Evolution
of the Contemporary Political Pattern
After
taking this course you should have a basic understanding of what produced
200-odd "sovereign" states. This unit should briefly describe the
development of the state idea in
Europe
and its
diffusion to the rest of the world.
Territorial
Principles of the
Modern
State
System
A useful starting point is the sixteenth-to-seventeenth century’s political
pattern in western/central European. The continent was dominated two distinct
types of countries. One the incipient national states such as
England
,
France
,
Spain
,
and
Portugal
and the other the empires in central and Eastern
Europe
.
The Peace of Westphalia (1648), held that the Prince of any realm could
determine the religion of that realm, as part of an arrangement that governed
how territorial units in the
Holy Roman
Empire
would relate to one another. This gave birth to a notion of sovereignty based in
law. This legal principle became the foundation on which all units were to
relate to one another, and the strong de facto sovereign arrangements of the
west ensured that sovereignty was understood to be all encompassing.
The
sovereignty principle is significant because it provided a theoretical
foundation for carving territory into largely autonomous governmental units.
This meant that the exercise of power was no longer seen in human hierarchical
terms, but instead was to be exercised at a single scale-that of the state.
However, as long as authority was vested in absolutist rulers and institutions
the system was subject to warfare and collapse.
The
other key ingredient to the future of the European state system was the doctrine
of nationalism which the idea that each ethno-cultural community (nation) had
the right to control its own affairs, and that the exercise of power ultimately
rested with the members of that community. These nations were said to possess an
immortal sprit that was more important that individuals. Furthermore
nationalists believe that all progress and creative energy comes from the
national spirit and the nation can demand supreme loyalty of its members.
Further more the ideal form of government is where nations govern the territory
they occupy - the nation state.
The
actual pattern of people in
Europe
forced intellectuals to argue that nations could develop in a variety of ways.
Some were diverse people knit together in centralized states (the English, the
French, and the Spanish), some were the product of nineteenth-century movements
to unify diverse peoples based on some sense of cultural continuity (e.g., the
Germans and the Italians), some were the product of early-twentieth-century
movements to free a group from dominance by another self-defined nation (the
Irish and the Norwegians), and some were the product of movements to achieve
self-determination from empires (the Serbs, Bulgarians and Croatians). In the
United
States
the concept of
nationalism calls for the blending together of very diverse people into a new
nation.
The
nation-state ideal has become a pervasive notion undergirding the modern state
system but students should understand the gap between the nation-state ideal and
the multi-cultural reality that lies behind it. The vast majority of the
countries of the world are not nation-states in the original meaning of that
term. Today we learn about Russians fighting Chechens, Palestinians seeking
their own state, Basque separatists demanding greater autonomy from
Madrid
,
Tamils and Singhalese fighting one another in
Sri
Lanka
, and many more.
Colonialism
and Imperialism World Systems
Theory
holds that periods of colonial activity are determined by conditions in the core
region of the world (
Europe
,
Japan
and the
United States
).
There were two phases of large-scale colonialization. The first lasted from
1415-1800 and was dominated by trading companies except in
Latin
America
. In that region the Spanish
imposed the rule of the monarch directly using techniques from the reconquista
policy, which they developed to retake the
Iberian
Peninsula
from the Moors. During this period colonialists focused on the
Americas
and
South Asia
.
The Russians directed their energy eastward into
Siberia
.
The second phase was the late 19th century to post WWII. During it the
colonialists focused on occupation and government lands in
Africa
,
Asia
and the
Pacific. The first wave was characterized by conquest, plunder, slavery, and
annihilation of indigenous people. For example the Aztecs declined from 13 to 2
million by 1600. The second phase was less destructive of societies and economic
exploitation is preferred to military conquest and rule.
Why
periods of expansion? Colonialism resulted because of events in the core. When
the core is insatiable - there is an expansion of colonial governments. When the
core is stable there is a contraction of colonial activity. When stablility in
core exists an individual hegemonic power can control the world without
colonialism. This is viewed as a better alternative to colonialism because
formal colonies are expensive. Hegemony exists when one core power controls
production, commerce financial and political leadership. It owns the large share
of world production. Its currency is universal and its primate city is the
financial center of the world. Such periods are characterized by peace and
universal ideologies such as free trade. Hegemonic power relies on economic
mechanisms to extract surplus value from the periphery.
Hegemons
fall because rival powers can focus on capital accumulation while the hegemon is
forced to spend its wealth maintaining political and military organization.
Without a dominant power conflicts increase.
The
historical geographer Donald Meinig described four types of colonial landscapes.
In the Latin American case, extensive colonial influences date back farther than
in the rest of the areas. Spanish and Portuguese colonialism in the
Americas
is associated with decimation of indigenous populations but, in the Spanish case
in particular, there was also considerable intermarriage with indigenous
peoples. The Spanish set up an administrative system in
South
America
to facilitate the administration
of a vast area and as well as the extract wealth from it. The administrative
units bore some relationship to the physical character of the region, but none
to the indigenous ethnic pattern. These units became the basis for the modern
pattern of states in
Latin America
.
The current states emerged in the early nineteenth century when
Spain
's
declining power coincided with the emergence of a political class in
Latin
America
that wanted to be free of Spanish
control.
In
South and
Southeast Asia
the European colonists did not have a demographic impact on local peoples, nor
were they powerful enough to claim major land empires in the early centuries of
the colonial era. Instead, they set up key coastal bases and they developed a
highly elaborate trade network focused on those bases. In the late nineteenth
century Europeans were finally able to control large areas in these regions.
These
two systems provided the framework for the current political pattern, but in
Southeast
Asia
, they were not completely disconnected
from local ethno-political patterns. Instead, the European colonial bases were
frequently ports at the mouths of major rivers, which drained basins where
rather homogeneous groups lived (Burmese, Vietnamese, etc.). The states that
emerged in the mid-twentieth century, while encompassing many minorities, often
had a single large ethno-cultural majority group. The European colonials had a
practice of bringing peoples from one colony to help administer another colony.
This explains, for example, the large number of Indians in cities such as
Rangoon
.
Africa
experienced a different form of colonialism. European trading posts and some
colonial ports were established along various parts of the African as early as
the 16th century but in last two decades of the nineteenth century that the
Europeans participated in an unprecedented land grab on the part of several
European powers. The geographer Donald Meinig called these new colonies the
"nationalist empires" because they were established by European owners
for nationalist goals. That is each power wanted as much land as it could get.
The resulting pattern of political boundaries was unrelated to cultural patterns
among the indigenous Africans. The African colonies were also the last to gain
independence-many as late as the 1960s. The new states were based on colonial
boundaries and had little administrative/governmental infrastructure.
The
United States
,
Canada
,
and
Australia
present another pattern of colonialism. Because they were thought to have a
climate suitable for European settlers they were all destinations for European
migrants. The settlers ignored the rights of the indigenous population and
treated these regions as effectively empty areas. These colonies were to provide
a place where migrants from the colonial power could make a home and increase
the power of the colonial power. By expansion of settlement and independence
movements these colonies created countries that fulfilled the dreams of the
settlers, but they largely destroyed indigenous patterns and institutions.
These
four types of colonialism led to the creation of political patterns in different
parts of the world.
The
leadership of newly independent colonies faced a dilemma. Their countries units
entered a world political system based (at least theoretically) on the concepts
of sovereignty and the nation-state. But the economic dependencies that had
developed during the colonial period were difficult to shed and their
sovereignty was often as much a fiction as a reality. At the same time, the
legitimacy of state leaders was tied to their ability to exert power in the name
of "nations"- and in the process created another type of fiction.
These issues link the political geography segment of the course focused on
global economic patterns, for understanding the geographical dynamics of the
global economy.
In
many former colonies rulers can trace roots to colonial social structures, and
many of the colonial powers remain actively involved with their former colonies
through formal associations of ex-colonies (e.g., the
British
Commonwealth
) or through more informal
mechanisms of influence and control. During the Cold War powerful states played
off so-called
Third World
states against one another, and supported internal developments that fit a
geopolitical game plan.
Review
Questions:
1.
How did the Peace at
Westphalia
after the Thirty Years’ War provide the foundation of statehood? (2 pts)
2.
The sovereignty principle and
nationalism have been key to the evolution of the European state system.
Briefly describe the sovereignty principle and nationalism.
Explain how the nations of
Europe
have
developed in a variety of ways. (2 pts)
3.
Briefly summarize and explain the
first phase of European colonialism (1415-1800). (2 pts)
4.
Briefly summarize and explain the
second phase of European colonialism (late 19th century to post
WWII). (2 pts)
5.
Explain how fluctuations in the
core affect colonial activity. (3 pts)
6.
Describe Donald Meinig’s theory
of the four types of colonial landscapes (
Latin America
,
South and
Southeast Asia
,
Africa
, and the
US
,
Canada
,
and
Australia
)
and how these environments led to the creation of political patterns in their
respective areas. (6 pts)
7.
Explain how knowing the history of
colonialism and imperialism provides a better understanding of the geographical
dynamics of the global economy. (3 pts)