World Geography - Political Geography

1. Political Geography
The study of Government Systems, Nation-
States, & Boundaries

2. Types of Government Systems: Democracy
 Democracy: rule by the people
 Greek origin
 Two basic principles – equality and freedom
 Voting is a major part of the democratic process (elections)
 A written system of laws and protections ensures freedoms
(Constitution)
 Republican or Representative Democracy = The people elect
other people to represent them and political view (U.S.
Congress).

3. Democracy Index
The lighter the blue the more democratic freedom. Black represents little
to no democratic freedom. What countries or regions have more
freedom? What countries or regions have little to no democratic

4. Types of Government Systems: Monarchy
 Monarchy: Rule by one (King, Queen, Emperor)
 Single person known as a ”monarch” at its head.
 Monarchies were once common throughout the world, but now they
are rare.
 Monarchs generally reign for life. Also, most monarchies are
hereditary. When the monarch dies, a son, daughter, or other relative
becomes the next monarch.
 In an absolute monarchy, the monarch rules with unlimited power.
 A constitutional, or limited, monarchy has an elected government that
runs the country. In this case, the monarch has very little power.
(United Kingdom).

5. Types of Government Systems: Theocracy
 Theocracy = country governed by religious law
 Government officials are representatives of a religious
deity
–Can be selected by “divine choice” or heredity
 Examples: Iran & Saudi Arabia

6. Types of Government Systems: Dictatorship
vs. Totalitarian
 • Totalitarian regimes are characterized by a single
party rule whereas dictatorships are characterized by
rule of a single person.
 • Totalitarian governments have no limits to their
authority and exercise great influence over the lives of
their citizens.

7. Types of Government Systems: Dictatorship
vs. Totalitarian
 Dictatorship is a political system where a single person or a small group
of people have all the power to control people.
 • In dictatorship, there is no consent of the people to rule them whereas,
in totalitarian regimes, people accept one party rule as a better form of
governance.
 • Dictatorship is defined by where the power comes from whereas
totalitarianism is defined by the scope of the government.
 North Korea (Dictator = Kim Jong-Un; Totalitarian = Communist Party).
 Nazi Germany (Dictator = Adolf Hitler; Totalitarian = Nazi Party).

8. DO NOW
Type of Government Definition in your own words
Democracy
Monarchy
Theocracy
Dictatorship
Totalitarian

9. Government Activity
 Government
 1) Pick your government type
 2) Decide on the structure of the government (who is
in charge?)
 3) Write laws
 4) Share your government with the class

10. Political Geography
State, Nation, Nation-State, & Geopolitics
(Who the heck cares?)

11. Political Geography
States and Nations: this two words are used
differently by political scientist.
A State is a political unit that occupies a
precisely defined, permanently populated
territory.
It has full control over its internal and foreign
affairs.
In short it is an independent State (coutry).

12. Political Geography
The United Nations recommended
that the word State be capitalized
to distinguish it from a “state” which
is a lower-order political unit.
The State is the dominant form of
political unit in the world
organization.
 United States = State & Texas = state

13. Political Geography
Almost all of the earth’s land unit
is included in such units.
The only exception is Antarctica
which has neither a permanent
population nor an established
government.
However, parts of Antarctica are
claimed by certain countries.

15. Political Geography
State is synonymous with Country.
Nation: refers to a reasonably large group of
people with a common culture that occupy a
particular territory.
They are bound together by a strong sense of
unity arising from shared beliefs and customs.

16. Political Geography
As a result, nations share one or more important
cultural traits such as religion, language, history,
values and political institutions.
Nations have an attachment to a particular
territory and their identity is intimately
associated with that territory.

17. Political Geography
A multi-cultural state consists of several nations:
A good example is India.
Some nations do not have their own state and
therefore are scattered across several countries
– Kurds in the middle east.

18. Political Geography
The Palestinians are a nation and only now
beginning to have a state of their own.
Nation-state: this is when the territory of a State
is occupied by only one distinct nation or people.
In that case, there are no important minority
groups.

19. Political Geography
Japan, Denmark, and Poland are
examples of nation-states.
Such an arrangement minimizes
conflicts, and makes for strong states.
On the other hand, there are strong
states with sizeable minorities.
The existence of such states is that
the sizeable minorities have safe
ways to express themselves.

20. Political Geography
Canada is often termed two nations
within a state, because Canadians
speak French and English.
Canada uses the term “first nations” to
refer to the indigenous groups of
Canadians.

21. Political Geography
Centrifugal and Centripetal Forces:
Centrifugal and Centripetal are two
terms that crop up frequently in political
Geography and Political science.

22. Political Geography
In Political Geography, Centripetal
forces are those forces that bind a
country together.
Unifying factors such as language,
history, values, and religion.

23. Political Geography
Centripetal forces can be reinforced by
a threat of foreign aggression.
This has always been very effective in
unifying a population.
–September 11th

24. Political Geography
The United States has had strong
centripetal forces such as shared
beliefs in the ideals of our democracy
and economic freedom.
We are ready to go to war in order to
defend these fundamental rights.

25. Political Geography
 These includes such things as
iconography and political pageantry.
 Examples are:
– the flag,
–reciting the Pledge of Allegiance,
–celebrating Independence Day,
–singing the National Anthem.
 A sense of shared history and struggle is
also important.

26. Political Geography
Centripetal forces are fostered by an
educational system that socializes
children into a national ideology.
It is fostered by the media (Radio,
Television, and written press).
Centrifugal forces are forces of
disunity, i,e. more than one language
or religion.

27. Political Geography
Another problem is that of political
and economic inequality (economic
Hierarchy) – Upper, middle and lower
class.
Many people think that in recent
years centrifugal forces have been
gaining grounds in the United States.
Remember the Vietnam war.

28. Political Geography
 Remember the 2000 election.
 Remember the problem between Muslims
and Christians
 All these become centrifugal forces that can
kill a Country.
 In Canada, Language is its most centrifugal
force.
 Currently in the United States we have
opposition to the war in Iraq.

29. Political Geography
Many French Canadians see
themselves as a separate nation and
therefore advocate an independent
state.
Canada’s population distribution works
to the disadvantage of a Canadian
centripetal force because their
provinces are much closer to the united
states than to Canadian states.

30. Political Geography
The word unitary means unity – it is a
Latin word Unitas.
Unitary states entail oneness and a
high degree of internal homogeneity
and cohesiveness.

31. Political Geography
Unitary States are organized around a
single political core, the national
capital.
This means that the whole country is
under the direct control of the central
government.
The whole country is divided into units
for administration purposes.

32. Political Geography
The national government:
– Creates the administrative units,
– Determines how many of them
are to be created,
–Determines where their
boundaries should pass and.
– Who should rule those areas.

33. U.S. And Canada As Federal States
Down the ladder is the state/provinces
and then the local governments.
State governments delegate powers to
lower levels of governments such as
the municipalities and counties.

34. “State”
(USA)
“state”
(Texas)
County
(Bexar)
County
(Harris)
“state”
(New York)
County
(Buffalo)

35. Political Geography
 These subdivisions are financed by the
national government as well as the
appointment of the chief executives.
 A unitary state can be all of the following
–
–monarchy, Ruled by a royal
–democracy, Free and equal
representation of the people
–or a dictatorship form of
government.

36. Political Geography
In federal states, the responsibilities of
government are divided formally
between the central authorities in
national capitals and lower levels of
government.

37. Political Geography
In a weak federation, the power of
the constituent state is large and
that of the central government
small – Switzerland is a good
example.

38. Political Geography
The German system has a strong
federal government and the power
is more centralized.
The United States, Canada and
Mexico do have a federal structure
of government.

39. Political Geography
Under the federal framework, the
central government represents
the first order of divisions within
the states where there is shared
common interests.
First order entities are very
powerful and are represented by
the states.

40. Political Geography
An important power of these
entities are the power to tax.
This is the single most
important measure of
“sovereignty”.
The powers of the states and
provinces have been exercised in
many different ways.

41. Political Geography
 Examples are such things as:
–Divorce laws,
–Minimum driving ages,
–Educational systems,
–Environmental regulations,
–Certification requirements for
teachers and.
–Motor vehicle codes.

42. Political Geography
In Canada, Quebec has taken
advantage of this and fostered a
separate French-language-based
society.

43. U.S. And Canada As Federal States
Thus the powers of cities and counties
depend entirely on the role assigned to
them by the various states.
In short, states and provinces behave
somewhat like unitary states.

44. U.S. And Canada As Federal States
It grants a number of Executive Legislative and
Judicial powers to the national government.
Powers such as:
–Foreign affairs.
–minting of currency.
–National defense.

45. U.S. And Canada As Federal States
The Tenth Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution says powers not directly given
to State are given to the states.
This caused many court cases over “states
rights”

46. U.S. And Canada As Federal States
 Among the most important functions of the
state are:
 education,
 police powers, and
 health care.
 States can do as they please within their
boundaries provided they do not violate the
federal constitution, federal laws or
treaties.

47. U.S. And Canada As Federal States
In Canada, the situation is reverse in
that the constitution has assigned
specific powers to the provinces and
all the powers not so assigned are
reserved for the federal government.

48. U.S. And Canada As Federal States
 All of these divisions vary in certain
variables such as taxing and other
powers and structures.
 General purpose governments in
the United States are the Counties
also called Parishes in Louisiana.

49. U.S. And Canada As Federal States
The states assign functions to
the counties and the functions
vary considerable from one
state to another.
The number of counties within
the states also vary and they
range from 3 counties in
Delaware to about 254 in
Texas.

50. U.S. And Canada As Federal States
 SPECIAL PURPOSE DISTRICTS:
 These are districts created to serve
specific public functions.
 They make up the most numerous
forms of local authorities.
 School districts are special districts.

51. U.S. And Canada As Federal States
Annexation is the incorporation of additional
areas into a city.
City boundaries have changed considerably
through this process of annexation.

52. U.S. And Canada As Federal States
The problem with this kind of action is that in
some cases they turn to be very politicized
(Gerrymandering).
This is especially true when cities want to annex
high income areas.

53. U.S. And Canada As Federal States
GERRYMANDERING:
This is a deliberate manipulation of boundaries
to achieve an electoral outcome.

54. U.S. And Canada As Federal States
Gerrymandering was named after an early
governor of Massachusetts, called Elbrige Gerry
who practiced it in the 1800s.
If electoral boundaries are drawn by elected
officials it can be a good weapon in the fight to
stay in power.

56. U.S. And Canada As Federal States
Votes that have been cast can be classified into
three categories: effective votes, excess votes,
wasted votes.
Effective votes are those needed to win a seat
and in a two candidate race half the total
number of votes cast plus 1 vote are effective.

57. U.S. And Canada As Federal States
Excess votes are those cast above what is
expected to win.
Wasted votes are cast for losing candidates.

58. U.S. And Canada As Federal States
In gerrymandering, the objective of
the party in power is to draw district
borders so as to force the opposition
to cast as many excess and wasted
votes as possible.
There are two techniques used to
achieve this and it is based on the
geographic distribution of voters.

59. U.S. And Canada As Federal States
The two techniques most commonly
used are:
(1) opponent-concentration
gerrymandering also known as
excess vote gerrymandering and
(2) opponent-dispersion
gerrymandering or wasted vote
gerrymandering.

60. Political Geography: Boundaries
 Boundaries are very important in political geography.
 There are two basic types of boundaries. Natural Boundaries
and man-made boundaries
 Natural boundaries are natural; rivers, lakes, Mountain ranges
and peaks, and watersheds. The boundaries are tangible.
 Man-Made boundaries are those created by humans, are
visible only on maps, but not visible on land. They include
lines of latitude and longitude. Tend to be a straight line.

61. What are the Natural Boundaries of
Texas? How many are there? List
them.
What are the Man-Made Boundaries
of Texas? How Many are there? List
them.

62. Political Geography: Geopolitics
 The study of how geography and economics have an influence on
politics and on the relations between Nations, States, and Nation-States.
WHO THE HECK CARES? YOU SHOULD!!!!!
How does U.S. Relations with Saudi Arabia relate to gas prices?
Why should the U.S. get involved with the ISIS/ISIL issues in the Middle-
East? Who should we give guns to? Anyone? What about the Kurds?
Does Iran having nuclear capabilities pose a threat to the United States?
Should the United States have gotten involved in Irag?
Should the United States invade Mexico to end cartel violence, would this
solve anything?
These are just some of the Geopolitical issues facing the U.S. and our
generations.

63. END OF LECTURE