Political Geography: States, Nations, and Nation States

SSWG3: Political Geography

Political Geography: The study of how humans have divided up the Earth's surface and how humans and organizations try to control these areas.

​Standards/Sections of Political Geography:
1. SSWG3A: Nations, States, and Nation-States
2. SSWG3B: Borders and Boundaries
3. SSWG3C: External and Internal Conflict
4. SSWG3D: Geopolitical Organizations

​What is Political Geography?

Section 1: Nations, States, and Nation-States

Nations, States, & Nation-States

Before we get started, some things to FORGET...

US way of thinking
- State: describes each of the 50 federal subregions of the United States
- Nation: describes the whole United States.

​What is a State?

• In Political Geography a STATE refers to an independent, bounded, and internationally recognized territory with full sovereignty over the land and the people within it.

• In simple terms, a STATE is the political geography term for a country

• When does a political territory become a state?

• Taiwan/United States

Multiple Choice

 Another name for a country is ______________.

• Area

• State

​What is Sovereignty??

Definition:
Sovereignty is the full right and power of a governing body to govern itself without interference from outside sources or other states.
It means a state has control over its territory, laws, people, and decisions.

• A sovereign state makes its own laws and policies.

• No other country can legally control a sovereign state’s decisions.

• Sovereignty is what makes a “state” independent in political geography.

Examples:

• The United States is sovereign—it controls its own territory and government.

• Taiwan claims sovereignty, but its status is disputed internationally.

Multiple Choice

Which of these is a sign of sovereignty?

• Having your own flag and anthem

• Making your own laws without another country's approval

• Being recognized by other states

• All of the above

What is a Nation?

• While a state is a political unit a NATION is a cultural unit

• A NATION is a group of people with a common ancestry - regardless of whether the group controls its own country

• Natio the root for the word nation, is Latin and means "birth, nation, race, species, or breed."

• Most nations share a common cultural trait; religion, common language, and/or accepted social ways of behavior

• When does a cultural group become a nation?

Multiple Choice

What is a group of people united around similar cultural traits?

• Nation

• Political Geography

​What is a Nation-State?

• Many Nations do not live in their homeland or do not have an officially recognized homeland

• If a Nation's homeland corresponds exactly to a state's territory, that nation is said to be a NATION-STATE

• This is a political-geographic ideal because it does not give cause to anyone from within or from outside of the country to try to peaceably or forcefully alter the states boundaries.

• There are very few nation-states in the world, some are Japan, Costa Rica, and Portugal but even these are rarely considered pure

Multiple Choice

2. There is a cultural group called the Geographians. They have their own state with distinct boundaries run by themselves. This BEST defines

• Nation

• State

• Stateless Nation

• Nation-State

​Multination States

• MULTINATION STATE occurs when several distinct nations are found in the same political states, for example Canada or South Africa

• This does not always lead to unrest but it can lead to ETHNONATIONALISM, which is a strong feeling of belonging to a minority nation that is contained within a state dominated by a more powerful nation.

• This can lead to...

  • Separatism: The desire to break away and form ones own nation state

  • Secession: The action of withdrawing formally from membership of a federation or body

Multistate Nations

• A MULTISTATE NATION exists when a national homeland overlaps into more than one state

• This can give rise to IRREDENTISM which occurs if a nation's homeland spills into another state and the people on the "wrong side" of the boundary wish to join their territory with the rest of their homeland.

• WW2 - ethnic Germans in Czechoslovakia and Poland

Multiple Choice

What is the definition of nation-state?

• people who think of themselves as one based on a shared sense of culture and history and who desire political autonomy

• a state with a single nation

• a group of people (a nation) with a common culture occupying a particular territory, but they do not have their own independent state

• a state with two or more nations

Multiple Choice

What is the definition of a multination state?

• people who think of themselves as one based on a shared sense of culture and history and who desire political autonomy

• a state with a single nation

• a group of people (a nation) with a common culture occupying a particular territory, but they do not have their own independent state

• a state with two or more nations

Multiple Choice

What is the definition of nation?

• People who think of themselves as one based on a shared sense of culture and history and who desire political autonomy.

• a state with a single nation

• a group of people (a nation) with a common culture occupying a particular territory, but they do not have their own independent state

• a state with two or more nations

Multiple Choice

A country with two or more ethnic groups living within in it is referred to as a ___.

• Nation State
• Balkan State
• National State
• Multinational State

Multiple Choice

What is an area with defined borders, a government and recognized as a state by other states

• State

• Nation

Multiple Choice

What is the definition of a stateless nation?

• people who think of themselves as one based on a shared sense of culture and history and who desire political autonomy

• a state with a single nation

• a group of people (a nation) with a common culture occupying a particular territory, but they do not have their own independent state

• a state with two or more nations