PGE - Boundaries and State Shapes Lesson

Boundaries and State Shapes

Shapes of States – Territorial Morphology

    • Compact States – smaller size with all boundaries roughly the same distance from the center
      • Rwanda, Poland
    • Prorupted States – Compact with a projecting area, which may provide access to a resource or cut off other areas from each other
      • Afghanistan
    • Elongated States – a long narrow shape, which can lead to internal problems because of distance and communication
      • Chile
    • Fragmented States – a country that is separated into pieces (by another state or water)
      • Indonesia, US, Russia
      • If one of the locations is separated by another group of a different ethnicity or nationality, it is known as an exclave (i.e. Alaska)
    • Perforated States – a state with a sovereign state completely within its borders
      • South Africa and Vatican
    • Landlocked States – a state without access to ports canals - most difficulty with boundaries because of having to negotiate or pay for water access

Boundaries

  • Boundaries have replaced frontiers in most locations
    • Frontiers were areas between states without direct control
      • Exist now in Antarctica and on the Arabian Peninsula (nomads roam between Saudi Arabia/Qatar and UAE/Oman/Yemen)
  • Boundaries are established in this order:
    • Definition – negotiated and decided
    • Delimitation – drawn on a map
    • Demarcation – create with a visible separation
    • Administration – enforced

Types of Boundaries – Physical 

  • Physical Boundaries can be antecedent boundaries, meaning they were there long before political boundaries existed
    • Mountains – good for obvious boundaries and difficulty crossing, but a straight line divide can be impossible
    • Deserts – good because hard to cross and not that desirable
    • Water – common, but can create a problem with the exact line (most countries insist on the line being out at sea, not on their shoreline)

Types of Boundaries – Maritime

  • Maritime Boundaries dictate the ownership of oceans and waterways off the coasts
  • The UN created the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)
    • Each country has the right to 12-nautical miles of territorial sea off the coast - no other countries can enter this zone without permission
    • Countries also have 200-nautical miles of Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) - the country will have the right to profit from this area (fishing, drilling, etc.) but other countries can use the water to travel
    • Anything beyond the 200 miles is part of the high seas - this water does not belong to any one country and is not held to the laws of any one country, but rather is subject to international admiralty law
      • If the distance between two countries is less than 24 miles this creates a choke point - the countries will establish median lines halfway between both countries waterways

Types of Boundaries – Cultural

  • Geometric Boundaries – a straight line drawn in an agreed upon location using the lines of longitude or latitude
  • Religious Boundaries - Often coincide with state boundaries, but it is not usually the reason for the location of the official boundary (boundaries pushing religions together can lead to conflicts)
    • India/Pakistan (Hindu and Muslim) and Ireland/Northern Ireland (Catholic and Protestant)
  • Language Boundaries – An important criterion, considered strongly in dividing land after WWI and WWII

Boundary Disputes

  • Countries have to deal with opposing points of views:
    • Definitional boundary dispute over the wording of a boundary agreement in a treaty
    • Locational boundary dispute over the actual point (or interpretation) of the boundary
    • Operational boundary dispute over the way a boundary will be regulated
    • Allocational boundary dispute over the resources under a boundary

Nation issues with Boundaries

  • Superimposed boundaries are placed over existing boundaries by a more powerful group or country – these can follow earlier boundaries or create a totally new one
  • When boundaries are no longer politically accurate, but still exist these are known as relic boundaries (i.e. the Great Wall of China)
  • Antecedent boundaries (natural and not man-made) existed before governments created subsequent boundaries (with negotiation)

Balkanization

  • Balkanization can occur when the borders of a country can no longer hold and the country is divided into smaller political units
    • This process is named after the division of the former Yugoslavia on the Balkan Peninsula – from one multi-national country to six countries

IMAGES CREATED BY GAVS