What is the structure of the contemporary political map?

Today, independent states are the primary building blocks of the world political map. As we know from our history of Germany after World War II (East Germany and West Germany, which were later reunified into Germany as we know it today), states' borders and territories are fluid. This means they have changed in the past, they are changing today, and they will change in the future.

Political Geographers try to understand the spatial assumptions and structures underlying politics, the ways people organize space, the role territory plays in politics and the problems that result from changing political and territorial claims. Almost every square inch of our current planet is divided off into separate national units (less Antarctica), which is a relatively new concept. Although countries and empires have existed since Mesopotamia and Rome, it is just been recent that everything has been divided into states, and this concept has been accepted as the norm.

Currently, the types of political entities include nations, states, nation-states, stateless nations, multinational states, multistate nations, and autonomous regions. Many people do not know, understand, or even consider the differences between these types of organizations, but that is why we are here to understand better the current political realities of our shared world.

Let's start with territoriality. This is the concept of how people use space to communicate ownership or occupancy of areas and possessions. The land is one of the most important possessions as it provides access to resources necessary for survival, and there is a significant emotional attachment to "home ground" as well.

A nation is a group of people who have a shared culture and history. A state is a space that possesses the following: a permanent population, a defined territory and a government that is capable of maintaining effective control over the corresponding territory and of conducting international relations with other states (sovereignty). Sovereignty is the state's right to maintain its own affairs. An example of this is the refusal of outside interference during a civil war and the right to make its own policies and laws, including freedoms or lack therof. Geographers use the terms nation and state differently than in everyday speech which tends to use them and the word "country" interchangeably.

However, we start to understand the difference more when we look at groups of people with a common culture and heritage (for example the Kurds in northern Iraq and southern Turkey and the Palestinians in the Levant) as stateless nations. They are one group of people; however, they lack a state, a border, self-determination, and sovereignty. Can you find another example of a stateless nation?

On the other hand, a nation-state is a country that is filled mostly by one group of people. A good example of a nation-state is Japan, where 99% of the people who live there are ethnically Japanese.

Finally, do you know what is the capital (seat of government) of Australia? If you guessed Sydney, you are wrong. It is Canberra. What? Where? Yes, this is an example of a forward capital. A forward capital is a strategically planned or relocated city as you can see in the picture to the right. Urban planners designed a whole new city in order to divert movement away from another important city. Another example we can see this manifested is in Tanzania's capital of Dodoma rather than its busiest city, Dar Es Salam. Can you find another example of a forward capital? Add these to your Geographer's Notebook.

(Image Source: https://pixabay.com/en/globe-world-map-maps-europe-1567578/ and https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aerial_view_of_Northbourne_Avenue_looking_north_from_Civic.jpg)