1. Political Geography

3. Political Culture Political cultures vary Territoriality
Political ideas vs. religion or language
Theocracies
Territoriality
Key element of political culture

4. State and Nation Terminology “State” vs. “country”
A nation may be larger than a state
Nation has historic, ethnic and often linguistic and religious connotations
Stateless nations

6. Rise of the Modern State
The European model
The Norman invasion & out of “Dark Age”
Thirty Years’ War treaties
The Renaissance
Mercantilism & religious wars
Money vs. land

7. The Nation-State
Some democratic, some autocratic, and some parliamentary democracies
Sovereignty remained with the nation—the people
European control
Creation of “nation states”
Are there real nation states?
Internal cultural diversity
Heterogeneous states can share “national spirit”
Emotional commitment to the state and for what it stands
e.g., Confederation Helvetica

8. Spatial Characteristics of States
Needs legitimacy
Clearly defined territory: boundaries
Substantial population
Certain types of organizational structures
Some power

9. Territory Territorial morphology Size Shape
Size, shape, and relative location
Present opportunities and challenges
Size
Large vs. small states
Shape
Compact
Fragmented
Elongated
Protruded
Perforated

10. Compact States
Efficient, distance from the center to any boundary does not vary significantly.

11. Prorupted
An otherwise compact state with a large, projecting extension
-can provide a state with access to water.
-can separate two states.

12. Perforated
A state that surrounds another one.
South Africa

13. Fragmented Includes several discontinuous pieces.
2 types of separation:
1. separates another state (Armenia)
2. separated by water

14. Elongated Has a long narrow shape:
-may suffer from poor internal communications

15. Landlocked States

16. Itaipu Dam
Paraguay

17. Lesotho: an enclave
Kaliningrad: an exclave

18. Ministates/microstates

19. Land Boundaries International boundaries
Have a vertical plane cutting through the rocks below, and the airspace above

21. Land Boundaries How do we get boundaries?
Three steps of boundary evolution
Define it
Exact location established, via treaty-like legal documents, describing (absolute or relative) actual points
Delimit it
Officially put on a map, by a cartographer
Demarcate it
Actual ground markers—fences, pillars, walls, etc.—if desired
Not all boundaries are demarcated

23. 4 Corners: What type of boundary?

25. Land Boundaries Types of boundaries Geometric boundary
Straight-line boundaries
Totally unrelated to any aspects of physical or cultural landscapes
Physical-political boundary or natural-political boundary
Outlined by a physiographic landscape features (river, mountain ridge, etc.)
Convenient, but nature & meaning might change over time
Cultural-political boundary
Formerly “anthropogenic” boundaries
Mark breaks in the human landscape

26. Land Boundaries Origin-based classification Frontiers
Richard Hartshorne’s Genetic Boundary Classification
Antecedent boundary
Existed before the cultural landscape emerged
Subsequent boundary
Developed at the same time as the major elements of the cultural landscape
Superimposed boundary
Placed by powerful outsiders on a developed cultural landscape
Relic boundary
Ceased to function, but its imprint is still on the cultural landscape
Frontiers
A frontier is a zone of separation

28. Subsequent and Superimposed

29. Superimposed and subsequent

30. A different boundary: The Equator near Quito, Ecuador between the north and south hemisphere

31. Functions of Boundaries
“Walls”
Limit state jurisdiction
State symbols

32. Functions of Boundaries
Internal boundaries
For administrative purposes
Examples: United States or Canada
Some culturally divided countries have internal boundaries that do not show on a map

34. Functions of Boundaries
Boundary disputes
Four principal forms of boundary disputes
Definitional
Focus on the “legalese” of the agreement
Locational
Focus on the delimitation and/or demarcation of the border
Operational
Focus on neighbors who differ over the way their boundary should function
Allocational
Focus on resources that straddle neighbors

36. Resources
De Blij, Harm, J. (2007). Human Geography People, Place and Culture. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Inc.
Domosh, Mona, Neumann, Roderic, Price, Patricia, & Jordan-Bychkov, The Human Mosaic, A Cultural Approach to Human Geography. New York: W.H. Freeman and Company.
Fellman, Jerome, D., Getis, Arthur, & Getis, Judith, Human Geography, Landscapes of Human Activities. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
Pulsipher, Lydia Mihelic and Alex M. and Pulsipher, World Regional Geography, Global Patterns, Local Lives. W.H. Freeman and Company New York  
Rubenstein, James M. (2008). An introduction to human geography The cultural landscape. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Benewick, Robert, & Donald, Stephanie H. (2005). The State of
China Atlas. Berkeley: University of California Press.