GEOPOLITICS EXAM NOTES
Topic 1: Terra Nullius
Terra nullius - “nobody’s land” - derived from Roman Law, used as a pretext for European
colonization, used today in International law
- UNCLOS - United Nations Clause for Laws of Seas
- Gornja Siga (Danube) : 7 km2
- Bir Tawil (Egypt and Sudan) → Hala’ib
Triangle - oil and sea
- 800 squ. Mile territory
- Uninhabited
- Originate from state discrepency in 1902,
before border straight.
- Claimed to be the only place on earth that
is habitable but unclaimed
- Both countries don’t want Bir Tawil
otherwise triangle will go to the other party as compensation (ruling of international courts →
resources)
- Due to its status of “de jure” territory → claimed by a number of individuals and
organizations, although none taken seriously by international
community
Antarctica
- UK first to come → 1800s expedition, France, Norway, Nazi’s
- 1959 Antarctica Treaty → countries involved + US/USSR (cold war) → agree to
no military, no mining, no nuclear testing
- Antarctica becomes divided by country, although the treaty doesn’t explicitly
state it
- Today: sovereign states who have territorial claims in Antarctica: Argentina,
Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom.
- Accountable for 70% of the world’s freshwater
- Mary Byrd Territory (terra nullius because didn’t want to upset others (during
cold war) + extremely remote, no population. → west part)
Topic 2: The State
- The five pillars of the state
- Defined territory
- Permanent populations
- Sovereignty → no higher authority than the state
- Government → 1, democratic vs authoritarian
- Monopoly of force (by government)
- Power diffusion/transition according to Joseph Nye
- Power transition - change of power among states. Ex. republican to democrat
- Power diffusion - change of power to non-state actors. Ex. media.
,Power - soft (win-win) vs hard (win-loss). Combination of both - smart power
- Thomas Hobbes (humans loco, need state) VS Locke (humans good, but government applies god’s
rules)
- Power of “fear” → Pelopolesian war (Sparta/Athens) + WW2 (Germany/UK and France)
- State Capacity (thus classification) → → factors determine if ill-functioning/well-functioning state
→ 206 countries today
- Effectiveness of government/supply of public goods
- Maintaining the rule of law
- Monopoly of force
Collapsed → Failed → Weak → Strong
- Rogue State: political notion used by Bush → states that supposedly threaten world peace, used as a
pretext for invasion → Afghanistan (2001 - UN yes) vs Iraq (2003 - UN no)
Topic 3: Evolution of International Order
- 4th to 15th century: Middle Ages/Renaissance → Church power monopoly → loss of credibility
( printing press, discovery Americas, astronomy, fall of feudalism (Medicis))
- 1650s : Age of revolutions - allied through geography
- Enlightenment (18th c) → intellectual, progressive, kill tradition → individualistic approach to
reason and morality (Kant…)
- English Revolutions (English Bill of Rights (1689)
- French revolution (1789)
- American revolution (1765-83)
- Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815) → broke balance of power (coalition of
UK/Russia/Prussia/Austria)
- 1800s, rise of leisure. WW1 old fashioned war (empire)
- Bolshevik revolution (1917)
- Treaty of Versailles (1918) → league of nations
The more frightening the world becomes the more art becomes abstract
- Polarization of ideology
- Populism (radio…)
- POST WW2
- UN, World Trade, World Bank, IMF (Bretton Woods (1944))
→ multilateral economic/political institutions, bilateral and regional security organizations, liberal political
norms and values.
Peace of Westphalia (1648)
- End of Spain/Dutch 80 years war + German 30 years war (1618-1648) → 8 million people killed,
opposing Habsburg states (Catholic) VS Anti-Habsburg States (protestants)
- Munster and Osnabruk
- Layed foundation of modern state system → territorial sovereignty : centralisation of political power,
church power decreased, political rights and absolute authority of european monarchs
- France, Sweden and allies
, - Peace of Augsburg → religious tolerance of Lutherans
→ allowed private worship, liberty of conscience, right of emigration of minorities in their respective domains
→ end feudalism → power to monarchs (empires traditional and quite effective but relied on tradition, closed to
change, extensive border/land issues → no adaptation (fall).
→ independence from Papacy, equality of states, non-intervention (in Europe) → later ideas spread to North
America (18th c.), South America (19th c.), Asia and Africa (20th c.)
- Balance of power: 17th c. → France vs UK, then 20th c → Cold War (US VS USSR)
Treaty of Utrecht (1713)
- France, Spain → end Spanish Succession War (1701-1713)
- Spanish succession: in the end, Bourbon king Louis XIV of France after Charles II dies (no heir) → in
middle Joseph Ferdinand of Bavaria
- Austria, Uk...
- Extended scope of sovereignty of Westphalia (from European to global)→ global: Gibraltar, Menorca
(UK), Newfoundland, Hudson Bay → SHIFT OF POWER → American continent
- Slave rights in Spanish colonies
- Declining Spain, Portugal, Ottomen, rise of UK, Russia
- Seven Years War (1756-1763) → balance of power UK, France, Austria, Prussia, Russia
UN Security Council
- 5 permanent members (France, UK, US, China and Russia) and 10 non-permanent members →
chosen to achieve equitable representation among geographic regions → elected each year by General
Assembly for 2 year terms
- Decisions require 9 affirmative votes + all VETO powers (including?)
- NYC, USA
- Emerged after WW2
- Security Council → peaceful decision first → peacekeeping forces
- economic/diplomatic sanctions → ex. UNAMIR
CRITICISM: 5 VETO members don’t reflect changing world? 1945 world still reflect colonial rule → switch
to Brazil, Germany, Japan… ex. Cold War ineffective because of lack of authority of powers in modern world?
League of Nations
- Liberal, not realist enough → appeasement → WW2
- Unanimous judgement, non-membership (US, Lytton-Jap., USSR)
- Soft power
- lack of credibility:
- Manchuria (1931, Rape of Nanking)
- Abyssinia (1935-36)
- Spanish civil war (1936-1939)
- remiliterization of Rhineland 1936
- giving powers (ex. Germany, jap) fate, not afraid of LoN, willing to test how far theyre gonna go →
Appeasment and Munich Conference by Chamberlain and co→ WW2
Topic 1: Terra Nullius
Terra nullius - “nobody’s land” - derived from Roman Law, used as a pretext for European
colonization, used today in International law
- UNCLOS - United Nations Clause for Laws of Seas
- Gornja Siga (Danube) : 7 km2
- Bir Tawil (Egypt and Sudan) → Hala’ib
Triangle - oil and sea
- 800 squ. Mile territory
- Uninhabited
- Originate from state discrepency in 1902,
before border straight.
- Claimed to be the only place on earth that
is habitable but unclaimed
- Both countries don’t want Bir Tawil
otherwise triangle will go to the other party as compensation (ruling of international courts →
resources)
- Due to its status of “de jure” territory → claimed by a number of individuals and
organizations, although none taken seriously by international
community
Antarctica
- UK first to come → 1800s expedition, France, Norway, Nazi’s
- 1959 Antarctica Treaty → countries involved + US/USSR (cold war) → agree to
no military, no mining, no nuclear testing
- Antarctica becomes divided by country, although the treaty doesn’t explicitly
state it
- Today: sovereign states who have territorial claims in Antarctica: Argentina,
Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom.
- Accountable for 70% of the world’s freshwater
- Mary Byrd Territory (terra nullius because didn’t want to upset others (during
cold war) + extremely remote, no population. → west part)
Topic 2: The State
- The five pillars of the state
- Defined territory
- Permanent populations
- Sovereignty → no higher authority than the state
- Government → 1, democratic vs authoritarian
- Monopoly of force (by government)
- Power diffusion/transition according to Joseph Nye
- Power transition - change of power among states. Ex. republican to democrat
- Power diffusion - change of power to non-state actors. Ex. media.
,Power - soft (win-win) vs hard (win-loss). Combination of both - smart power
- Thomas Hobbes (humans loco, need state) VS Locke (humans good, but government applies god’s
rules)
- Power of “fear” → Pelopolesian war (Sparta/Athens) + WW2 (Germany/UK and France)
- State Capacity (thus classification) → → factors determine if ill-functioning/well-functioning state
→ 206 countries today
- Effectiveness of government/supply of public goods
- Maintaining the rule of law
- Monopoly of force
Collapsed → Failed → Weak → Strong
- Rogue State: political notion used by Bush → states that supposedly threaten world peace, used as a
pretext for invasion → Afghanistan (2001 - UN yes) vs Iraq (2003 - UN no)
Topic 3: Evolution of International Order
- 4th to 15th century: Middle Ages/Renaissance → Church power monopoly → loss of credibility
( printing press, discovery Americas, astronomy, fall of feudalism (Medicis))
- 1650s : Age of revolutions - allied through geography
- Enlightenment (18th c) → intellectual, progressive, kill tradition → individualistic approach to
reason and morality (Kant…)
- English Revolutions (English Bill of Rights (1689)
- French revolution (1789)
- American revolution (1765-83)
- Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815) → broke balance of power (coalition of
UK/Russia/Prussia/Austria)
- 1800s, rise of leisure. WW1 old fashioned war (empire)
- Bolshevik revolution (1917)
- Treaty of Versailles (1918) → league of nations
The more frightening the world becomes the more art becomes abstract
- Polarization of ideology
- Populism (radio…)
- POST WW2
- UN, World Trade, World Bank, IMF (Bretton Woods (1944))
→ multilateral economic/political institutions, bilateral and regional security organizations, liberal political
norms and values.
Peace of Westphalia (1648)
- End of Spain/Dutch 80 years war + German 30 years war (1618-1648) → 8 million people killed,
opposing Habsburg states (Catholic) VS Anti-Habsburg States (protestants)
- Munster and Osnabruk
- Layed foundation of modern state system → territorial sovereignty : centralisation of political power,
church power decreased, political rights and absolute authority of european monarchs
- France, Sweden and allies
, - Peace of Augsburg → religious tolerance of Lutherans
→ allowed private worship, liberty of conscience, right of emigration of minorities in their respective domains
→ end feudalism → power to monarchs (empires traditional and quite effective but relied on tradition, closed to
change, extensive border/land issues → no adaptation (fall).
→ independence from Papacy, equality of states, non-intervention (in Europe) → later ideas spread to North
America (18th c.), South America (19th c.), Asia and Africa (20th c.)
- Balance of power: 17th c. → France vs UK, then 20th c → Cold War (US VS USSR)
Treaty of Utrecht (1713)
- France, Spain → end Spanish Succession War (1701-1713)
- Spanish succession: in the end, Bourbon king Louis XIV of France after Charles II dies (no heir) → in
middle Joseph Ferdinand of Bavaria
- Austria, Uk...
- Extended scope of sovereignty of Westphalia (from European to global)→ global: Gibraltar, Menorca
(UK), Newfoundland, Hudson Bay → SHIFT OF POWER → American continent
- Slave rights in Spanish colonies
- Declining Spain, Portugal, Ottomen, rise of UK, Russia
- Seven Years War (1756-1763) → balance of power UK, France, Austria, Prussia, Russia
UN Security Council
- 5 permanent members (France, UK, US, China and Russia) and 10 non-permanent members →
chosen to achieve equitable representation among geographic regions → elected each year by General
Assembly for 2 year terms
- Decisions require 9 affirmative votes + all VETO powers (including?)
- NYC, USA
- Emerged after WW2
- Security Council → peaceful decision first → peacekeeping forces
- economic/diplomatic sanctions → ex. UNAMIR
CRITICISM: 5 VETO members don’t reflect changing world? 1945 world still reflect colonial rule → switch
to Brazil, Germany, Japan… ex. Cold War ineffective because of lack of authority of powers in modern world?
League of Nations
- Liberal, not realist enough → appeasement → WW2
- Unanimous judgement, non-membership (US, Lytton-Jap., USSR)
- Soft power
- lack of credibility:
- Manchuria (1931, Rape of Nanking)
- Abyssinia (1935-36)
- Spanish civil war (1936-1939)
- remiliterization of Rhineland 1936
- giving powers (ex. Germany, jap) fate, not afraid of LoN, willing to test how far theyre gonna go →
Appeasment and Munich Conference by Chamberlain and co→ WW2
