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IV. Fragmentation, Unification, Alliance
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Web Sites
Narration
This narrative is an edited version of an essay by Alexander B. Murphy, Department of Geography, University of Oregon. For the complete article, see the Journal of Geography, May-August 2000, Vol. 99, No. 3/4.
Challenges to the inherited political-territorial order do not simply come in spatially ambiguous economic forms. There are concrete examples of fragmentation, unification, and alliance that are altering the political geographic order, most obviously, the growth of increasingly powerful regional political-economic blocs. These include the Organization of African Unity, the Arab League, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and the European Union (or EU, formerly European Community). The EU is moving toward a time when it will supercede the traditional sovereign powers of its member states. The EU represents a novel form of political space in the international arena, with potentially far-reaching consequences for the global political order.
The EU has facilitated the development of cross-border cooperation regions that are reshaping the spatial parameters of Europe's political and social order. More broadly, discussing the impetus behind European integration, and the geographical circumstances that facilitated that impetus (e.g., economic complementarities, commonalities of political and economic systems, an infrastructure and settlement pattern facilitating integration), allows students to understand the context of the European integration initiative. They can compare and contrast it with regional integration initiatives in other parts of the world.
Students should be made aware of alternative forms of suprastate political-territorial integration, and of the classic geopolitical doctrines discussed in the major texts (Mackinder's Heartland theory). They should also know the contemporary alliances that bring states together largely for geopolitical ends (e.g., the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) and the regional geo-economic integration initiatives that are facilitating economic development. In addition, students can be made aware of the role of global organizations such as the United Nations in setting up regimes for peacekeeping, human rights monitoring, and management of the world's oceans. Students should become familiar with the ways in which the international law of the seas treats coastal waters, Exclusive Economic Zones, and the high seas, as well as the presence of (and reasons for) jurisdictional conflicts in such high-profile cases as the South China Sea. Sketching some of the better-known cases of intrastate ethno-nationalist conflict promotes consideration of the status of the nation-state ideal today.
Web Sites
To view the following Web sites, please go to "See also" below.
The Teachers' Corner contains links to suggested Web sites. The College Board neither endorses, controls the content of, nor reviews the external Web sites included here. Please note that following links to external Web sites will open a new browser window. If you discover a link that does not work, please let us know by sending an e-mail to apctechsupport@collegeboard.org.
European Union
From Europa, the European Union's server: The site provides a comprehensive insight into the European Union, its institutions, and its policies. It has links to social, civil, and economic branches of the organization and provides in-depth information about the euro, the parliament, and more.
Hot Spots
From the U.S. Department of State Geographic Learning Site: "'Hot Spots' are geopolitical issues currently in the news. These topics include the environment, refugees, population issues, humanitarian assistance, famine, and international boundaries." This site is updated frequently, so information changes often.
World Flashpoints! A Guide to World Conflict
Go to areas around the world to learn about the history of their conflicts. Good for case studies.
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