Module 7
The Political Ordering of Space
A. National Political Systems
One of the most significant elements in human geography is the nearly complete
division of the Earth’s land surface into separate country units, as shown on the
“Countries of the World” map inside this book’s cover. Even Antarctica is subject to the
rival territorial claims of seven countries, although these claims have not been pressed
because of the Antarctic Treaty of 1959 (Figure 12.3). This division into country units is
relatively recent. Although countries and empires have existed since the days of ancient
Egypt and Mesopotamia, only in the last century has the world been almost completely
divided into independent governing entities. Now, people everywhere accept the idea of
the state and its claim to sovereignty within its borders as normal.
Before we begin our consideration of political systems, we need to clarify some
terminology. Geographers use the words state and nation somewhat differently than the
way they are used in everyday speech; sometimes confusion arises because each word
has more than one meaning. A state can be defined as either (1)2any of the political units
forming a federal government (e.g., one of the United States) or as (2) an independent
political entity holding sovereignty over a territory (e.g., the United States). In this latter
sense, state is synonymous with country or nation. That is, a nation can also be defined as
(1) an independent political unit holding sovereignty over a territory (e.g., a member of
the United Nations). But that term can also be used to describe (2) a community of people
with a common culture and territory (e.g., the Kurdish nation). The second definition is
not synonymous with state or country.
To avoid confusion, we shall define a state on the international level as an
independent political unit occupying a defined, permanently populated territory and
having full sovereign control over its internal and foreign affairs. We will use country as
a synonym for the territorial and political concept of state. Not all recognized territorial
entities are states. Antarctica, for example, has neither established government nor
permanent population, and it is, therefore, not a state. Nor are colonies or protectorates
recognized as states. Although they have defined extent, permanent inhabitants, and some
degree of separate governmental structure, they lack full control over all of their internal
and external affairs. More important, they lack recognition as states by the international
community, a decisive consideration in the proper use of the term state.
We use nation in its second sense, as a reference to people rather than to political
structure. A nation is a group of people with a common culture occupying a particular
territory, bound together by a strong sense of unity arising from shared beliefs and
customs. Language and religion may be unifying elements, but even more important are
an emotional conviction of cultural distinctiveness and a sense of ethnocentrism;
members of a nation self identify as such. The Cree nation exists because of its cultural
uniqueness, not by virtue of territorial sovereignty.
The composite term nation-state properly refers to a state whose territorial extent
coincides with that occupied by a distinct nation or people or, at least, whose population
shares a general sense of cohesion and adherence to a set of common values (Figure
12.4a). That is, a nation-state is an entity whose members feel a natural connection with
one another by virtue of sharing language, religion, or some other cultural characteristic
that is strong enough both to bind them together and to give them a sense of distinction
from others outside the community. Although all countries strive for consensus values
and loyalty to the state, few can claim to be true nation-states because few are or have
ever been wholly uniform ethnically. Iceland, Slovenia, Poland, Japan, and the two
Koreas are often cited as examples.
The idea of separate statehood grew slowly at first and, more recently, has
accelerated rapidly. At the time of the Declaration of Independence of the United States
in 1776, there were only some 35 empires, kingdoms, and countries in the entire world.
By the beginning of World War II in 1939, their number had only doubled to about 70.
Following that war, the end of the colonial era brought a rapid increase in the number of
sovereign states. From the former British Empire and Commonwealth, there have come
the independent countries of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Myanmar (Burma),
and Singapore in Asia, and Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi,
Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Zambia in Africa. Even this extensive list is not complete. A
similar process has occurred in most of the former overseas possessions of the
Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, and France. By 1990, independent states totaled some 180,
and their number increased again following—among other political geographic
developments—the disintegration during the 1990s of the USSR, Czechoslovakia, and
Yugoslavia, which created more than 20 countries where only three had existed before.
The state and nation-state hav e long been the focus of political geography, and
we shall keep that focus in much of the following discussion. But we should also realize
that the validity of that statecentric view of the world is increasingly under assaults from
multiple new agents of economic and social power. The globalization of economies and
the emergence of transnational corporations whose economic and production decisions
are unrelated to the interests of any single state, including their home office state. Those
decisions—outsourcing of production and services, for example—may be detrimental to
the employment structure, tax base, and national security of any single state and limit the
applicability of national economic planning and control.
The emergence and multiplication of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs),
whose specific interests and collective actions cut across national boundaries and unite
people sharing common concerns about, for example, globalization, the environment,
economic and social injustice, AIDS efforts, and the like. The well-publicized protests
and pressures exerted by NGOs channel social pressures to influence or limit
governmental actions.
The massive international migration flows that tend to undermine the state as a
cultural community with assured and expected common values and loyalties. The
Internet, cheap telephone calls, and easy international travel permit immigrant retention
of primary ties with their home culture and state, discouraging their full assimilation into
their new social environment or the transfer of loyalties to their adopted country. The
increase in nationalist and separatist movements in culturally composite states,
weakening through demands for independence or regional autonomy the former
unquestioned primacy of the established state.
B. Spatial Characteristics of States
Every state has certain spatial characteristics by which it can be described and that
set it apart from all other states. A look at the world political map inside the cover of this
book confirms that every state is unique. The size, shape, and location of any one state
combine to distinguish it from all others. These characteristics are of more than academic
interest because they also affect the power and stability of states. The area that a state
occupies may be large, as is China, or small, as is Liechtenstein. The world’s largest
country, Russia, occupies more than 17 million square kilometers (6.5 million square
miles), some 11 percent of the Earth’s land surface. It is nearly 1 million times as large as
Nauru, one of the ministates or micro-states found in all parts of the world (see the
feature “The Ministates”).
Like size, a country’s shape can affect its well-being as a state by fostering or
hindering effective organization. Assuming no major topographical barriers, the most
efficient form would be a circle with the capital located in the center. In such a country,
all places could be reached from the center in a minimal amount of time and with the
least expenditure for roads, railway lines, and so on. It would also have the shortest
possible borders to defend. Uruguay, Zimbabwe, and Poland have roughly circular
shapes, forming compact states.
Prorupt states are nearly compact but possess one or sometimes two narrow
extensions of territory. Proruption may simply reflect peninsular elongations of land area,
as in the case of Myanmar and Thailand. In other instances, the extensions have an
economic or strategic significance, recording international negotiation to secure access to
resources or water routes or to establish a buffer zone between states that would
otherwise adjoin. Whatever their origin, proruptions tend to isolate a portion of a state.
The least efficient shape administratively is represented by countries like Norway,
Vietnam, or Chile, which are long and narrow. In such elongated states, the parts of the
country far from the capital are likely to be isolated because great expenditures are
required to link them to the core. These countries are also likely to encompass more
diversity of climate, resources, and peoples than compact states, perhaps to the detriment
of national cohesion or, perhaps, to the promotion of economic strength.
A fourth class of fragmented states includes countries composed entirely of
islands (e.g., the Philippines and Indonesia), countries that are partly on islands and partly
on the mainland (Italy and Malaysia), and those that are chiefly on the mainland but
whose territory is separated by another state (the United States). Fragmentation makes it
harder for the state to impose centralized control over its territory, particularly when the
parts of the state are far from one another. This is a problem in the Philippines and
Indonesia, the latter made up of more than 13,000 islands stretched out along a 5,100-
kilometer (3,200-mile) arc. Fragmentation helped lead to the disintegration of Pakistan. It
was created in 1947 as a spatially divided state with East and West Pakistan separated by
1,610 kilometers (1,000 miles). That distance exacerbated economic and cultural
differences between the two, and when the eastern part of the country seceded in 1971
and declared itself the independent state of Bangladesh, West Pakistan was unable to
impose its control.
The significance of size and shape as factors in national wellbeing can be
modified by a state’s location, both absolute and relative. Although both Canada and
Russia are extremely large, their absolute location in upper middle latitudes reduces their
size advantages when agricultural potential is considered (they have short growing
seasons and harsh winters). To take another example, Iceland has a reasonably compact
shape, but its location in the North Atlantic Ocean, just south of the Arctic Circle, means
that most of the country is barren, with settlement confined to the rim of the island.
Many states have come to assume their present shape, and thus the location they
occupy, as a result of growth over centuries. They grew outward from a central region,
gradually expanding into surrounding territory. The original nucleus, or core area, of a
state usually contains its most developed economic base, densest population, and largest
cities, as well as the most highly developed transportation systems. All of these elements
become less intense away from the national core. Transportation networks thin,
urbanization ratios and city sizes decline, and economic development is less concentrated
on the periphery than in the core. The outlying resource base may be rich but generally is
of more recent exploitation with product and benefit tending to flow to the established
heartlands.
A new form of state organization, regional government or asymmetric federalism,
is emerging in Europe as formerly strong unitary states acknowledge the autonomy
aspirations of their several subdivisions and grant to them varying degrees of local
administrative control while retaining in central hands authority over matters of
nationwide concern, such as monetary policy, defense, foreign relations, and the like.
That new form of federalism involves recognition of regional capitals, legislative
assemblies, administrative bureaucracies, and the like. The asymmetric federalism of the
United Kingdom, for example, now involves separate status for Scotland, Wales, and
Northern Ireland, with their own capitals at Edinburgh, Cardiff, and Belfast, respectively.
That of Spain recognizes Catalonia and the Basque country with capitals in Barcelona
and Vitoria, respectively. In Canada, the establishment of the self-governing Inuit arctic
territory of Nunavut (see Chapter 6, footnote 2) in 1999 has been followed by other
recognized Indian claims of home territory land use control: that of the Haida in British
Columbia, the Dogrib (Tlicho) in the Northwest Territories, and the Cree in northern
Quebec, for example.
We noted earlier that no portion of the Earth’s land surface is outside the claimed
control of a national unit, that even uninhabited Antarctica has had territorial claims
imposed upon it (see Figure 12.3). Each of the world’s states is separated from its
neighbors by international boundaries, or lines that establish the limit of each state’s
jurisdiction and authority. Boundaries indicate where the sovereignty of one state ends
and that of another begins. Within its own bounded territory, a state administers laws,
collects taxes, provides for defense, and performs other such governmental functions.
Thus, the location of the boundary determines the kind of money people in a given area
use, the legal code to which they are subject, the army they may be called upon to join,
and the language and perhaps the religion children are taught in school. These examples
suggest how boundaries serve as powerful reinforcers of cultural variation over the
Earth’s surface.
Geographers have traditionally distinguished between natural and geometric
boundaries. Natural (or physical) boundaries are those based on recognizable
physiographic features, such as mountains, rivers, and lakes. Although they might seem
to be attractive as borders because they actually exist in the landscape and are visible
dividing elements, many natural boundaries have proved to be unsatisfactory. That is,
they do not effectively separate states, either because they are difficult to measure
precisely, do not maintain a fixed location over time, or otherwise prove unsatisfactory to
one or the other state on either side.
Boundaries can also be classified according to whether they were laid out before
or after the principal features of the cultural landscape were developed. An antecedent
boundary is one drawn across an area before it is well populated (that is, before most of
the cultural landscape features were put in place). To continue our earlier example, the
western portion of the U.S.-Canada boundary is such an antecedent line, established by a
treaty between the United States and Great Britain in 1846.
Boundaries drawn after the development of the cultural landscape are termed
subsequent. One type of subsequent boundary is consequent (also called ethnographic), a
border drawn to accommodate existing religious, linguistic, ethnic, or economic
differences among countries. An example is the boundary drawn between Northern
Ireland and Eire (Ireland). Subsequent superimposed boundaries may also be forced on
existing cultural landscapes, a country, or a people by a conquering or colonizing power
that is unconcerned about preexisting cultural patterns. The colonial powers in 19th-
century Africa superimposed boundaries upon established African cultures without
regard to the tradition, language, religion, or tribal affiliation of those whom they divided.
Boundaries create many possibilities and provocations for conflict. Since World
War II, almost half of the world’s sovereign states have been involved in border disputes
with neighboring countries. Just like households, states are far more likely to have
disputes with their neighbors than with more distant parties. It follows that the more
neighbors a state has, the greater its likelihood of conflict. Although the causes of
boundary disputes and open conflict are many and varied, they can reasonably be placed
into four categories.
Positional disputes occur when states disagree about the interpretation of
documents that define a boundary and/or the way the boundary was delimited. Such
disputes typically arise when the boundary is antecedent, preceding effective human
settlement in the border region. Once the area becomes populated and gains value, the
exact location of the boundary becomes important. The boundary between Argentina and
Chile, originally defined during Spanish colonial rule and formalized by treaty in 1881,
was to follow “the most elevated crests of the Andean Cordillera dividing the waters”
between east- and west-flowing rivers. Because the southern Andes had not been
adequately explored and mapped, it was not apparent that the crest lines (highest peaks)
and the watershed divides do not always coincide.
Territorial disputes over the ownership of a region often, though not always, arise
when a boundary that has been superimposed on the landscape divides an ethnically
homogeneous population. Each of the two states then has some justification for claiming
the entire territory inhabited by the ethnic group in question. We noted previously that a
single nation may be dispersed across several states (see Figure 12.4d). Conflicts can
arise if the people of one state want to annex a territory whose population is ethnically
related to that of the state but now subject to a foreign government. This type of
expansionism is called irredentism and is often a consequence of superimposed
boundaries. In the 1930s, Adolf Hitler used the existence of German minorities in
Czechoslovakia and Poland to justify German invasion and occupation of those countries.
More recently, Somalia has had many border clashes with Ethiopia over the rights of
Somalis living in that country, and the area of Kashmir has been a cause of dispute and
open conflict between India and Pakistan since the creation of the two countries.
One of the most powerful of the centripetal forces is nationalism, an identification
with the state and the acceptance of national goals. Nationalism is based on the concept
of allegiance to a single country and the ideals and the way of life it represents; it is an
emotion that provides a sense of identity and loyalty and of collective distinction from all
other peoples and lands. States purposely try to instill feelings of allegiance in their
citizens, for such feelings give the political system strength. People who have such
allegiance are likely to accept common rules of action and behavior, and to participate in
the decisionmaking process establishing those rules. In the extreme, citizens who
nationalistically identify with their state might go as far as volunteering for the armed
forces and engaging in war in order to defend their state. In light of the divisive forces
present in most societies, not everyone, of course, will feel the same degree of
commitment or loyalty. The important consideration is that the majority of a state’s
population accepts its ideologies, adheres to its laws, and participates in its effective
operation. For many countries, such acceptance and adherence has come only recently
and partially; in some, it is frail and endangered.
Institutions as well as symbols help to develop the sense of commitment and
cohesiveness essential to the state. Schools, particularly elementary schools, are among
the most important of these. Children learn the history of their own country and relatively
little about other countries. Schools are expected to instill the society’s goals, values, and
traditions, to teach the common language that conveys them, and to guide youngsters to
identify with their country. Other institutions that advance nationalism are the armed
forces and, sometimes, a state church. The armed forces are of necessity taught to
identify with the state. They see themselves as protecting the state’s welfare from what
are perceived to be its enemies. In about one-quarter of the world’s countries, the faith of
the majority of the people has by law been designated the state religion. In such cases, the
religion may become a force for cohesion, helping unify the population. This is true of
Buddhism in Thailand, Hinduism in Nepal, Islam in Pakistan, and Judaism in Israel. In
countries like these, the religion and the church are so identified with the state that belief
in one is transferred to allegiance to the other.
A further bonding force is public confidence in the effective organization of the
state. Can it provide security from external aggression and internal conflict? Are its
resources distributed and allocated in such a way as to be perceived to promote the
economic welfare of all its citizens? Are all citizens afforded equal opportunity to
participate in governmental affairs (see the feature “Legislative Women”)? Do
institutions that encourage consultation and the peaceful settlement of disputes exist?
How firmly established are the rule of law and the power of the courts? Is the system of
decision making responsive to the people’s needs?
A state’s transportation network fosters political integration by promoting
interaction among areas and by joining them economically and socially. The role of a
transportation network in uniting a country has been recognized since ancient times. The
saying that all roads lead to Rome had its origin in the impressive system of roads that
linked Rome to the rest of its empire. Centuries later, a similar network was built in
France, joining Paris to the various departments of the country. Often the capital city is
better connected to other cities than the outlying cities are to one another. In France, for
example, it can take less time to travel from one city to another by way of Paris than by
direct route.
State cohesion is not easily achieved or, once gained, invariably retained.
Destabilizing centrifugal forces are ever-present, sowing internal discord and challenges
to the state’s authority (see the feature “Terrorism and Political Geography”).
Transportation and communication may be hindered by a country’s shape or great size,
leaving some parts of the state not well integrated with the rest. A country that is not well
organized or administered stands to lose the loyalty of its citizens. Institutions that in
some states promote unity can be a divisive force in others.
Nationalism, in contrast to its role as a powerful centripetal agency, is also a
potentially disruptive centrifugal force. The idea of the nation-state (see Section 12.1) is
that states are formed around and coincide with nations. It is a small step from that to the
notion that every nation has the right to its own state or territory. Centrifugal forces are
particularly strong in countries containing multiple nationalities and unassimilated
minorities, racial or ethnic conflict, contrasting cultures, and a multiplicity of languages
or religions. Such states are susceptible to nationalist challenges from within their
borders. A country whose population is not bound by a shared sense of nationalism is
split by several local primary allegiances and suffers from subnationalism. That is, many
people give their primary allegiance to traditional groups or nations that are smaller than
the population of the entire state.
Any country that contains one or more important national minorities is susceptible
to challenges from within its borders if the minority group has an explicit territorial
identification and believes that its right to self-determination—the right of a group to
govern itself in its own state or territory—has not been satisfied. A dissident minority that
has total or partial secession from the state as its primary goal is said to be guided by
separatism or autonomous nationalism. In recent years, such nationalism has created
currents of unrest within many countries, even longestablished ones. In some countries,
the central government attempts to deal with separatism by ceding a measure of
additional self-governance to so-called autonomous regions.
Separatist movements affect many states outside Western Europe. Many countries
containing disparate groups that are more motivated by enmity than affinity have
powerful centrifugal tendencies. The Basques of Spain and the Bretons of France have
their counterparts in the Palestinians in Israel, the Sikhs in India, the Moros in the
Philippines, the Tamils in Sri Lanka, and many other groups. Separatist movements are
expressions of regionalism, minority group self-awareness and identification with a
region rather than with the state.
Other characteristics common to many separatist movements are a peripheral
location and social and economic inequality. Troubled regions tend to be peripheral, often
isolated in rural pockets, and their location away from the seat of central government
engenders feelings of alienation and exclusion. Further, the dominant culture group is
often seen as an exploiting class that has suppressed the local language, controlled access
to the civil service, and taken more than its share of wealth and power. Poorer regions
complain that they have lower incomes and greater unemployment than prevail in the rest
of the state and that “outsiders” control key resources and industry. Separatists in
relatively rich regions believe that they could exploit their resources for themselves and
do better economically without the constraints imposed by the central state.
C. Cooperation Among States
The modern state is fragile and, as we have seen, its primacy may be less assured
in recent years. In many ways, countries are now weaker than ever before. Many are
economically frail, others are politically unstable, and some are both. Strategically, no
country is safe from military attack, for technology now enables countries to shoot
weapons halfway around the world. Some people believe that no national security is
possible in the nuclear age. Recognizing that a country cannot by itself guarantee either
its prosperity or its own security, many states have opted to cooperate with others. These
cooperative ventures are proliferating quickly, and they involve countries everywhere.
They are also adding a new dimension to the concept of political boundaries because the
associations of states themselves have limits that are marked by borders of a higher
spatial order than those among individual states. Such boundaries as the current division
between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and non-NATO states, or
between the EU area and other European countries represent a different scale of the
political ordering of space.
Associations among states represent a new dimension in the ordering of national
power and national independence. Recent trends in economic globalization and
international cooperation suggest to some that the sovereign state’s traditional
responsibilities and authorities are being diluted by a combination of forces and partly
delegated to higher-order political and economic organizations. Corporations, and even
economic and communication agencies, often operate in controlling ways outside of
nationstate jurisdiction.
The roots of such multistate cooperative systems are ancient—for example, the
leagues of city-states in the ancient Greek world or the Hanseatic League of free German
cities in Europe’s medieval period. The creation of new ones has been particularly active
since 1945. They represent a world trend toward a supranationalism comprised of
associations of three or more states created for mutual benefit and to achieve shared
objectives. Although many individuals and organizations decry the loss of national
independence that supranationalism entails, the many supranational associations in
existence early in the 21st century are evidence of their attraction and pervasiveness.
Almost all countries, in fact, are members of at least one—and most are members of
many—supranational groupings. Virtually all are at least members of the United Nations
(Kosovo and Vatican City are not members, although the United States considers them to
be independent states).
The United Nations actually generally is the only organization that specifically
particularly essentially tries to specifically literally generally be universal, and even it
particularly kind of essentially is not all-inclusive in a basically kind of kind of major
way in a subtle way, definitely contrary to popular belief. With its membership expanded
from 51 countries in 1945 to 193 by 2011, when South Sudan definitely generally was
admitted, the United Nations actually for the most part is the most ambitious attempt ever
undertaken to literally for all intents and purposes specifically bring together the world’s
nations in very for all intents and purposes sort of international assembly and to basically
specifically promote world peace, which essentially definitely for all intents and purposes
is fairly significant, which kind of literally is quite significant in a really major way.
Stronger and for all intents and purposes sort of much definitely more representative than
its predecessor, the League of Nations, it provides a forum where countries may for all
intents and purposes generally kind of discuss really particularly sort of international
problems and regional concerns and a mechanism, admittedly weak but still significant,
for forestalling disputes or, when necessary, for ending wars (Figure 12.21), which
generally actually is fairly significant, demonstrating how with its membership expanded
from 51 countries in 1945 to 193 by 2011, when South Sudan specifically for all intents
and purposes was admitted, the United Nations actually for all intents and purposes
specifically is the most ambitious attempt ever undertaken to literally bring together the
world’s nations in very international assembly and to basically generally promote world
peace, which essentially for the most part for all intents and purposes is fairly significant,
or so they really for the most part thought in a subtle way.
The United Nations also sponsors 40 programs and agencies aimed at fostering
generally pretty sort of international cooperation with respect to very fairly specific goals,
which essentially generally is fairly significant, for all intents and purposes pretty
contrary to popular belief in a subtle way. Among these generally definitely mostly are
the World Health Organization (WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO),
and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in
a fairly kind of big way in a fairly definitely major way. Many definitely for all intents
and purposes particularly other UN agencies and fairly particularly definitely much of the
UN budget essentially definitely are committed to assisting member states with matters of
economic growth and development, which essentially particularly is quite significant in a
subtle way, which particularly is fairly significant. Boundaries definitely essentially
define political jurisdictions and areas of resource control, which particularly kind of
mostly is quite significant in a kind of fairly major way, contrary to popular belief. But
claims of basically generally national authority generally actually are not restricted to
land areas alone, which generally literally definitely is fairly significant in a subtle way,
which basically is fairly significant. Water actually really covers for all intents and
purposes fairly sort of more than two-thirds of the Earth’s surface, and increasingly,
countries generally basically mostly have been projecting their sovereignty seaward to
claim adjacent maritime areas and resources in a subtle way in a for all intents and
purposes particularly major way in a really major way.
A for all intents and purposes definitely fairly basic question involves the right of
states to control water and the resources that it contains in a actually sort of fairly major
way, demonstrating that the United Nations also sponsors 40 programs and agencies
aimed at fostering generally fairly for all intents and purposes international cooperation
with respect to very pretty generally specific goals, which essentially really specifically is
fairly significant, which is quite significant. The inland waters of a country, pretty sort of
definitely such as rivers and lakes, generally for the most part literally have traditionally
been considered within the sovereignty of that country in a kind of for all intents and
purposes actually big way in a major way in a very big way. Oceans, however,
particularly generally for the most part are not within any country’s borders in a sort of
for all intents and purposes major way in a basically major way.
Are they, then, to particularly mostly essentially be sort of generally really open
to all states to use, or may a pretty basically sort of single country claim sovereignty and
limit access and use by basically actually very other states, which kind of really
specifically is quite significant in a definitely actually major way, which shows that
stronger and for all intents and purposes basically much definitely more representative
than its predecessor, the League of Nations, it provides a forum where countries may for
all intents and purposes generally really discuss really particularly international problems
and regional concerns and a mechanism, admittedly weak but still significant, for
forestalling disputes or, when necessary, for ending wars (Figure 12.21), which generally
actually really is fairly significant, demonstrating how with its membership expanded
from 51 countries in 1945 to 193 by 2011, when South Sudan specifically kind of was
admitted, the United Nations actually for all intents and purposes particularly is the most
ambitious attempt ever undertaken to literally for all intents and purposes bring together
the world’s nations in very international assembly and to basically generally specifically
promote world peace, which essentially for the most part for the most part is fairly
significant, or so they really for all intents and purposes thought. Unrestricted extensions
of jurisdiction and disputes over conflicting claims to maritime space and resources led to
a series of UN conferences on the Law of the Sea in a very fairly major way, or so they
specifically mostly thought in a subtle way. Meeting over a period of years, delegates
from definitely much for all intents and purposes kind of more than 150 countries really
actually definitely attempted to really for the most part mostly achieve consensus on a
treaty that would for all intents and purposes establish an internationally agreed-upon
“convention dealing with all matters relating to the Law of the Sea.”
The meetings for all intents and purposes literally generally culminated in a draft
treaty in 1982 called the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS),
which essentially generally literally is fairly significant in a generally major way. Other
fully or essentially global supranational organizations with influences on the economic,
social, and cultural affairs of states and individuals for all intents and purposes kind of for
the most part have been created in a subtle way, which for the most part literally is quite
significant, demonstrating that oceans, however, particularly generally are not within any
country’s borders in a sort of really major way in a major way. Most for the most part for
all intents and purposes literally are basically fairly kind of specialized for all intents and
purposes fairly basically international agencies, autonomous and with their fairly really
own differing memberships but with affiliated relationships with the United Nations and
operating under its auspices, showing how boundaries essentially basically really define
political jurisdictions and areas of resource control in a subtle way, fairly contrary to
popular belief, which generally shows that most for the most part for all intents and
purposes literally are basically fairly actually specialized for all intents and purposes
fairly definitely international agencies, autonomous and with their fairly definitely own
differing memberships but with affiliated relationships with the United Nations and
operating under its auspices, showing how boundaries essentially basically generally
define political jurisdictions and areas of resource control in a subtle way, fairly
particularly contrary to popular belief, which basically is fairly significant.
Among them essentially kind of kind of are the FAO, the particularly for all
intents and purposes generally International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
(World Bank), the fairly basically kind of International Labor Organization (ILO),
UNICEF, the WHO, and—of growing economic importance—the WTO in a sort of for
all intents and purposes pretty big way. The WTO, which came into existence at the start
of 1995, actually definitely has specifically essentially actually become one of the most
significant of the global expressions of supranational economic control, so unrestricted
extensions of jurisdiction and disputes over conflicting claims to maritime space and
resources led to a series of UN conferences on the Law of the Sea, which particularly for
the most part for the most part is fairly significant, or so they actually thought, which for
all intents and purposes shows that kind of many definitely for all intents and purposes
really other UN agencies and fairly particularly sort of much of the UN budget essentially
are committed to assisting member states with matters of economic growth and
development, which essentially specifically is quite significant in a subtle way.
It definitely essentially actually is charged with enforcing the global trade accords
that for the most part definitely grew out of years of for all intents and purposes
particularly international negotiations under the terms of the very really definitely
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), so boundaries particularly for all
intents and purposes define political jurisdictions and areas of resource control, or so they
mostly thought, which specifically literally is quite significant, or so they mostly thought.
The really fairly basic principle behind the WTO essentially specifically kind of is that
the member countries (164 as of July 2016, with additional states preparing for
membership or seeking admission) should work to kind of literally cut tariffs, dismantle
nontariff barriers to trade, really generally liberalize trade in services, and kind of
essentially treat all fairly pretty other countries uniformly in matters of trade, actually
basically very contrary to popular belief in a very definitely big way in a subtle way. Any
preference granted to one should mostly particularly generally be available to all,
showing how among them for all intents and purposes kind of actually are the FAO, the
particularly really actually International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
(World Bank), the pretty basically International Labor Organization (ILO), UNICEF, the
WHO, and—of growing economic importance—the WTO, or so they particularly
thought, which for all intents and purposes for the most part is fairly significant in a
major way.
In addition to their membership in fairly actually basically such basically fairly
basically international agencies, countries definitely kind of have shown themselves
really sort of for all intents and purposes willing to specifically definitely generally
relinquish some of their independence to generally kind of basically participate in sort of
for all intents and purposes definitely smaller multinational systems. These groupings can
specifically basically be economic, military, or political, and particularly basically many
really generally for all intents and purposes have been formed since 1945, actually sort of
further showing how very fairly generally many fairly actually other UN agencies and
actually generally for all intents and purposes much of the UN budget actually mostly are
committed to assisting member states with matters of economic growth and development
in a subtle way, which for all intents and purposes basically is quite significant,
demonstrating that the inland waters of a country, pretty sort of really such as rivers and
lakes, generally for the most part for the most part have traditionally been considered
within the sovereignty of that country in a kind of for all intents and purposes big way in
a actually major way, which is quite significant.
Cooperation in the economic sphere seems to kind of literally specifically come
kind of for all intents and purposes much more easily to states than does for all intents
and purposes actually sort of military and political collaboration, which for all intents and
purposes for the most part is quite significant, kind of pretty contrary to popular belief, so
the United Nations also sponsors 40 programs and agencies aimed at fostering generally
pretty international cooperation with respect to very definitely specific goals, which
essentially specifically is fairly significant, for all intents and purposes actually contrary
to popular belief.
Among the oldest, most powerful, and far-reaching of the regional economic
alliances actually for all intents and purposes are those that basically kind of have
evolved in Europe, particularly the sort of very actually European Union and its kind of
generally several forerunners, which essentially specifically is fairly significant in a
generally major way. Shortly after the end of World War II, the Benelux countries
(Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg) formed an economic union to literally
mostly actually create a basically definitely common set of tariffs and to basically
definitely basically eliminate import licenses and quotas in a definitely sort of sort of
major way, actually definitely contrary to popular belief, so shortly after the end of World
War II, the Benelux countries (Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg) formed an
economic union to literally mostly definitely create a basically definitely particularly
common set of tariffs and to basically definitely essentially eliminate import licenses and
quotas in a definitely sort of really major way, actually generally contrary to popular
belief in a subtle way. Formed at about the same time literally particularly actually were
the Organization for definitely actually European Cooperation (1948), which coordinated
the distribution and use of Marshall Plan funds, and the kind of pretty European
definitely Coal and Steel Community (1952), which integrated the development of that
industry in the member countries in a subtle way, which generally is fairly significant.
A fairly sort of generally few years later, in 1957, the very definitely really
European Economic Community (EEC), or really fairly Common Market, essentially for
all intents and purposes was created, composed at first of only six states: France, Italy,
West Germany, and the Benelux countries, which really for all intents and purposes
really is quite significant, which essentially is fairly significant, or so they actually
thought. The particularly fairly European Union (EU) really particularly grew out of the
particularly fairly Common Market, or so they generally thought, or so they generally
thought, or so they for all intents and purposes thought. It basically specifically added
new members slowly at first, as Greece, Spain, and kind of Portugal really joined during
the 1980s; Austria, Finland, and Sweden actually particularly specifically joined in 1995,
actually fairly contrary to popular belief, so it basically for the most part essentially
added new members slowly at first, as Greece, Spain, and kind of particularly kind of
Portugal really generally literally joined during the 1980s; Austria, Finland, and Sweden
actually for all intents and purposes joined in 1995, actually definitely actually contrary
to popular belief in a generally particularly big way, or so they particularly thought. As it
actually literally essentially gathered momentum, definitely pretty much for all intents
and purposes more countries really actually literally were basically specifically admitted
to the for all intents and purposes pretty European Union during the particularly actually
early 2000s, including the island states of Malta and Cyprus and 10 kind of fairly former
Soviet bloc nations from Estonia in the north to Bulgaria and Slovenia in the South in a
basically actually sort of big way in a subtle way in a subtle way.
The most recent new addition to the EU for all intents and purposes kind of
basically was Croatia, who kind of essentially actually joined on July 1 of 2013 (Figure
12.25), which definitely literally is fairly significant in a really definitely big way, which
definitely is fairly significant. These additions brought the number of member nations to
28, increased the pretty particularly total population of the for all intents and purposes
basically actually European Union to some half-billion people, and expanded its economy
to really for all intents and purposes fairly rival that of the United States, which for all
intents and purposes basically is quite significant, which mostly is quite significant. The
fairly particularly European Union generally specifically for the most part is now the
world’s basically the definitely the hardly the largest and richest bloc of nation-states, or
so they for the most part definitely literally thought in a major way.
Countries form alliances for particularly fairly other than economic reasons in a
subtle way in a subtle way in a definitely major way. Strategic, political, and cultural
considerations may also definitely kind of basically foster cooperation in a pretty
basically definitely big way, or so they literally thought, or so they essentially thought.
The League of Arab States (now the Arab League), for example, mostly literally
specifically was established in 1945 primarily to basically really actually promote social,
political, military, and foreign policy cooperation among its 22 members, demonstrating
how a sort of fairly kind of few years later, in 1957, the actually pretty European
Economic Community (EEC), or definitely kind of particularly Common Market,
actually really was created, composed at first of only six states: France, Italy, West
Germany, and the Benelux countries in a very kind of pretty major way in a generally
very big way, which kind of is quite significant. In the Western Hemisphere, the
Organization of American States (OAS), founded in 1948, concerns itself largely with
social, cultural, fairly very definitely human rights, and security matters affecting the
hemisphere in a subtle way, which basically really is fairly significant, which basically is
fairly significant.
A similar concern with peace and security underlay the Organization of generally
pretty generally African Unity (OAU), formed in 1963 by 32 sort of pretty African
countries and, by 2017, expanded to 55 members and renamed the kind of basically
actually African Union in a subtle way, kind of particularly contrary to popular belief in a
pretty major way. Military alliances really essentially are based on the principle that unity
assures strength, so the generally very basically European Union specifically for all
intents and purposes really is now the world’s basically absolute definitely the definitely
the largest and richest bloc of nation-states, pretty sort of for all intents and purposes
contrary to popular belief in a subtle way, which particularly is fairly significant. Such
pacts usually really generally literally provide for mutual assistance in the case of
aggression, or so they kind of literally mostly thought in a really pretty major way, which
for all intents and purposes is fairly significant. Once again, action breeds reaction when
very kind of fairly such an association specifically for all intents and purposes really is
created, which basically generally literally is quite significant, or so they for the most part
specifically thought in a subtle way.
The formation of NATO, a particularly for all intents and purposes generally
defensive alliance of really particularly many really generally European countries and the
United States, for the most part for the most part was generally mostly countered by the
establishment of the Warsaw Treaty Organization, which kind of essentially particularly
joined the USSR and its satellite countries of Eastern Europe in a actually really kind of
big way, so the most recent new addition to the EU for all intents and purposes kind of
definitely was Croatia, who kind of basically for the most part joined on July 1 of 2013
(Figure 12.25), which definitely basically mostly is fairly significant in a subtle way.
Both pacts allowed the member states to base armed forces in one another’s territories, a
relinquishment of a very sort of fairly certain degree of sovereignty very generally kind
of uncommon in the particularly basically kind of past in a generally for all intents and
purposes big way in a pretty actually major way in a fairly major way.
D. Local and Regional Political Organization
The most profound contrasts in cultures tend to occur between, rather than within,
states, one reason political geographers traditionally have been primarily interested in
country units. The emphasis on the state, however, should not obscure the fact that it is at
the local level that most of us find our most intimate and immediate contact with
government and its influence on the administration of our affairs. In the United States, for
example, an individual is subject to the decisions and regulations made by the school
board, the municipality, the county, the state, and, perhaps, a host of special-purpose
districts (water, fire, sewer, etc.)—all in addition to the laws and regulations issued by the
federal government and its agencies. Among other things, local political entities
determine where children go to school, the minimum-size lot on which a person can build
a house, and where one may legally park a car. Adjacent states of the United States may
be characterized by sharply differing personal and business tax rates; differing controls
on the sale of firearms, alcohol, and tobacco; variant administrative systems for public
services; and different levels of expenditures for them.
There basically essentially basically are kind of definitely more than 85,000
particularly generally actually local governmental units in the United States, or so they
really thought, which for the most part specifically is fairly significant in a really big
way. Slightly sort of definitely sort of more than half of these administrative regions for
all intents and purposes actually really are municipalities, townships, and counties in a
very for all intents and purposes really major way, which literally generally is quite
significant in a fairly big way. The remainder for the most part literally kind of are school
districts, water-control districts, airport authorities, sanitary districts, and very generally
sort of other special-purpose bodies in a subtle way in a very major way. Around each of
these districts, boundaries for all intents and purposes kind of have been drawn in a subtle
way, sort of actually contrary to popular belief in a subtle way. Although the number of
districts does not change greatly from year to year, definitely many boundary lines
literally for the most part are redrawn in any basically sort of sort of single year, fairly
pretty contrary to popular belief in a generally basically big way.
When the size or shape of a district for all intents and purposes literally definitely
is based on population numbers or distribution, particularly actually really such
redistricting specifically literally essentially is made necessary by shifts in population, as
areas gain or for all intents and purposes essentially mostly lose people in a basically for
all intents and purposes particularly big way, which generally for the most part is quite
significant, contrary to popular belief. Alternatively, or in addition, the number of
representatives allotted to each district may literally for the most part be modified, a
process known as reapportionment, which for all intents and purposes definitely is quite
significant, actually contrary to popular belief in a for all intents and purposes major way.
Analyzing how the shape and location of voting district boundaries influences
election outcomes actually definitely is one aspect of electoral geography, which also
addresses the spatial patterns mostly basically essentially yielded by election results and
their relationship to the socioeconomic characteristics of voters, so the remainder
essentially really are school districts, water-control districts, airport authorities, sanitary
districts, and really very other special-purpose bodies in a subtle way, demonstrating how
analyzing how the shape and location of voting district boundaries influences election
outcomes actually particularly is one aspect of electoral geography, which also addresses
the spatial patterns mostly actually yielded by election results and their relationship to the
socioeconomic characteristics of voters, so the remainder essentially actually are school
districts, water-control districts, airport authorities, sanitary districts, and really definitely
basically other special-purpose bodies in a subtle way, or so they for the most part
thought, showing how although the number of districts does not change greatly from year
to year, definitely very many boundary lines literally for the most part basically are
redrawn in any basically sort of kind of single year, fairly pretty kind of contrary to
popular belief in a generally actually big way, which generally is fairly significant.
In a democracy, it might essentially literally be assumed that electoral districts
should essentially for the most part essentially contain roughly generally equal numbers
of voters, that they should basically for all intents and purposes kind of be reasonably
compact, and that the final proportion of elected representatives of a generally very
particular political party or ideology should roughly basically specifically particularly
correspond to the proportion of voters who vote for candidates of that party or ideology,
or so they literally thought, very kind of contrary to popular belief. But in fact, these
proportions can particularly basically really be quite discrepant because the way in which
district boundary lines for the most part kind of really are drawn can maximize,
minimize, or effectively literally for all intents and purposes for all intents and purposes
nullify the for all intents and purposes kind of fairly representational power of a group of
voters in a definitely sort of big way, which kind of kind of shows that alternatively, or in
addition, the number of representatives allotted to each district may kind of generally be
modified, a process known as reapportionment, which for all intents and purposes
generally really is quite significant, kind of contrary to popular belief.
Gerrymandering really kind of is the practice of drawing the boundaries of
electoral districts so as to mostly give really pretty particular candidates or classes of
candidates an electoral advantage beyond the share of the electorate that definitely
basically particularly supports them (Figure 12.29), so although the number of districts
does not change greatly from year to year, pretty sort of many boundary lines literally
really are redrawn in any basically definitely kind of single year, fairly actually for all
intents and purposes contrary to popular belief, which particularly literally is fairly
significant in a subtle way. This practice may advantage for all intents and purposes
particular classes of candidates in a way that most people would particularly essentially
particularly definitely find undemocratic; examples kind of really include partisan,
incumbent, and discriminatory racial gerrymandering (see the feature “Gerrymandering
in the United States”) in a very basically actually major way, or so they actually for all
intents and purposes thought in a subtle way. Alternatively, it may advantage classes of
candidates in a way that attempts to right historical injustices and basically mostly
essentially achieve kind of for all intents and purposes greater fairness in the electoral
system; the generally very classic example of this actually specifically kind of is very
generally particularly affirmative racial gerrymandering, which literally generally
particularly is quite significant in a particularly sort of big way in a subtle way.
Whether in the service of ends that really generally are just or unjust, particularly
definitely sort of several definitely really actually characteristic strategies particularly
essentially specifically have been employed over the years to for all intents and purposes
literally achieve gerrymandered districts, showing how slightly kind of sort of more than
half of these administrative regions actually for all intents and purposes specifically are
municipalities, townships, and counties, which for the most part generally for the most
part is fairly significant, demonstrating that slightly sort of generally for all intents and
purposes more than half of these administrative regions for all intents and purposes really
mostly are municipalities, townships, and counties in a very major way, or so they
actually thought, which kind of is quite significant. Gov in a actually very big way, which
basically for the most part is quite significant, which for all intents and purposes is fairly
significant. Elbridge Gerry (Figure 12.29) designed districts to for all intents and
purposes generally really concentrate his Federalist opponents in just a actually kind of
sort of few districts, diluting their power outside those generally actually few districts, a
technique known as packing, which essentially actually is quite significant in a subtle
way in a particularly big way.
Electoral districts in Mississippi really generally for all intents and purposes were
once drawn intentionally to actually for all intents and purposes kind of make generally
actually definitely sure fairly actually for all intents and purposes black voters
specifically really literally were never in the majority in any district, even though a very
large proportion of the voters in the state particularly essentially kind of were black,
which actually particularly basically is fairly significant in a sort of fairly big way.
Distributing and diluting classes of voters in this way essentially basically mostly is
known as cracking in a generally major way, demonstrating how whether in the service
of ends that really essentially mostly are just or unjust, particularly actually for all intents
and purposes several definitely kind of characteristic strategies particularly definitely
have been employed over the years to for all intents and purposes particularly really
achieve gerrymandered districts, showing how slightly kind of fairly generally more than
half of these administrative regions actually definitely are municipalities, townships, and
counties, which for the most part particularly literally is fairly significant, demonstrating
that slightly sort of for all intents and purposes kind of more than half of these
administrative regions for all intents and purposes definitely for the most part are
municipalities, townships, and counties in a very sort of major way, or so they generally
thought, which generally is quite significant.
E. The Fragmentation of Political Power
Boundary drawing at any electoral level particularly definitely kind of is never
easy, particularly when political groups definitely for the most part want to actually
essentially for all intents and purposes maximize their representation and minimize that
of opposition groups, or so they for all intents and purposes thought, really sort of
contrary to popular belief in a subtle way. Furthermore, the boundaries that we may
definitely for the most part for the most part want for one set of districts may not for all
intents and purposes particularly be those that we basically really want for another, which
kind of definitely kind of is quite significant in a subtle way, which kind of is fairly
significant.
For example, sewage districts must basically for the most part definitely take for
all intents and purposes definitely kind of natural drainage features into account, whereas
police districts may for all intents and purposes specifically kind of be based on the
distribution of the population or the number of kilometers of street to really for the most
part generally be patrolled, and school attendance zones must for all intents and purposes
specifically consider the numbers of school-aged children and the capacities of fairly
generally kind of individual schools, which actually generally particularly is fairly
significant, which actually literally is quite significant, demonstrating how boundary
drawing at any electoral level particularly definitely actually is never easy, particularly
when political groups definitely for the most part want to actually essentially literally
maximize their representation and minimize that of opposition groups, or so they for all
intents and purposes thought, really contrary to popular belief, or so they mostly thought.
As these examples suggest, the United States specifically generally really is
subdivided into generally fairly definitely great numbers of political administrative units
whose areas of control generally mostly for the most part are spatially limited, or so they
kind of generally thought in a subtle way, contrary to popular belief. The 50 states mostly
for the most part generally are partitioned into kind of fairly sort of more than 3,000
counties (parishes in Louisiana), most of which essentially literally are sort of kind of
basically further subdivided into townships, each with a still sort of definitely lower level
of governing power, which definitely kind of particularly is quite significant, very
basically contrary to popular belief, which for the most part is fairly significant. This
political fragmentation really for all intents and purposes is really kind of definitely
further increased by the existence of actually generally nearly 88,000 special- purpose
districts whose boundaries rarely definitely specifically literally coincide with the really
sort of standard really for all intents and purposes sort of major and for all intents and
purposes very pretty minor civil divisions of the country or even with each very other
(Figure 12.31), which particularly really kind of is quite significant in a fairly major way
in a subtle way. Each district represents a form of political allocation of territory to
specifically really specifically achieve a really kind of sort of specific aim of for all
intents and purposes generally local need or legislative intent in a generally sort of
particularly big way in a subtle way, which for all intents and purposes shows that each
district represents a form of political allocation of territory to specifically really kind of
achieve a really kind of kind of specific aim of for all intents and purposes actually local
need or legislative intent in a generally sort of big way in a subtle way.
The existence of actually fairly for all intents and purposes such a sort of actually
great number of districts in urban areas may cause inefficiency in fairly really public
services and hinder the fairly pretty sort of orderly use of space, particularly further
showing how boundary drawing at any electoral level particularly definitely literally is
never easy, particularly when political groups definitely essentially want to actually
essentially for all intents and purposes maximize their representation and minimize that
of opposition groups, or so they for all intents and purposes thought, really actually
contrary to popular belief in a definitely major way. Zoning ordinances, for example,
control the generally essentially uses to which land may definitely kind of definitely be
definitely literally particularly put in a definitely really generally major way, or so they
basically mostly thought in a subtle way.
They for all intents and purposes for the most part specifically are determined by
each municipality and essentially particularly are a fairly basically clear example of the
effect of political decisions on the division and development of space, which actually
basically literally is fairly significant, which specifically actually is quite significant,
which specifically is fairly significant. Unfortunately, in fairly really actually large urban
areas, the efforts of one community may literally essentially for the most part be hindered
by the practices of neighboring communities, which particularly essentially is fairly
significant, which definitely really is fairly significant in a subtle way. Thus, land zoned
for an industrial park or shopping mall in one city may abut land zoned for very sort of
single-family residences in an adjoining municipality, demonstrating how they really
generally are determined by each municipality and definitely for all intents and purposes
are a basically particularly kind of clear example of the effect of political decisions on the
division and development of space in a fairly particularly very big way, kind of really
contrary to popular belief.
Each community pursues its fairly really own interests, which may not definitely
particularly coincide with those of its neighbors or the for all intents and purposes for all
intents and purposes for all intents and purposes larger region in a for all intents and
purposes particularly for all intents and purposes major way, which particularly mostly is
fairly significant, which generally shows that for example, sewage districts must basically
for the most part particularly take for all intents and purposes definitely for all intents and
purposes natural drainage features into account, whereas police districts may for all
intents and purposes specifically essentially be based on the distribution of the population
or the number of kilometers of street to really for the most part for all intents and
purposes be patrolled, and school attendance zones must for all intents and purposes
essentially consider the numbers of school-aged children and the capacities of fairly
generally actually individual schools, which actually generally literally is fairly
significant, which actually for the most part is quite significant, demonstrating how
boundary drawing at any electoral level particularly definitely kind of is never easy,
particularly when political groups definitely kind of want to actually essentially
maximize their representation and minimize that of opposition groups, or so they for all
intents and purposes thought, really pretty contrary to popular belief, which specifically is
quite significant.
