4.

1 Introduction to Political Geography

States
A state (otherwise known as a country) is a political entity that requires four aspects; a permanent
population, a defined boundary, as well as having sovereignty, and recognition.

Nation
A nation is a concept that sees cultural groups want to govern themselves, protect their culture,
languages, and band together to form a nation; cultural identity that they wish to protect.
- Self-Determination is a key aspect of nations, which enables nations the rights to govern
themselves and not have interference from foreign countries.

Nation-State
A state with a relatively homogenous culture, population, etc.
- Examples being Japan & Poland.

Multinational States
Are states with two or more nations that have decided to coexist peacefully as one state.
- Usually sees one nation (culture) become the dominant one, handling the likes of politics and
governing.

Multi-State Nation
Are nations that inhabit two or more states, with an example being the Kurdish nation, which exists
in the states of Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Iran, and Armenia.

Stateless Nation
A nation that has a history of self-determination but is not a recognized state, with examples being
the Kurds as well as the Basque country in Spain.

Autonomous Region
A region inside a state that has a high degree of autonomy and the power to govern itself with
limited interference from the national government; the region has high autonomy and little to no
interference from the national government.

Semi-Autonomous Region
A region within a state that has a moderate degree of self governance; the region has limited
autonomy and the national government interferes whenever it wishes (usually in the interest of the
national government itself).
4.2 Political Processes
Colonialism
The practice of a country establishing settlements (known as colonies) in another geographic area
that does not belong to them; often results in the settlers imposing their own economic, political,
and cultural values on the society of natives.

Imperialism
The concept of states expanding via military force to other geographic areas to obtain political and
economic power.

Impacts of Colonialism/Imperialism
- Widespread diffusion of cultural and societal aspects with lingua franca being established
across the globe.
- The universalizing of religions results in widespread increases in adherence; leading to
further growth.
- The spread of economic and governmental ideas also occurred.
- Reshaped the political boundaries of the modern world as well as spawning some modern
conflicts (Israel vs Palestine).
Ultimately, as further diffusion occurred, the rapid replacement of folk cultures in exchange for
modern pop culture occurs. Furthermore, once former colonies gained independence, their heavy
reliance on their former overlords resulted in staggering attempts to develop into developed
countries, consolidating the clear divide between the developed and undeveloped world.

Scramble for Africa

The majority of colonies were made to be heavily reliant on their European overlords (to make
economic and political domination of said colonies easier), ultimately leading to colonial borders
based on longitude and latitude instead of ethnic or cultural makeup, furthering the developed and
undeveloped divide.

Devolution
Transfer of power from central governments to local governments.
- Examples of devolution would be the United Kingdom, with Scotland and Wales having
high amounts of autonomy while still being part of the United Kingdom.

Balkanization
The breaking up of a state due to internal conflicts (mostly in relation to ethinic makeup; can occur
as a result of devolution, but is more likely the result of other conflicts.
- An example being the breakup of Yugoslavia.
4.3 Political Power and Territoriality
Territoriality
How a population conveys their ties to their territory via cultural, linguistic, militaristic, political,
economic, etc. aspects.

Neocolonialism
The practice of using one’s economic and political influences in a lesser developed country to
control it indirectly; an example being China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which is a mass infrastructure
development plan made by China.

Choke Points
A geographic location where passage is required to arrive at another geographic location. These
locations, if transportation were to be ceased or limited, could see significant issues with the world
economy as transit through them is common.
- Examples being the Strait of Malacca and Strait of Hormuz.

Shatterbelt Region
A region caught between two (or more) larger external powers; will see increased political, economic,
militaristic, and cultural pressures as a result of two larger powers seeking for more control.
- An example being Kashmir, which is caught in between India, Pakistan, and China.

Cultural Shatterbelt Region

A region where different cultures and cultural aspects come into contact with each other and
conflict with each other.
- An example being the border between Sudan and South Sudan, where Sudan is mostly Arab
and Islamic in nature, whereas South Sudan is mostly sub-Saharan and Christian.

4.4 Defining Political Boundaries

Boundary
An invisible barrier or a line that separates states, cultures, and geographic areas; is used to enforce
territoriality, aid the transit of people, goods, services, and create a sense of place.
- Cultural Boundaries; a boundary that divides different nations, ethnicities, peoples,
religions, languages, and different cultural groups.
- Examples being Ireland and Northern Ireland alongside Cyprus (Greek area vs.
Turkish area).
- Geometric Boundaries; drawn according to arcs or lines dismissing the physical features
that lies between it
 - Examples being the US-Canada border, or Chad-Libya border.
- Physical Boundaries; a boundary that runs along natural landscapes and major physical
features.k
- Examples being rivers, mountains, lakes, oceans, etc.
- Antecedent Boundaries; boundaries drawn before the establishment of cultural landscape
and/or settlements
- A boundary that is most commonly correlated directly with the natural landscape,
with examples being Argentina and Chile.
- Relic Boundaries; boundaries that no longer exist but still impact the cultural landscape.
- Examples being the Berlin Wall, which once divided Berlin but now just impacts the
cultural landscape.
- Subsequent Boundaries; boundaries drawn after the establishment of cultural landscape
and settlements
- An example being the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland.
- Consequent Boundaries; boundaries that are drawn to accommodate existing differences
in culture, language, etc.
- An example being the partition of India, where Muslim majority areas were put into
Pakistan and Hindi majority areas into India.
- Superimposed Boundaries; boundaries that are created by a foreign state with complete
disregard for local ethnicities, cultures, languages, etc.
- Examples being the entirety of the African continent.
- Frontier (Boundary); geographic areas where boundaries are weak and poorly enforced.
- Examples being the period of time known as the Wild West in America as well as
Antarctica.

4.5 The Function of Political Boundaries

Boundary Disputes
A dispute over the boundary regarding finer aspects;
- Definitional Boundary Disputes are disputes over the agreement of boundaries and
treaties that regard them; occurs due to different interpretations of original boundaries.
- Locational/Territorial Boundary Disputes are disputes over the location of a boundary
and ownership of the land; often caused by changing landscapes and who controls what
territory.
- Operational Boundary Disputes are conflicts over the operation or policy of a boundary;
often caused by disputes over how a boundary should be maintained, operated, who should
operate it, etc.
- Allocational Boundary Disputes are disputes and conflicts over the resources present on a
boundary; most commonly caused by the discovery of a valuable resource within a boundary,
separating the resource between two states, and spawning conflict.
United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)
A convention in 1958 by the United Nations that established the rules and laws of the sea, alongside
resolving allocational disputes of the sea; the resolving of allocational disputes occurred with the
division of the sea into three groups of ownership:
- Territorial Waters; this group extends 12 nautical miles (22km) from the coast in which a
state has exclusive control over; regulation laws, taxation, etc.
- Contiguous Zone; this group extends to 24 nautical miles (44km) from the coast in which
the state controls to solely regulate pollution, immigration, taxation, etc.
- Exclusive Economic Zone (EEC); this group extends to 200 nautical miles (370km) from
the coast with the state controlling all rights to any natural resources in this area.
- International Waters; this group extends into all unclaimed maritime territories, and has no
definitive laws or administration from anyone.

4.6 Internal Boundaries

Voting Districts
Administrative divisions on the local scale to enable for better administration of elections and
voting; a geographic area where citizens go to vote.

Redistricting
The process by which either governments or NGOs redraw voting district boundaries; as changes
occur to things such as population in districts, governments will need to redraw borders of voting
districts to better reflect the population.

Gerrymandering
The redistricting of legislative boundaries to benefit the political party in power; there are many ways
to gerrymander, with the following being examples:
- Cracking; where one spreads out like minded voters into several districts instead of one to
diminish their vote.
- Packing; where one consolidates as many like minded voters as possible into a singular
district to diminish their votes in every other district.

4.7 Forms of Governance

Unitary States
States that have power centralized at the national level are known as unitary states, these states do
not use a federal system and instead the central government makes all the laws and decisions;
focuses power on a national level.
 - Preferable system for nationstates with high national unity as a result of their homogeneous
population, allowing for the unitary government to make quick decisions and then apply
them throughout the state.
- A drawback however is that regional needs are not acknowledged and minorities not
represented.

Federal States
States where power is shared between regional and national government with some powers
overlapping.
- Preferable system for states that are dispersed, have massive populations, and territory over a
large geographic area; beneficial as a result of decisions being able to be made at the local
level with laws and policies made on regional needs; also gives minorities more
representation.
- Downsides however being bureaucratic inefficiencies, as now regional and federal
governments both have a say on matters of state; fast decision making also becomes
effectively impossible as a result of feuding local and federal governments.; prone to
devolution.

4.8 Defining Devolutionary Factors

Devolutionary Factors
There are many factors that result in devolution of a state or complete dissolution instead. The
following are some;
- Environmental Factors; states that are geographically large or contain territories that are
isolated from the majority of the state can start to see unique cultures form, seeing regional
peoples demand more autonomy and ultimately devolution.
- Cultural Factors; states that are culturally/ethnically diverse or just contain ethnic groups
with a history of self-determination that haven’t been integrated to the state’s dominant
culture can see demand for regional autonomy where these cultures are present become
promoted which eventually leads to devolution.
- Economic Factors; states that struggle economically or have prevalent divisions within
economic and social classes are more likely to see devolution to occur; states that fail to
provide employment and opportunities to the citizenry; this leads to frustration which
ultimately leads to calls for devolution to local government.
- Abuse of Power;when governments or the dominant cultural groups abuse citizens or
minority groups the call for devolution can emerge in both the form of change in leadership
and change of the political spectrum; events such as the dissolution of a state or ethnic
cleansing both can occur,
 - Terrorism; the process by which groups use violence or intimidation to advance an agenda.
If violence/terorism is prevalent in a state, calls to reform or devolution can emerge as
unrest develops over constant violence.
- Irredentism; movements by a nation to unite other parts of its nation that are spread over
borders of multiple states; devolution can occur with movements for cultural unification of a
nation.

4.9 Challenges to Sovereignty

Challenges to State Sovereignty
There are many factors and means governments or NGOs can go about influencing a state and
challenging its sovereignty; the following are some examples;
- Technology and Sovereignty; the modern advancements in technology and things such as
social media has led to mass communication and organization to become easy, ultimately
leading to states censoring social media sites and other means of online communication in a
bid to prevent protests or resistance to their control, maintaining the status quo.
- Globalization and Sovereignty; advancements in economics and globalization have
ultimately led to the formation of supranational organizations which ultimately restrict
sovereignty.
- Supranational and Sovereignty; when countries join supranational organizations they
surrender some sovereignty in exchange for added benefits such as militaristic alliances or
economic aid/trade.

Supranational Organizations
Organizations that are made up of multiple states that strive to achieve certain military, economic,
political, or environmental goals; examples being the EU, NATO, etc.
- Economic Supranational Organizations; states within an economic organization might
have to implement laws or regulations on the production of goods and services, with regards
to current trading stature also changing with tariffs either being instituted or removed.
- Military Supranational Organizations; states join a militaristic organization with the hope
of being protected or to protect surrounding allies to ensure safety between members.
- Environmental Supranational Organizations; states that join an environmental
organization seek joint-cooperation in environmental protections with regulations over the
likes of pollution, protection of animals, and maintenance of environments.

4.10 Consequences of Centrifugal and Centripetal

Forces
Impact of Centrifugal Forces
Many states with overwhelming centrifugal forces may become failed states, in which the authority
and ability of the government to govern the state collapses with things such as nationalist
movements of stateless nations present emerging alongside the dissolution of the state altogether.

Impact of Centripetal Forces

More likely to see engaged citizens with economic/social booms for everybody with generalized
acceptance of more diverse cultures, leading to ethnonationalism, or nationalism based on an
ethnic commonality.

Additional Notes
Extra notes