Political Geography

Ideas manifest as places.

Geography v. Politics

• From a satellite things are visible. – oceans,– Landmasses– Forests– Deserts

• We can’t see the boundaries of place, but they are very real, and in some cases very visible if you look for the right context clues.

Peninsula of Korea

Concept of State

• 1940: 50 countries existed• 2009: 192 countries recognized by the United

Nations

• States are organized political units ruled by a government with established sovereignty.

• States are synonymous with country.

Define• State: an area of land within a political boundary ruled by

an organized government.

• Nation-State (tied to national identity): a state whose territory corresponds to the area occupied by an ethnicity.

• Nation: a place where people have a personal allegiance to land or space.

• DO NOT USE THESE INCORRECTLY ON THE AP.

Supranationalism

• Supranationalism is a group of sovereign nations who come together to form a political or economic alliance.

• The EU is a supranational organization.• CARICOM: Caribbean Community• Association of Southeast Asian Nations

Devolution

• Devolution is the granting of authority, economic or otherwise, to lower levels of government (either state or local level)

• This differs from federalism because it is possibly temporary and is rarely considered the “sharing” of authority as in a federal system.

• Examples include areas of Canada and Australia.

States in Dispute

• Korea: a single peninsula housing two distinct governments and very different ways of life.

• Originally a colony of Japan, after WWII it was divided between the Soviets and the Americans.

• Shortly after WWII tensions arose between the communist north and capitalist south, eventually creating a permanent divide at the 38 parallel.

Korean WarIn 1950 the north invaded the south and sparked a 3 year dispute ending with a border once again on the 38th parallel.This is now known as the DMZ, or de-militarized zone.

Korean Unity

• Both North and South Korea and committed to reunification and in 2000 they agreed to allow families that had been separated since 1950 to reunited.

• This progress was halted when N. Korea decided to start a nuclear weapons program.

China/Taiwan

• The world tends to view Taiwan as a sovereign nation and not a part of China.

• China, on the other hand, Taiwan is not sovereign.

• This conflict arose from a civil war that took place in the 1940s.

Nationalists/Communists

• In 1949, after losing, the Nationalists fled to Taiwan, claiming that they still ruled China, and would until such time as they could defeat the Communist party, reside on Taiwan.

• As late as 1999 the Nationalists argued that they were still an independent nation and should be regarded by China, and the world, as such.

UN

• Despite losing the war, the Nationalists enjoyed the support of both the UN and the United States until 1971.

• It was at this time that both recognized the Communists as the leaders of the country and finally transferred their seat in the UN to the rightful leaders.

• Taiwan is the most populous country not in the UN today.

More disputed land

• Morocco and Western Sahara (Sahrawi)• The North and South Pole– Antarctica is the largest landmass on earth that is

not a state. It is claimed by many different states, including:• Norway, Australia, France, New Zealand, U.K., Chile,

Argentina– Several countries do not recognize ANY state’s

claim to Antarctica, including the U.S. and Russia.

Antarctica

Size Matters

• Russia: 6.6 million sq miles; 11% of the world’s land.

• Other states with more than 2 million sq miles:– Canada– United States– China– Brazil– Australia

Microstates

• Microstates are states with very small land areas.– Monaco: 60% of a

square mile. Less than 2/3 of a mile.

Other small states• Less than 1,000 sq kilometers

– Andorra– Antigua and Barbuda– Bahrain– Barbados– Dominica– Grenada– Kiribati– Liechtenstein– Maldives– Malta– Micronesia– Nauru

• Paulu• St. Kitts & Nevis• St. Lucia• St. Vincent & the Grenadines• San Marino• Sao Tome e Principe• The Seychelles• Singapore• Tonga• Tuvalu

Colonialism

• Europe established colonies for three reasons.– Promoting Christianity– Resources & establishing captive markets– Relative power through the number of colonies.

• Or….– God– Gold– Glory

Imperialism

• After the loss of their western hemisphere colonies Europe turned to Asia and Africa.

• This is usually termed Imperialism because it was a takeover of land already ruled by indigenous people, rather than sparsely populated land.

• The British had by far the largest empire, with colonies on every continent. “The sun never sets….”

Queen Victoria in Africa

Different Colonies/Different Styles

• French colonies attempted assimilation to French culture, educating an elite group in order to control leadership.

• British tended to have the easiest transition to independence. – Exceptions are found in the Middle East, southern

Africa, and Ireland.• Boundaries of new states often coincide with

with colonial boundaries.

Few Remain

• The State Department lists 43 remaining colonies in the world.– Most are located in the Pacific Ocean or

Caribbean.– Included are:• Puerto Rico• Pitcairn: least populated with only 48 residents.