1. Made by: Benjamin Phan and Abdussamad Syed
Political Geography
Made by: Benjamin Phan and Abdussamad Syed

2. Key Issue 1 – Where Are States? Located
Problems of defining states
Development of the state concept
State – area organized in political units and ruled by an established government that has control over internal and foreign affairs
Sovereignty – independence from control of its internal affairs by other states

3. Problems of Defining States
Geographers have problems defining specific states such as Korea, China, Taiwan, and Western Sahara. Korea – divided into two occupation zones by U.S. and Soviet Union after defeat of Japan in WWII / never became one state again due to North Korea’s decision to build nuclear weapons even though the population needs necessities of life. China and Taiwan – occurred due to civil war between the nationalist and communist in China during late 1940s. Nationalists fled to Taiwan for safety and to be able to govern one part of the country. Western Sahara – Spain controlled territory at first, then after independence Morocco and Mauritania annexed north and south parts of countries.

4. Varying Sizes of States
Largest state is Russia and the smallest state is Monaco
Microstates – states with very minute land areas

5. Development of State Concept
Ancient states – Mesopotamia and land areas around Fertile Crescent City state – country that is made up of a town and surrounding country side Early European States – Roman Empire that controlled most of Europe, north Africa and southwest Asia

6. Colonies
Colony – area legally that is part of a state rather than being independent Colonialism – effort by one country to establish political and economical on territories. Imperialism – control of territory already settled and organized by other societies Colonial practices varied as the French tried to educate colonies into French culture, while the British created different policies for different British owned territories Most colonies are in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Ocean are still colonies.

7. Key Issue 2 – Why Do Boundaries Cause Problems?
Shape of states
Types of boundaries
Boundaries inside states
Boundary – imaginary line that separates two territories

8. Shapes of States Five basic shapes of states are…
Compact – circle shaped, as it is a state with the capital at the center and boundaries equidistant to the center
Prorupted – a compact shape with protrusion of land, as it has characteristic of a compact shape and a way to get extra resources by protruded land.
Elongated – States with long and narrow shape, and may suffer from internal communications. Prime examples are Chile and Italy.

9. Shapes of States Continued…
Fragmented States – states that are disconnected pieces of territories, and are problematic as they may have trouble with communicating or transporting goods.
Perforated – state that surrounds another state, and the state that it surrounds must depend on the surrounding state for transport of goods. A prime example is South Africa which surrounds Lesotho.

10. Landlocked States
Landlocked state – state that is fully surrounded by another country(s) Lesotho and Botswana are example of a landlocked state

11. Types of Boundaries
Frontier – area where no state has complete control
Physical Boundaries
Mountain boundaries – permanent boundaries that are difficult to travel through, and is a very effective boundary.
Desert Boundaries – much like mountains, is a stable boundary, hard to cross, and is barely inhabited
Water Boundaries – common types of boundaries that does not change frequently

12. Cultural Boundaries
Cultural Boundary – states have differences based on ethnicity, language, and religion.
Geometric Boundary – invisible line that separates two areas.
Religious Boundary – boundary that separates two areas based on religion. An example of this is India and Pakistan.
Language Boundary – boundary that separates areas by languages.

13. Boundaries Inside States
Unitary states – places most power in government officials. Federal States - Places most power in local government. Unitary system works best in states that have few cultural differences and are usually in small states. Federal system works best in large states because of many cultural differences and capital of the state is too isolated to provide control over some regions of the states.

14. Trend Toward Federal Government
Recently, there has been a strong universal trend towards the federal system. Some countries have left the unitary system while other states have welcomed it France is an example of a unitary government and Poland is a example of a state that has switched to the federal system.

15. Electoral Geography
Gerrymandering – Redrawing legislative boundaries for gaining power and benefits
Types of Gerrymandering
Wasted Vote – spreads opposition supporters across many districts but in the minority so that their vote is “wasted.”
Stacked Vote – links and puts all supporters in irregularly shaped areas
Excess Vote – concentrates opposition votes into very few districts

16. Key Issue 3 – Why Do States Cooperate with Each Other
Political and military cooperation
Economic cooperation

17. United Nations First successful attempt at international peace making
Most important organization in the world
Created after WWII by Allies
Though it relies on other countries to supply troops to force peace in difficult places where ethnics clash for domination
Even though it has problems, it is the first time of history, where people of each country in the world can meet and vote on decision, instead of going to war with each other.

18. Regional Military Alliances
During the Cold War, Soviet Union and U.S were the two main superpowers in the world
Two main military alliances after WWII
Warsaw Pact - Communist countries
NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) – 14 European countries and Canada and the U.S

19. Economic Cooperation
Recently, most important element of power is economic rather than military
Superpowers are more common now and led by Germany
European Union – made in 1958, European countries joined together to help promote development through economic cooperation, also it removed trade barriers

20. Former Communist Countries and European Union
During the Cold War in 1949, seven Eastern European Communist states formed COMECON for economic cooperation. However it disbanded due to fall of communism in Eastern Europe.
A few Communist Eastern European countries joined in 2004 and although more Southern and Eastern countries want to join, current members of the U.N. do not want them to join due to mass amount of number of extra languages that will be added and it will also lessen the economic benefits for current members.

21. Tick Tick Tick Tick Tick Tick …..

22. Key Issue 4 – Why Has Terrorism Increased
Terrorism by individuals and organizations
State support for terrorism
No Definitions again YAY!!!!!

23. Terrorism by Individuals and Organizations
Americans did not pay much attention to terrorism until Sept. 9, even though hundreds of people were getting killed or injured by terrorists. It took such a large scale attack for many Americans to be now aware of terrorists in their life.
Before Sept. 9, 2001 there were already terrorists such as…
Theodore Kaczynski – a.k.a. Unabomber because he was destroying the environment., he killed 3 and injured 23 with bombs sent through mail.
Timothy McVeigh – terrorist that caused Oklahoma City federal building bombing, killing 80 people in the bombing.

24. Al-Qaeda or “The Base” Osama bin Laden founded the organization
Osama moved to Afghanistan, recruited Muslims for an anti- soviet fight or “holy war.” After Soviet Union retreated from Afghanistan, Osama went to Saudi Arabia then to Sudan, but was expelled in both countries for his decision to oppose decisions made by their governments. He later returned as guest to Afghanistan.
Hard to tell approximate number of people inside Al- Qaeda due to its system of isolated teams that have very little contact to those in their team, and have even less contact with those on other teams.

25. Al-Qaeda Cont...
Osama Bin Laden waged war against United States in 1996 because of their support for Saudi Arabia and Israel. Al-Qaeda’s holy war against U.S. resulted in about 3000 fatalities during Sept. 9, Security increased in U.S intensively, so then the Al-Qaeda focused terrorism on other countries that were unguarded. Al-Qaeda uses religion to justify the attacks, and now a main problem for Americans is to separate peaceful worshipers of Islamic faith (1.3 billion people) apart from religious abusers of Islam. ( people)

26. State Support for Terrorism
Several Middle East states have supported terrorism in near past by giving them shelter, supplies, or even help them plan an attack. Libya – Terrorists sponsored by Libya bombed a nightclub with U.S. military stationed there and killed 3 people. In retaliation, U.S. bombed two Libyan cities and captured the main sponsor Afghanistan – Taliban, the leaders of Afghanistan, sheltered Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda members. However, they were promptly destroyed during the U.S. invasion to find Al-Qaeda leaders. Unfortunately, after the removal of Taliban rule, Afghanistan’s many ethnic groups fought each other for control of the country

27. State Support of Terrorism Cont.
Iraq – U.S. attacked Iraq in 2003, in attempt to remove Saddam Hussein from power. However, the U.S. had already had a fight with Iraq in 1990 about Iraq due to its unjustified invasion and annexation of Kuwait. Even though Iraq lost, Saddam Hussein was still in power, and now was thought to be creating weapons of mass destruction that could be given to terrorists. They also had a close relationship to the Al-Qaeda, which also lead to U.S. attack in 2003.

28. State Support for Terrorism Cont.
Iran – U.S. and Iran have had even a longer history of hostility dating back to 1979, when a revolution forced abdication of Shah M. Reza Pahlavi. He supported economic modernization, while others wanted more democratic rule. Ayatollah, a supporter of democratic rule, exclaimed that Iran was a Islamic republic and ordered the capturing of Shah M. Reza Pahlavi and also held 62 more Americans as hostage. And as U.S. started its fight against terrorism, Iran was accused of sheltering terrorists such as the Al-Qaeda.

29. State Support for Terrorism Cont.
A few others countries that have sponsored terrorism in recent years are…
Yemen – served as base for Al-Qaeda
Sudan – sheltered Islamic militants, including Osama bin Laden
Syria – supported terrorists from Iran and Libya
North Korea – developing nuclear weapons