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HUMAN GEOGRAPHY

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STATES AND NATIONS

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States and Nations: these two words are used differently by political scientists.

A State is a political unit that occupies a precisely defined, permanently populated territory.

It has full control over its internal and foreign affairs. It makes its own laws and chooses its own leaders.

In short it is an independent State/Country.

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The United Nations recommended that the word State be capitalized to distinguish it from a “state” which is a lower-order political unit.

The State is the dominant form of political unit in the world organization.

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Almost all of the earth’s land is divided into States.

*The only exception is Antarctica which has neither a permanent population nor an established government.*

*However, parts of Antarctica are claimed by certain countries.*

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State is synonymous with Country.

Nation: refers to a large group of people with a common culture that occupy a particular territory.

They are bound together by a strong sense of unity arising from shared beliefs and customs.

Examples of Nations are:

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The Native Americans in the U.S. are examples of a nation and only recently are they beginning to have a state of their own.

Nation-state: this is when the territory of a state is occupied by only one distinct nation or people.

In that case, there are few/no important minority groups.

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Japan, Denmark, and Poland are examples of nation-states.

N-S minimize conflicts, and makes for strong states.

Canada on the other hand is often termed two nations within a state, because Canadians speak French and English.

+Political Geography

Centripetal and Centrifugal are two terms that pop up frequently in Political Geography and Political Science.

+Political Geography

Centripetal forces are forces that bind a country together.

The unifying factors such as language and religion that give people a shared, positive view of what their country is all about.

*Things like a strong sense of shared history and values and a shared language.*

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Centripetal forces can also be connected to ideas/beliefs. (Ex. United States has strong centripetal forces like the shared beliefs in the ideas of democracy and citizen’s rights.)

*Centripetal forces can be reinforced by threat a of foreign aggression.*

*They are ready to go to war in order to defend these fundamental rights; unified to fight.*

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Centrifugal forces are forces of disunity – i.e. the presence of more than one language or religion.

Another example is political and economic inequality (economic hierarchy) – upper, middle and lower class.

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Some other examples of centrifugal forces are:

Elections/Politics.

Religion

Centrifugal forces can kill a Country.

The same factors that are centripetal can also prove centrifugal

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END OF PRESENTATION