1. The State, The Nation and The Nation State
AP Human Geography

2. 5 “Great Questions” of Politics

3. 1. What is the relation to the People and the State?
Equality?
Inequality?
How to define “citizenship”?
Who control political power?

4. 2. What is appropriate for government to do?
Limited Power?
Unlimited Power?
How’s it limited?

5. 3. Where does power emanate?
The People?
The Government?
God?

6. 4. Is political power concentrated or dispersed?
Confedral?
Unitary?
Federal?

7. 5. How large is the state (territory)?
Borders?
Shape (morphology)?
Politics = the search for answers to those questions

8. The State The institution where politics are organized and formalized
A state has:
Defined territory
Permanent population
Government in control of previous 2
Capacity to engage and be recognized by other states (diplomacy)

9. State Sovereignty
Sovereignty = full right and power of a governing body to govern itself without any interference from outside sources
Failed states?
Ex: Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya

10. The Government
The specific people who wield power on behalf of the state
Government “needs” a monopoly on coercive force
What makes a government legitimate?
Length of rule? Dynasty?
Effectiveness?
Structure or type?

11. Power and Government
Unitary = most countries; all power to central government; local units only administer central policy (most smaller states)
Confederal = very weak central gov., only given limited power by local/regional government (not many; Articles of Confed.; Confed. States of America, Switzerland)
Federal = balance between 2 or more levels, in same territory (ex: USA, many larger democracies, like India, Brazil, etc..)

12. Government Power Spectrum
<__________________________________________________________> Less centralized Balance More centralized Confederation Federal System Unitary System Ex: Switzerland, Belgium USA, India, Germany China, UK, France

13. The Nation
A group of people bound together by some combination of religion, language, location, ethnicity, history, culture, etc….
Ethnic group? = no desire to “self-governing”
USA = identity based on political belief? Basic values? (Bill of Rights/Constitution)

14. The Nation vs The State
One state; many nations? = Yugoslavia (Serb, Croat, Slovene, Bosnian)
A national minority in several states (state-less nation) = Kurds
A nation split between multiple states w/majority in both) = Germans in Germany/Austria
A multinational state = USA, one state many “nationalities”

15. Non-state “Actors”
Transnational Organizations (supranational organizations) ex: UN, EU, WTO
Multinational Corporations (MNCs) ex: Sony, Apple, Toyota, Wal-Mart, etc..
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) ex: Red Cross, Greenpeace, etc..

16. International Law? Does it exist? Sort of….maybe…not really…
“the general principles of law as recognized by the civilized nations”
(ok, so what does THAT mean? Civilized nations??)
Jus cogens: (compelling law that should override the customary law of a country)
Ex: slavery, human trafficking, genocide, ethnic “cleansing”, piracy, war crimes
How to enforce? ICC, War Crimes Tribunals, ICJ
Question? When is it appropriate for other states to interfere with the internal workings of other states?