Name: Zak Stevens. Concept: Territory. Student ID Number: 10422131.

Concept: Territory

1. Geographer’s Definition Territory refers to an area of geographic space that has been claimed by a person

e.g. indigenous huntsman, or persons e.g. a tribe or government, or an institution e.g. Trans-national corporations, and the process by which an individual, or group, deliminates and asserts control over an area of geographic space.

2. Choose one journal article, book or book chapter that uses or discusses your concept. Write a concise, critical review of the article that appraises its contribution to geography Journal Article: Agnew, J. (2013). Territory, Politics, Governance. Territory, Politics, Governance, 1(1), pp.1-4. This article explains how the concept of territory, together with politics and governance have challenged the notion of states and what states mean to the public in an increasingly interconnected and globalised world. Agnew aims for the journal to be a platform for writing in a range of genres; theoretical, methodological, and substantive with a preference for theoretically informed empirical research that challenges conventional theories about the links between territory, politics and governance. Within this article, territory “offers a profitable theoretical lens through which to analyse the workings of governance and politics” (page 1), in other words territory provides new areas of research into governance and politics which are theoretically expected to be efficient and cost-effective. This theory is then evaluated together with the concept of globalisation and how the exact definition of territory is increasingly susceptible to change. This journal article will be of interest to politicians and researchers in geopolitics alike, as this material is relatively recent and presents new ideas related to the concepts of territory, politics and governance that together challenge the idea of states which could encourage many researchers and geopoliticians to conduct further investigations. In my opinion, the notion of states has come under scrutiny in verbal terms in the last decade. However, this is one of the first pieces of academic material to come up with a methodological and substantive theory that uses the concepts of territory, politics and governance, to directly challenge the notion of state in the form of an academic article.

3. Choose one story that has appeared in the news in the past 12 months.

Provide a geographical analysis of your story using your concept.

Headline and source: Falkland Islands-Overview. (BBC News, 28th January,

2015).

Analysis: The Falkland Islands are an area of geographic space located in the South Atlantic Ocean, east of the South American coastline, and Argentina. The sovereignty of the islands have long been the subject of international dispute between the UK and Argentina which caused the 1982 Falklands War in which 650 Argentine soldiers, 255 British servicemen and 3 Falklands civilians died. Despite

Name: Zak Stevens. Concept: Territory. Student ID Number: 10422131.

the Falkland Islands having been under UK sovereignty since 1765, when Britain claimed the islands at the peak of its empire, Argentina on frequent occasions have attempted to claim sovereignty over the islands. Despite the Falkland Islands being sparsely populated, the majority of the population is British, and in 2012 the Falkland Islands Government scheduled a referendum on the status of the islands in order to “send a firm message to Argentina that the islanders want to remain British”, the results of this in March 2013 showed that the islanders were in favour of remaining a British colony. Major factors affecting Argentina’s claims for the islands was the possibility of major oil reserves located underneath the seabed around the islands which would prove valuable for Argentina’s energy security, but the possible reserves are formally the UK’s as the Falkland Islands still remain under British colonial rule. The Falkland Islands have its own government and is developing its own economy through tourism, fishing, sheep farming, and could be significantly stronger if substantial energy reserves are found beneath the seabed, as well as a population in favour of remaining British and are strongly against Argentina's ongoing claims of sovereignty.

4. Bibliography

BBC News, (2015). Falkland Islands-Overview.

Daniels P et al. (2012). An Introduction to Human Geography

Shelley, F. and Sack, R. (1987). Human Territoriality: Its Theory and

History. Geographical Review, 77(4), p.486.