1. Introduction to Contemporary Geography © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Lectures Chapter 8 Political Geography Amy D'Angelo SUNY Oswego

2. © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.. 8.1 A World of States A state is an area organized into a political unit and ruled by an established government that has control over its internal and foreign affairs. A state has sovereignty, which means control of its internal affairs without interference by other states. The term country is a synonym for state.

3. © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. History of States In the 1940s, there were about 50 states. In 2011, there were 193 members of the United Nations As of 2011, South Sudan is the world’s newest state.

4. © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Members of the United Nations

5. © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Kosovo

6. © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Taiwan

7. © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Western Sahara

8. © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Shrinking the High Seas

9. © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Antarctica

10. © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Regime Type, 2010

11. © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Democracy Trends

12. © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Gerrymandering The process of redrawing legislative boundaries for the purpose of benefiting the party in power is called gerrymandering. Gerrymandering takes three forms. – wasted vote – excess vote – stacked vote

13. © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. "Wasted Vote" Gerrymandering

14. © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. "Excess Vote" Gerrymandering

15. © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. "Stacked Vote" Gerrymandering

16. © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. The Original Gerrymander Cartoon

17. © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Gerrymandering in the United States The US Supreme Court ruled gerrymandering illegal in 1985 but did not require dismantling of existing oddly shaped districts. A 2001 ruling allowed North Carolina to add another oddly shaped district that ensured the election of an African American Democrat. Through gerrymandering, only about one-tenth of Congressional seats are competitive, making a shift of more than a few seats unlikely from one election to another in the United States except in unusual circumstances.

18. © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Gerrymandering No Gerrymandering: Iowa Gerrymandering Nevada: Two Proposals

19. © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Ethnicities in Iraq

20. © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Creation of the Yugoslav Nationality Yugoslavia was created after World War I to unite several Balkan ethnicities that spoke similar South Slavic languages. Longtime leader Josip Broz Tito was instrumental in forging a Yugoslav nationality. Central to Tito’s vision of a Yugoslav nationality was acceptance of ethnic diversity in cultural areas, such as language and religion.

21. © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Ethnicities in Former Yugoslavia

22. © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Genocide in Central Africa Long-standing conflicts between two ethnic groups, the Hutus and Tutsis, lie at the heart of genocide in central Africa. – Hutus were settled farmers, growing crops in the fertile hills and valleys of present-day Rwanda and Burundi, known as the Great Lakes region of central Africa. – Tutsis were cattle herders who migrated to present- day Rwanda and Burundi from the Rift Valley of western Kenya beginning 400 years ago.

23. © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Genocide in Rwanda and Congo Relations between settled farmers and herders are often uneasy; this is also an element of the ethnic cleansing. Genocide has been most severe in Rwanda and Congo.