How can the shape of a country be both a negative or a positive?

II.  Territory, Borders, and the Geography of Nations

1. Size of a state is not always an indication of resource distribution or world importance

2.  Countries have a variety of shapes

A.   Territorial Morphology

3.  Each shape and location offers both advantages and disadvantages

a.  Large land areas deal with unique problems related to administration of vast areas

Roughly 3000 miles

How can harsh physical geography also create problems in ruling Russia?

4. Some countries also occupy strategic sites, such as Israel, the Korean Peninsula, and Panama, or historical areas like Istanbul, Hawaii, or New Orleans

a.  Microstates For Example: Vatican City and San Marino

5.  Types of Shapes and Examples

b.  Fragmented States

1.  fragmented states must determine ways to create cohesive national fabric out of many pieces of land

c.   Elongated state - 

What are the disadvantages of this shape of a country?

d.  Compact States

What are the advantages of this shape of a country?

e.  Perforated StateSouth

Africa is an

example with

Lesotho

Italy is an example because of the

Vatican and San Marino

f.  Landlocked State

What are the disadvantages of a landlocked state?

g.  Prorupted State

The Caprivi Strip in Namibia was designed by the Germans to give their colony access to the Zambezi river

h.  Enclaves

i. Exclave

12. Satellite State

13. Buffer State

B. Types of Boundaries1.  Physical  boundaries

2.  Geometric boundaries

3.  Subsequent boundaries

4.  Antecedent boundary

5.  Ethnocentric/cultural boundary

5.  Superimposed boundaries

6.  Relic boundariesa. Often leave behind a trace in local culture

b. Example of the reunification of Germany where different levels of prosperity still show between east and west

C. Boundary Processes1. Definition

2. Delimitation

3. Demarcation

4. Frontier

Ex:  The Western Amazon Basin and borders between Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, and Venezuela, or the claims to Antarctica

5. Law of the Seas (UNCLOS)

7. EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone)

6. Median Line Principal

F. Boundary Disputes1. Definitional Boundary Dispute

2. Locational Boundary Dispute

3. Operational Boundary Dispute

4. Allocational Boundary Dispute

Scenario one: The status quo Kashmir has been a flashpoint between India and Pakistan for more than 50 years. Currently a boundary - the Line of Control - divides the region in two, with one part administered by India and one by Pakistan. India would like to formalize this status quo and make it the accepted international boundary. But Pakistan and Kashmiri activists reject this plan because they both want greater control over the region.

REGION Buddhist Hindu Muslim Other

Kashmir Valley

- 4% 95% -

Jammu - 66% 30% 4%

Ladakh 50% - 46% 3%

Scenario two: Kashmir joins Pakistan

Pakistan has favored this as the best solution to the dispute. In

view of the state's majority Muslim population, it believes

that it would vote to become part of Pakistan. However a single

plebiscite held in a region which comprises peoples that are culturally, religiously and

ethnically diverse, would create disaffected minorities. The Hindus of Jammu, and the

Buddhists of Ladakh have never shown any desire to join

Pakistan and would protest at the outcome.

Scenario three: Kashmir joins India Such a solution would

be unlikely to bring stability to the region

as the Muslim inhabitants of

Pakistani-administered Jammu and Kashmir,

including the Northern Areas, have never

shown any desire to become part of India.

Scenario four: Independent Kashmir

The difficulty of adopting this as a potential solution is that it requires India and Pakistan to give up territory, which they

are not willing to do. Any plebiscite or referendum likely to result in a majority vote for independence would therefore probably be opposed by both India and Pakistan. It would

also be rejected by the inhabitants of the state who are content with their status as part of the countries to which they

already owe allegiance.

Scenario five: A smaller independent Kashmir

An independent Kashmir could be created from the Kashmir

Valley - currently under Indian administration - and the narrow

strip of land which Pakistan calls Azad Jammu and Kashmir. This

would leave the strategically important regions of the Northern

Areas and Ladakh, bordering China, under the control of

Pakistan and India respectively. However both India and Pakistan

would be unlikely to enter into discussions which would have

this scenario as a possible outcome.

Scenario six: Independent Kashmir

Valley An independent Kashmir

Valley has been considered by some as

the best solution because it would address the

grievances of those who have been fighting against the Indian

Government since the insurgency began in 1989. But critics say that, without external assistance, the region

would not be economically viable.

Scenario seven: The Chenab formula

This plan, first suggested in the 1960s, would see

Kashmir divided along the line of the River Chenab. This would give the vast

majority of land to Pakistan and, as such, a

clear victory in its longstanding dispute with

India. The entire valley with its Muslim majority

population would be brought within Pakistan's

borders, as well as the majority Muslim areas of

Jammu.