AP Notes, Outlines, Study Guides, Vocabulary, Practice Exams and more!

Chapter 14 - Political Culture and the Evolving State

CHAPTER INTRODUCTION

Political activity is very much a part of human culture and could probably be traced to competition for space or leadership in groups of early humans. Thus emerged history’s first politicians. Political activity possesses spatial expression that can be mapped, a fact that interests geographers (political geography is the study of political activity in spatial context). The most common line on a map is a political boundary and such boundaries represent a long evolutionary process, but the world political map is relatively new to human history. Perhaps no political map will ever be permanent, as events in the l990s have shown us, but there is hope that political activity may yet lead to a lessening of tensions and conflict between the Earths inhabitants.

The present-day layout of the world’s political map is a product of humanites endless politico-geographic accommodations and adjustments. A mosaic of more than 200 states and territories separated by boundaries, makes the world looks like a jigsaw puzzle. The map depicting that jigsaw puzzle is the most familiar and widely used map of the world—so widely used that we often fail to think about the pattern it contains. Valuable insights can be obtained from even a brief examination of the nature and significance of the patterns on the political map. It shows, for example, that in terms of territory there are vast inequalities ranging from subcontinental giants to microstates. What the map cannot show is that only a minority of the world states are nation-states, the ideal form to which most nations and states aspire—a political unit wherein the territorial state coincides with the area settled by a certain national group of people.  The population of such a country would thus possess a substantial degree of cultural homogeneity and unity—and, hopefully, political stability.

Rise of the Modern State

The concept of statehood spread into Europe from Greece and Rome, where it lay dormant until feudalism began to break down. The Norman invasion of 1066 was perhaps the most significant event in this pro­cess. The Normans destroyed the Anglo-Saxon nobility; created a whole new political order, and achieved great national strength under William the Conqueror. On the European mainland, the continuity of dynastic rule and the strength of certain rulers led to greater national cohesiveness. At the same time, Europe experienced something of an economic revival, and internal as well as foreign trade increased. The lifestyles of many disadvantaged people improved and crucial technological innovations occurred. The so called Dark Ages were over and a new Europe was emerging.

From a political-geographic perspective, the Peace of Westphalia can be seen as the first major step in the emergence of the European state. The treaties signed at the end of the Thirty Years War (1648) contained language that recognized statehood and nation-hood, clearly defined boundaries, and guarantees of security. Europe’s politico-geographical evolution was to have enormous significance, because the European state model was exported through migration and colonialism, but it has not always worked well in the non-Western world.

Territory

No state can exist without territory, although the United Nations does recognize the Palestinians as a stateless nation. Within the states territory lie the resources that make up the state. The territorial character of states has long interested geographers, who have focused on territorial morphology—territorial size, shape, and relative location. There is no question that the nature of a states territory can have social and political significance, but focusing just on territory without considering other aspects of a states geo­graphical context can be misleading. Being small and compact can mean very different things for a state in the economic core than for one in the periphery.

Different territorial characteristics can present opportunities and challenges, depending on the his­torical and political-economic context. For the United States, large size, large population, and abundant resources meant emergence as a global power. For the former Soviet Union, the vast distances over which people and resources were distributed presented a serious obstacle and contributed to its collapse. Similar problems can result because of a state’s shape—as in the case of the fragmented Philippines; the elongated Chile or Thailand with its southern protruded area. These and other states shapes can often cause prob­lems of political control, defense, transportation, or access.

Boundaries

The territories of individual states are separated by international boundaries that mark the limits of national jurisdiction. Boundaries may appear on maps as straight lines or twist and turn to conform to physical or hydrologic features. A boundary between states is actually a vertical plane that cuts through the rocks be­low (called the subsoil in legal papers) and the airspace above—defined by the atmosphere above a states land area as marked by its boundaries, as well as what lies at higher altitude. Only where this vertical plane intersects the Earth’s surface (on land or at sea) does it form the line we see on a map.

When boundaries were established, things were much different and the resources below the surface were much less well-known than they are today. Many mineral deposits extend from one country to an­other, provoking arguments about ownership and use. This includes everything from coal deposits and petroleum reserves to groundwater supplies (aquifers). Since aircraft had not yet been invented, little attention was paid to the control of the air above—an issue that is of considerably greater importance today. The control of airline traffic over states’ territory may someday be extended to satellite orbits and air circulates from one airspace to another carrying pollutants of one state across the vertical plane to another state.

CHAPTER QUIZ

MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS

1.      A country that is landlocked is a country that:

a.      has developed only land transportation

b.      has far more land than people to populate it

c.       has no coast on the open sea

d.      has only one coast on the open sea

2.      In the Middle east, the Golan Heights were captured in the 1967 war from:

a.      Syria

b.      Lebanon

c.       Jordan

d.      Egypt

3.      Which of the following is not a connation of the term nation’.

a.      ethnic

b.      linguistic

c.      religious

d.      political

4.      The Kurds, a stateless nation, form the largest minority in:

a.      Iraq

b.      Turkey

c.       Iran

d.      Pakistan

5.      Which of the following is not currently a parliamentary democracy in Europe.

a.      the United Kingdom

b.      the Netherlands

c.       Germany

d.      Sweden

6.      Which of the following cannot presently be designated as a nation-state

a.      Belgium

b.      France

c.       Denmark

d.      the Czech Republic

7.      Which of the following is currently the world’s largest state territorally.

a.      India

b.      China

c.       Canada

d.      Russia

8.      Which of the following is a good example of an elongated or attenuated state.

a.      Thailand

b.      Chile

c.       France

d.      Mexico

9.      The international boundary between the United States and Canada west of the Great Lakes is classified as a ? boundary.

a.       superimposed

b.       natural-political

c.       geometric

d.      antecedent

10.    Which of the following is not an example of a generic political boundary type.

a.      cultural-political

b.      superimposed

c.       antecedent

d.      relict

TRUE/FALSE QUESTIONS

1. The terms country and state are not interchangeable. (TF)

2. States tend to jealously guard their territory. (TF)

3. The Kurds are a stateless nation. (TF)

4. Europe in the mid-seventeenth century was a patchwork of ill-defined political entities. (TF)

5. The European nation-state model was adopted around the world. (TF)

6. Elongated and protruded states have basically the same shape. (TF)

7. All landlocked states are surrounded by other states but have access to the sea by rivers. (TF)

8. When state boundaries are established, demarcation is the third stages and all states demarcate their boundaries. (TF)

9. The boundary between the United States and Canada west of the Great Lakes, is a geometric boundary. (TF)

10. Boundary disputes generally take five principal forms. (TF)

STUDY QUESTIONS

1. Define state and nation. List the main historic events that led to development of the modern European state and nation-state. Why have most other states followed this model?

2.  List the different territorial shapes of states and give examples of each. What problems have been attributed to a state’s shape?

3. Why are political boundaries considered to be on a vertical plane? How do boundaries evolve? List the different types of boundaries and what they represent. List and explain the genetic boundary classification pioneered by Hartshorne.

4. What are the functions of boundaries, and how have they changed over time?

5. What are the major reasons for boundary disputes?

Subject: 
Subject X2: 

Need Help?

We hope your visit has been a productive one. If you're having any problems, or would like to give some feedback, we'd love to hear from you.

For general help, questions, and suggestions, try our dedicated support forums.

If you need to contact the Course-Notes.Org web experience team, please use our contact form.

Need Notes?

While we strive to provide the most comprehensive notes for as many high school textbooks as possible, there are certainly going to be some that we miss. Drop us a note and let us know which textbooks you need. Be sure to include which edition of the textbook you are using! If we see enough demand, we'll do whatever we can to get those notes up on the site for you!