Themes in World Regional Geography

Geo100 - Fall 2003

Julie Hwang

Lecture #2

Outlines Environmental Geography Population Geography Cultural Geography Political Geography Economic Geography

Population and Settlement

World Population

6 billion humans on Earth

Population growth & change in the world regions Rapid growth in the developing world Stabilized in developed countries

Population growth/change is caused by natural growth (by birth offset by death) Migration (by in & out-migration)

Demographic indicators RNI (Rate of Natural Increase)

Annual growth rate for a country (#birth – #death) / total population Migration is not considered

TFR (Total Fertility Rate) Average number of children borne by a

statistically average woman

Demographic indicators % population under 15

Indicates rapid population growth Need for nutrition, health care higher in less-developed countries

% population over 65 Need for social welfare services higher in more-developed countries

Demographic indicators Population pyramids

Demographic Transition Model How population growth rates change over time? Phase1: Preindustrial

high birth & death rate Phase2: Transitional

death rate (<- onset of public health measure) Phase3: Transitional

birth rate (<- aware of advantages of smaller families) Phase4: Industrial

low birth & death rate

Demographic Transition Model

Migration Patterns Increase in international migration due to globaliz

ed economy Move from rural to urban environments due to urb

anization

What contributes to migration? Push factor: civil strife, political refugee Pull factor: better economic opportunity Informational networks

World Urbanization

Currently 46% of world’s population in cities

Rapid growth in the developing world Slow growth in the developed world

Cities over 10 million

Conceptualizing the City Urban primacy

Dominates economic, political, and cultural activities within the country

Overurbanization urban population grows more quickly than support serv

ices such as housing, transportation, waste disposal, and water supply

Squatter settlements illegal developments of makeshift housing on land neit

her owned nor rented by their inhabitants

Example of squatter settlements

Cultural Coherence and Diversity

Culture Learned, and not innate, behavior Shared, and not individual, behavior “Way of life” Dynamic rather than static Process, not a condition

Spectrum of cultural groups Folk culture

shared by self-sufficient rural group Ethnic culture

Common ancestry, race, religion, or language Popular culture

Primarily urban-based, superficial relationships between people, weaker family structure

World culture subset of popular culture, indeterminate nationality,

mixed cultural value

Membership of cultural groups Common to have association with multiple

cultural groups eg. Amish young people interacts with popular

culture while talking their primary identity from their folk culture

Cultural Collision Cultural imperialism

Promotes one cultural system at the expense of another (eg. European colonialism)

Cultural nationalism As the reaction against cultural imperialism; defends cu

ltural system against diluting forces; promotes national and local cultural values

Cultural syncretism or hybridization Blending of forces to form a new, synergistic form of c

ulture

World Languages

Based on language families

World Religions Universalizing religions

Appeal to all peoples regardless of location or culture (eg. Christianity, Islam, Buddhism)

Ethnic religions Identified closely with a specific ethnic, tribal,

or national group (eg. Judaism, Hinduism)

World Religions

Christianity: 2 billion – Europe, Africa, Latin America, and North America

Islam: 1.2 billion – Arabian Peninsula, Some Southeast Asia

Buddhism: 300-900 million – Asia; Rather mixed

Geopolitical framework

Geopolitics Describes the link between geography and

political activity

State & Nation State

political entity with territorial boundaries Nation

a large group of people who share cultural elements such as language, religion, tradition, cultural identity

Nation-state congruence Nation-state

Relatively homogenous cultural group with its own political territory

Ideal political model; relatively rare (eg. Japan) Multinational state

A country that contains different cultural and ethnic groups

More common than nation-state (eg. US) Nation without a state

Nations lacking recognized, self-governed territory (eg. Palestinians, Kurds, Basques, Catalans)

Example of nation without a state

Not all nations or large cultural groups control their own political territories or states

Centrifugal & Centripetal forces Centrifugal forces

Forces that weaken or divide a state eg. Quebec, Basque

Centripetal forces Forces that unite or reinforce a state eg. Germany in the 1990s

Example of Centrifugal & Centripetal forces

Cold War

Boundaries Ethnographic boundaries

Political boundaries that follow cultural traits such as language or religion (eg. European boundaries after WWI)

Geometric boundaries Drawn without regard for physical or cultural fe

atures (eg. Africa in a colonial era)

Example of ethnographic boundaries

WWI

After WWI, empires were largely replaced by nation-states.After WWI, empires were largely replaced by nation-states.

Example of geometric boundaries

The lack of congruence between ethnic boundaries and political The lack of congruence between ethnic boundaries and political borders often results in civil warborders often results in civil war

Colonialism & Decolonialization Colonialism

Formal establishment of rule over a foreign population Decolonialization

Process of a colony’s gaining(regaining) control over its territory and establishing a independent government

They are fundamental forces in the shaping of the modern world system

The Colonial World, 1914

Consequences of Colonialism In general, disadvantaged because of a

much-reduced resource base, but varies from place to place

Continuing exchange of human networks Economic ties between certain imperial

powers and their former colonies are still found

International & Supranational organizations International organizations

links together two or more states for some specific purpose, but does not affect the sovereignty of each state (eg. UN, OPEC, NATO, ASEAN, NAFTA)

Supranational organizations organization of nation-states linked together with a com

mon goal, but which requires each to give up some sovereignty (eg. EU, Arab League)

Economic/Social development

Core-periphery model As a way of understanding increasing uneven

development between more/less-developed countries

Developed core achieved its wealth primarily by exploiting the periphery, either through more recent economic imperialism

Dependence may be structure through the relations of exchange, production between core and periphery

World Economic Core Areas

Economic activity is clustered around these core areas while outlying areas are underdeveloped

Indicators of economic development GNI

the value of all final goods and services produced within a country plus net income from abroad

Measures the size of economy GNI per capita (at market exchange rate)

GNI divided by country’s population GNI per capita at purchasing power parity

GNI adjusted for differences in prices and exchange rates

Living standards with the local currency

GNI per capita at MER What a nation can buy outside the nation

GNI per capital at PPP What a nation can buy inside the nation

Indicators of social development Life expectancy

average length of life expected at birth for a hypothetical male or female, as based on national death statistics

Under age 5 mortality measure of the number of children who die per

1,000 persons

Indicators of social development Adult illiteracy rates

percentage of a society’s males and females who cannot read

Female labor force participation percentage of a nation’s labor force that is

female

Give insights into the social conditions such as health care, sanitation, homocide rate, prevalence of disease…

Sustainable development Concept on limits to development

Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations

“Intergenerational equity”