Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
country can establish a mighty military. But political infl u-
ence is not simply a function of hard power; it is also dip-
lomatic. Switzerland's declared neutrality, combined with
its economic might, aids the country's diplomatic efforts.
World-systems theory helps us understand how
Europe politically reorganized the world during colonial-
ism. When colonialism ended in Africa and Asia, the newly
independent people continued to follow the European
model of political organization. The arbitrarily drawn
colonial borders of Africa, dating from the Berlin Con-
ference, became the boundaries of the newly independent
states. On the map, former colonies became new states;
administrative borders transformed into international
boundaries; and, in most cases, colonial administrative
towns became capitals. The greatest political challenge
facing the states of Africa since independence has been
building nation-states out of incredibly divergent (some-
times antagonistic) peoples. The leaders of the newly
independent states continually work to build nation-states
in the hope of quelling division among the people, secur-
ing their territory, and developing their economic (as well
as other) systems of organization.
HOW DO STATES SPATIALLY ORGANIZE
THEIR GOVERNMENTS?
In the 1950s, a famous political geographer, Richard
Hartshorne, described the forces within the state that
unify the people as
centripetal
and the forces that divide
them as
centrifugal
. Whether a state continues to exist,
according to Hartshorne, depends on the balance between
centripetal and centrifugal forces. Many political geogra-
phers have debated Hartshorne's theory, and most have
concluded that we cannot select a given event or process
and simply defi ne it as centrifugal or centripetal. An event
such as a war can pull the state together for a short time
and then divide the state over the long term. Timing,
scale, interaction, and perspective factor into unifi cation
and division in a state at any given point. Instead of creat-
ing a balance sheet of centripetal and centrifugal forces,
governments attempt to unify states through nation-
building, through structuring the government in a way
that melds the nations within, by defi ning and defending
boundaries, and through expressing control over all of the
territory within those boundaries.
By looking at how different governments have
attempted to unify the peoples and territories within their
domains, we are reminded how important geography is.
Governance does not take place in a vacuum. The unique
characteristics of places shapes whether any possible gov-
ernmental “solution” solves or exacerbates matters.
The Enduring Impact of the Nation-State Idea
The idea of meshing the nation and state into a nation-
state was not confi ned to nineteenth-century Europe or
twentieth-century Africa. Major players in international
relations still seek solutions to complex political con-
fl icts by trying to redraw the political map in an effort
to bring political and national borders into closer corre-
spondence. Faced with the disintegration of the former
Yugoslavia or the complex problems of Israel/Palestine,
for example, the tendency is often to propose new state
boundaries around nations, with the goal of making the
nation and state fi t. Drawing neat boundaries of this sort
is usually impossible and the creation of new territories
can create different ethno-national problems. Regard-
less of the multitude of problems and lack of simple
solutions to nation and state confl icts, the European
territorial state idea became the world model, and that
idea is still shaping the political organization of space
around the world.
Form of Government
The internal political geographic organization of states
can have an impact on state unity. Most states in the world
are either unitary or federal states.
Until the end of World War II, many European
states, including multinational states, were highly central-
ized, with the capital city serving as the focus of power.
States made no clear efforts to accommodate minorities
(such as Bretons in France or Basques in Spain) or outly-
ing regions where identifi cation with the state was weaker.
Political geographers call these highly centralized states
unitary
governments. The administrative framework of
a unitary government is designed to ensure the central
government's authority over all parts of the state. The
French government divided the state into more than 90
départements
, whose representatives came to Paris not just
to express regional concerns but to implement central-
government decisions back home.
One way of governing a multinational state is to
construct a
federal
system, organizing state territory into
regions, substates (which we refer to as States), provinces,
or cantons. In a strong
federal
system, the regions have
much control over government policies and funds, and
Imagine you are the leader of a newly independent state
in Africa or Asia. Determine what your government can do
to build a nation that corresponds with the borders of your
state. Consider the roles of education, government, military,
and culture in your exercise in nation-building.
