Geopolitics

1. Geopolitics Canadian & World Issues

2. “A Key Study in Geography” • Politics: The practice of decision-making by society as a whole, usually formalized at the government level. • Political topics concerned with Geography: • Trade • military alliances • foreign aid • Immigration / emigration • territorial control • economic systems • areas of land suitable to support society and distribution of wealth

3. “A Key Study in Geography” • Examples of how Politics and Geography are related: • Geographical factors can cause political changes • e.g. When Switzerland restricts immigration because it, as a nation, already has a high enough population. • Political factors can cause Geographical changes • e.g. An increase in oil prices has led to an expanded search for oil in the Arctic and North sea, thus causing Geographical changes.

4. “A Key Study in Geography” • Geopolitics: The study of the two-way relationship between political beliefs and actions on one side and any of the usual concerns of geography on the other.

5. Classification of Political Systems • Supranational Political Systems • National Political Systems • Other Ways of Classifying Governments: • Governments by Mode of Succession • Governments by Type of Rule • Governments by Structure • Levels of Government • Branches of Government

6. Govts by Mode of Succession Hereditary Succession Succession by Constitutional Prescription Succession by Election Succession by Force

7. Govts by Mode of Succession Hereditary Succession e.g. western Europe monarchies, and some Arab nations Often first-born son, then his first-born son, ….

8. Govts by Mode of Succession Monarchies of the World Currently there are 29 monarchs reigning over 44 countries (QEII is Head of State for 16 countries)

9. Govts by Mode of Succession Succession by Constitutional Prescription e.g. United States Next leader already specified by law

10. Govts by Mode of Succession Succession by Election e.g. Canada Next person is chosen by party vote (a leadership convention) or general election

11. Govts by Mode of Succession Succession by Force e.g. Hitler’s Germany, Mussolini’s Italy

12. Govts by Type of Rule Autocratic Democratic

13. Govts by Type of Rule Autocratic e.g., dictatorships, absolute monarchies - Brunei, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Vatican City one person or group of people holding all power

14. Govts by Type of Rule Democratic e.g., Canada prescribed division of powers for different purposes such as Governor General, Prime Minister, etc.

15. Govts by Structure Monarchy Dictatorship Oligarchy Constitutional

16. Govts by Structure Monarchy e.g., Monaco, Spain, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, The Netherlands, Japan king or queen, emperor, etc. can be largely symbolic or an absolute ruler legitimized by blood descent

17. Govts by Structure Dictatorship e.g., Myanmar a self-proclaimed leader, taking advantage of failures of western set-up government structures then banning oppositions and building replicas of communist world • See Evita or Moon Over Parador for Hollywood renditions of dictatorships

18. Govts by Structure Oligarchy e.g., Union of Soviet Socialist Republics irresponsible rule by small groups almost extinct today but historically were in Asia where governing elites were recruited exclusively from a ruling caste Also: South Africa Guatemala

19. Govts by Structure Constitutional Government e.g. Canada, the United States defined by the existence of a constitution constitution may be a legal instrument or merely a set of fixed norms or principles generally accepted as the fundamental law of the polity that effectively controls the exercise of political power

20. Levels of Government National Sub-National Regional Municipal School Board

21. Levels of Government National e.g. Government of Canada www.canada.ca Country

22. Levels of Government National Powers and Responsibilities National Defence Unemployment Insurance Postal Service Trade Regulation External Relations Money and Banking Citizenship Indian Affairs Criminal Law plus anything else not identified in the constitution

23. Levels of Government Sub-National e.g. Government of Ontario www.ontario.ca Province, Territory, State (U.S), or Canton (Switz)

24. Levels of Government Provincial Powers and Responsibilities Property and Civil Rights Administration of Justice Education Health Welfare Natural Resources Licensing Charities Civil Laws Municipalities

25. Supranational Political Systems • Empires • e.g. British, Roman, and Ottoman • a major political unit having a territory of great extent or a number of territories or peoples under a single sovereign authority

26. Supranational Political Systems • Leagues • e.g. Baltic, Arab; also League of Nations • an association of nations or other political entities for a common purpose

27. Supranational Political Systems • Confederations • e.g. European Union • is a large state composed of many self-governing regions • has a very weak central government with little influence over the actions or policies of the member regions

28. Supranational Political Systems • Federations • e.g. Union of Soviet Socialist Republics • formed by a compact between political units that surrender their individual sovereignty to a central authority but retain limited residuary powers of government

29. Supranational Political Systems • United Nations • voluntary association of most of the world's nation-states • not a world government and it does not make laws

30. National Political Systems • Unitary Nation-States • e.g. Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Great Britain, The Netherlands, Japan, Poland, Romania, the Scandinavian countries, Spain, and many of the Latin-American and African countries • basically a single tier of government with varying degrees decentralization - some are decentralized so much as to resemble federal states, some allow limited regional rule, others have only token decentralization

31. National Political Systems • Federal Systems • e.g. Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, Russia, and the United States, Austria, Germany, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Switzerland, and Venezuela • political authority is divided between two autonomous sets of governments, one national and the other sub-national, both of which operate directly upon the people

32. World Governments in 1900

33. World Governments in 1950

34. World Governments in 2000

35. World Governments in 2050 ?

36. Canada and the European Union

37. Canada and the European Union • Luxembourg • Malta • Netherlands • Poland • Portugal • Romania • Slovakia • Slovenia • Spain • Sweden • United Kingdom • Croatia • Macedonia • Turkey • Austria • Belgium • Bulgaria • Cyprus • Czech Republic • Denmark • Estonia • Finland • France • Germany • Greece • Hungary • Ireland • Italy • Latvia • Lithuania

38. Canada and the European Union

39. Canada and the European Union • Albania • Andorra • Armenia • Azerbaijan • Belarus • Bosnia and Herzegovina • Georgia • Iceland • Liechtenstein • Moldova • Other European Countries (non EU members) • Monaco • Montenegro • Norway • Russia • San Marino • Serbia • Switzerland • Ukraine • Vatican City State

40. Canada and the European Union

41. Canada and the European Union

42. Canada and the European Union • EU Council President Rotation • Current Head of Government of country identified assumes additional duties of President of EU for term • 2007 Jan-Jun Germany • 2007 Jul-Dec Portugal • 2008 Jan-Jun Slovenia • 2008 Jul-Dec France • 2009 Jan-Jun Czech Republic • 2009 Jul-Dec Sweden • 2010 Jan-Jun Spain • 2010 Jul-Dec Belgium

43. Canada and the European Union • Austria • Belgium • Cyprus • Finland • France • Germany • Greece • Ireland • 15 countries use the Euro as their currency: • Italy • Luxembourg • Malta • Netherlands • Portugal • Slovenia • Spain

44. Sharing Spaces

45. Sharing Spaces • Nile River Basin

46. Sharing Spaces • Antarctica

47. Sharing Spaces • The Arctic

48. Sharing Spaces • Grand Banks of Newfoundland

49. Sharing Spaces • Indian Ocean