Commack Schools



AP Human Geography Mrs. Bellisari Political Geography- The study of the interaction of geographical area and political processIt is the formal study of territoriality and powerCovers forms of government, borders, treaties, trading blocs, conflicts and war.Basic Vocab: State vs. NationNation (“tribe”) = group of people who share…Common languageCommon historyEthnicity – shared ancestry and cultureReligionOther cultural traitsExamples:Japanese, Han Chinese, Swedish, Basque, Kurds, Palestinians, Chechens, Israelis, Cherokee, etc.State: (Country) a political territory with…Defined territory/boundariesStable/permanent population (50% of countries have fewer than 5 million people)Organizational structure or GovernmentSovereignty Control $$$, military, and policeRegulate immigrationNO external taxes imposedExceptions: ExtraterritorialityEmbassiesForeign military basesInternational Recognition (what Taiwan lacks)(Good example of a formal or uniform region)Example of states - Largest - Russia 6.6 million square miles- 11% of world’s land areaOthers with more than 2 million square miles are Canada, US, China, Brazil, AustraliaMicrostates - less than 1000 sq kmAndorra, Antigua & Barbuda, Bahrain, etc.Many are islandsQuestion of Taiwan? Is China and Taiwan One State or Two?381444517716500Rest of world sees them as 2 PRC - Taiwan (ROC) is not sovereign but a part of China; left over from Chinese Civil War; 1949 - Nationalists under Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan (Formosa) 120 miles awayNationalists proclaimed they were the legitimate rulers of China - just waiting to take the mainland back over1999 - Taiwan’s president announced Taiwan would regard self as sovereign independent state but China took it as a threatUS recognized Nationalists as official govt of China until 1971 when UN voted to give China’s seats to the Communists of the PRCTaiwan = most populous state NOT in UNDiplomatic relations with USA? Unofficial! Commercial and cultural relations with the people of the US are maintained through an unofficial instrumentality, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO), which has its headquarters in Taipei and in the US in Washington, DC; there are also branch offices called Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in 12 other US citiesThe Koreas – One State or Two?20th century = colony of Japan47434508763000Post-WWII - 2 occupation zones led by US & USSR Divided along 38 N latitudeEstablished separate govts & withdrew their armiesThe Koreas in the 21st CenturyBoth govts committed to reuniting country into one sovereign stateAgreed in 2000 to allow exchange visits of families separated for 50 years & to increase economic cooperationProgress halted due to NK’s decision to build nuclear weapons - even though NK can’t provide its citizens with food, electricity, etc.1992 - NK ad SK admitted to UN as separate states4476750-7620000Western Sahara (Sahrawi Republic)Sahrawi Arab Democratic RepublicConsidered sovereign by most African countries Morocco claims it and has built a 2700 km wall around it to keep out rebelsSpain controlled territory on African west coast between Morocco & Mauritania until withdrawing in 1976Independent Sahrawi Republic declared by Polisario Front but Morocco annexed North and Mauritania annexed SouthMorocco controls most of populated area but Polisario Front operates in vast, sparsely inhabited desertsUN has failed to reach a resolution among the groups405765015113000Antarctica National Claims Southern polar region contains only large landmasses on Earth’s surface that are not part of a stateStates like Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway, UK - claim portions of AntarcticaArgentina, Chile, and UK have conflicting overlapping claimsUS, Russia, and other states do not recognize anyone’s claimsAntarctic Treaty signed 1959Provides legal framework for managing AntarcticaStates may establish research stations for scientific investigations but no military activities are permittedSigned by 47 statesArctic - 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea42576754635500Permitted countries to submit claims inside Arctic Circle by 2009Thought to be rich in energy resourcesIrredentism - is any political or popular movement intended to reclaim and reoccupy a lost homeland. As such irredentism tries to justify its territorial claims on the basis of (real or imagined) historic and/or ethnic affiliations. Nation-state Examples – DenmarkDenmark is a fairly good example of a European nation-state. The territory occupied by the Danish ethnicity closely corresponds to the state of Denmark. But even Denmark is not a perfect example of a nation-state. The country’s southern boundary with Germany does not divide Danish and German nationalities precisely. Denmark controls two territories in the Atlantic Ocean that do not share Danish cultural characteristics—the Faeroe Islands and Greenland. In 1979 Greenlanders received more authority to control their own domestic affairs. One decision was to change all place names in Greenland from Danish to the local Inuit language.Multinational stateExamples - South Africa, Russia, Belgium In some multi-ethnic states, ethnicities all contribute cultural features to the formation of a single nationality. Belgium is divided among the Dutch-speaking Flemish and the French-speaking Walloons. Both groups consider themselves belonging to the Belgian nationality. Other multi-ethnic states, known as multinational states, contain two ethnic groups with traditions of self-determination that agree to coexist peacefully by recognizing each other as distinct nationalities. Republics of the Soviet UnionThe Soviet Union was an especially prominent example of a multinational state until its collapse in the early 1990s.The 15 republics that once constituted the Soviet Union are now independent countries. When the Soviet Union existed, its 15 republics were based on the 15 largest ethnicities. Less numerous ethnicities were not given the same level of recognition. With the breakup a number of these less numerous ethnicities are now divided among more than one state.Problems of Multinational StatesMulti-ethnic states (Yugoslavia, Russia, African countries) w/ many nationalities = “centrifugal” forces Multiple languages, religions, etcShape of borderScarce resources, arable landWeak economyIdeological differences (pro vs. anti-slavery)History of violence between groupsDeath of strong/popular leaderDesire for “pure” nation-state “Ethnic Cleansing”Type of government?Centrifugal Forces lead to…Devolution: Power passed from central government to regional gov’t Ex – India, Yugoslavia, Spain, Scotland One state splits into more than one stateExs – Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia = “Balkanization”, U.S.S.R., Ethiopia/EritreaBelgium? Kashmir? Punjab? Chechnya? UK?Caused by a rise in nationalism among a group…Multi-state nations Examples – Kurds and Koreas Stateless nationsExamples – Kurds and Palestinians Soviet Ethnicities The 15 newly independent states consist of five groups, 3 Baltic, 3 European, 5 Central Asian, 3 Caucasus, (and) Russia. Reasonably good examples of nation-states have been carved out of the Baltic, European, and some Central Asian states (but not). . . in any of the small Caucasus states, and Russia is an especially prominent example of a state with major difficulties in keeping all of its ethnicities contented.Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were independent countries between 1918 and 1940. Of the three Baltic states, Lithuania most closely fits the definition of a nation-state, because 81 percent of its population are ethnic Lithuanians. These three small neighboring Baltic countries have clear cultural differences and distinct historical traditions. To some extent, the former Soviet republics of Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine now qualify as nation-states. The ethnic distinctions among Belarusians, Ukrainians, and Russians are somewhat blurred. Belarusians and Ukrainians became distinct ethnicities because they were isolated from the main body of Eastern Slavs—the Russians—during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Russians actually constitute two-thirds of the population in the Crimean Peninsula of Ukraine. After Russia and Ukraine became separate countries, a majority of the Crimeans voted to become independent of Ukraine. Control of the Crimean Peninsula was also important to both Russia and Ukraine because one of the Soviet Union’s largest fleets was stationed there. The two countries agreed to divide the ships and to jointly maintain the naval base at Sevastopol. The situation is different in Moldova. Moldovans are ethnically indistinguishable from Romanians, and Moldova (then called Moldavia) was part of Romania until the Soviet Union seized it in 1940. In 1992, many Moldovans pushed for reunification with Romania. But it was not to be that simple. The Soviet government increased the size of Moldova by about 10 percent, transferring from Ukraine a sliver of land on the east bank of the Dniester (River). Inhabitants of this area are Ukrainian and Russian. They oppose Moldova’s reunification with Romania.More than 3,000 years ago Armenians controlled an independent kingdom in the Caucasus. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, hundreds of thousands of Armenians were killed in a series of massacres organized by the Turks. Others were forced to migrate to Russia. After World War I the allies created an independent state of Armenia, but it was soon swallowed by its neighbors. Turkey and the Soviet Union divided Armenia. The Soviet portion became an independent country in 1991. More than 90 percent of the population in Armenia are Armenians, making it the most ethnically homogeneous country in the region. Armenians and Azeris have been at war with each other since 1988 over the boundaries between the two nationalities. ................
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