World Political Map Many people equate geography with memorizing countries and capitals. (Perhaps...

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World Political Map Many people equate geography with memorizing countries and capitals. (Perhaps you did too before taking this course.)

Transcript of World Political Map Many people equate geography with memorizing countries and capitals. (Perhaps...

Page 1: World Political Map Many people equate geography with memorizing countries and capitals. (Perhaps you did too before taking this course.)

World Political Map

Many people equate geography with memorizing countries and capitals. (Perhaps you did too before taking this course.)

Page 2: World Political Map Many people equate geography with memorizing countries and capitals. (Perhaps you did too before taking this course.)

As seen from space, these imaginary lines we draw on the earth’s surface disappear, right?

Page 3: World Political Map Many people equate geography with memorizing countries and capitals. (Perhaps you did too before taking this course.)

“I really believe that if the political leaders of the world could see their planet from a distance of 100,000 miles, their outlook would fundamentally change. Those all-important borders would be invisible, and their noisy arguments would be silenced.”

Michael Collins, Gemini 10 & Apollo 11 astronaut

Page 4: World Political Map Many people equate geography with memorizing countries and capitals. (Perhaps you did too before taking this course.)

Collins’ quote is just one example of an oft-repeated and beautiful idea: that one can’t see political borders from space.

But is it true?

Page 5: World Political Map Many people equate geography with memorizing countries and capitals. (Perhaps you did too before taking this course.)

The Pakistan-India from the North from the ISS, August 7, 2011. Since 2003, India has illuminated the border with Pakistan by floodlights in

attempt to prevent ammunition trafficking and the infiltration of terrorists.

Sadly, no.

Page 6: World Political Map Many people equate geography with memorizing countries and capitals. (Perhaps you did too before taking this course.)

The Koreas

from space

Page 7: World Political Map Many people equate geography with memorizing countries and capitals. (Perhaps you did too before taking this course.)

U.S. Canada border from space. Different land use practices in the two countries are apparent on this infrared satellite image. The fields in which wheat is actively growing are dark red. Fallow fields appear lighter in color

although their shapes are the same.

Page 8: World Political Map Many people equate geography with memorizing countries and capitals. (Perhaps you did too before taking this course.)

A clearly visible line marks about 50 kilometers of the international border between Egypt and Israel in this astronaut photograph from the

International Space Station. The reason for the color difference is likely a slightly higher level of grazing by the Bedouin-tended animal herds on the

Egyptian side of the border

Page 9: World Political Map Many people equate geography with memorizing countries and capitals. (Perhaps you did too before taking this course.)

The United States/Mexico border. Just east of Tijuana, the Baja city of Tecate sprawls along the south side of the

border. The Californian side, however is almost completely undeveloped.

Page 10: World Political Map Many people equate geography with memorizing countries and capitals. (Perhaps you did too before taking this course.)

Almost the entire outline of Lesotho can be seen from space, reflecting the comparative lack of development between it and South Africa, which surrounds it. Most noticeable is the western border, where the densely cultivated, heavily irrigated farmland of S. Africa’s Free State Province contrasts with the Lesotho lowlands, much of which has been stripped

bare for firewood and fuel.

Page 11: World Political Map Many people equate geography with memorizing countries and capitals. (Perhaps you did too before taking this course.)

Close up of western Lesotho-South Africa border

Page 12: World Political Map Many people equate geography with memorizing countries and capitals. (Perhaps you did too before taking this course.)

Haiti-Dominican Republic border from space

Page 13: World Political Map Many people equate geography with memorizing countries and capitals. (Perhaps you did too before taking this course.)

Another view of the Haiti–Dominican Republic border

Page 14: World Political Map Many people equate geography with memorizing countries and capitals. (Perhaps you did too before taking this course.)

To the left, freshly-cleared land plots of the Amazonian area surrounding Rio Branco, capital of the Brazilian state of Acre. The jungle on the Bolivian side of the border to the

right sits nearly untouched.

Page 15: World Political Map Many people equate geography with memorizing countries and capitals. (Perhaps you did too before taking this course.)

This is the intersection of Egypt (left), Israel (right), and the Gaza Strip (top). While the Egyptian side looks relatively uninhabited beyond the

coastal strip, Israel’s side of the border comparatively blooms thanks to extensive irrigation. The Gaza Strip, meanwhile, is densely packed with

1.7 million residents and small farm plots.

Page 16: World Political Map Many people equate geography with memorizing countries and capitals. (Perhaps you did too before taking this course.)

political geography: the study of the political organization of the world

Page 17: World Political Map Many people equate geography with memorizing countries and capitals. (Perhaps you did too before taking this course.)

Political Geography: Key Questions

• How is the surface of the earth organized politically at the supranational, state, and substate levels?

• How and why did these patterns of political organization arise?

• What problems or conflicts do these arrangements cause?

• What is the future of the currently dominant global political unit, the state.

Page 18: World Political Map Many people equate geography with memorizing countries and capitals. (Perhaps you did too before taking this course.)

States: three “haves” and two “be’s”

To be a state, an area must…

• be a politically organized territory • be recognized by other states • have a permanent population• have a defined territory (boundaries),• have sovereignty (control over its internal

affairs)

Page 19: World Political Map Many people equate geography with memorizing countries and capitals. (Perhaps you did too before taking this course.)

Where / what are...

United KingdomGreat BritainEnglandScotlandWalesNorthern IrelandIreland

?

?

Page 20: World Political Map Many people equate geography with memorizing countries and capitals. (Perhaps you did too before taking this course.)

Review: Formal Region (aka Uniform Region or Homogenous Region)

• Definition: An area defined by one predominant or universal characteristic throughout its entire area.

• Formal Regions have well-defined boundaries (beyond which the predominant or universal characteristic does not apply).

• Formal regions help geographers identify global or local patterns (good) but always involve generalizations (not good). (Example: Electoral map will define Texas as a Republican state. This generalization is useful in some ways but obscures the fact that many people in Texas do not vote Republican.)

Page 21: World Political Map Many people equate geography with memorizing countries and capitals. (Perhaps you did too before taking this course.)

Review: Functional Region (aka Nodal Region)

• Definition: An area organized around a central focal point or node.

• The characteristic chosen to define a functional region dominates at the node (aka core) and diminishes as one moves away from the node (aka the periphery).

• Geographers usually use functional regions to display economic areas (i.e. trading area of a shop or service, reception range of a TV station).

Page 22: World Political Map Many people equate geography with memorizing countries and capitals. (Perhaps you did too before taking this course.)

Review: Vernacular Region (aka Perceptual Region or Mental Map)

• Definition: An area that people believe exist as part of their cultural identity.

• Vernacular Regions emerge from one’s informal sense of place rather than a scientific model.

• Having a person describe a mental map of a region (i.e. the AGHS campus) will define a Vernacular Region for that person.

• Because Vernacular Regions are based on an individual's cultural identity, different people will likely define the borders of the same Vernacular Region differently.

Page 23: World Political Map Many people equate geography with memorizing countries and capitals. (Perhaps you did too before taking this course.)

Two key aspects of States

• Sovereignty: a state’s recognized right to control (have final say) over its own internal affairs and territory.

• Territoriality: The attempt by an individual or group to assert control over a geographic area

Political Geography: Two Key Terms

The concept of territoriality is fundamental to the political geography of modern states

Page 24: World Political Map Many people equate geography with memorizing countries and capitals. (Perhaps you did too before taking this course.)
Page 25: World Political Map Many people equate geography with memorizing countries and capitals. (Perhaps you did too before taking this course.)

Yes, a wall in the middle of the Sahara dessert

Page 26: World Political Map Many people equate geography with memorizing countries and capitals. (Perhaps you did too before taking this course.)
Page 27: World Political Map Many people equate geography with memorizing countries and capitals. (Perhaps you did too before taking this course.)

Cyprus

Page 28: World Political Map Many people equate geography with memorizing countries and capitals. (Perhaps you did too before taking this course.)

Which of the following activities is NOT forbidden activity in Antarctica according to the Antarctic Treaty?

a. permanent stations over a certain size

b. nuclear testing or dumping

c. military activity

d. new land claims

e. mineral exploitation

Page 29: World Political Map Many people equate geography with memorizing countries and capitals. (Perhaps you did too before taking this course.)

Since the signing of the original Antarctic Treaty, an important additional restriction has been added in order to

a. ensure payment of treaty dues by signatory nations

b. restrict the movement of ships in Antarctic waters

c. provide funds to study the Ozone layerd. protect wildlife and areas of biological intereste. enlarge the area encompassed by the original

agreement

Page 30: World Political Map Many people equate geography with memorizing countries and capitals. (Perhaps you did too before taking this course.)

nation-state: a nation which has the same borders as a state.

Page 31: World Political Map Many people equate geography with memorizing countries and capitals. (Perhaps you did too before taking this course.)

stateless nation: a nation with no state

Page 32: World Political Map Many people equate geography with memorizing countries and capitals. (Perhaps you did too before taking this course.)

multinational state: a state containing more than one nation

This includes states with as few as two nations (Belgium) as well as those with dozens (Russia).

Page 33: World Political Map Many people equate geography with memorizing countries and capitals. (Perhaps you did too before taking this course.)

multistate nation: a nation that has its own state (unlike a stateless nation) but also stretches across into another state

Page 34: World Political Map Many people equate geography with memorizing countries and capitals. (Perhaps you did too before taking this course.)

irredenta: a territory historically or ethnically related to country A but under the political control country B

also:

irredentism: the policy of a state wanting to add territory from another state inhabited by people who have cultural links to their own state

Page 35: World Political Map Many people equate geography with memorizing countries and capitals. (Perhaps you did too before taking this course.)

When you hear someone make a

claim about “Greater ______” (fill in a country, this is a

dead giveaway of an irredentist claim.

Right: “Greater” Albania (extends

into Kosovo, Macedonia, and

Greece)

Page 36: World Political Map Many people equate geography with memorizing countries and capitals. (Perhaps you did too before taking this course.)
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Page 41: World Political Map Many people equate geography with memorizing countries and capitals. (Perhaps you did too before taking this course.)
Page 42: World Political Map Many people equate geography with memorizing countries and capitals. (Perhaps you did too before taking this course.)