1. Human Geography: Places and
Regions in Global Context, 5e
Chapter 9: The Politics of Territory and Space
Paul L. Knox & Sallie A. Marston
PowerPoint Author: Keith M. Bell

2. Overview
The actions of states extending their spheres of influence has had a
considerable impact on economic globalization. Today states are the building
blocks of the world-system. This was not always the case. In fact, a world
divided largely into independent states is a feature of the last half of the
twentieth century. Prior to that, many parts of the world were dependent
territories or colonies, controlled by powers beyond their own borders. This
chapter looks at the origins of the present world-system, examining the rise of an
expansionist Europe, leading to colonialism, and followed by decolonization.
Students should be aware that states are independent political units, not just
sub-divisions of the United States, and that nations are groups of people sharing
common elements of culture. These terms are often confused.
Politics and geography have a lot to say to each other. The maps we are
accustomed to seeing and using are political maps, showing the boundaries of
states and other political units. States are not always static entities, as the recent
history of Europe has demonstrated. Analyzing the breakdown of the Soviet
Union and changes in the map of Europe in the 1990s provides a good example
of many aspects of political geography, including the concept of the state,
nations and nation-states, and the impact of states on the world-system.

3. Chapter Objectives
• The objectives of this chapter are to:
– Understand the geopolitical model of the
state, and to explore its boundaries and
frontiers
– Examine geopolitics and the world order
– Prepare a foundation for the understanding of
geopolitics

4. Chapter Outline
• The Development of Political Geography (p. 340)
– Geopolitics
– Boundaries and frontiers
• Geopolitics and the World Order (p. 348)
– States and nations
– Imperialism and colonialism
– Decolonization and post-coloniality
– Theories of the state
– Terrorism and the New World Order
• International and Supranational Organizations and New Regimes of Global
Governance (p. 371)
– Supranational organizations
– International regimes
• The Two-Way Street of Politics and Geography (p. 375)
– Regionalism and sectionalism
– Urban, suburban, and rural divides
– Electoral geography
• Conclusion (p. 384)

5. Geography Matters
• 9.1 Window on the World—Afghanistan:
From the Cold War to the New World Order
(p. 366)
– Changes in Afghanistan’s geopolitics and political
geography
• 9.2 Geography Matters—State Terrorism in
Chechnya (p. 370)
– When the state turns against its own citizens
• 9.3 Window on the World—The Palestinian–
Israeli Conflict (p. 380)
– A brief history of the Palestinian–Israeli conflict

6. The Politics of
Territory and Space
Political geography, a subfield of the
discipline of geography, examines
complex relationships between politics
and geography (both human and
physical).
Political geographers recognize that
the relationship between politics and
geography is two-way: the geography
of politics and the politics of
geography.
The relations between politics and
geography are often driven by
particularly theories and practices of
the world’s states.
Political geography deals with the
phenomena occurring at all scales of
resolution, from the global to the
individual: East/West and North/South
divisions dominate international
politics. Regionalism, sectionalism,
and other divisions dominate intrastate
politics.

7. The Development of Political
Geography
• Geopolitics is the state’s power
to control space or territory and
shape the foreign policy of
individual states and
international political relations.
• Friedrich Ratzel, a German
geopolitical theorist and social
Darwinist, portrayed the state
as behaving like a biological
organism; geopolitics stems
from the interactions of power
and territory.
• Russia’s intervention in
Georgian state politics in 2008
was a reassertion of Russia’s
sphere of political (and
military) influence.

8. The Geopolitical Model of the
State
• Ratzel employed biological metaphors adopted from Charles Darwin to
describe his seven laws of state growth:
– The space of the state grows with the expansion of the population having the
same culture (e.g., Hitler’s Lebensraum).
– Territorial growth follows other aspects of development.
– A state grows by absorbing smaller units.
– The frontier is the peripheral organ of the state that reflects the strength and
growth of the state; hence, it is not permanent.
– States in the course of their growth seek to absorb politically valuable territory.
– The impetus for growth comes to a primitive state from a more highly
developed civilization.
– The trend toward territorial growth is contagious and increases in the process
of transmission.

9. The Changing
Map of Europe

10. Boundaries
U.S.–Mexico border Rural–urban boundary
Some borders are exclusionary, like the heavily patrolled U.S.–Mexico
Tijuana River estuary, while others signal differences in settlement
activities that may be governed by land-use regulations.

11. Boundaries and Frontiers
India/Pakistan border Fall of the Berlin Wall
The delimited area over which a state exercises control, and which is recognized by
other states, is territory. Such an area may include both land and water, and may be
highly contested at the fringes.

12. Boundary Formation
Geometric boundary
formation De jure territories
Formal boundaries tend first to follow natural barriers, such as rivers, mountain
ranges, and oceans. Where no natural features occur, formal boundaries tend to be
fixed along the easiest and most practical cartographic device: a straight line.

13. Township-and-Range System
• Formal boundaries often detour
from straight lines and natural
barriers in order to accommodate
special needs and claims.
• After primary divisions have been
established, internal boundaries
tend to evolve as smaller,
secondary territories are
demarcated.
• U.S. Land Ordinance of 1785
• Northwest Territories Act of 1803
• Homestead Act of 1863

14. States and Nations
• Given that nations were created
out of very diverse populations,
it is not surprising that no
entirely pure nation-states exist
today.
• Nationalism is the feeling of
belonging to a nation, as well as
the belief that a nation has a
natural right to determine its
own affairs.
• The history and the present
status of the former Soviet
Union also clearly illustrates
the tensions among and
between state, nations, and
nationalism.
• Tsarist Russia; USSR; CIS

15. Soviet State Expansionism
Soviet expansion in the 1940–1950s was a product of Lenin’s ideas about the spread of
Bolshevism: once international inequalities were diminished and the many nationalities
became one Soviet people, nationalism would be replaced by communism.

16. Independent States of the Former USSR
By 1988, grassroots national movements were emerging in the Baltic states and
elsewhere as a reaction to Gorbachev’s glastnost and perestroika. By 1991, the
relatively peaceful breakup of the Soviet Union was under way, and new states had
emerged to claim their independence.

17. Process of Exploration
Geographers have figured prominently in the process of exploration by
identifying areas to be explored as well as actually traveling to those
places and cataloging resources and people. Exploration is one step in the
process of imperialism; colonization is another.

18. Imperialism and Colonialism
South America: 1496–1667 Africa: 1496–1912

19. British Colonialism in India
Orientalism is a discourse that posits the West as culturally superior to
the East. Westerners deemed Orientals (e.g., Arabs, Indians, etc.) inferior
and in need of disciplining in the eyes of the superior and enlightened
colonizer. But, in the case of India, Indian and British cultural practices
intermingled, changing both.

20. Decolonization
Africa Asia and the South Pacific

21. Mackinder’s “Heartland Theory”
Mackinder’s world-view map
provides a good example of how
cartographic representations can
be employed to support
ideological arguments. Notice the
dominant area of the “Pivot.”

22. East/West Divide: Domino Theory
• The East/West divide refers to the
gulf between communist and non-
communist countries, respectively.
• American foreign policy pitched it
against the Soviet Union after
WWII.
• Domino theory held that if one
country in a region chose or was
forced to accept a communist
political and economic system,
neighboring countries would fall to
communism as well.
• NATO was formed in 1949 to
safeguard the Western core
countries against Soviet expansion.
• The Vietnam War was the most
serious global manifestation of the
Cold War.

23. Afghanistan and the Khyber Pass

24. Afghanistan
An important transportation and diffusion axis over the centuries,
Afghanistan. Greeks, Mongols, British, Russian, and now Americans
found this landlocked nation a transition point between regions of Central
Asia and South Asia.

25. Opposition to the New World Order
• At the end of the Cold War (1991),
Pres. H.W. Bush proclaimed a “new
world order,” where the United
States became the sole superpower.
• With the political, economic, and
cultural dominance of the United
States comes the worldwide
promotion of liberal democracy and
transnational capitalistic growth.
• Both domestic and international
opposition to these “Western ideals”
came in the form of asymmetrical
warfare (e.g., Murrah Federal
Building, 9/11 attacks, U.S.S. Cole,
U.S. embassy bombings in Africa,
etc.), termed by most as “terrorism.”

26. War in Iraq: Casualties and
Outcomes
• Since former Pres. Bush’s
troop surge in 2007, violence
has diminished across Iraq.
Moreover, military troop build-
up was coupled with financial
incentives to Iraqi groups to
quell violence.
• Ethnic cleansing of minorities
in Shia/Sunni dominated
neighborhoods also reduced
tensions between the factions.
• Kurdish autonomy in northern
Iraq poses unity problems
within the country, as well as
cross-border tensions with the
U.S.’s NATO ally, Turkey.

27. State Terrorism in Chechnya
The Northern Caucasus
region Grozny refugees
Chechnya provides a useful example of state terrorism. It also provides an illustration
of the complexity of terrorism as a concept by showing that it can be practiced by both
individuals as well as institutions, by rogue forces as well as legitimate ones.

28. Transnational Political Integration
A supranational organization is a collection of
individual states with a common goal that may be
economic and/or political in nature. These
organizations also reduce the independence of
individual states.

29. European Union
The goal of the EU is to increase economic integration and cooperation among the
27 member states. Twelve recent members show the growth of the organization into
eastern Europe.

30. Regionalism and Sectionalism
At a demonstration in Germany, Kurdish immigrants hold up signs on
behalf of Abdullah Ocalan, the Kurdish rebel leader who founded the
Kurdistan Workers Party (the PKK), and undertook armed attacks on the
Turkish government in order to secure an independent Kurdish state.

32. U.S. Presidential Elections
1860 1992
In the 1860 election, sectionalism played a role as none of the slave-holding states
voted for Lincoln. Third party candidates can be successful at gaining electors when
they are geographically concentrated, but as the 1992 vote shows, garnering popular
votes does not ensure that electoral votes will follow (i.e., Ross Perot).

33. The Geography of Politics
Hierarchy of representation Gerrymandering
Democratic rule is a system in which public policies and officials are directly
chosen by popular vote. Territorial organization is a system of government
formally structured by area, not by social groups. But in the practice of redistricting
for partisan purposes, known as gerrymandering, boundaries of districts are
redrawn to advantage a particular political party or candidate.

34. End of Chapter 9

35. Discussion Topics and Lecture
Themes
• What is geopolitics? How does geopolitics
differ from political geography more
generally?
– Geopolitics is the state’s power to control
space or territory and shape the foreign policy
of individual states and international political
relations; it is essentially the study of a state
beyond its borders (remember that the word
“state” in this case refers to countries and not
subdivisions of the United States).

36. • Discuss Friedrich Ratzel’s interpretation of the state. How might his
organic metaphors have influenced state policy-making, especially in
twentieth century Europe?
– Ratzel used biological metaphors to describe the state as well as seven laws
of state growth:
• The space of the state grows with the expansion of the population having the same
culture.
• Territorial growth follows other aspects of development.
• A state grows by absorbing smaller units.
• The frontier is the peripheral organ of the state that reflects the strength and growth
of the state: hence it is not permanent.
• States in the course of their growth seek to absorb politically valuable territory.
• The impetus for growth comes to a primitive state from a more highly developed
civilization.
• The trend toward territorial growth is contagious and increases in the process of
transmission.
– Ratzel’s model uses organic metaphors: the state is seen as being like an
organism, and, like an organism, it can grow and expand. See Figure 9.1 as
well as pages 340–342 in the textbook for a discussion of the impact of
Ratzel’s ideas on European geopolitics.
Discussion Topics and Lecture
Themes

37. • Using Figure 9.1, what changes have taken place on
the map of Europe in the 1990s? Which new countries
have appeared? Which have disappeared? What
similarities does the map of 2008 have with that of
1924? What has accounted for these changes?
– Figure 9.1 is on page 341 of the textbook. In the 1990s, the
federal republic of Yugoslavia broke up into its constituent
parts, creating new countries such as Slovenia and Croatia
(among others). Germany unified, so that the German
Democratic Republic (East Germany) no longer exists.
Czechoslovakia split into the Czech and Slovak Republics.
The breakup of the Soviet Union also created a number of
new states in Europe. Many of these states, such as Estonia,
Latvia, and Lithuania, were independent in 1924, but were
later incorporated into the Soviet Union, as depicted on the
map of 1989.
Discussion Topics and Lecture
Themes

38. Fig 9.1

39. • What is the difference between a nation and a state?
Can you give some examples of nation-states as well
as multinational states? What factors account for the
creation of multinational states?
– A nation is a group of people sharing common elements of
culture such as religion or language, or a history or political
identity, whereas a state is an independent political unit with
recognized boundaries. A nation-state is an ideal form in
which a homogenous group of people is governed by their
own state; Denmark is often given as an example of a nation-
state. Multinational states include India, Papua New Guinea,
and the United Kingdom, among many others. A variety of
historical factors account for the existence of multinational
states, including historical conquest, settlement, and acts of
union, as in the United Kingdom, or boundaries drawn by
colonial powers, as in India and Papua New Guinea.
Discussion Topics and Lecture
Themes

40. • Most states create or establish a national
identity at least partly through the use of
symbols. These national symbols are often
depicted on national flags, postage stamps,
coins, and banknotes. Collect some examples
of these from different countries. How are
these national symbols being used? Have they
succeeded in creating a sense of national
identity and union?
– It should be fairly easy to collect a variety of
postage stamps, coins, banknotes, and even flags
(or pictures of them). These can be photographed
and made into slides for easy viewing by the class.
Discussion Topics and Lecture
Themes

41. • What were the factors that led to the breakup
of the Soviet Union? Was the breakup
inevitable, or could it have been stopped? If
you had been Mikhail Gorbachev, what steps
would you have taken? Why?
– The factors accounting for the breakup are
debatable, but include a declining economy,
increasing nationalism in the Soviet republics, and
reformist ideas among the Soviet leadership.
Gorbachev’s actions certainly speeded up a
process that many commentators felt was
inevitable.
Discussion Topics and Lecture
Themes

42. • What kind of boundaries does your state
of residence (national and sub-national
state) have? Why were boundaries
drawn in these particular ways?
– Boundaries may be natural features such as
rivers, lakes, and mountain ranges, or
straight lines drawn by surveyors. State land
agencies, and state histories, may be able to
provide some information about why
boundaries were drawn in particular ways.
Discussion Topics and Lecture
Themes

43. • Give some examples of nationalist movements
in the world today. What are these movements
trying to achieve? How are they going about
achieving it?
– The Scottish Independence Movement and the
Tibet Independence Movement are two examples of
nationalist movements active today. See the Tibet
website at http://www.rangzen.com/itimframe.html,
and the Scottish site at
http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/hamish/virtind.html.
Discussion Topics and Lecture
Themes

44. • What is meant by the North/South divide? How
did this divide come about, and what
implications does it have for the world of
today?
– The North/South divide is the differentiation made
between the colonizing states of the Northern
Hemisphere and the formerly colonized states of the
Southern Hemisphere (very generally defined
geographically). The divide is characterized by a
relation of dependence, in which the countries of the
South are economically dependent on the countries
of the North. North/South divide is less precise than
a dichotomy between developed and less-
developed countries.
Discussion Topics and Lecture
Themes

45. • What are the boundaries of your federal
congressional district? How was this
boundary drawn? Is it a gerrymandered
boundary? Why or why not?
– Information on congressional boundaries
can be obtained from your representative’s
office. Boundaries are often shown on the
maps contained in telephone directories as
well.
Discussion Topics and Lecture
Themes

46. • Using current newspapers and the
Internet, discuss contemporary global
conflicts. How do these illustrate the
issues that concern political
geographers?
– All three boxed text materials in this chapter
cover contemporary global conflicts
(Afghanistan, Chechnya, and the
Palestinian–Israeli conflict).
Discussion Topics and Lecture
Themes