HUG Chapter 8 Key Issue 1

Contemporary Human Geography

Fourth Edition

Chapter 8

Political Geography

Lecture Presentation by

Neusa McWilliams

University of Toledo

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Chapter 8 Key Issues

8.1 Where are states distributed? A World of States

8.2 Where are states distributed? Challenges of Defining States

8.3 How are states created? Evolution of States

8.4 How are states created? Nation-States

8.5 How are states created? Colonies

8.6 How are states organized? Boundaries

8.7 How are states organized? Shapes of States

8.8 How are states organized? Governing States

8.9 How are states organized? Electoral Geography

8.10 What threats do states face? Europe’s Fragile Cooperation

8.11 What threats do states face? Terrorism by Individuals and Organizations

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8.1 A World of States (1 of 5)

• A state is an area organized into a political unit and ruled by

an established government. The term country is a synonym for state.

– As recently as the 1940s, the world contained only about

50 countries, compared to approximately 200 today.

– The term state, as used in political geography, does not

refer to the 50 local governments inside the United States.
The 50 states of the United States are subdivisions within
a single state—the United States of America.

– A state has sovereignty, which means independence from

control of its internal affairs by other states.

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8.1 A World of States (2 of 5)

• The United Nations

– The most important global

organization is the United Nations,
created at the end of World War II
by the victorious Allies.

– On occasion, the UN has

intervened in conflicts between or
within member states, authorizing
military and peacekeeping
actions.

– The UN seeks to promote

international cooperation to
address global economic
problems, promote human rights,
and provide humanitarian relief.

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8.1 A World of States (3 of 5)

• The United Nations

– The largest state is Russia and at the other extreme are about

two dozen microstates, which are states with very small land
areas.

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8.1 A World of States (4 of 5)

• UN Growth

– When it was organized in 1945,

the UN had only 51 members,
including 49 sovereign states plus
Byelorussia (now Belarus) and
Ukraine, then part of the Soviet
Union.

– Much of the world consisted of

colonies and other territories
controlled by European states.

– As these areas gained

independence, UN membership
grew. With the admission of
South Sudan in 2011, the number
of UN members reached 193.

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8.1 A World of States (5 of 5)

• States of the World

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8.2 Changing in Defining States (1 of 2)

• Most of the world has been allocated

to sovereign states. A handful of
places have complicated histories and
uncertain or disputed status, straining
the definition of sovereignty.

– Korea. The Korean peninsula is

divided between the Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea
(North) and the Republic of Korea
(South).

– After World War II, the victors

divided Korea, which had been a
colony of Japan for 35 years, into
two occupation zones.

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8.2 Changing in Defining States (2 of 2)

• North Korea invaded the South in 1950, sparking a three-year war

that ended in a cease-fire. Both governments are committed to
reuniting the country into one sovereign state.

• However, both maintain that they are the one that should exercise

sovereignty over the entire Korean peninsula.

• North Korea is one of the world’s poorest and most isolated

countries, and since 1948 it has been governed as a dictatorship by
Kim Il-sung, his son Kim Jong-il, and his grandson.

• North Korea has built and tested nuclear weapons and long-range

missiles, even though the country lacks the ability to provide its
citizens with food, electricity, and other basic needs.

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8.2 Challenges in Defining States (1 of 3)

• Western Sahara (Sahrawi)

–The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic is considered by most African countries
as a sovereign state.

–Morocco, however, claims the territory and to prove it has built a 2,700-kilometer
wall.

–With Spain’s withdrawal, the Sahrawi Republic became recognized as an
independent nation by most African countries.

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8.2 Challenges in Defining States (2 of 3)

• China and Taiwan

– Most other countries consider China and Taiwan as

separate and sovereign states. According to China’s
government, Taiwan is not sovereign but a part of
China. The government of Taiwan agrees.

– In the late 1940s, the Nationalist and Communist

entered a civil war, the Nationalist lost in 1949 and
fled to Taiwan.

– Not until 1971 did the UN transfer the Nationalist seat

to China and the United States followed by
recognizing China as the official government.

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8.2 Challenges in Defining States (3 of 3)

• The Law of the Sea

– The Law of the Sea, signed

by 167 countries, has
standardized the territorial
limits for most countries at 12
nautical miles.

– The Law of the Sea states

also have exclusive rights to
the fish and other marine life
within 200 nautical miles.
Disputes can be taken to a
tribunal for the Law of the
Sea or to the International
Court of Justice.

Multiple Choice

A state has all of the following except place, region, space

• sovereignty

• a well-defined and permanent territory

• colonies

• its entire area managed by a national government

Multiple Choice

The United Nations traces its origins to

• the end of W W I in 1918

• the end of W W I I in 1945

• the end of the Cold War in 1991

• the aftermath of 9/11 in 2001

Multiple Choice

Which of the following statements is true about the Korean Peninsula?

• After W W I, a pro-Soviet government was formed in the south and a pro-U.S. government was formed in the north

• After W W I I, a pro-Soviet government was formed in the north and a pro-U.S. government was formed in the south

• North Korea and South Korea have different languages

• North Korea and South Korea have different ethnicities

Multiple Choice

Which of the following statements is true about Taiwan?

• China (P R C) formally recognizes the sovereignty of Taiwan

• Taiwan has had UN representation since 1971

• Taiwan controls the entire mainland of China

• The Nationalists, who lost a civil war against the Communists, fled to Taiwan in 1949, where they have been in charge of the island ever since