POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY
Is the field of human geography that is concerned with the study of both the spatially uneven outcomes of political processes and the ways in which political processes are themselves affected by spatial structures
Three scale of political geography
State International relation
Localities
HISTORY
The origins of political geography lie in the origins of human geography itself and the early practitioners were concerned mainly with the military and political consequences of the relationships between physical geography , state territories and state power.
FRIEDRICH RATZEL
Wrote the book Politische Geographie
Developed the concept of Lebensraum
HALFORD MACKINDER
Developing his concept of geopolitical pivot of history
Heartland theory
Hypothesized the possibility of a huge empire of being which created which didnt need to use coastal or transoceanic transport .
PRE WORLD WAR II POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY
It concerned largely with these issues of global power struggles and influencing state policy.
COLD WAR
It led to a considerable decline in the importance of political geography and it was described by Brian Berry in 1968 as moribund breakwater.
Areas of Study
From the late-1970s onwards, political geography has undergone a renaissance, and could fairly be described as one of the most dynamic of the sub-disciplines today.
The revival was underpinned by the launch of the journal Political Geography Quarterly (and its expansion to bi-monthly production as Political Geography).
However the recent growth in the vitality and importance of the subdiscipline is also related to changes in the world as a result of the end of the Cold War, including the emergence of a new world order and the development of new research agendas, such as the more recent focus on social movements and political struggles going beyond the study of nationalism with its explicit territorial basis.
Recently, too, there has been increasing interest in the geography of green politics (see, for example, David Pepper's (1996) work), including the geopolitics of environmental protest, and in the capacity of our existing state apparatus and wider political institutions to address contemporary and future environmental problems competently.
Political geography has extended the scope of traditional political science approaches by acknowledging that the exercise of power is not restricted to states and bureaucracies, but is part of everyday life.
Although contemporary political geography maintains many of its traditional concerns (see below) the multi-disciplinary expansion into related areas is part of a general process within human geography which involves the blurring of boundaries between formerly discrete areas of study, and through which the discipline as a whole is enriched.
In particular, then, modern political geography often considers: How and why states are organized into regional groupings, both formally (e.g. the European Union) and informally (e.g. the Third World) The relationship between states and former colonies, and how these are propagated over time, for example through neo-colonialism The relationship between a government and its people
The relationships between states including international trades and treaties The functions, demarcations and policing of boundaries How imagined geographies have political implications The influence of political power on geographical space The study of election results (electoral geography)
Political Geography is the flagship journal of political geography and research on the spatial dimensions of politics.
Research emphases cover all scales of inquiry and diverse theories, methods, and methodologies. Examples include, but are not limited to: critical, feminist, and popular geopolitics electoral geography and policy analysis identity, landscapes, and representation
peace and conflict studies, states, and territoriality political ecology and politics of the environment political economy quantitative methodologies and spatial analyses based on GIS
Political geography is the field of human geography that is concerned with the study of both the spatially uneven outcomes of political processes and the ways in which political processes are themselves affected by spatial structures.
Conventionally political geography adopts a three-scale structure for the purposes of analysis with the study of the state at the centre, above this is the study of international relations (or geopolitics), and below it is the study of localities.
POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY
It covers all aspects such as:
boundaries countries state nation development
international organizations diplomacy internal divisions voting
GEOPOLITICS
What is Geopolitics?
POLITICS
TERRITORY
GEOPOLITICS
GEOPOLITICS is the relationship between POLITICS and TERRITORY .
a study of the influence of such factors as geography, economics, and demography on the politics and especially the foreign policy of a state.
Geographical Variables
location size of the country climate of the region topography demography natural resources technological development
Geopolitics, traditionally, indicates the links between political power and geographic space.
it emphasizes the importance of LAND POWER and SEA POWER in world history.
Geopolitics is multidisciplinary in its scope . political geography international relations territorial aspects international law
POLITICS
it is the activities associated with the governance of a country or an area.
it is the activities of governments concerning the political relations between countries.
TERRITORY
it is a geographic area belonging to or under the jurisdiction of a governmental authority. an administrative subdivision of a country.
FOREIGN POLICY
It consists of self - interests strategies chosen by the state to safeguard its national interests and to achieve its goals within International relations milieu.
Technology figures as a prominent residual category in many contemporary accounts of international security.
it is the study of relationships between countries.
It includes the relationship of:
states inter-governmental organization international non governmental organization non governmental organization multinational corporations
INTERNATIONAL LAW
set of rules generally regarded and accepted as binding in relations between states and nation.
Critical political geography
focus on the criticism of traditional political geography.
Feminist geography
an approach in human geography which applies the theories , methods and critiques of feminism to the study of human environment , society and geographical space.
Prepared by:
LEXELYN P. RIVA
