When looking at satellite images of Earth, we easily distinguish landmasses and water bodies. What we cannot see are where boundaries are located between countries. One of Earth’s most fundamental cultural characteristics—one that we take for granted—is the division of our planet’s surface into a collection of spaces occupied by individual countries. To many, national boundaries are more meaningful than natural features.
Key Issue 1: Where Are States Distributed?
Political geography is concerned with the study of the way governments organize and administer space on Earth’s surface, and especially the geographic dimensions of conflict. One of Earth’s most fundamental cultural characteristic is the division of our planet’s surface into a collection of spaces occupied by individual countries.
Politics & Geography A state is an area organized into a political unit and ruled by an established government that has control over its internal and foreign affairs. It occupies a defined territory on Earth’s surface and contains a permanent population. Country is synonymous with state. Nearly all inhabitable land is organized into states. The land area occupied by states around the world widely varies. The largest state,
Russia, comprises 6.6 million square miles, or 11 percent of the Earth’s entire land area. On the other end of the spectrum are about two dozen microstates, which are states with very small land area. The Vatican is the world’s smallest microstate, with 0.17 square miles. Many microstates are islands, explaining both their small size and sovereignty.
Challenges in Defining States A state has sovereignty, which means independence from control of its internal affairs by other states. A sovereign state is a good example of a formal or uniform region, as the entire area of a state is managed by its national government, laws, army, and leaders. Disagreement over the number of sovereign states in the world is present in the global community. Places that challenge the definition of sovereignty are Korea, China, and Western Sahara.
Korea: One State or Two? Not all states are universally recognized or well defined. After the defeat of Japan in World War II Korea was divided in half into two occupation zones. The Soviet Union supported a pro-communist government in the North and the United States supported a democratic government in the South. North Korea invaded South Korea in 1950 in an attempt to reunite the country. The Korean War ended in 1953 ending in a stalemate. In 1992, North Korea and South Korea were admitted to the United Nations as separate countries. Progress toward reuniting Korea was halted by North Korea’s decision to build nuclear weapons.
Sahrawi Republic/Western Sahara: Who Is Sovereign? Most African countries consider the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic a sovereign state. Spain controlled the territory until withdrawing from the area in 1976. An independent Sahrawi Republic was declared. Morocco and Mauritania annexed the territory, but Mauritania decided to withdraw three years later. Morocco now claims most of the territory. No other state has recognized Morocco’s claim.
China and Taiwan: One State or Two? Most countries consider China (officially the People’s Republic of China) and Taiwan (officially the Republic of China) as separate and sovereign states. China does not consider Taiwan to be a separate state but part of China. The United States supported the Chinese Nationalists (Taiwan) in a civil war that ended in 1949. The United States recognized Taiwan as the legitimate government of China until 1971. The United Nations voted that year to transfer China’s seat in the U.N. from the Nationalists in Taiwan to the Communist government in China.
Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands: Conflicting Claims The People’s Republic of China, Taiwan, and Japan all claim sovereignty over several small uninhabited islands in the East China Sea. These islands are known as Diaoyu in China, Diaoyutai in Taiwan, and Senkaku in Japan. Japan has controlled the islands since 1895, except between 1945 and 1972, when the United States administered them after the Japanese defeat in World War II. China and Taiwan claim that the islands historically belonged to China until the Japanese government illegally seized them in 1895.
8.1
Colony A territory that is legally tied to a sovereign state rather than completely independent.
Autonomous region An area inside of a country that has great power to control itself more than other areas in the country
Failed state A country where the government has become so weak it has lost control and can no longer provide basic government functions
Imperialism When one country dominates colonies far from their home country and often imposes their culture on them
Independence movement People that are trying to gain political independence for some area that they think should be its own country
Sovereignty The ability of a country to govern itself without outside influence
State a country that has sovereignty
Supranationalism Two or more countries joining together for a common purpose such as economics or defense