POLITICAL

GEOGRAPHY

• A subfield within the human branch of geography

• The study of the interaction of geographical area and
political process
• It is the formal study of territoriality.
Political geography
• Economics supposedly eroding significance
of borders.

• Ethnic minorities feel they deserve states of

their own.

• States under attack from above (global

economics) and from below (ethnic
communities).

• Yet states are still powerful, and can

respond.
STATE

• A politically organized territory

• Administered by a sovereign government

• Recognized by a significant portion of the

international community.
A state must also contain:
– a permanent resident population

– an organized economy
 Nationality and Ethnicity
• Nationality = tied together through a legal
status
• Ethnicity = groups with distinct ancestry
and cultural traditions
• Race = groups defined narrowly by skin
color and other physical characteristics
NATION - STATE

• A country whose population

possesses a substantial
degree of cultural
homogeneity and unity.

Classic Example of
a Nation-State:
Japan
NATION

Must a
nation be
a place?

• Some examples of stateless nations: the Cherokee Nation,

the Kurds, the Palestinians
 Multi-ethnic States

Every U.S. citizen = American nationality

Every American = belongs to a race
Some Americans = identified with ethnicity
State-nationstate-multinational state
 Geographic Characteristics
of States
• SIZE
– What role does size play?
– What are the most powerful nations on earth
today?
– What were the most powerful nations on earth
200 years ago?
 Geographic Characteristics

Shape
• Compact
• Prorupt
• Elongated
• Fragmented
• Perforated
 Types of territoriality
State

Ethnic

Religious

Racial

Fears of
“Balkanization”
(splitting state)

But common
defiance of
outsiders
 Pan-isms
(Uniting same group from different states)

Ethnic: Pan-Arab, Pan-Kurdish

Religious: Pan-Islamic

Racial: Pan-African

States: Pan-American
 Kurds
Ethnic group in
Turkey, Iraq,
Iran, Syria.

Many Kurds
for state of
Kurdistan.

States pit Kurds

against each other
Iraq
Ethnic:
Arabs vs.
Kurds

Religion:
Sunnis vs.
Shi’as

Rulers were
Sunni Arab
Iranians
Iran-Iraq War,
1980-88

IRAN (Shi’a Persian) vs.

IRAQ (Sunni Arab)

Yet Iraqi Shi’as fought for Iraq,

Iranian Arabs fought for Iran

(State territoriality won)

Iraqis
 Armenia-Azerbaijan
War, 1988-94
ARMENIA (Christian) vs.
AZERBAIJAN (Shi’a Muslim)

Yet Shi’a Iran stayed neutral,

fearing ethnic Azeris in NW Iran

(Ethnic territoriality won)

Armenian (above)
and Azeri views
 Kashmir conflict
KASHMIR
(CHINA)

INDIA (Hindu) vs.

PAKISTAN PAKISTAN (Muslim)
CHINA

INDIA British India partitioned

into two states, 1948.

Kashmir had Muslim

majority but Hindu ruler.

Wars split Kashmir

Indian and
between India,
Pakistani
propaganda Pakistan, and China
maps (all now have nukes)
Cold War propaganda map: “Red menace”
View of Communist “Red Bloc” during Cold War

Lumping failed to recognize

differences among Communists,
or local causes of conflict
 “Clash of Civilizations” theory
Samuel Huntington theory of Western, Islamic,
Slavic, etc. “blocs” in conflict with each other.
“Clash of Civilizations” theory

Fails to recognize
differences within each “bloc.”

Most sources of conflict are local

(often ethnic), not religious.

Often blames the victim

for the conflict.

The West shares responsibility

for conflicts
(military aid arms both sides)
Lumping Arabs or Muslims after Sept. 11
How Many Americans View the World
Cartoon:

Bush’s View
of the World

Problem:
some former
allies later
seen as “evil”
 GEOPOLITICS

State’s power to control

territory, shape international policy
and other states’ foreign policy
Growth of Russian Empire
African
colonies
Decolonization, 1940s-1990s
 Divide-and-conquer

Berlin
Conference
divides map
of Africa,
1884
Ethnic nations split between
and within colonial empires
(British, French, Russian)

But “clean” ethnic

boundaries also not possible
 Mackinder’s Heartland Theory
(Whoever controls Pivot Area can control the world)
The “Great Game” between Britain and Russia, 1800s-1900s
Enlargement of Berlin
Soviet bloc after Wall,
World War II 1961-89
NATO and Warsaw Pact, 1945-89
Changes in Europe, 1990-93
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), 2002

Kosovo
military
zones
 European euro
Union

Began as
European
Economic
Community
(EEC), 1957.
Stronger in 1994

10 new members
to join, 2004
United Nations member states

Switzerland 2002
Other international alliances
POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY

Interaction of politics and place

Geography of Politics

Effect of politics on place

U.S.-
Canada
boundary

Alberta-
Montana
U.S.-
Mexico
boundary

Calexico, California-
Mexicali, Mexico
 Politics of Geography
Effect of place on politics

Example:
Making political boundaries
Congressional reapportionment
Levels of
administrative
regions
ELECTORAL GEOGRAPHY
Political Geography of Elections

Variation of voting districts

and voting patterns
 U.S.
congressional
delegation
redistricting
Reapportionment :
allocating seats to
a geographic area
(after every census)
“Gerrymandering”

Redistricting for
partisan purposes
1860 Presidential Vote

Led to Southern secession, Civil War

1996 Presidential Vote
2000 Presidential Vote
Davis (D) 48%
Simon (R) 42%
Camejo (G) 5%
Copeland (L) 2%
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