Stuart Elden Room E2.16 stuart.elden@warwick.ac.uk

1. MA Seminar Series – Burning Issues: Geopolitics Today States, Nations, Territories Stuart Elden Room E2.16 stuart.elden@warwick.ac.uk

2. Tue 10 Oct What is Geopolitics? Tue 17 Oct States, Nations, Territories Tue 24 Oct Borders and Walls Tue 31 Oct Humanitarian Intervention and the International Community Tue 14 Nov The Ongoing ‘War on Terror’ Tue 21 Nov Environmental, Health and Resource Geopolitics Tue 28 Nov The Geophysics of Geopolitics

3. The State and the Nation The formation of states with a centralised administration over a clearly defined geographical territory preceded the articulation of ideas of the nation… Example of where this is the case – France • French Revolution and national consciousness Two counter-examples – Germany and Italy • Movements for unification in the 19th Century And then 20th century ‘nation-building’

6. France “The modern conception of France as a tightly bounded space within which the French state was sovereign was opposed to an older conception of power as varying bundles of privileges related to different groups and territories”. John Breuilly, “Sovereignty and Boundaries: Modern State Formation and National Identity in Germany”, in Mary Fulbrook (ed.), National Histories and European History, London: University College London Press, 1993, p. 108.

7. Les limites naturelles Cardinal Richelieu, Testament Politique – “les limites naturelles” of France: Rhine, Alps, Pyrenees. To promote security of territory (which might require further conquest) and the consolidation of territory. Could work both ways: France’s aim of a straight lineinstead of the random South Netherlands border – adjoining territories assimilated and absorbed; the geographically isolated were lost. Pursued following the French Revolution – attempt to get rid of anomalous areas; consolidate France’s rule.

11. Germany Internal boundary disputes (whether part of a state was in the confederation or not) External boundaries more or less secure depending on who that boundary was with:- • France – fixed with political-administrative precision • South – simply a line drawn on the map of Austria • North – disputed province of Schleswig-Holstein, a ‘boundary’ dispute which arose via the question of ‘national sovereignty’.

13. Key Changes • Gain of Schelswig-Holstein • Removal of Austrian Power • Defeat of France and incorporation of Alsace-Lorraine region

15. Germany Only with the Weimar Republic did Germany actually become a state – under Bismarck it had been a Reich, an Empire. “the tragedy was that this state was also the product of defeat – its boundaries were seen as artificial and its constitution as imposed”. Breuilly, “Sovereignty and Boundaries”, p. 132. So with Germany it was well into the nineteenth century before some territorial issues were resolved, and its boundaries have been redrawn since – crucially in 1919, 1945 and 1989.

16. What is a Nation? natio – birth nasci - to be born, natal, native Principles? • Race • Language • Religion • Shared Interests • Geography • Spiritual Principle

17. What is a Nation? “Forgetting, and, I would even say, historical error are an essential factor in the creation of a nation” “The Nation is an everyday plebiscite” Ernest Renan, What is a Nation?, 1882 Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities (1991)

18. Self-Determination The idea that people should govern themselves; therefore that a distinct group should have their own state. National self-determination is especially problematic – the people decide, but who decides who the people are? Role of American war of independence (American Revolution) and the French Revolution; then Peace of Paris after World War I.

19. Examples today… • Catalonia • Iraqi Kurdistan • Scotland Nations that want to become states?

22. Land Reform Review Group Final Report - The Land of Scotland and the Common Good, 2014http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0045/00451087.pdf

24. US State Department list of Foreign Terrorist Organisations https://www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/other/des/123085.htm “Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) are foreign organizations that are designated by the Secretary of State in accordance with section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), as amended. FTO designations play a critical role in our fight against terrorism and are an effective means of curtailing support for terrorist activities and pressuring groups to get out of the terrorism business”.

25. The State • The State has universal jurisdiction • The State has compulsory jurisdiction • Its ends are broader than those of other associations which pursue ‘privately conceived ends’ • The State has legal supremacy or sovereignty over other associations • The State ranks as equal with other nation-states, being ‘self-sovereign’ D. D. Raphael, The Problems of Political Philosophy

26. Raphael’s Terms • The State has universal jurisdiction [over all activity] • The State has compulsory jurisdiction [not elective] • Its ends are broader than those of other associations which pursue ‘privately conceived ends’ [i.e. business, or trade unions – though note the Marxist account] • The State has legal supremacy or sovereignty over other associations [provides framework within which they operate] • The State ranks as equal with other nation-states, being ‘self-sovereign’ [against terra nullius idea, but note colonialism as counter-example]

27. Examples of states with more than one nation? Examples of nations with more than one state? Examples of nations without a state?

32. Africa http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2012/sep/06/africa-map-separatist-movements-interactive

34. http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/gallery/2012/oct/02/africa-maps-historyhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/gallery/2012/oct/02/africa-maps-history

35. Map Exercise The sheet has six countries on it, A to F. These countries were formerly part of a much larger empire. Two or three groups of people live in these countries, but they no longer want to live together Where, if anywhere, would you draw the boundary lines? Be prepared to justify your decisions, and think of examples in history or the present that are comparable.

36. A C E F B D