1. Political Geography

2. Defining States and Development of the State Concept
Problems of defining states
Korea: one state or two?
Admitted to U.N. as two separate countries
China and Taiwan: one state or two?
Dispute over sovereignty
Western Sahara
Morocco claims to own W. Sahara
Varying sizes of states
Large and micro states

3. Development of State Concept
City State
Empire
Feudalism
State
Development of State Concept

4. Boundaries and Boundary Problems of States
Shapes of states
Five basic shapes
Compact, Prorupted, Elongated, Fragmented, Perforated
Landlocked states (Lesotho)
Types of boundaries
Physical boundaries
Mountains, Deserts, Water
Cultural boundaries
Geometric, Language and Religion

5. Boundaries inside states
Unitary and federal states
Unitary gov’ts are common in Europe
Federal gov’ts share power with local gov’t
Trend toward federal government
France and Poland
Electoral geography
Wasted vote-redistricting votes to win all districts
Excess vote-redistricting votes to win the majority of districts
Stacked vote-redistricting votes by ethnicity

6. Cooperation among States
Political and military cooperation
The United Nations Peace keeper
Regional military alliances
NATO, Warsaw Pact
Economic cooperation
The European Union/COMECON
Each union still focused on West v.s. East until the fall of U.S.S.R
Seeks to improve trade and stop barriers that inhibit economic prosperity in Europe

7. Terrorism Terrorism by individuals and organizations
Targets are innocent people
State support for terrorism
Libya
Provides support to terrorist
Afghanistan
Sheltered Bin Laden
Iraq
WMD 1998
Iran
Iran hostage crisis/ harboring terrorist
Yemen, Sudan, Syria and N. Korea still harbor terrorist groups