Political Organization of Space Territorial Dimensions of politics

Concept of Territoriality Territory: an area of land under the jurisdiction of a ruler or state. Territoriality: In political geography, a country's or more local community's sense of propertyand attachment toward its territory, as expressed by its determination to keep it inviolable and strongly defended The Concept of Territoriality Human territoriality is the attempt to control what goes on in a specific geographical area.

Human territoriality is the attempt to control what goes on in a specific geographical area. There are various ways to control space that range from pure physical force of an individual to organized sets of laws. Most geographers believe that human territoriality differs from the territorial behavior observed in other forms of life because human behavior is learned and animal behavior is instinctive.

North and South Korea

Polar Region

Nature and Meaning of Boundaries The Nature and Meaning of Boundaries Political boundaries exist at a variety of scales, and these boundaries influence how goods and services are distributed, who gets represented and who does not, and how issues are confronted.

Think of ways that political boundaries structure human affairs and understandings. Political boundaries of significance exist both ‘above’ and ‘below’ the state. Above: boundaries such as the former Iron Curtain, the current boundary between NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) and non-NATO states, or the boundaries that have been drawn through the world's oceans to demarcate zones of control. Below: municipalities, voting districts, special districts, and areas zoned for particular land uses. Focusing attention on smaller-scale political-territorial units allows students to see how everything from the delivery of services to the reach of certain laws is affected by the particular configuration of political territories.

NATO

Utah Congressional Districts

Influences of boundaries on identity, interaction, and exchange Illustrate the effects of identity, interaction, and exchange on populations.

State Shapes Shapes of states Landlocked states Five basic shapes Compact = efficient Elongated = potential isolation Prorupted = access or disruption Perforated = South Africa Fragmented = problematic Landlocked states

State Shapes in Southern Africa

Boundaries Types of boundaries Frontiers Physical Cultural Desert boundaries Mountain boundaries Water boundaries Cultural Geometric boundaries Human features (language, religion, ethnicity) Frontiers

Cultural Boundaries

Federal and Unitary States Federal States: strong power to units of local government within the country Unitary States: places most power in the hands of central government officials A country’s cultural and physical characteristics influence the evolution of its government system. Unitary systems work best with countries that are more homogenous and have a strong sense of national unity. Federal systems work best in multinational states to help empower different nationalities, especially if they live in separate regions.

Unitary vs. Federal

Example Countries United Kingdom Jordan Turkey Denmark France Cuba Unitary Federal United Kingdom Jordan Turkey Denmark France Cuba North Korea South Korea United States of America India Brazil Canada Australia Russian Federation Venezula

Spatial relationships between political patterns and patterns of ethnicity, economy, and environment The division of the world into individual states impedes efforts to confront environment problems such as the depletion of the ozone layer, the loss of biodiversity, and global warming. We are not living in a world in which most fundamental human realities can be understood or addressed within the territorial state. Yet the state is still fundamentally important as is illustrated by the dozens of interstate territorial conflicts in the contemporary world. There are dozens of active territorial disputes that have flared up in recent years. If control over territory had lost its political/geopolitical significance in the modern world, such conflicts would not be an important dynamic in international relations.