Unit 4 Political Patterns and Processes

Unit 4: Political Patterns and Processes ● States: area organized into a political unit and ruled by an established govt. ○ Sovereignty: independence from its control of its internal and foreign affairs ○ Evolution of States ■ City-states: sovereign states that have towns and their surrounding countryside ● Nation: group with common culture ● Nation-state: pop. has a good amount of cultural homogeneity and unity ● Stateless Nation: Ethnic group of people without a state ● Microstate: Sovereign state having small pop. or land area ● Multi-ethnic State: State that has more than one ethnicity ● Multinational State: Country that has more than one ethnicity with traditions of selfdetermination ○ Largest state is Russia ● Colonialism ○ Colony: Territory legally tied to a sovereign state ○ European States came to control through colonialism ○ Three Motives: God, Glory, Gold ○ Imperialism: control of territory already occupied ● After colonialism, new countries are formed ○ Superimposed boundaries: political boundary placed by powerful outsiders ● Centripetal Forces ○ Bind or hold a nation together and promote national unity ■ Strong leadership, education, circulation ● Centrifugal Forces ○ Divide a state apart ○ Ethnic or cultural differences, linguistic diversity ● Devolution ○ Movement of power from the central govt. to regional govt. within the state ○ Causes: ethnocultural forces, economic forces, spatial forces ● Shapes of States: ○ Controls the length of boundaries with other states ○ Part of country’s unique identity ● 5 basic shapes ○ Compact States: Efficient ■ Distance from state to state doesn’t vary that much ○ Elongated States: Potential Isolation ■ Long and narrow shape ■ Suffer poor internal connections ■ Ex. Chile ○ Prorupted States: Access or Disruption ■ Compact state with large projecting extension ■ Give state with access to resources ■ Separate two states that other would share a boundary ○ Perforated States ■ Completely surrounds another ■ The state that is surrounded is dependent on the surrounding state ■ Ex. Vatican City surrounds Italy ○ Fragmented States: Problematic ■ Several broken pieces of territory ■ Separated by water ■ Separated by intervening state ○ GerryMandering ■ Redrawing the boundaries separating legislative districts for the purpose of benefits of the party in power ● Wasted vote: opposition supporters across many districts but in the minority ● Excess Vote: opposition supported in few districts ● Stacked Vote: like-minded voters throughout oddly-shaped boundaries ● Boundaries ○ Invisible line that marks the state’s territory ○ Frontiers: zone where no complete political control is exercised by a state ● Types of Physical Boundaries ○ Desert Boundary ○ Mountain Boundary ○ Water boundary ● Types of Cultural Boundaries ○ Geometric Boundary ○ Religious Boundary ○ Language Boundary ○ Ethnic Boundaries ● 4 types of boundary conflicts ○ Positional ■ State disagree with the understanding of documents that define a boundary ○ Territorial ■ As a result of superimposed boundary ○ Resource ■ Disagree of control over resources and the use of them that lie on border areas ○ Functional ■ Neighboring states disagree over policies that are to be applied along a boundary ● Law of the Sea ○ Treaty called United Nations Convention on the law of the sea (UNCLOS) ○ 4 zones of diminishing control ■ Territorial Sea: up to 12 nautical miles over which coastal state has sovereignty ■ Contiguous Zone: up to 24 nautical miles, doesn’t have all sovereignty but can still enforce its customs ■ Exclusive Economic Zone: up to 200 nautical miles, rights to explore natural resources ■ High Seas: Beyond the exclusive economic zone and is open to all states ● United Nations ○ Forum where all states can meet and discuss as well as vote on issues without going to war ● Supranationalism ○ Three or more countries that form a union for either economic, political, or social cooperation ● Terrorism ○ Use of violence in order to intimidate a pop./govt. into complying with their demands