g eometric boundary

geometric boundary

physical-political boundary

Friedrich Ratzel German School: lebensraum

Germany starts WWII

Sir Halford Mackinder’s Heartland Theory

Nichols Spyman’s Rimland Theory

Cooperation vs…

Unilateralism: Vietnam United States58,220 dead; 303,644 wounded South Korea5,099 dead; 10,962 wounded; 4 missing Australia500 dead; 3,129 wounded Thailand351 dead;1,358 wounded New Zealand37 dead; 187 wounded Philippines9 dead

1. Compact States: Efficient

• In a compact state, the distance from the center to any boundary does not vary significantly.

• The ideal theoretical compact state would be shaped like a circle, with the capital at the center and the shortest possible boundaries to defend.

2. Prorupted States: Access or Disruption

• An otherwise compact state with a large projecting extension is a prorupted state.

• Proruptions are created for 2 reasons:• Access to a resource such as water• They can also separate two states that otherwise

would share a boundary.

3. Elongated States: Potential Isolation

• There are a handful of elongated states, or states with a long and narrow shape.

• Elongated states may suffer from poor internal communications.

4. Fragmented States: Problematic• A fragmented state includes several discontinuous

pieces of territory.• 2 kinds: those areas separated by water, and those separated by an intervening state.

5. Perforated States: South Africa

• A state that completely surrounds another is a perforated state.

1. Compact States: Efficient

• In a compact state, the distance from the center to any boundary does not vary significantly.

• The ideal theoretical compact state would be shaped like a circle, with the capital at the center and the shortest possible boundaries to defend.

Compact State - Rwanda

2. Prorupted States: Access or Disruption

• An otherwise compact state with a large projecting extension is a prorupted state.

• Proruptions are created for 2 reasons:• Access to a resource such as water• They can also separate two states that otherwise

would share a boundary.

When the British ruled the otherwise compact state of Afghanistan, they created a long, narrow proruption to the east that was to prevent Russia from sharing a border with Pakistan.

3. Elongated States: Potential Isolation

• There are a handful of elongated states, or states with a long and narrow shape.

• Elongated states may suffer from poor internal communications.

4. Fragmented States: Problematic• A fragmented state includes several discontinuous

pieces of territory.• 2 kinds: those areas separated by water, and those separated by an intervening state.

The most extreme example is Indonesia, made up of 13,677 islands.

5. Perforated States: South Africa

• A state that completely surrounds another is a perforated state.

• The one good example is South Africa which completely surrounds the state of Lesotho.

• Lesotho must depend entirely on South Africa for the import and export of goods.

Fragmented States• The most extreme example is Indonesia, made up of

13,677 islands.• The fragmentation hinders communications makes

integration of of people living on remote islands nearly impossible.

• A difficult type of fragmentation occurs if the 2 pieces of territory are separated by another state.

• Imagine the difficulty of communicating between Alaska and the lower 48 if Canada were not a friendly neighbor.

Fragmented States• An unusual case of fragmentation is in India on a tiny strip of

land called Tin Bigha.• The Tin Bigha corridor measures only 600 feet by 300 feet. • It fragments Dhagram and Angarpota from the rest of

Bangladesh.• The problem is a legacy of the British who divided the region

according to religion with Hindu enclaves to India and Muslim enclaves to Bangladesh.

• India agreed to lease the Tin Bigha corridor to Bangladesh.• This created another fragmentation - Cooch Behar from the

rest of India.