Nations and states
Nations
- Defined based on culture, religion, language, ethnicity.
- Contain persons who share common cultural traits and sense of self identification enabling them to be distinguished from other groups.
States
- Political unit.
- Our world today divided into states.
- States right is to control its territory as recognized by the international community of states.
- Sovereignty recognition by international community of territorial rights > implies that a government of a state has jurisdiction over its territory.

Power and territory

Control of a territory increases power.
Increased power can expand control of territory.
Exercise of power achieved through territorial control.
Countries defeated in war have obligation to cede control of territory to victors.

Territory and conflict

Wars fought as states seek to control specific desirable territories
Location / natural resources / strategic value
Ex: Israelis in Golan, British in Gibraltar, Us in Panama, Russian in Black Sea

Geopolitics and the modern world economy

Identify relationships between power, territory, conflict and location
Modern word characterized by:
Capitalism / global economic interdependence / political fragmentation

Emergence of Nation state in modern world economy (contrast mini systems and world empires)

Completion of mapping of earth’s territories and resources:
European powers now unable to add new colonies
Formal geopolitical thinking emerges as conflict moves from outside Europe to within

British Geopolitics

French Geopolitics

German Geopolitics
Fredrich Ratel (founder of modern systematic political geography – influenced by Darwin’s theory of evolution) / Rudolf Kjellen (geopolitik – science which conceives the State as a geographical organism) / Karl Haushofer (Lebenseraum – “living space” to achieve autarky (self sufficiency)

Russian Geopolitics
Largest country in land area
Potential only realized at end of 19th