Unit 4: Political Patterns &Processes

Vocabulary:

Sovereignty - right to control and defend its territory and determine what happens in its state

Territoriality - control and influence over a specific geographic space

Political Power - control over people, land and resources

Self-Determination - right of all people to govern themselves. Usually a nation, ethnicity, former colony wants to govern themselves

Devolution - centrifugal forces, power is shifted from central government to regional authorities

Boundaries - on land and water. It is an expression of sovereignty, territoriality, political power, and sometimes correspond with culture.

Berlin Conference (1884) - European powers divided up continent of Africa and drew up political boundaries for their own benefits, disregarding tribal culture and distributions

Treaty of Versaille (1920) - treaty signed to end WWI. It redrew boundaries in Europe and Southwest Asia. German, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires broke up and organized into individual states.

Establishment of Israel - Palestine was a former British colony that established itself as Israel after the Holocaust. Then, self-determination for Arabs across Palestine rose and there has been conflict since the state was established. Now, Palestine is a stateless nation.

Decolonization & Independence Movements (1945-1990) - After the development of the UN and the end of WWII, decolonization began. Resistance to colonial power and self-determination gained momentum and new countries formed out of previous colonial empires. This happened throughout Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia and Latin America

Fall of Soviet Union (1991) - fall of communism and Soviet Union ended Cold War and created new independent states such as Ukraine, Estonia, Armenia, etc. This changed the world balance of power.

Defined - countries legally define and agree to where borders are located through an agreement or treaty

Delimited - identifying location of defined boundaries usually at some time boundaries are defined; done through legal designation

Demarcated - visible marking of landscape such as through fences and signs

Administered - legal management of border through laws, immigration regulation, documentation and persecution

Maritime Boundaries - established for trade and shipping routes, fishing rights, oil reserves, defense, etc

Autonomy - self-governing

Balkanization - break up into smaller and often hostile units

State

defined territory with borders
permanent population
government
sovereignty
recognition from other states

Nation

a group of people with common identity through shared cultural traits (ex. language, religion, ethnicity)

Nation-State

borders of the nation match the borders of the state; state with ideally only one nation within it (ex. No TRUE example but Japan is the best example)

Usually small, island states that don't allow much immigration

Stateless Nation

nations of people without a state to occupy

(ex. Kurds in Southeast Asia, Basque in Spain, Palestinians in Israel)

Multistate Nation

nation of people that live in more than one state (ex. After the fall of the Soviet Union, ethnic Russians living in former Soviet territories such as Estonia, Latvia, and Ukraine)

Multinational State

country with various ethnicities and cultures within its borders (ex. USA, Russia, Nigeria)

Autonomous/Semi-Autonomous

location within a state that is given authority to govern independently from a national government (ex. Hong Kong, Tibet, Native American Indian Reservations)

Political Boundaries

Antecedent

borders established before there are major settlements in a territory (ex. 49th parallel that separates US and Canada)

Subsequent

borders drawn in areas that have been settled by people, due to changes that have occurred over time (ex. boundaries in Europe have changed frequently due to new empire, war, political agreement)

Superimposed

border drawn over existing/accepted borders by an outside force (ex. Berlin Conference)

Geometric

border established on straight lines of latitude and longitude instead of physical or cultural boundaries (ex. Sykes-Picot agreement, Europeans established border between Saudi Arabia and Iraq)

Relic

boundaries no longer exist, but has left an imprint or local cultural or environmental geography (ex. boundary between east and west Germany during Cold War, Iron Curtain)

Consequent

type of subsequent boundary. Takes into account existing cultural distribution of people and redevelops boundary lines to more closely align with cultural boundaries (ex. Nunavut in Canada)

Neocolonialism

use of economic, political, cultural or other pressures in order to control or influence other countries (ex. Kenya - $3.8 billion dollar railroad, Chinese government owned company- crushing debt – Chinese control over railroad)

Shatterbelt

instability within a region that is geographically located between states with overlapping territoriality and political power (ex. Germany during Cold War)

Chokepoint

a strategic strait or canal which is narrow, hard to pass through and has competition for use (ex. Suez Canal, Strait of Malacca, Panama Canal)

Can be used to block sea traffic and strategically show political power

UN Convention on Law of the Seas (1982)

Exclusive Economic Zone

200 nautical miles. State has special rights over exploration and use of marine resources such as fishing, whaling, as well as natural resources such as nattural gas, oil and energy

Territorial Sea

12 nautical miles from coastline. State has complete sovereignty over water and airspace

Median Line Principle

drawing boundary that is mdiway between two or more states' coasts

The Census

Happens every 10 years, mandated by the US Constitution. It is an official population count and also get data about age, race, and sex. It is to determine federal and state funding for planning and providing services and to build and maintain infrastructure such as schools, roads, hospitals and public transports.

Reapportionment

process in which U.S. House of Representatives seats are re-allocated to different states, based on population change

Redistricting

state's internal political boundaries that determines voting districts for US House of Representatives and state legislature redreawn to accurately reflect the new census data

Electoral College

organization that utilizes the popular vote to then vote for President

Loss of congressional seat is loss of electoral college seat

The number of electoral college seats is made up of the 435 US Representatives, 100 senators and the 3 representatives of Washington D.C.

Voting District

geographic term used by state and local governments to organize elections

Requirements for Voting Districts

similar population size
contiguous (single, unbroken shape)
compact (smooth, rather than contorted boundaries and should cluster around a central core)

Gerrymandering

redistricting for a political advantage. When a political party that controls the majority of seats in the state legislature draws political district boundaries to maintain or extend their political power. Gerrymandering impacts election results at various scales at national, state and local.

Representative

ideal, in which voting districts are equal in population, contiguous and compact. Truly representative of people living in the district.

Packing

clustering like minded voters in a single district, allowing the other party to win the remaining districts

Cracking

disperse like-minded voters among multiple districts in order to minimize their impact and prevent them from gaining a majority

Forms of Government

Federal Government

power is shared between central, regional and local governments
Regional and local gov. have autonomy and authority to administer their spaces to account for needs of diverse groups
Usually are in states that are multinational and large
ex. US, Russia, Canada, Brazil and Germany

Positives:

reduction of conflict because each sub-state can legislate differently
local issues resolved more quickly by regional governments

Negatives:

slow to enact change
conflicts between national, state and local level government can cause confusion and stall progress

Unitary Government

power is located centrally and the purpose of regional and local units is to carry out policy
often do not act independently to make laws or policy

Positives:

efficiency and implementation of laws
change happens quickly
sense of unity

Negatives:

vulnerable to corruption and authoritarianism
may serve interests of dominant group
central government may not be in touch and slower in responding with local issues

Devolutionary Factors

Physical Geography

Regions separated from central state by physical features (ex. Indonesia, Philippines)

Ethnic Separatism

ethnic people in a multinational state identify more with their own ethnic group than the state. Result of mistreatment or big difference between dominant and minority ethnic group (ex. Tibetan Buddhists in China)

Ethnic Cleansing

state government attack on an ethnic group to try to eliminate them through expulsion, imprisonment or mass murder (ex. Holocaust)

Terrorism

organized violence aimed at government and civilian targets intended to create fear to accomplish political aims. Commonly used by non-government groups wit no army to achieve recognition or power (ex. Al Qaeda responsible for 9/11 attacks)

Economic/Social Problems

Economic - uneven development, different levels of economic activity. (ex. Scotland - control of oil and gas reserves and could make money for itself if it was independent)

Social - discrimination against a minority group

Irrendentism

majority ethnic group wants to claim territory from a neighboring state due to shared culture of people residing across border; reunification of multistate nations (ex. Russians in Ukraine and other former Soviet countries)

Challenges to Sovereignty

Devolution

states must concede power to autonomous regions or subnational political units to avoid conflict. Causes destabilization of state through disunity, desire for autonomy. (ex. Catalonia, Basque in Spain) May result in disintegration of a state.

Advancements in Communication Technology

Time-space compression can result in information and news being broadcasted through the world. This can result in instant communication with large groups and the spread of propaganda and misinformation.

Supranational Organization

This is an alliance of 3 or more states that work together in pursuit of common goals. Typically regional, but some are globalized.

Positives - decrease in conflict and promote cooperation, environmental sustainability, economies of scale (reduction of trade barriers, embargoes and tariffs, free trade), collective defense

Negatives - challenge state sovereignty by limiting economic/political actions (ex. EU - common currency, environmental policy) If one member fails it affects everyone, membership cost, unequal participation.

Examples of Supranational Organization

ASEAN - Association of Southeast Asian Nations

African Union

NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organization

EU - European Union

Centripetal leads to...

Ethnonationalism - when people of a country identify as having one common ethnicity, language and religion which creates a sense of pride and ties them to their territory
Equitable infrastructure development
Cultural cohesion/unity/harmony/peace

Centrifugal leads to...

failed states - balkanization in Yugoslavia
Uneven development - weak infrastructure
stateless nations and ethnic nationalist or separatist movements (ex. Kurds, Basque, Palestine)

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