16: Political Geography

Question 1

Politics

Answer 1

socio-cultural rules and institutions for the control and administration of people and resources (includes territory)

Question 2

Political Geography

Answer 2

study of spatial organization and distribution of political phenomena

Question 3

examples of political geography

Answer 3

disputes over control of territory and its resources = leading cause of wars

Question 4

2 main components of political geography

Answer 4

geopolitics and electoral geography

Question 5

geopolitics

Answer 5

effects of spatial properties of regions (location, size, shape) on their current and past political activities and relations – ex. core-periphery model of development is political as well as economic

Question 6

electoral geography

Answer 6

voting patterns related to demographic variables – properties and effects of electoral districts

analyzing how the shape and location of voting district boundaries influences election outcomes, addresses the spatial patterns yielded by election results and their relationship to the socio-economic characteristics of voters

Question 7

Gerrymandering

Answer 7

the practice of drawing the boundaries of electoral districts so as to give particular candidates or classes of candidates an electoral advantage beyond the share of the electorate that supports them (partisan, incumbent, discriminatory racial, affirmative racial)

Question 8

packing

Answer 8

gerrymandering districts in a way to concentrate a class of voters into just a few districts, diluting their power outside of these few districts

Question 9

cracking

Answer 9

gerrymandering districts to ensure that a class of voters are never the majority in any district

Question 10

state

Answer 10

administrative region – 1. any of the political units forming a federal government (e.g., one of the United States) 2. an independent political entity holding sovereignty over a territory (e.g., the United States). In this latter sense, state is synonymous with country or nation.

Question 11

nation

Answer 11

a group of people with a common culture occupying a particular territory, bound together by a strong sense of unity arising from shared beliefs and customs – 1. an independent political unit holding sovereignty over a territory (e.g., a member of the United Nations) 2. a community of people with a common culture and territory (e.g., the Kurdish nation). The second definition is not synonymous with state or country.

Question 12

national homeland as thematic region

Question 13

national homeland as cognitive region

Question 14

Antarctica

Answer 14

Seven countries claim sovereignty over portions of Antarctica, and those of Argentina, Chile, and the United Kingdom overlap. The Antarctic Treaty of 1959 froze those claims for 30 years, banned further land claims, and made scientific research the primary use of the continent. The treaty was extended for 50 years in 1991. Antarctica is neither a sovereign state—it has no permanent inhabitants or local government—nor a part of one

Question 15

State definition

Answer 15

an independent political unit occupying a defined, permanently populated territory and having full sovereign control over its internal and foreign affairs

Question 16

Sovereignty

Answer 16

supreme power or authority

Question 17

Nation-state

Answer 17

a state whose territorial extent coincides
with that occupied by a distinct nation or people
or, at least, whose population shares a general sense of cohesion and adherence to a set of common values

Question 18

Multinational State

Answer 18

a state that contains more than one nation

Question 19

multi-state nation

Answer 19

a single nation may be dispersed across and be predominant in two or more
states

Question 20

stateless nation

Answer 20

a people without a state

Question 21

Centripetal forces

Answer 21

forces that promote unity and national stability – factors that bind together the people of a state, that enable it to function and give it strength

Question 22

centrifugal forces

Answer 22

destabilize and weaken a state

Question 23

nationalism

Answer 23

identification with the state and the acceptance of national goals – based on the concept of allegiance to a single country and the ideals and the way of life it represents; it is an emotion that provides a sense of identity and loyalty and of collective distinction from all other peoples and lands

Question 24

terrorism

Question 25

autonomous nationalism

Answer 25

a dissident minority that has total or partial secession from the state as its primary goal

Question 26

multi-state (supranational) organizations

Answer 26

political, economic, and military alliances among more than 2 states

Question 27

internal administrative regions

Answer 27

• counties within US states (some exceptions)
• townships
• school districts, sewer, fire, water, trash, voting
• private property: cadastral regions (legal geography)

Question 28

cadastral regions

Answer 28

real estate regions

Question 29

largest state

Answer 29

Russia

Question 30

smallest state

Answer 30

vatican city

Question 31

Characteristic state shapes

Answer 31

• compact states (circle)
• prorupt states (nearly compact but possess one or some- times two narrow extensions of territory)
• elongated states (long and narrow)
• fragmented states (islands or alaska situations)
• perforated state (completely surrounds a territory that it does not rule)

Question 32

exclave

Answer 32

a territorial outlier of one state that is located within another country

Question 33

enclave

Answer 33

a surrounded territory

Question 34

landlocked states

Answer 34

states lacking ocean frontage and surrounded by other states –> at a commercial and strategic disadvantage

Question 35

core and capitals

Answer 35

the original nucleus of a state:
- usually contains its most developed economic base, densest population, and largest cities, as well as the most highly developed transportation systems
- All of these elements become less intense away from the national core
- capital usually within core and frequently is the very focus of it –> dominant not only because it is the seat of central authority but because of the concentration of population and economic functions as well

Question 36

unitary states

Answer 36

countries with highly centralized governments, relatively few internal cultural contrasts, a strong sense of national identity, and borders that are clearly cultural as well as political boundaries
- association of capital with core is common here

Question 37

administrative boundaries

Answer 37

borders
- can usually be made as precise as need be
- often contested, cause of disputes
- varying correspondence to natural features

Question 38

frontier zones

Answer 38

ill-defined and fluctuating areas marking the effective end of a state’s authority.
- before boundaries were delimited
- essentially the fuzzy boundaries of functional regions rather than the potentially crisp boundaries of administrative regions
- often uninhabited or only sparsely populated
- liable to change with shifting settlement patterns

Question 39

natural (physical) boundaries

Answer 39

those based on recognizable physiographic features, such as mountains, rivers, and lakes
- many have proved to be unsatisfactory: they do not effectively separate states, either because they are difficult to measure precisely, do not maintain a fixed location over time, or otherwise prove unsatisfactory to one or the other state on either side

Question 40

artificial (geometric) boundaries

Answer 40

frequently delimited as segments of parallels of latitude or meridians of longitude
- found chiefly in Africa, Asia, and the Americas
- many established when the areas in question were colonies, the land was only sparsely settled, and detailed geographic knowledge of the frontier region was lacking

Question 41

antecedent boundary

Answer 41

one drawn across an area before it is well populated (that is, before most of the cultural landscape features were put in place)

Question 42

subsequent boundaries

Answer 42

boundaries drawn after the development of the cultural landscape

Question 43

consequent boundaries

Answer 43

a border drawn to accommodate existing religious, linguistic, ethnic, or economic differences among countries

Question 44

superimposed subsequent boundaries

Answer 44

boundary forced on existing cultural landscapes, a country, or a people by a conquering or colonizing power that is unconcerned about preexisting cultural patterns

Question 45

maritime boundaries

Answer 45

for a couple centuries = 3 miles, rest was “freedom of the seas”
- some countries unilaterally extended throughout the 20th century

Question 46

UNCLOS

Answer 46

UN Convention on the Law of the Seas (1982)
- several decades 1950s to 1980s
- caused by unrestricted extensions of jurisdiction and disputes over conflicting claims to maritime space and resources
- “convention dealing with all matters relating to the Law of the Sea”
==> delimits territorial boundaries and rights by defining four zones of diminishing control

Question 47

territorial sea

Answer 47

UNCLOS
up to 12 nautical miles (19 kilometers) in breadth over which coastal states have sovereignty, including exclusive fishing rights

Question 48

contiguous zone

Answer 48

UNCLOS
24 nautical miles (38 kilometers)
Although a coastal state does not have complete sovereignty in this zone, it can enforce its customs, immigration, and sanitation laws and has the right of hot pursuit out of its territorial waters

Question 49

exclusive economic zone (EEZ)

Answer 49

UNCLOS
up to 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers)
-the state has recognized rights to explore, exploit, conserve, and manage the natural resources, both living and nonliving, of the seabed and waters
- exclusive rights to continental shelf when this extends farther, up to 350 nautical miles (560 kilometers), beyond their coasts
- traditional freedoms of the high seas are to be maintained in this zone

Question 50

high seas

Answer 50

international waters
- outside any national jurisdiction = open to all states, whether coastal or land- locked.
- freedom of the high seas includes the right to sail ships, fish, fly over, lay submarine cables and pipelines, and pursue scientific research.
- mineral resources in the international deep seabed area beyond national jurisdiction are declared the common heritage of humankind, to be managed for the benefit of all the peoples of the Earth