Political geography

1. Chapter 9 Lecture
Human Geography: Places and
Regions in Global Context
Sixth Edition
Wendy A. Mitteager
State University of New York, Oneonta
Political Geographies

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Geopolitics
• Federal State
• Unitary State
• North/South divide
• East/West divide
• Decolonization
• State
• Nation
• Nation-state
• Nationalism

3. Member states
of League of Nations – precursor to
United Nations – after WWI

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Political Geography
• Boundaries – land use change
• Frontiers uninhabited
• Territories – do not have
• Same rights as bigger
• Federal units like States
Figure 9.3 Boundary between urban
and rural land uses
Figure 9.2 Disputed territories in
Georgia south of the Caucasus Mts.:
Georgia is a “state” while North
Ossetia is a territory that is part of the
Russian “state”.

5. Global Governance
• Transnational
political integration:
• Supranational
organization-
European Union result of
Marshall Plan - Post
WWII to rebuild Europe
following war with Hitler.
Human rights-The Geneva Convention
established standards of human rights in
connection with research – again result of
Hitler’s abuse of European populations.

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Figure 9.1 The changing
map of Europe
Before, after
Soviet Union
Took over
Baltic
States
After fall of
USSR – 1991
MAP OF EUROPE - 2011
Political Geography

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Geopolitics and the World Order
• Nationalism
• Federal state
• Unitary state
• Nation-state
– State-”recognized”
– Nation-”culture”
• Sovereignty-self-ruling
• Citizenship-part of “state”
Figure 9.8
English Defense League, “Nationalism vs. Islamic culture of Immigrants

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Figure 9.7 Nested hierarchy of
French “de jure” territories:
Region – largest like a “State”
• Department
• Arrondissement
• Canton
• Commune
Political Geography

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Geopolitics, (cont'd)
• Imperialism
• Colonialism
Figure 9.12 European colonies in
Africa, 1496–1912

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Political Geography, (cont'd)
Figure 9.4 Boundary between
the U.S. and Mexico
Apply your knowledge: Using Google Earth or aerial
photographs, compare and contrast the international
boundaries between the U.S. and Canada and between the
U.S. and Mexico. How do they differ? How are they similar?
Why do these differences and similarities exist?

11. States of South & East Asia, Indonesia &
Micronesia, Australia & New Zealand

12. Figure 9.9 Independent states of the former U.S.S.R.-Soviet Union - 1991
East-West divide between non-Communist
& Communist States – Russia since 1917

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Politics of Geography
• Self-determination – nation asserts “self-rule”
as new nation-state
• Regionalism – identification of people with a
certain region
• Sectionalism
• Separatist
movements –
• Chechnya wants
to separate
from Russian rule.

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The Heartland Theory – Mackinder believed
whoever controls central Eurasia will hold world power
Figure 9.21 The heartland

15. Ethnic
of Eas
Euro

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Figure 9.10
Kosovo War,
1998-1999
Serbian war
Against Albanians,
& ethnic Croatians
Bosnian War – resulted in split of Serbia & Croatia into separate
“states” after several years of very violent war & war crimes against
ethnic Croatians. 1991-1995 Bosnian Serbs perpetrated “ethnic
cleansing” against Bosnian Muslim women in rape camps. Alarming
scope of human rights abuses against Muslim women.
Eastern Europe – Bosnian Serbian war vs.
ethnic Croatians

17. Afghanistan &
Pakistan
in South west
Asia

18. Tribal Territories of Pakistan

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Figure 9.6 Borders btwn.
Egypt and Libya and Sudan
Figure 9.5 The Berlin Wall –
“relic” now erased, Germany
is a unified “state” previously
divided into Eastern
Germany & Western
Germany post - WWII
Political Geography

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Ongoing
Israel-
Palestine
conflict

21. • Some examples of stateless nations: the Cherokee
Nation, the Palestinians, the Kurdish ethnic minority of
Iraq & Turkey, no current territorial borders
Nation
Kurdish Region Must a
nation be a
place?
Is a Nation
a State?

22. Colonialism/Imperialism
• Imperialism-is the
extension of power
over political &
economic life of
other territories.
• Ex.: Belgium in the
African Congo
• Colonialism -
• European powers
Belgian, Italian,
French, German, &
Portuguese all
colonized African
lands for trade
routes & natural
resources.
British in
Middle East
Iraq
Iran
Turkey

23. • North/South
divide persists
today:
• Northern
colonizers of the
U.S., Japan,
Europe, Russia
dominate
southern
decolonized states
in Asia, Africa,
Indonesia,
Caribbean, & the
Americas.
African Independence

24. © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.
Figure 9.13 Colonization in
South America and the
Caribbean, 1496–1667
Portuguese – Eastern
coast of Brazil
Spanish – western coast
of South American
continent
French colonies – French
Guyana, northeast coast of
continent
Dutch colonies –
northeast coast of
continents
Colonization of Caribbean & South America

25. © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.
Figure 9.18
Independent
South
America
South American
Independent
States

26. Geographical Systems of Representation,
Figure 9.34 U.S. geographical basis of representation

27. End of Chapter 9
A federal state is one that brings together a number of different political
communities with a common government for common purposes.