5.pptPolitical Geography-Terms
- State – are independent political units that claim exclusive jurisdiction over defined territories and over the peoples and activities within them. The idea that the whole world should be divided into states is a relatively new European concept.
- Nation – a group of people who want to have their own government and rule themselves
Political Geography -Terms
- Nation-state – a state ruling over a territory containing all the people of a nation
- Nationalism – a strong emotional attachment to a country
- Legitimacy – defines who has the right to rule, usually in the form of a constitution
- Ethnicity-Identifying with a group of people who share the cultural traditions of a particular homeland or hearth area
Political Geography -Terms
- Centripetal Forces –tend to make a government stronger and hold it together; a country where most citizens speak the same language and practice the same religion would have strong centripetal forces; France, Japan
- Centrifugal Forces – tend to pull a country apart; a country with multiple languages and religions; Belgium, Switzerland, Canada
- Separatism- advocates breaking away
- Devolution – the break-up of a country
National Identities
- Nations use centripetal forces, these may include
- Religion/language
- Education
- Icons (symbols) -flags, images
- Slogans
- Historical events
Shape of Countries
- Compact – enhances centripetal forces; Cambodia, Poland
- Elongated –enhances centrifugal forces; Chile, Viet Nam
- Prorupt- similar to compact but with an extension, away from the core, which may cause problems for governments
- Fragmented-enhances centrifugal forces; Indonesia, Philippines
Political Organization
- Unitary (Centric)- all important decisions are made by the national government
- Federal-important decisions are made by local government
- Sovereignty-a government with control over its internal affairs
Moving to a Federal System
- Recently Spain adopted a federal system
- Spain has separatist pressure from: The Basque, Catalonia, and Galicia.
- To counter this Spain divided into 17 Autonomous Communities. Each controls education, public works and cultural affairs. They also negotiate on degree of autonomy, strength of parliaments and even international trade
Political Boundaries
- Antecedent (Physical)- boundary based on a geographic feature such as a river
- Subsequent (Cultural)-boundary based on cultural differences such as language
- Superimposed (Geometric)- a geometric line drawn on a map ignoring cultural or physical features
- Relict- a boundary no longer being observed
Political Boundaries
- Perforated- when a country completely surrounds another country; South Africa, Italy
- Frontier- a zone where no state exercises complete political control; UAE
