Political Geography
IV . Political Organization of Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13–17%
A . Territorial dimensions of politics
1 . The concepts of political power and territoriality: creating ownership over a defined space.
2 . The nature, meaning, and function of boundaries
-Geometric political boundaries: straight-line boundaries that do not relate to the cultural or physical features of the area.
-Physical (natural) political boundaries: boundaries that separate territory according to natural features in the landscape,
such as mountains, deserts, or rivers.
-Cultural political boundaries: mark changes in the cultural landscape.
-Antecedent boundaries: existed before human cultures developed into their current froms.
-Subsequent boundaries: grows over time to divide space as a result of human interaction and negotiation.
-Superimposed boundaries: forcibly put on the landscape by outside parties, such as the United Nations.
-Relict boundary: no longer functions as a boundary, but only as a reminder of a line that once divided space.
-BOUNDARY CREATION:
-Definition: the exact location of a boundary is legally described and negotiated.
-Delimitation: the boundary's definition is drawn onto a map.
-Demarcation: the visible marking of a boundary on the landscape with a fence, line, sign, wall, etc..
3 . Influences of boundaries on identity, interaction, and exchange
-BOUNDARY DISPUTES:
-Definitional: fights over the language of the border agreement in a treaty or boundary contract.
-Locational: conflicting parties agree on the definition but not on where the boundary exists on the Earth or the map.
-Operational: conflicts over the way a boundary should operate or function, such as if migration should be allowed across
the border.
-Allocational: fights over resources that may not be divided by the border, such as natural gas reserves beneath the soil.
4 . Federal states (countries): strong regionals government share power with the central government. Usually larger and more
diverse states.
unitary states: one main governmental decision-making body for the entire state, in which these states
are usually smaller and similar.
confederations: a weak central government exists with regional governments holding the majority of power.
centralized government
and forms of governance
5 . Spatial relationships between political systems and patterns of ethnicity, economy, and gender
6 . Political ecology: impacts of law and policy on the environment and environmental justice
B . Evolution of the contemporary political pattern
1 . The nation-state concept: a state with only one nation in its borders. Example: Japan and Iceland.
-Multinational states: a state that includes more than one nation within its borders. Example: Former Soviet Union.
-Stateless nations: a nation does not have a territory to call its own. Example: the Kurds in the Middle East.
2 . Colonialism: control by one state over another area.
imperialism: process of establishing political, social, and economic dominance over a colonized area.
-Mercantilism: economic system in which a state acquires colonies that can provide it with the raw materials to ship back home
and use in making products for the population of the mother country.
-Motives for Colonization: 3 G's: God, Gold, Glory
3 . Democratization: process of establishing representative and accountable forms of government led by popularly elected officials.
4 . Fall of communism and legacy of the Cold War
5 . Patterns of local, regional, and metropolitan governance
C . Changes and challenges to political-territorial arrangements
1 . Changing nature of sovereignty(supreme or independent political power)
2 . Fragmentation, unification, and cooperation
3 . Supranationalism: Three or more countries form an alliance for cultural, economic, or military reasons.
international alliances:
4 . Devolution(process of transferring some power from the central government to regional governments) of countries:
centripetal force: unify a state's people and regions. "T" for together
centrifugal force: divide and tear apart a state's people and regions. "F" for fracture
-Balkanization: occurs when centrifugal forces break apart a state into smaller pieces.
5 . Electoral geography: redistricting: drawing of new electoral district boundary lines in response to population changes.
gerrymandering: redrawing electoral boundaries to give a political party an advantage.
6 . Armed conflicts, war, and terrorism
