9.1 The Complex World Political Map

Organizing Space

• When studying a map or globe, human geographers look to understand how and why countries and regions are organized politically.

  • The world political map has changed greatly since first civilizations first started to mark boundaries.

• Political geography: The study of the ways in which the world is organized as a reflection of the power different groups hold over territory

• Maps are not settled, so they can show interpretations of the world.

  • Some countries recognize other countries/entities while some do not. Maps can reflect this.

States

• States are manmade as a way to organize and manage humans.

• State: A politically organized independent territory with a government, defined borders, and a permanent population; a country

  • Also called a ‘country,’ especially in the U.S., where ‘state’ has another meaning.

• State governments have power over a population that works to contribute to an economy, and is connected by transportation and communication systems.

• A state has sovereignty.

• Sovereignty: The right of a government to control and defend its territory and determine what happens within its borders

• If a state is not recognized as an independent country by other states, it is not considered sovereign.

  • The word ‘state’ in this context can be confusing for people from the United States: An independent state such as Sweden is not the same as a U.S. state.

• The world is organized into a number of diverse sovereign states.

  • Some cover vast territories while others are small in size.

  • The number of independent states around the globe often changes in response to pressures from political circumstances.

• There is no general agreement on the number of independent states around the globe.

  • The United Nations recognizes 195 countries, but not every member state of the UN agrees on which countries are independent.

Nations

• Nation: A cultural entity made up of people who have forged a common identity through a shared language, religion, heritage, or ethnicity—often all four of these

• Whereas states are political entities, nations are cultural entities.

  • Made of individuals with a forged common identity.

• Some define a nation as including a “reasonably large population,” while others argue that the size of the population does not matter.

• The people of a nation share a common vision of the future, which produces an undeniable feeling of togetherness.

Nation-States

• Nation-state: A politically organized and recognized territory composed of a group of people who consider themselves to be a nation

• The concept of a nation-state is an ideal; no existing country can be described as a pure nation-state

• Some countries are closer to this definition than others.

  • Estonia is often viewed as a nation-state because most of its people share an identity.

  • Japan is also a common example, because nearly all its people share a culture.

Multistate Nations and Multinational States

• Multistate nation: People who share a cultural or ethnic background but live in more than one country

  • Ethnic Russians are considered to be a multistate nation, because sizeable numbers of them live outside of Russia.

  • Some consider the two Koreas as one nation but two states, while others disagree with this view.

• Multistate nations can pose challenges to political borders because people may feel more affinity for another state that is home to others of their ethnicity.

  • Sometimes this situation leads governments to establish a policy of irredentism

• Irredentism: Attempts by a state to acquire territories in neighboring states inhabited by people of the same nation

• Multinational state: A country with various ethnicities and cultures living inside its borders

• Multinational states sometimes struggle to create a sense of unity among different peoples.

• Other times, multinational states are able to forge a national identity despite the presence of many different cultures.

  • Although there has sometimes been conflict, the United States is broadly successful in integrating different groups.

• Because of global migration and the diverse nature of boundaries, most countries today are multinational states.

Autonomous and Semiautonomous Regions

• Semiautonomous: Describing a region that is given partial authority to govern its territories independently from the national government

  • In China, the territory of Hong Kong has been autonomous, using a system of government and currency that differs from China’s

  • In the United States, American Indian reservations are semiautonomous places that can operate under different laws.

Stateless Nations

• Stateless nation: A people united by culture, language, history, and tradition but not possessing a state

• Tribal nations in the United States are stateless nations.

• The Basque people in Spain have a unique culture and language, but they do not have an independent state.

• The Palestinians are considered a stateless nation because much of the world does not recognize Palestine.

9.2 Political Power and Geography

Issues of Space and Power

• Beyond person space, there are countless ways different groups claim their territories.

  • For example, schools typically have unique courts or fields, mascots, logos, and slogans.

• Communities of all sizes also define themselves using markers such as signs, slogans, and sometimes nicknames.

  • Gated communities are neighborhoods surrounded by literal fences to ensure that only residents can enter

• At the national scale, countries control their land by forming borders, and establish a national identity in a variety of ways.

• Territoriality: The attempt to influence or control people and events by delimiting and asserting control over a geographic area; the connection of people, their culture, and their economic systems to the land

  • This is the basis for the power people try to exert and the political spaces they create.

• Governments form around these spaces, build political power, and establish sovereignty.

  • Sovereign countries, under international law, are permitted to defend their borders and establish laws governing their people

Controlling People, Land, and Resources

• To assert and maintain political power, states impose control over their people, and, and resources.

  • At times, states also attempt to control resources outside of their territory.

Neocolonialism

• Colonialism: The practice of claiming and dominating overseas territories

• Although most former colonies have declared independence and claimed their sovereignty, neocolonialism endures

• Neocolonialism: The use of economic, political, cultural, or other pressures to control or influence other countries, especially former dependencies

  • Neocolonialism is seen in many former African colonies that are free but have economies that rely on outside investment

Choke Points

• Choke point: A narrow, strategic passageway to another place through which it is difficult to pass

• Because they are limited in size and competed over, choke points can be sources of power.

  • Waterway choke points can be straits, canals, or other restricted passages.

• Choke points have historically played a significant role in military campaigns, as large armies or navies have difficulty moving through narrow passages.

• Today, waterway choke points command the most attention and are a cause for international concern.

  • High volumes of crucial commodities, such as food and oil, pass through them.

• Countries that control choke points sometimes use them to expand their global influence or gain political advantages.

Shatterbelts

• Shatterbelt: A region where states form, join, and break up because of ongoing, sometimes violent, conflicts among parties and because they are caught between the interests of more powerful outside states

  • Can be caused by territoriality and a quest for political power.

• Shatterbelts often exist in areas that have seen violence for many years, due to prolonged conflict between groups in the area.

  • These hostilities may be worsened by outside powers seeking to expand their own influence over the region.

9.3 Political Processes Over Time

The Complicated Nature of Sovereignty

• The concepts of sovereignty, nation-states, and self-determination shape the contemporary world.

• Self-determination: The right of all people to choose their own political status

  • States can sometimes be independent but not entirely sovereign.

• Sometimes a country’s right to self-determination is violated, such as when other countries interfere with its natural development.

Legacies of Colonialism and Imperialism

• Imperialism: The push to create an empire by exercising force or influence to control other nations or peoples

  • Spain, Portugal, Britain, France, the Netherlands, and Belgium took control of territories already inhabited by others.

• They sent colonists that imposed their cultural values on those who lived there, exploiting the lands and people for economic advantage.

• Two of the largest empires were controlled by Spain and Britain.

  • Spanish territories spanned the globe, including land in North and South America, Europe, Africa, Southeast Asia, and even Oceania.

  • The British said theirs was “the empire on which the sun never sets” because they controlled territory throughout the world.

• The impacts of this imperialist wave endure today, with some of the most obvious colonial exports being language and religion.

  • People speak English in the United States and Australia because these lands were settled by British colonists.

  • Spanish is spoken throughout much of Central and South America for the same reason

  • Latin America also has the world’s largest percentage of Catholics, due to the Portuguese and Spanish colonists and missionaries.

• Imperialism hit Africa in the late 19th century, when European empires were looking to extend their power.

  • In 1884, European leaders met at the Berlin Conference to define the boundaries between their conquered African possessions.

  • Some of these boundaries still exist today.

  • No Africans were present at the meeting, and no consideration was given for centuries-old ethnic boundaries and governance structures.

• Many believe the economic and social problems affecting Africa today can be traced back to imperialism and the Berlin Conference.

  • By extracting wealth, establishing export-driven economies, and creating conditions for conflict, European powers laid the groundwork for a troubled future.

• In countries or regions affected by imperialism, peoples have sought self-determination through independence movements.

• Devolution: The process that occurs when the central power in a state is broken up among regional authorities within its borders

  • Devolution tends to happen along national lines, allowing members of a nation to claim greater authority over their territory.

9.4 The Nature and Function of Boundaries

Defining Political Boundaries

• The amount of territory that falls within a state is defined by the boundaries that surround it.

  • International boundaries are the outcome of geopolitical relationships and expressions of territoriality.

• Boundaries are subject to change when relationships among countries change, or when people assert a claim to territory.

• Even boundaries based on physical features can fluctuate.

  • Features such as rivers, in fact, make notoriously poor borders because they often change course.

• Countries establish boundaries by defining, delimiting, demarcating, and defending them.

• Define (Boundaries): To explicitly state in legally binding documentation such as a treaty where boundaries are located, using reference points such as natural features or lines of latitude and longitude

  • Definitional boundaries are typically straightforward and all interested parties agree on them.

• Delimit: To draw boundaries on a map, in accordance with a legal agreement

• Demarcate: To place physical objects such as stones, pillars, walls, or fences to indicate where a boundary exists

  • Many stretches of border have no demarcation at all, because physical markers are thought to be impractical, unnecessary, or hard to construct.

• Administer: To manage the way borders are maintained and how goods and people cross them

  • Most of the world’s borders are, to some extent, restricted, or closed.

  • Permission to enter a country typically comes in the form of documentation such as a visa.

  • In rare cases, where borders are completely restricted, people are not permitted to cross at all.

Types of Boundaries

• Geographers define many types of boundaries by considering both their physical and how, when, and why they were created.

• Antecedent boundary: A border established before an area becomes heavily settled

• Subsequent boundary: A border drawn in an area that has been settled and where cultural landscapes exist or are in the process of being established

  • These types of boundaries are the most common, since the process of establishing them is lengthy and related to territoriality.

• Consequent boundary: A type of subsequent boundary that takes into account the differences that exist within a cultural landscape, separating groups that have distinct languages, religions, ethnicities, or other traits

• Superimposed boundary: A border drawn over existing accepted borders by an outside or conquering force

  • This occurred in Africa when European colonial powers met at the Berlin Conference.

• Geometric boundary: A mathematically drawn boundary that typically follows lines of latitude and longitude or is a straight-line arc between two points

  • Many states in the western United States, such as Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah, have geometric boundaries.

  • Geometric boundaries may be superimposed, as in Africa, or they may be antecedent.

  • Geometric boundaries can be flawed and cause conflict when they are applied without thought for the people living on the land being delimited.

• Relic: A former boundary that no longer has an official function

  • These borders illustrate how the control and management of geographic space changes over time.

Sea Boundaries

• Not all boundaries exist on land, many are miles out to sea.

• Also called maritime boundaries, sea boundaries allow countries access to offshore resources like oil and coastline for wind farms.

• Countries with sea boundaries are typically more economically developed because having maritime ports makes it easier to trade with other countries.

  • Landlocked countries have also suffered from not receiving a flow of people and ideas.

• United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS): The international agreement that established the structure of maritime boundaries

• Exclusive economic zone (EEZ): An area that extends 200 nautical miles from a state's coast; a state has sole access to resources found within the waters or beneath the sea floor of its EEZ

  • UNCLOS also specifies rules for determining how territorial seas and EEZs should be measured and delimited.

  • Countries exert different levels of control over their territorial seas and their EEZs.

• States have complete sovereignty over their territorial seas, covering down to beneath the seabed and up into the airspace above the water.

• The restriction on this sovereignty is that countries must permit “innocent passage” of foreign ships through their waters.

  • Innocent passage is defined as direct travel through territorial waters between two points outside of a country’s borders or from a point outside the country’s borders to one of its ports.

• States do not have full sovereignty over their EEZ, but they do have sole access to resources found within it.

  • Countries also have the exclusive right to generate energy from the waves, wind, or currents.

• Along with the rights governing territorial waters and EEZs come certain responsibilities.

  • UNCLOS requires coastal countries to employ sound environmental practices in the waters they control.

  • In addition, states are required to make public any dangers to navigation that they know of.

Why do Boundaries Matter?

• Political boundaries are the result and the reflection of the ways humans divide space.

• Some boundaries come from balanced negotiation, while others demonstrate power imposed by one group over another.

• Sometimes boundaries follow ethnic or cultural lines in an attempt to delimit nation-states, and sometimes they divide nations among multiple countries.

  • Boundaries can be sources of both conflict and harmony.