Agenda

1
Agenda

• Homework
• -Ch. 8 3 images
• -Ch. 8 Figure Index
• 2. Political Geography Lecture, Part 1
• 3. International Case Studies Assignment  

2
Political Geography

• Created by David Palmer

3
I. State and Nation

• A. state political unit (can be used
  interchangeably with country)
• B. nation refers to a tightly knit group of
  people (usually having similarities culture,
  language, religion, etc.)
• e.g. Yugoslavia was a state but not a nation.
• nationalism - loyalty to a nation/ sense of
  inclusion

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Former Yugoslavia - State not a nation
Fellmann
5
Stateless Nations - Have no National Territory

• e.g. 1990 Palestinian Arabs
• 6.5 million (Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria)

CIA Factbook. online
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Kurdistan

• 20 million Kurds
• Turkey and Iraq very volatile relationship
• Kurds desire territory or at least autonomous
  control of land in Iraq and Turkey

Fellmann 343
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Concept Nation-State

• Ideal built on homogeneity of territory and
  culture
• Politically organized
• Sovereignty final authority over territories
  political and military affairs
• Example - Japan
• Ethnic Groups in Japan Japanese 99

Picture Here
CIA Factbook. online
8
Other Examples

• Bi-national State (Israel/Palestine)
• Multinational State (Switzerland)
• Multistate Nation (Transylvania, stretches across
  Romania and Hungary, Kurds)

Picture Here
CIA Factbook. online
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Concept Challenges to the State

• Globalization, trans-national corporations
• NGOs, social pressure
• Developments in technology- discourage
  assimilation
• Increase in nationalist/separatist movements
• Trade organizations- WTO, NAFTA, EU- limit
  independence of members

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Geographic Characteristics of States
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A. Territory Size-micro vs macro

• Does Size Power? No
• Greater land area may equal greater resources
• Could also lead to problems with regulating area
  (communication and transportation)

CIA Factbook. online
Vatican Map Micro State - Vatican Map
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Size is not necessarily an indicator for success

• Russia
• Land Area 6,550.7 square miles
• Purchasing Power Parity 9700 (2002)
• United States
• Land Area 3,787.4
• Purchasing Power Parity 36,300 (2002)

CIA Factbook. online
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B. Territory Shape
Fellmann 423
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1. Compact State (circle shape)

• the distance from any point of the country to its
  center is about the same.
• supposed to provide the most geographic stability
• e.g. Poland, Iceland, Democratic Republic of the
  Congo, Zimbabwe

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2. Fragmented State

• consisting of 2 or more pieces
• can make some interactions within the country
  more difficult
• e.g. Philippines

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3. Elongated
Hello down there!

• Can create separatist areas due to distance from
  center or core
• Vietnam, Chile, Norway

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Prorupt States

• An area that extends from a compact area
• Can create room for factions geographically
• Southern Thailand

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Perforated State

• broken by another country
• 1. exclaves separated from the state by
  another state
• e.g. Azerbaijan (Fellmann 347)
• 2. enclaves surrounded by another state
• e.g. Christian Armenia
• b. e.g. South Africa-Lesotho

US question next slide
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Practice Analysis of Shape

• What US state is an exclave?
• The same state is also a prorupt state.
• What shape best describes California?

Elongated
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Big Theme

• Territory size shape can influence political
  stability, but can not determine social,
  political, or economic well being.