerstein

• Capitalism

• Global Economic core = industrialized, developed countries that drive the global economy

• Global Economic periphery

• Global Economic semi-periphery

Worlds Systems Analysis

• Immanuel Wallerstein

• Capitalism

• Global Economic core = industrialized, developed countries that drive the global economy

• Global Economic periphery= undeveloped and once colonies of the core

• Global Economic semi-periphery

Worlds Systems Analysis

• Immanuel Wallerstein

• Capitalism

• Global Economic core = industrialized, developed countries that drive the global economy

• Global Economic periphery= undeveloped and once colonies of the core

• Global Economic semi-periphery= between core and periphery

Geopolitics

• How states interact and compete in the political landscape

• Raztel’s Organic Theory

• Mackinder’s Heartland Theory

• Domino Theory

• Spykman’s Rimland Theory

Fredrich Raztel: ORGANIC THEORY

• states = living organisms

• Must hunt for land and want to grow larger

• Used by Hitler and Nazi’s to justify invasion of other states

Halford Mackinder: HEARTLAND THEORY

• Eurasia= world island

• Linked to communist efforts to dominate eastern Europe

Whoever controlled the pivot area would rule the world

Domino Theory

• World Island would fall to the communists

Nickolas Spykman: Rimland Theory

• Rimland = all of Eurasia’s periphery

• Had to keep a balance of power to prevent this area from becoming a global power

Cores and Multicores

• Core = center of power in a state

– Center of politics and economics

• Multicore state = more than one core region

– Can result in competition for control

– No dominance can diminish unification

– NIGERIA

Primate Cities

• Politically and Economically more powerful than any other city in the state

– Ulaanbaatar

– Paris

Forward Capital

• Capital City built by a state to achieve a national goal

• St. Petersburg, Russia was built by czar Peter the Great (moved the capital from Moscow to bring it closer to Europe)

• Brasilia, Brazil was built closer to the interior to bring commerce/build up Brazil’s economy there

Gerrymandering

• Redrawing electoral boundaries to give a political party an advantage

Centrifugal and Centripetal Forces

• Centrifugal = divide a state’s people and regions

• Centripetal = unify a state’s people and regions

Centrifugal and Centripetal Forces

• Centrifugal = divide a state’s people and regions

– Religious divisions, boundary conflicts, many languages

– BALKANIZATION

• Centripetal = unify a state’s people and regions

Centrifugal and Centripetal Forces

• Centrifugal = divide a state’s people and regions

• Centripetal = unify a state’s people and regions

– Common enemy

– Nationalism

– Unifying symbols

Devolution

• Centrifugal forces can cause this

• Transfer of power from central gov’t to regional gov’t

– Can BUT NOT ALWAYS lead to break up of states

• Scotland given its own rep parliament by England in the 1990s

Supranationalism

• 3 or more countries form an alliance

– Cultural, economic, political, military

• UN

• Warsaw Pact

• NATO

• EU

United Nations

• Formed after WWII

• http://www.un.org/en/members/

• http://www.un.org/en/aboutun/index.shtml

• http://www.un.org/en/mainbodies/

UN

• General Assembly = all members, equal votes

• Security Council= 15 states- make decisions on war and peace

• Economic and Social Council : anti-poverty and prohumanitarian efforts

• International Court of Justice: the Hague, Netherlands

North Atlantic Treaty Organization

• http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/nato_countries.htm

• Formed to combat expansion of communist states during the cold war

European Union

• Started as Benelux

– Econ alliance

• NOW- 27 members

• http://europa.eu/abc/euslides/index_en.htm

OPEC

• 1960s

• Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries

• Secure fair and stable prices for petroleum exporting countries

NAFTA

• 1994

• USA, Canada, Mexico

• Free trade

• Gradual removal of tariffs and trade barriers

New World Order

• How the world has changed from being “bi-polar” after WWII– Procommunist VS prodemocracy

• International relations are multilayered and complex

• Instead of one superpower, many superpowers– China

– EU

– USA