Political Geography How is space politically organized into states and nations?

Political Geography The study of the political organization of the world At the global scale, the world is divided into states State = politically organized territory with a permanent population, a defined territory, and a government »Must be recognized by other states »Can be used instead of “country”

Territoriality Central concept to idea of state Robert Sack defines it as…the attempt by an individual or group to affect, influence, or control people, phenomena, and relationships, by delimiting and asserting control over a geographic area Tied closely – today – to the concept of sovereignty »Territoriality defined »Having the last say (control) over a territory – politically and militarily »Ideas began in mid-seventeenth century Europe

Modern State Idea Rhys Jones – studied UK during Middle Ages States in Wales were small in size, but had modern attributes Late MA, gov’t constructed more sizable states in UK, France, Spain –17 th century, Venice, Brandenburg, Papal State of Italy, Kingdom of Hungary and German states were political entities, with poorly defined borders »Mercantilism accompanied political state development

Peace of Westphalia Marks the beginning of modern state 1648 – Holy Roman Empire Peace treaties concluded 30 Years’ War Recognized rights of rulers within defined, demarcated territories Pre – societies defined territory; Post – territory defined society

Nation Culturally defined term Group of people who think of themselves as one Based on sense of shared culture and history – seek some degree of political-territorial autonomy See themselves as sharing »Religion »Language »Ethnicity »history

Nation French – classic example – residents claim French nation as an identity Identified by its own membership; cannot define nation as people within a territory Belgium – 2 nations »Flemish and Walloons »Nation is an “imagined community” »You will never meet all the people in your nation – you are part of a collective

Nation-State Politically organized area in which nation and state occupy the same space Assumes presence of well-defined, stable nations living contiguously within discrete territories Japan is the classic example States identify against an “other” to help identify traits of their own nation and build a nation-state

Multistate Nations, Multinational States Multistate Nations = when a nation stretches across borders and across states –Transylvania, now in Romania, was in Hungary – both claim that area Multinational States = a state with more than one nation inside its borders »Former Yugoslavia – citizens identified as Slovenes, Croats, Serbs, etc. »United Kingdom – Welsh, Scottish, English, Irish

Stateless Nations and Micronations Stateless Nations – nations that do not have a state –Palestinians in Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, etal –Kurds – attempting to gain territory from Turkey Micronations - nations which hold little or no land, but have laid claim to sovereign independence and territory. Most are unrecognized by the major countries of the world Microstates - sovereign state having a very small population or very small land area, but usually both. »Liechtenstein, Malta, Monaco and Vatican City (826 citizens as of 2009)