Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Political Geography

Geog 1050Victoria Alapo, Instructor

An Introduction to Human GeographyThe Cultural Landscape, 9e

James M. Rubenstein

United Nations Members

The UN has increased from 51 Member-States in 1945 to 192 in 2007. There are also some Stateless Nations in the world (next slide).

Stateless Nations

Nations of people with no official State boundaries.

A State is a territory on the ground, usually an official line on a map.

A Nation is the people who live within the territory, which means not all nations have STATES. E.g.? Pg 242.

Antarctica: National Claims

Antarctica is the only large landmass that is not part of a state, but several countries claim portions of it. Read Treaty, pg 260. 1959 Treaty prevents countries from ever fighting over it.

The countries promised that it will be used for peaceful purposes, forever.

The Fertile Crescent

The Fertile Crescent was the site of early city-states and a succession of ancient empires(Babylonian, Persian, Sumerian, Assyrian, etc).

Colonial Possessions, 1914

By the outbreak of World War I, European states held colonies throughout the world, especially throughout Africa and in much of Asia.

Colonial Possessions, 2006

Most of the remaining colonies are small islands in the Pacific or Caribbean, pg 265.

Boundaries and Boundary Problems of States

• Shapes of states– Five basic shapes (see next slide and pg

264 to 267)– Landlocked states (define and see next

slide)

• Boundaries inside states– Electoral geography – Gerrymandering: the act of creating

district boundaries in such a way that one gains unfair political advantage. See slides.

African States

Southern, central, and eastern Africa include states that are compact, elongated, prorupted, fragmented, and perforated. What shape is the U.S.?

Gerrymandering: Florida and Georgia

State legislature boundaries were drawn to maximize the number of legislators for Republicans in Florida and Democrats in Georgia.

Cooperation among States

• Suprationational Organizations – 3 or more countries/states involved together.

• This could political, military or economic cooperation e.g.– The United Nations– Regional alliances: the European Union (EU),

NAFTA, OAU, ECOWAS, SADC, AU, Arab League, Andean Community, ECOWAS, SADC, NATO, etc.

European Boundary Changes

Twentieth-century boundary changes in Europe, 1914 to 2003. Germany’s boundaries changed after each world war and the collapse of the Soviet Union, pg 279.