POLS 2940 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Terra Nullius, Map, Political Economy
4 Oct 2017
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Document Summary
Week 3 - the nation-state as a historical entity. Understanding territory: de nition, origins, signi cance, relationships to borders. Tilly: economic and strategic issues in state formation. Physical map - state boundaries, represents the world in terms of its natural physical sense - rivers, mountains, oceans - geographies that they capture have been relatively constant over time - not much has changed. Alternatively, political map - represents divisions between countries and parts of the world in particular colors, how humans have recon gured the planet - representations have changed multiple times throughout history. Division of the world into separate territorial units is both arti cial and arbitrary. Arti cial - ways in which boundaries are drawn are not natural. Arbitrary - no reason why lines are drawn where they are, not a natural or predetermined course. The norm in which we understand international politics is governed by idea that states are constant/norm/main reference point.
