Introduction to Geopolitics

Geopolitics describes the geographical distribution of power around the world. It serves to explore how  societies exert their influence over their own people and over other societies.  

What is POWER? Power must be understood by example. Brainstorm: What are the different ways in which an individual or a society can exert influence over other individuals or societies?  

Which of these forms of power can be wielded by a country?   Military (conventional, non-conventional) Cultural (historical, popular media, religious, population) Economic (supply of resources, goods, services, demand for same, population, technological)

What defines a: State? Nation? Nation-State?

The creation of territory is the basis for political organization and action. The political partitioning of space leads to the most basic of human geographic divisions - the sovereign state.

A State: A state refers to a legal/political entity that is comprised of the following: a) a permanent population b) a defined territory (borders) c) a recognizable government d) the capacity to enter into relations with other states. Individuals are therefore tied to a state and subject to its rules.

Borders = Sovereignty A state has political autonomy, that is, it is able to create policies and enforce laws within its borders without interference from other states. Borders mark the limit of a nation’s laws and security while branding a specific geographical area with a national identity. Canada’s sovereignty is currently being challenged in the Arctic Why?

A Nation: A nation is a group of people who share the same culture, language, institutions, religion, and history—usually a group of people larger than a tribe or community. A Nation is largely imaginary Really, you can belong to whatever nation you CHOOSE. The same thing cannot be said for the idea of a state

Example: Kurdistan The Kurdish people occupy parts of Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria and Armenia

A Nation-State: When a nation of people has an independent State of their own it is often called a nation-state. The Kurds are a nation without a State. France, Germany, and Japan are examples of nation-states.

The Nation-State Is a relatively new idea Previously, states were organized based on territory, not on the people that lived there. Eg. Pre-WWI, Austria-Hungary contained not only Austrians and Hungarians, but Serbians, Bosnians and many other ethnicities. After WWI, the idea of self-government became more common and accepted. Most states in Africa were redefined as nation-states from 1950-1975 as colonies were dismantled.

How did the idea of the nation-state arise? It required the concept of nationalism, which is the belief that the nation and the state should be the same or congruent, and that there is no other appropriate way to delimit a nation state. It is therefore the natural political unit.

Nationalism is the loyalty of a people to their values, traditions, and geography.

Nationalism develops in an area that has common customs, language, and history.

Despite this rise of nationalism, the world has lots of examples of multinational and binational states. For example: African countries whose boundaries were drawn by Europeans without considering African national cultural groups. Many multinational states are unstable, especially in Africa, but not all, e.g., the US, Switzerland. Binational states include Canada and Belgium, both of which suffer internal stresses due to differing political desires of dominant cultural groups.

Belgium: This state includes three communities - Flemish, French and German-speaking - and three regions: Flanders in the north where the official language is Dutch; Wallonia in the south where French is the official tongue and Brussels, the capital, where French and Dutch share official language status. Tensions between the two main language communities sometimes run high, and the issue has brought down several governments, creating frequent political instability. Opinion polls suggest most Belgians want to maintain the federation, but separatist parties often score well in Flanders. Source: Belgium Country Report BBC.co.uk

National Sovereignty More accurately should be called “Nation-State” sovereignty. Sovereignty means independence, that the authority of state is not subject to control by any other state. Eg. Canada claims the waters in the Arctic as Canadian territory, while other countries such as Russia, and USA claim it should be international territory. This is an example of an encroachment on national sovereignty. Usually, violating a country’s sovereignty means military conflict. Canada has started expanding its military presence in the Arctic.

National Sovereignty Eg. Mid-1990s, Yugoslavia UN votes against becoming involved in Yugoslavia’s internal conflicts. Even though there were reports of genocide, the UN felt that national sovereignty was a principle that should not be violated. Is this appropriate? With a partner or small group, brainstorm possible situations that would call for the violation of national sovereignty. ??

What is an Ideology? An Ideology is a set of ideas and beliefs that a nation uses as the basis for its way of life, its political system and economic systems, and its social goals. Today, the countries of the world subscribe to one of two basic ideologies: Democracy, Authoritarian. Question: What are the main characteristics of democracy? Brainstorm the key elements that you believe are fundamental for a democracy.

Green = Fully functional Democracy Yellow = Limited Democracy Purple = Authoritarian State

Types of nation states In your notes, define the most significant attributes of the various forms of Ideologies found on page 344: A. Democratic States B. Authoritarian States: Absolute Monarchy, One-Party Nation State, Military Authoritarianism, Religious Nation State C. Communist States

Subnationalism: When the entire population of a state is not bound by the same sense of nationalism but is spilt among local primary allegiances, then that state is said to suffer from cultural subnationalism. This can lead to civil war or even international disputes (e.g., India helping the 18% Tamil population of Sri Lanka).

Subnationalism is one of the centrifugal forces that pull nations apart, as compared to centripetal forces (like a strong sense of nationalism) which tend to act to bind a state together. Subnationalism has led to strong authoritarian rulers in some states, especially in Africa, who argue that authoritarianism is the only alternative to tribalism tearing the countries apart. How these countries got this way is a function of colonialism.

Pre-colonial tribal areas Countries - 1998

Eg. South Sudan, Africa What elements of cultural subnationalism do you see in this example? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmZBgZfGbhM http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-27362508 What does the gov’t of South Sudan do to demonstrate sovereignty? Why do they think it is important to do so? What elements of regular life in South Sudan are now significantly affected by the conflict?

Globalization has given rise to a number of forces that are weakening the concept of national sovereignty.

What do you mean, weakening? What things, by virtue of increasing globalization, can we no longer really control as a state?