Transcript The Politics of Territory and Space

Human Geography: Places and
Regions in Global Context, 5e
Chapter 9: The Politics of Territory and Space
Paul L. Knox & Sallie A. Marston
PowerPoint Author: Keith M. Bell
The Politics of
Territory and Space
Political geography, a subfield of the
discipline of geography, examines
complex relationships between politics
and geography (both human and
physical).
Political geographers recognize that the
relationship between politics and
geography is two-way: the geography
of politics and the politics of
geography.
The relations between politics and
geography are often driven by
particularly theories and practices of
the world’s states.
Political geography deals with the
phenomena occurring at all scales of
resolution, from the global to the
individual: East/West and North/South
divisions dominate international
politics. Regionalism, sectionalism,
and other divisions dominate intrastate
politics.
Knox/Marston: Places and Regions in Global Context, Fifth Edition
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The Development of Political
Geography
Geopolitics is the state’s power
to control space or territory and
shape the foreign policy of
individual states and
international political relations.
Friedrich Ratzel, a German
geopolitical theorist and social
Darwinist, portrayed the state
as behaving like a biological
organism; geopolitics stems
from the interactions of power
and territory.
Russia’s intervention in
Georgian state politics in 2008
was a reassertion of Russia’s
sphere of political (and
military) influence.
Knox/Marston: Places and Regions in Global Context, Fifth Edition
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The Geopolitical Model of the
State
Ratzel employed biological metaphors adopted from Charles Darwin
to describe his seven laws of state growth:
The space of the state grows with the expansion of the population having
the same culture (e.g., Hitler’s Lebensraum).
Territorial growth follows other aspects of development.
A state grows by absorbing smaller units.
The frontier is the peripheral organ of the state that reflects the strength
and growth of the state; hence, it is not permanent.
States in the course of their growth seek to absorb politically valuable
territory.
The impetus for growth comes to a primitive state from a more highly
developed civilization.
The trend toward territorial growth is contagious and increases in the
process of transmission.
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The Changing
Map of Europe
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Boundaries
U.S.–Mexico border
Rural–urban boundary
Some borders are exclusionary, like the heavily patrolled U.S.–Mexico
Tijuana River estuary, while others signal differences in settlement
activities that may be governed by land-use regulations.
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Boundaries and Frontiers
India/Pakistan border
Fall of the Berlin Wall
The delimited area over which a state exercises control, and which is recognized by
other states, is territory. Such an area may include both land and water, and may be
highly contested at the fringes.
Knox/Marston: Places and Regions in Global Context, Fifth Edition
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Boundary Formation
Geometric boundary
formation
De jure territories
Formal boundaries tend first to follow natural barriers, such as rivers, mountain
ranges, and oceans. Where no natural features occur, formal boundaries tend to be
fixed along the easiest and most practical cartographic device: a straight line.
Knox/Marston: Places and Regions in Global Context, Fifth Edition
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Township-and-Range System
Formal boundaries often detour
from straight lines and natural
barriers in order to accommodate
special needs and claims.
After primary divisions have been
established, internal boundaries
tend to evolve as smaller,
secondary territories are
demarcated.
U.S. Land Ordinance of 1785
Northwest Territories Act of 1803
Homestead Act of 1863
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States and Nations
Given that nations were created
out of very diverse populations,
it is not surprising that no
entirely pure nation-states exist
today.
Nationalism is the feeling of
belonging to a nation, as well as
the belief that a nation has a
natural right to determine its
own affairs.
The history and the present
status of the former Soviet
Union also clearly illustrates the
tensions among and between
state, nations, and nationalism.
Tsarist Russia; USSR; CIS
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Soviet State Expansionism
Soviet expansion in the 1940–1950s was a product of Lenin’s ideas about the spread of
Bolshevism: once international inequalities were diminished and the many nationalities
became one Soviet people, nationalism would be replaced by communism.
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Independent States of the Former USSR
By 1988, grassroots national movements were emerging in the Baltic states and
elsewhere as a reaction to Gorbachev’s glastnost and perestroika. By 1991, the
relatively peaceful breakup of the Soviet Union was under way, and new states had
emerged to claim their independence.
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Imperialism and Colonialism
South America: 1496–1667
Africa: 1496–1912
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British Colonialism in India
Orientalism is a discourse that posits the West as culturally superior to
the East. Westerners deemed Orientals (e.g., Arabs, Indians, etc.) inferior
and in need of disciplining in the eyes of the superior and enlightened
colonizer. But, in the case of India, Indian and British cultural practices
intermingled, changing both.
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Decolonization
Africa
Asia and the South Pacific
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Mackinder’s “Heartland Theory”
Mackinder’s world-view map
provides a good example of how
cartographic representations can
be employed to support
ideological arguments. Notice the
dominant area of the “Pivot.”
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East/West Divide: Domino Theory
The East/West divide refers to the
gulf between communist and noncommunist countries, respectively.
American foreign policy pitched it
against the Soviet Union after
WWII.
Domino theory held that if one
country in a region chose or was
forced to accept a communist
political and economic system,
neighboring countries would fall to
communism as well.
NATO was formed in 1949 to
safeguard the Western core
countries against Soviet expansion.
The Vietnam War was the most
serious global manifestation of the
Cold War.
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Afghanistan and the Khyber Pass
Knox/Marston: Places and Regions in Global Context, Fifth Edition
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Afghanistan
An important transportation and diffusion axis over the centuries,
Afghanistan. Greeks, Mongols, British, Russian, and now Americans
found this landlocked nation a transition point between regions of Central
Asia and South Asia.
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Opposition to the New World Order
At the end of the Cold War (1991),
Pres. H.W. Bush proclaimed a “new
world order,” where the United
States became the sole superpower.
With the political, economic, and
cultural dominance of the United
States comes the worldwide
promotion of liberal democracy and
transnational capitalistic growth.
Both domestic and international
opposition to these “Western ideals”
came in the form of asymmetrical
warfare (e.g., Murrah Federal
Building, 9/11 attacks, U.S.S. Cole,
U.S. embassy bombings in Africa,
etc.), termed by most as “terrorism.”
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War in Iraq: Casualties and
Outcomes
Since former Pres. Bush’s
troop surge in 2007, violence
has diminished across Iraq.
Moreover, military troop buildup was coupled with financial
incentives to Iraqi groups to
quell violence.
Ethnic cleansing of minorities
in Shia/Sunni dominated
neighborhoods also reduced
tensions between the factions.
Kurdish autonomy in northern
Iraq poses unity problems
within the country, as well as
cross-border tensions with the
U.S.’s NATO ally, Turkey.
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State Terrorism in Chechnya
The Northern Caucasus
region
Grozny refugees
Chechnya provides a useful example of state terrorism. It also provides an illustration
of the complexity of terrorism as a concept by showing that it can be practiced by both
individuals as well as institutions, by rogue forces as well as legitimate ones.
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Transnational Political Integration
A supranational organization is a collection of
individual states with a common goal that may be
economic and/or political in nature. These
organizations also reduce the independence of
individual states.
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European Union
The goal of the EU is to increase economic integration and cooperation among the
27 member states. Twelve recent members show the growth of the organization into
eastern Europe.
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Regionalism and Sectionalism
At a demonstration in Germany, Kurdish immigrants hold up signs on
behalf of Abdullah Ocalan, the Kurdish rebel leader who founded the
Kurdistan Workers Party (the PKK), and undertook armed attacks on the
Turkish government in order to secure an independent Kurdish state.
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Knox/Marston: Places and Regions in Global Context, Fifth Edition
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U.S. Presidential Elections
1860
1992
In the 1860 election, sectionalism played a role as none of the slave-holding states
voted for Lincoln. Third party candidates can be successful at gaining electors when
they are geographically concentrated, but as the 1992 vote shows, garnering popular
votes does not ensure that electoral votes will follow (i.e., Ross Perot).
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The Geography of Politics
Hierarchy of representation
Gerrymandering
Democratic rule is a system in which public policies and officials are directly
chosen by popular vote. Territorial organization is a system of government
formally structured by area, not by social groups. But in the practice of redistricting
for partisan purposes, known as gerrymandering, boundaries of districts are
redrawn to advantage a particular political party or candidate.
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End of Chapter 9
Knox/Marston: Places and Regions in Global Context, Fifth Edition
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc.