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Cultural Geography

Outline of Chapter 13
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Breaking Up is Hard to Do: Nations, States, and Nation-States

 

I. Broader context of crises (without overlapping with the activities)

1. Breakup of Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia, tearing down of Berlin Wall, reunification of two Germanies, Québec separatism

2. End of Cold War

II. Political geography terminology

1. State = country
i. Independent

ii. Defined boundaries

iii. Internationally recognized

iv. Sovereignty over land and people within boundaries

v. Gray areas, including colonies

2. Nation = cultural group

a. Based on Latin natio, meaning “born, nation, race, species, or breed”

b. Common ancestry (mythical or actual)

i. See themselves as a group

ii. Largest such group (larger than family, clan, tribe)

c. Common religion (usually)

d. Common language

e. Accepted ways of behavior

f. Political consciousness

g. National homeland

i. Regional autonomy

h. Examples (most not covered in chapter):

i. Tibetans

i. Pushtuns

iii. Flemish and Walloons

iv. Basques

v. Germans

vi. Chechens

vii. E. Timorese

viii. Tamils

ix. Kashmiris

x. Scottish/Welsh/Irish

xi. Inuit

xii. Navajo

3. Nation-state

a. State’s territory = national homeland

b. Political-geographic ideal

c. Nation-states are the exception rather than the rule

III. The geography of nations and states

  1. What happens when nations and states don’t match up?
    1. Multistate nation versus multination state
  2. Ethnonationalism
    1. Occurs in multination states
    2. A minority nation contained within a state dominated by another nation
    3. Strong feelings of being different from the other nation
  3. Separatism
    1. Desire to have their own state
    2. Some actions taken to achieve that goal
  4. Secession
    1. When a nation breaks off into an independent state
  5. Irredentism
    1. Occurs in multistate nations
    2. Homeland spills over into other state
    3. Desire to join together both parts of homeland into a single state
    4. Greater ____________
    5. Name derives from Italia irredenta in 1870s
  6. Examples
    1. French Canada
    2. Israel/Palestine—both nations claim the same homeland

      i. Diaspora

      i. Refugees

  7. Territorial Organization
    1. Unitary State
    2. Federal State

      i. Lower level administrative units

      ii. Work best for large, diverse, multinational states

      iii. Examples of failed federations

      iv. Raison d’être

 

IV. Terminological confusion

  1. U.S.A. not a union of independent states
    1. Note: The reason U.S. states are called states and not provinces is because the original thirteen colonies had the potential to all become “states” in the true sense of the word, but instead they “united” to form a country, and the name stuck instead of switching to the more geographically correct term of “provinces.” This explanation is NOT in the book.
  2. International is really interstate
  3. Interstate highways are really intrastate
  4. Nationalism is loyalty to one’s nation
  5. Patriotism is loyalty to one’s state

 

V. Introduction of exercise

  1. Southeastern Europe is a shatterbelt
    1. Boundaries frequently redrawn
    2. Caught between powerful empires or states
    3. Topographically fractured
    4. Crossroads of trade and migration
  2. Iraq is heartland of ancient empires
    1. Also a multination state
    2. Boundaries also were drawn by outside powers
    3. War did not occur due to ethnic conflicts, but over geopolitics
  3. Methods
    1. Synthesize information from a variety of sources
    2. International agencies value people with these skills necessary to disentangle complex situations—the world is not black and white!
    3. Relevance to your life
  4. Things to keep in mind when doing these activities
    1. If activity to be done in class, you  MUST do the readings ahead of time
    2. Remember the difference between nations and states—don’t confuse the two.
    3. Nations do not necessarily have different religions and languages in every case.
    4. The conflict cannot be understood solely on the basis of nation and state geography. You must mesh this with history, economics, and world politics.
    5. Before the breakup, Yugoslavia consisted of republics. Figure out if these were nations, states, or provinces.
    6. As the state boundaries change, what was once ethnonationalism (multination states) can become irredentism (multistate nations). Always answer the questions with the existing boundaries of the time period in mind.
    7. Try to understand the points of view of all sides in the conflict. There can be no successful negotiations or solutions without being able to see the other point of view.

VI.  Background on Yugoslavia and introduction of readings and exercise

  1. 4th century split of Roman empire led to Catholic/Orthodox split
  2. Ottoman empire dominated from 14th–19th centuries
  3. Austro-Hungarian empire in 19th century
  4. Soviet influence
  5. End of Cold War

 

VII. Background on Iraq and introduction of readings and exercise

a. Iraq’s climate is desert

b. Dominated by 2 rivers that flood in the spring, bringing life and/or death. Political control historically depended on water management.

c. Cradle of civilization, ancient empires

d. slam

e. Ottoman Empire

f. British Mandate