Borders: A Very Short Introduction, by Alexander C. Diener and Joshua Hagen, is a brief the history of geographic borders and their implications on the world throughout history. Diener and Hagen make the argument that borders, as commonly understood today, are a relatively new phenomenon and as humanity moves forward borders modern boarders will no longer be possible. The writers maintain as globalization continues to make the world a smaller place or as they say, “make the world flat”, the notion of the formal state border is slowly coming to an end. Acknowledging that borders as they are understood today will not vanish overnight and will be here for the foreseeable future but in time they must change is central to their argument (Diener & Hagen, 2012). In making their case they give the reader a brief history of geographic boarders and how the modern nation state came about.
As nomadic societies evolved into cities, then city-states states, and eventually empires, established borders slowly began to take shape. From the Sumerians around 4000 BCE to the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 what was first nothing more than a loosely guarded line of demarcation eventually became the firm geographic borders used around the world today. Diener and Hagen detail how these borders have been used as both unifying and dividing forces since the beginning, but as globalization continues to sweep the planet the idea of borders and how they are used must be reevaluated. In their final paragraph the writers summarize their argument by expressing as globalization continues to move forward it is important to reevaluate modern understanding of borders and the impacts they have on the world community (Diener & Hagen, 2012).
Despite the briefness of the...
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...be it would be better served as an introduction as opposed to something that is offered at the end of the semester. Borders offers a brief overview of the important issues the students will encounter over the course of the semester. The book would be a great way to introduce students to the ideas they would be encountering during the coming semester. It would be a great way to prepare them for what they are going to read each module in the Key Concepts book. Therefore Borders receives thumbs up when considering whether it should be used in future classes or not.
Works Cited
Diener, A. C., & Hagen, J. (2012). Borders:A Very Short Introduction. Great Britian: Oxford University Press. Retrieved March 1, 2014
Gallaher, C., Dahlman, C. T., Gilmartin, M., Mountz, A., & Shirlow. (2009). Key Concepts in Political Journey. Thousand Oaks, California, United States: SAGE.
In Borderlands, the realities of what happens by the border instill the true terror that people face every day. They are unable to escape and trapped in a tragic situation. After reading my three classmates’ papers, I was able to learn a lot more about this piece than I originally encountered just on my own. I was able to read this piece in a completely new light and expand on ideas that I did not even think of.
Overall Thomas King’s “Borders” is a great story and every must read it. The author successfully sends an important message through the protagonist’s character that our identity, our culture, our traditions comes above all and we should back it no matter what. King auspiciously wrote the story by giving the readers a refreshing yet fruitful time to spend on reading this great story “Borders” through the innocent eyes of the young
The main ideas presented in “Why Geography Matters…More Than Ever!” revolve around what exactly geography is, and the implications of the subject. Geography is the study of the physical world and human actions, it also covers the affects of human actions. Geography influences a plethora of topics and geographers do research on numerous subjects. “Geographers do research on glaciations and coastlines, on desert dunes and limestone caves, on weather and climate, even on plants and animals”(7). The author stresses how underrated geography is the present times, and how the introduction of social studies have doomed the subject of geography for future generations. In a section detailing the teaching of geography
With the idea of a sovereign state rapidly becoming an ideal of the past, globalization has already left its mark on the world. The main goal of globalization is to unite the globe under a single culture and government, which undermines the ideology of the nation-state, which has “citizens [which are] members of a nation living within the borders of a defined territory.” (Fulcher p. 1)Furthermore, globalization develops international relations, removing or transcending the borders of a nation-state, by economic marketing, increased labour, and transfer of information. Having the globalization movement as well as the development of nation-states both begin around the fifteenth century, it is apparent where the rivalry comes from, as well as just who is the victor in the struggle. This creates higher financial competition between a globalized country and a nation-state, as having a global open economy leads the sovereign state into a sense of “capitalist accumulation and competition” (Bresser-Pereira p. 559). Though the nation-state does not stand on equal ground with the globalization process...
I had to explain that the Mongolian invasion not only sacked Baghdad-- the capital of an empire wrought with political-religious divisions-- and thus signifying the end of but also facilitated cultural-technological exchanges throughout a more stabilized “Pax Mongolica” Eurasia, including the diffusion of firearms associated with later-strengthened European feudal power. AP human geography further expanded upon these skills, especially in its focus on the interaction between people and geography, of how human-constructed realities arise from and manipulate the surrounding environment, reconciling organic social dynamics alongside systematic empirical patterns. While much of current global-geographic phenomena cannot be understood without also understanding history--of drawing national boundaries and consolidating state legitimacy, industrial-economic development and land use, regulation of transnational commodities and migrant labor across borders-- I also had to understand what distinguished them as the unique socializing forces imposed onto the environment
Gildea, Robert Barricades and Borders: Europe 1800-1914, Oxford University Press, New York 2nd edn, 1996
Miyoshi, Masao. “A Borderless World? From Colonialism to Transnationalism and the Decline of the Nation-State.” Critical Inquiry 19, no. 4 (1993): 726-51.
Zacher, Mark W. “The Territorial Integrity Norm: International Boundaries and the Use of Force.” International Organization. Vol. 55, No. 2 (Spring 2001), 215-250.
Harm de Blij and his “The Power of Place: Geography, Destiny, and Globalization’s Rough Landscape” truly describes how geography is displayed in the world today. In particular on of the major themes that he discusses is the idea of globalization. He actually calls these people the “globals.” In the very beginning of his book he describes two different types of peoples: Locals and Globals. The difference between these people is that Locals are the poorer people, not as mobile, and more susceptible to the concept of place. On the other hand the Globals are the fortunate population, and are a small group of people who have experienced globalization firsthand (5). This idea of globalization is a main theme that Blij refers to throughout the book, however he also indirectly references the five themes of cultural geography: culture regions, cultural diffusion, cultural interaction, cultural ecology, and cultural landscapes. Through Blij’s analysis these five themes are revealed in detail and help explain his overall idea of globalization in the world today.
The term 'globalization' has been subjected to a variety of interpretations. Though at its simplest it can be seen as how the world has become integrated economically, politcally, socially and culturally through the advances of technology, communication and transport John Baylis et al. (2011).
Although it already existed long before through primitive trade and migration, globalization has become a major factor in the world organization since the twentieth century. With the creation of transnational companies, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, political and economic associations appeared new powerful actors that cannot be left apart in states’ decisions and whose influence may, according to some, threaten the authority of nation-states. Indeed it can be thought that globalization is causing the end of borders between countries and what is more that it is creating a sort of universal society in which states’ sovereignty is not the main authority anymore. However this essay will try to demonstrate that globalization is not undermining state sovereignty but that it is in fact leading to its transformation and to a new variety of nations. In order to prove it I will first define the main key words and will then focus on the different arguments about the effects of globalization and finally I will demonstrate that globalization has led to a transformation of the concept of state sovereignty.
A passage or a corridor is a term that represents a connection between two or more spaces. It is this very feature (of connecting two places) of a tract of land that makes it so incredible in physical geography. In international relations, a corridor becomes significant not just because of the places it links but also because of the region that it is. Hence corridors demand and deserve a lot more attention than just those places that it attempts to unite. However, very often instead of focussing on the significance of the corridor, value is given to those two or more regions which are linked with the help of the former.
The lives and prosperity of millions of people depend on peace and, in turn, peace depends on treaties - fragile documents that must do more than end wars. Negotiations and peace treaties may lead to decades of cooperation during which disputes between nations are resolved without military action and economic cost, or may prolong or even intensify the grievances which provoked conflict in the first place. In 1996, as Canada and the United States celebrated their mutual boundary as the longest undefended border in the world, Greece and Turkey nearly came to blows over a rocky island so small it scarcely had space for a flagpole.1 Both territorial questions had been raised as issues in peace treaties. The Treaty of Ghent in 1815 set the framework for the resolution of Canadian-American territorial questions. The Treaty of Sevres in 1920, between the Sultan and the victorious Allies of World War I, dismantled the remnants of the Ottoman Empire and distributed its territories. Examination of the terms and consequences of the two treaties clearly establishes that a successful treaty must provide more than the absence of war.
Garner, R., Ferdinand, P. and Lawson, S. (2009) Introduction to Politics. 2nd edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
There is an undeniable fact that there has been a rise in globalization. It has become a hot topic amongst the field of international politics. With the rise of globalization, the sovereignty of the state is now being undermined. It has become an undisputed fact that the world has evolved to a new level of globalization, the transferring goods, information, ideas and services around the globe has changed at an unimaginable rate. With all that is going on, one would question how globalization has changed the system that is typically a collection of sovereign states. Do states still have the main source of power? What gives a state the right to rule a geographically defined region? It is believed by many that due to the introduction of international systems and increasing rate of globalization, the sovereignty of the state has been slowly eroded over time. My paper has two parts: First, it aims to take a close look at how globalization has changed the way the economy worked, specifically how it opened doors for multinational corporations to rise in power. Second, to answer the question, is it possible for it to exist today? And even so, should it?