Hartshorne, R, Functional Approach in Geography

The Functional Approach in Political Geography Author(s): Richard Hartshorne Source: Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 40, No. 2 (Jun., 1950), pp. 95130 Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of the Association of American Geographers Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2560998 Accessed: 05-11-2015 11:41 UTC

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THE FUNCTIONAL

APPROACH IN POLITICAL

GEOGRAPHY *

RICHARD HARTSHORNE

TI SHE subjectof thispaperand thatof PresidentRussell'saddressof last Universityof Wisconsin

year reveal in strikingfashionthe wide scope of the fieldin whichgeographers work. Comparisonof the treatmentin the two papers will, I hope, forassumingthatthe same body of readersmay find the justification demonstrate commoninterestin the two extremes. This is possible in all our work only if each of us, in developingour special area of interest,will followRussell's example in strivingto maintainits geographicquality.' of our thinking,that the core of We can do this if we keep in the forefront differgeographyis "the studyof places,"2that is, the analysis of the significant ences that distinguishthe various areas of the world fromeach other. Among one of the more that are significantto this areal differentiation, the differences in landforms;one of the least obviousto the eye,but noneobviousare differences in their theless importantin moldingthe characterof areas, are the differences politicalorganization. In pursuingthese and otherseparate topics, geographers "radiate out in diversedirections""and forvarious distances,towardthe cores of otherdisciplines." As long as theyremain"ever consciousof wheretheyare" in referenceto.the centralcore, theymay hope to understandeach other'spurposes. "Questions of boundariesalways seem pedanticin comparisonwithquestionsconcerningthe cores of disciplines." SURVEY OF PROGRESS

From this commonviewpoint,let us cast a criticaleye over the progressof politicalgeographyin thetwentyyearssinceit was describedas "the waywardchild in which"method of the geographicfamily"-the fieldthat was "least scientific," * Presidential AnnualMeetingin addressdeliveredbeforetheAssociationat its Forty-sixth Worcester,Mass.,April7, 1950. 1 RichardJoelRussell,"GeographicalGeomorphology,"Annals of theAssociationof AmeriXXXIX (1949): 1-11; Presidentialaddressof the 1948 meetingsdelivered can Geographers, the underthe title"Towards a More GeographicalGeomorphology."My title,in presenting imitation:"Towardsa More Geograwas an intentional presentpaperat theApril1950meetings phicalPoliticalGeography." 2 As a demonstration thephrasesin thisparagraphin quotaofviewpoints, of thesimilarity fromRussell'saddress,op. cit.,p. 11, and frommyown article tionmarksare takenalternately Annals of the AsDiscussionin AmericanGeography," on "On the Mores of Methodological XXXVIII (1948): 122. The firstphrase,quotedfrom sociationof AmericanGeographers, as "thestudyof places,"stemsfromVidal de la Blache and no doubtfrom Russell,geography of withmorefulldiscussionof thefunction beforehim. Anyconcerned manywriterscenturies publishedbythisassociation,1939,1949parare referred to myNatureof Geography, geography ticularlyto ChaptersII, IV, and VIII.


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and materialare freeto the choice of the student,"and whose relationshipto the to determine. I wish that we could justifya very fieldas a whole was difficult differentdescription;that we could claim to have developed a sound structural evolutionof political geography,clearly integratedinto geographyas a whole, analysis.4 withestablishedmethodsof scientific It would be easy to pointto manyoutwardsigns of success. The threatthat politicalgeographywould be driven off the reservationhas subsided. Whereas formerly but one or two departmentsof geographygave courses underthis name, today politicalgeographyis foundin manycollege curricula. One cannotbut be amazed by the temerityof Americangeographerswho feel ready to teach this subject withoutprevious training,with but a minimumof studyof the literatureof the field,and with the barestamountof materialsavailable to put in the hands of students. True, we have more such materialsthan we had twentyyears ago. Whereas then we had hardlymore than a single volume in the English language entitled politicalgeography,todaythereare manyand more are promised. Unf6rtunately these are mostlytextbooks. Better textbooksare essential for betterteaching, but thepublicationof moretextbookscan do littleto give standingto a fieldunless we can produce a reallygood text. To seek that resultby simplywritingmore and bettertexts is an attemptto pull ourselvesup by our bootstraps. A really good textbookcan be producedonly fromthe digest of sound scholarlystudies. Whetherto providethebasis fora firstclass text,or to establishscholarlystanding for the field of political geography,our need is for an organized structureof scholarlyknowledge-one in whichstudentscan build upon what has been written before. I do not wish to belittlethe scholarlywork that has been accomplishedin this field. In one or two directions,I thinkwe mightclaim to have laid down a few fundamentalconceptsand principles,to have establisheda few technicalterms. Perhaps "established"is too stronga word,since some textbookswriterscontinue to confusestudentswithterms,such as "naturalboundaries,"althoughlong since discreditedby scholarsin the field. In an effortto appraise our situation,a graduateseminarjoined me a year ago in an examinationof a wide rangeof studiesin politicalgeography. We soughtto determinewhatmethodsgeographersuse and whatmaterialstheyemployin studies in thisfield. We foundthegreatestvarietyof methods,and theuse of almostevery kind of materialconceivable. We foundno indicationof commonpurpose or objective. In fact,in most cases we could not findthat the authorshad any clear purpose or objectivein mind,otherthan the rathergeneral idea that geography 3 Carl Sauer,"RecentDevelopments in the in RecentDevelopments in CulturalGeography," Social Sciences,E. D. Hayes, editor,Philadelphia,1927,p. 207. see years ago, with extensivebibliography, 4On the statusof politicalgeographyfifteen AmericanPoliticalScience in PoliticalGeography," "RecentDevelopments RichardHartshorne, Review,XXIX (1935): 785-804,943-966.


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somehowhas a lot to do with internationalaffairs,and the politicalgeographer should endeavorto findall the ways in whichthat was the case. I do not think you could finda comparablesituationin otherbranchesof geography. If you take systems a halfdozen studiesin economicgeographyyou will no doubtfinddifferent in the same text. It has been a long timesince one could accuse economicgeographyof beingnothingmore than a collectionof geographicaspects of economics. In that fieldwe have developed specificobjectivesand methods,and have even. arrivedat some degreeof agreementas to the materialsto be studied. What are the writersin politicalgeographytryingto do? Using the device of the census,let me throwtogetherinto several groupsthe worksof a large number of students,in ordernot to revealthe operationsof any specificauthor.5 In one of these groups,we findthat each state is studiedin termsof a series of "aspects"-physical, human,and economic-with subheads like landforms,clilittlefrom differing mate . . . agriculture,industry,cities,etc. In this treatment, a section by that of a conventionalgeographicstudy,politicalflavoringis added on historicalaspectsand a discussionof boundariesand conflictswithotherstates. The thoughtbehindthis appears to be simplythat in orderto studythe state, one mustknowa lot about its geography. We may all agree to that,but to supply some of which may be pertinent,some not, is not a a collectionof information, techniqueofanalysisand will notbuilda fieldofpoliticalgeography. More distinctiveis what I may termthe "historical"approach. This at least startswitha definiteproblem-namelyto explain how a state has come to occupy the particulararea includedwithinits presentlimits. One way of doing this-the easiest and quickestway-is to startwith what exists, point out apparentcorrespondenceofphysicaland politicalfeaturesand thenconcludethathistorysomehow or other has resultedin what was more or less bound to develop. In short,as Vidal de la Blache observed,anotherformof geographicdeterminism. withRatzel's misleadingconceptof the stateas Germanstudents,indoctrinated an organism,have attemptedby comparativestudiesof a handfulof examples,to develop principlesof state territorialdevelopment. We are all too familiarwith thinkingon political the dangerousconsequencesof this formof pseudo-scientific action. To decipherthe processesof stateterritorialdevelopmentfrompresentfactsto recapitulatethe evolution is forcedto do in attempting as the geomorphologist of landforms-maybe intellectualsport,but hardlyintelligentscience. For the processes of state developmentare recorded,in great detail and commonlywith explanation,in historicalrecords. The studentwho undertakes contemporaneous 5 On theotherhandtheoccasionofthispaper,as wellas its substantive purposeas a progress reportmay permitspecificindicationof the relationof my own work duringthe past twenty at appropriate points,to all my referred, yearsto thethemedevelopedherein. I have therefore to the in this field. At the same timeI shouldexpressmy indebtedness previouspublications othermembersof the CentennialCommitteeon Political Geographyfor theircriticismsand and utilizedfreelyin thispaper. on thefirstoutlinedraftedforthatcommittee suggestions


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to study this topic, whetherhe be historianor geographerby profession,must mastera verylarge amountof historicalmaterial. To attaina definitive therefore analysisof a singlechangein a relativelysmall area may requireexaminationof a vast amount of both historicaland geographicmaterial. To comprehendfully whatthatmeans,a studentmightcheckthroughthe referencesin my recentstudy of the boundaryin Lorraine,6or observe the scholarshipthat underliesWhittlesey's study of Andorra7and the voluminoushistoricalresearch needed for his evolutionof France.8 studyof the territorial Beforeconcludingthatall who wishto workin politicalgeographymustdo likeare the findwise, we mustfirstask: Is thisapproachnecessary? How significant of the presentpoliticalgeographyof a ings of such studiesfor an understanding state? If I use again the studyof Lorraine as an example,its authorwill not be provoked. Even if Alsace-Lorrainewere still part of Germany,would it matter to the geographyof Germanywhetherthe reason forthe inclusionof the Cotes de Moselle was because of its strategicimportancein the militarytechnologyof 1871 or because of the iron ores imbeddedin its strata? The factis that Germanygot both. Or considerthe storyof how the GaronneBasin came to be part of the present state of France. This would, I think,involveexaminationof such factorsas the langue d'oc branchof Romance languages,the relativeproductiveresourcesof the of the Kingdom Aquitainelowlandand the Paris Basin, the theoreticalsignificance of the West Franks as a unit divisionof Charlemagne'sempire,the centuriesof and the long periodof consuccess of Frenchqueens in producingmale offspring, flictwith the alien kingsof England. But how much of all this is needed for an of the politicalgeographyof France today? understanding Isn't it enoughto say thattheseregionshave sharedin commonsocial,economic, and politicallifeof the Frenchkingdomand republicformanygenerations,so that theyare now integralparts of the French nation, in spite of linguisticdifferences will chooseto adhereto the Frenchstate? and therefore thatsuch historicalstudiesof genesisare essential It is notclear to me therefore foreverystudyin politicalgeography. This is not to say thatthe geographerdoes to make to the studyof the evolutionof a state. not have a distinctcontribution perhapsmoreto historyand to our knowledgeof politiBut has he not contributed cal processesthanto politicalgeography? In short,if we acceptthe analogythatMaull and East9 have suggestedbetween we studiesof the evolutionof state-areasand those of the evolutionof landforms, Boundaryof 1871,"World Politics,II (Jan. 6RichardHartshorne,"The Franco-German 1950): 209-250. Journalof ModernHistory (June 1934): "Andorra'sAutonomy," 7Derwent Whittlesey, 147-155. The Earth and theState: A Studyin Political Geography.New 8 DerwentWhittlesey, York,1939,pp. 129-165. 9 Otto Maull,"PolitischeGeographieund Geopolitik," Anzeiger,1926: 251; Geographischer Politica II (1937): 270. WilliamG. East, "The Natureof PoliticalGeography,"


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may stillbe uncertain,in bothcases, as to whethersuch studiesforma necessary and integralpart of the studyof the presentgeographyof areas. in sayingthatI am unI want to make certainthatI cannotbe misunderstood certainconcerningthe place of geneticstudies.10 In thus straddlingthe fence-on the groundsthatthe attemptto determineboundariesin scienceis pedantic-I am not sayingthat I wish to push such studiesbeyondthe fence,or that I recognize the existenceof an actual fence. On the contrary,so far as individualgeographers are interestedin makingsuch studies of states, I personallyshall be more than interestedin theirresults. I shall no doubt wish to make more of such studies myself. And if historiansor politicalscientistsshould wish to claim this part of the field,like my predecessor,I would feel happy to agree on joint exploration; and be somewhatdejected if eitherside attemptedto pass the topic over to the other.1L to our present The onlynegativeconclusionI am suggestingthatis significant part, or a an essential form studies such that themeis that I am not convinced of any state. geography political of the section,in the study necessarypreliminary But neitherdo I assert the opposite; ratherI conclude that only in the course of his studyof the presentpoliticalgeographyof a state can a studentdetermine how farhe need dip back intoits historicaldevelopment. Let us turnto a thirdapproach,whichI may describeas the "morphological in theGermanliterain substantive worksprimarily approach." This is represented ture. It was presentedin outlineformto Americangeographersin an article I I think,is that yearsago."2 Its chiefclaim to consideration, publishedsome fifteen it focussesattentionat the starton the major subjectof studyin nearlyall political geography-thepresentstate-areaas a geographicphenomenon. analysis of the external This approachcalls for a descriptiveand interpretive object. The a geographic and internalstructureof the state-area,consideredas items are familiar: externally-size, shape, location,and boundaries; internally, the regionalbreakdownin natural regions,culturalregions,regions of different kindsof people,and the locationof the capital. and thereforestaticand dull. I am not surThis is almostpure morphology, prisedthatno otherstudent,so far as I know,has seen fitto use this outline. It does representa methodor system,but not one thatseemslikelyto producesignificantresults. Justwhat is it that is 'wrongwith this morphologicalapproach? Similar appossiblyin some other proachled I supposeto successfulresultsin geomorphology, we would findit did think I however, In fields, certain branchesof geography. of crops measurement the to down tied was not. As long as agriculturalgeography 10 Similar statementsof uncertaintyregarding the place of geomorphologyin geography, though expressed as a definiterefusal to pass judgment (in The Natureof Geography:423-424) have led some readers to suppose that I would exclude that subject. "Russell, op. cit., p. 11. 12 Richard Hartshorne,"Recent Developments in Political Geography,"op. cit., pp. 943ff.


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of farmsas organizedunits of production,we and fields,ignoringthe functioning were preventedfrom making significantadvances. Likewise in manufactural geography,or in the geographyof cities,the morphologicalapproachoftenled to resultsfarless significant than the studyof functions. or Whether not you agree withme on that,I thinkyou will agree thatthe significanceof state-areasin geographyis to be soughtfar more in theirfunctioning or amused,by thanin the morphologyin itself. A schoolchildmay be interested, the peculiarelongatedshape of Chile on the map or the factthat it adds up to a larger size than France, but this interestis not on the same level as our direct interestin the formand size of Mount Shasta, say, in contrastwith the Sierra Nevadas. In a review of certainworks in German politicalgeography,Bowman once analysis,the detailedclassipouredridiculeon the elaboratedetailof morphological ficationof state-areasby size and shape leading,sofaras he could find,to no significantconclusions.13 In otherwords,thereis a certainfallacyin the comparisonof a state-areawith a landform. As a definitely organizedsectionof land, a state-areais a real phenomenon,but it is not an object as a mountainis an object. It is not of "direct ratherits place in a geographicstudyis due importanceto areal differentiation," to "its indirectimportancethroughits causal relationto otherphenomena."14 primarilyas it effects The morphology of a state-area,I conclude,is significant the functionsof the state. If that is true, aren't we puttingthe cart beforethe horse in startingwiththe detailsof morphologyin order in each case to look for significant relationsto functions? I suggestthat this is anotherexample of our inheritancein geographyin general,which leads us to look firstat the physical forhuman and thenattemptto draw conclusionsabout its significance environment relations. So I suggestthatwe startwiththe functionsof politicallyorganizedareas, and thatwe maintainthis procedurethroughout. LIMITATION

IN

SCOPE

OF THIS

PAPER

In confining our attentionto politicallyorganizedareas, I do notmean to assert by implicationthat there are not other political phenomenaof concern to the in votinghabitsof geographer. Wright'sclassic studyof the areal differentiation contribution to a fullunderstanding of the Americanpeople is a highlysignificant the geographyof this country.15 Wigmore and Whittleseyhave examined the areal distributionof different legal codes over the world.'6 If such studies are In Geographical Review,XVII (1927): 511-512. Natureof Geography, p. 464. 15JohnK. Wright,"Voting Habits in the United States," GeographicalReview,XXII (1932): 666-672. 16 JohnH. Wigmore,"PresentDay Legal Systemsof the World," Geographical Review, XIX (1929): 120; Whittlesey, The Earth and The State,pp. 557-565. 13 14


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valuable contributions to geography,as I thinktheyare, it would be pedantic,at this stage of our developmentat least, to discuss whethertheyforma part of an integratedfieldof politicalgeographyor are to be classifiedin some otherbranch, such as social geography. Sufficeit to say thata distincttypeof problemis presentedus in the studyof the geographyof politicallyorganizedareas and I will thereforeconfinemyselfto thattypeof problem. levels of politically-organized There are of course manyvarietiesand different areas. If one were studyingcertainareas of Africaor Asia at an earlierperiodof history,one would be primarilyconcernedwith the very loose formof territorial organizationeffectedby tribal units. In a future,we trust better,world, the geographermay be concernedwiththe politicalorganizationof large international territories-ultimately, one hopes,of the whole world. In the presentworld,howterritories, which together ever, there are but two types of politically-organized importancecovertheoretically the entireinhabitedworldand are of transcendent namely,the areas of the independent,sovereignstates and those of dependent or possessions,whichare organized countries,whethercalled colonies,protectorates, in greateror less degreeby membersof the firstgroup,the imperialstates. (This statementintentionally overlooksthe problemof definingthe actual statusof contriesat presentdisorganized,like China,or thosewhose independencefromoutside controlis debatable.) The uninhabitedoceans, togetherwith Antarctica,do not constituteunitsforstudyunderour major headingbecause theyare not politically organized. Their use and controlhoweverwill presentus withproblemsin consideringthe relationsamongthe politicallyorganizedareas. There is of coursea place forthe geographicstudyof politicallyorganizedareas of lower levels-the subdivisionsof states. The relationshipbetweenthe units at different levels is not howevercomparableto that in non-politicalregionalgeography. A sub-regionof the Corn Belt may includeall the functionsfoundin the Corn Belt, and its validityas a regionis independentof the largerregion. In concounties,or towntrast,thesubdivisionsof states-whetherprovinces,departments, excludedfromcertain ships-are generallycreatedby the stateand are specifically politicalfunctionsperformedforthemby the stateof whichtheyare a part. This statement mustbe qualifiedin significant, but on thewholeminor,degreein respect to the autonomousunits of federalstates-the States of the United States, or Australia,or the Provincesof Canada. Units of politicalorganizationat a higherlevelthanthe sovereignstatesinclude the empiresthathave been organizedindividuallyby certainof those states. Organizationsof territory includingmorethanone sovereignstatehave hithertobeen but both France and the Netherrepresentedonly by the BritishCommonwealth, lands are now attempting to constructsimilarorganizations. Finally studentsare not limitedto what exists; we are freeto use our imaginationto studythe potential basis for other larger units-whether an Arab union, a Western European Federation,a NorthAtlanticUnion, or a worldunion. For the purposesof this paper, I wish to focusattentionsolelyon one typeof This content downloaded from 198.103.104.11 on Thu, 05 Nov 2015 11:41:10 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

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politicalarea-the sovereignstate,even thoughthat ignoresthe large part of the worldthatis organizedin unitsdependenton outsidesovereignstates. My methodof proceduremay give the impressionof a secondmajor limitation -that I am concernedonly with the regionalapproach in politicalgeographythe studyof the individualstates-that I ignorethe systematicapproach. Other approach,thatwe must studentshave urgedthatwe shouldstartwiththesystematic and generalprincipleswhich firstestablishgenericconcepts,precise terminology, then can be applied to specific,regional,cases. I submitthat the historyof dethatwe must do both simultanevelopmentof geographyin generaldemonstrates ously and that,like both Ritter and Humboldt,we must start with specificand actual cases.'7 It is only in the attemptto make analyses of specificregionsthat we can determinewhat are the specifictopicsthatneed to be examinedsystematically for all states in order to yield genericconceptsand definitiveterminology. Failure to followthis procedurein the past has led, by deductivereasoningto a prioriprinciplesthathave not stood the testof comparisonwithreality. genericconcepts,we should not Even whenwe have establishedthe significant be over-sanguineof the possibilitiesof establishinggeneral principlesin political geography. In otherbranchesof geographywe deal with units-whetherlandforms,farms,factories,or cities-of whichthereare thousandsor even millions, many of them very much like each other in characterand purpose. The state unitsof politicalgeographynumberless than one hundredin the world,and each fromall the others. By dippingback intopast history of themis notablydifferent we may add a fewscoremorecases, but in doing so we run the dangerof carrying back assumptionsof motivationsand processesthatmay be valid todaybut not in the earlier historicalframework. More than in any otherbranch of geography thereforewe are handicappedin developingscientificprinciples,are restrictedto the considerationof unique cases.18 PRACTICAL

VALUE?

One finalstatementon the purposeof thispaper. Will it providea methodby which geographersmay undertakestudies directedto the solution of the great criticalproblemsfacingthe world today? Most certainlygeographersshould be urged to apply theirtrainingand knowledgeto the solutionof these problemsin all cases in which that trainingand knowledgeis adequate to aid more than it hinders. But let us not deceive ourselves,for we will deceive few others. The major problemsthatface the worldtoday are not problemsin politicalgeography; and fortunately so. For our trainingand knowledgein this fieldare stillfarfrom adequateto prepareus to tacklewithassuranceany of its major practicalproblems. At the end of the First World War a major problemfacingthe world did fall rightin our field-the problemof reorganizingthe territorialdivisionof Europe 17 Cf. Nature of Geography:54-57,72-74,79-80.

For discussionofthisproblemin generalsee The Natureof Geography:378-386,431-434, 446-451. 18


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on a basis thatwould make it possibleforthe manynationalitiesof thatcontinent to live in productiveharmony. The geographerswho were called upon to assist at that time,'9howevermuch they could contributeof factualknowledge,were of thinkingin politicalgeography. drasticallyhandicappedby immaturity If todaywe mustleave to othersthe solutionof theproblemof theatomicbomb and the problemof CommunistRussia, we mustalso anticipateothercrises ahead. When the need comes for a soundlydevelopedscience of politicalgeography,we shouldbe preparedto offerit. I do not mean to say thatpoliticalgeographyhas at presentno value in public in teachingstudentsand adults,to affairs. We all have the constantopportunity, amongthinkingpeople concerningthe nature contributeto a wider understanding oftheworldwe live in and its international problems. Further,those of us who have attainedspecializedknowledgeand understanding of particularforeignareas of concernto this countrymay be called upon to offerbothinformation and advice to our government.We are rightlyproudof the factthatduringand since the war manyof us have been called upon for such sernot only for us, but for our countryif geogvice. It will be a greatmisfortune, to students,the public,and the governraphersare preventedfromcontributing mentthe maximumof objective knowledgeand of sincere and loyal counsel on foreigncountries. But insofaras we geographersare able to contributeto the problemsof Americanforeignpolicy,we find ourselves-like our colleagues in othersocial science fields-exposed to the danger of attack frompoliticaldemagogues who findin any divergenceof opinionfromtheirown a sign of disloyalty to the state. We cannotforeseewherethe blindlightningof ignorancewill strike, but mustrecognizethatsuch attackon any one of us is attackon the freedomand integrity of all our profession.20 At thesame time,thefreedomwe requireas scientistscarriesspecialobligations, greaterthan those of ordinarycitizens. Amateurishideas or foolishproposals frommenof no standingmaydo littleharm. But whenwe writeas professorsand as geographers,the public presumesthat we speak with some authorityand they cannotknow how littlethat authoritymay be in the fieldof politicalgeography. We mustrecognizethat,as long as our knowledgeis as unorganizedas it is in this field,and commonlywithoutdiscipline,some of us may contributeonly misunderor of standing. In particular,the publicationin criticaltimesof misinformation, to representmorethanthepersonalviews irresponsible recommendations purporting Annals of 19 See "War Servicesof Membersof theAssociationof AmericanGeographers," of IX (1919): 53-70. A list,probablyincomplete, theAssociationof AmericanGeographers, "RecentDevelopments broughtto Paris is givenin RichardHartshorne, Europeangeographers op. cit.,p. 791. in PoliticalGeography," 20 If to anyfuture ofthisparagraphis notclear,theymaycountthemreadersthepertinence mindedmayfindthe pertinforlivingin a betterera. Anywho are historically selvesfortunate by lookingto the frontpages of almostany Americannewspaperfor any day ent connection duringthemonthof March,1950.


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of the author,or of such a characteras to arouse animosityin foreigncountries can do seriousdamage to thiscountry-as we learnedduringthe last war.2' We may have produced no atom bombs in politicalgeography,but the field strewnwith dynamite-it is no place for sophomoresto play with nonetheless is matches. Fortunately,we appear to have escaped the danger of repeating,in Americanterms,the crimeof those of our colleagues in Germanywho were responsiblefor the dangerousdoctrinesof geopolitics.22But we will be exposed to similardangersuntilthe foundationsof our knowledgein this fieldare on a much firmerbasis thanappearsnow to be thecase. to public thinkingbe more than additional Only then will our contributions small voices enteringthe generalargument. The functionof scientificlearningis to establishknowledgeon such firmfoundationsthat argumentdisappears,and acceptancebecomes relativelyenduring. This we can accomplishonly the long, hard way. We mustget at thefundamentals;lay thegroundworkfora solid structureof knowledge,on thebasis of whichwe mayhope one day to arriveat applicationsof sound value in the solutionof actual problems. ANALYSIS

OF THE

POLITICAL

GEOGRAPHY

OF A STATE:

INTERNAL

I propose,as stated earlier,to considerthe centralproblemsof politicalgeography in termsof the functionsof state-areas. What comes first? The fundamentalpurpose of any state,as an organizationof a sectionof land and a section of people,as Ratzel firstput it, is to bringall the varied territorialparts,the diverse regionsof the state-area,intoa singleorganizedunit. What does thestateattemptto organize,in all regionsofthe state-area? In all cases, it attemptsto establishcompleteand exclusivecontrolover internal political relations-in simplestterms,the creationand maintenanceof law and mustconformwiththe conceptsand institutions order. Local politicalinstitutions of the central,overall,politicalorganization. familyorganization,religion,and eduIn manysocial aspects-class structure, cation-a state may tolerateconsiderablevariationin its differentregions. But of these factorsto politicallife,thereis a tendency-in because of the significance some statesa verymarkedeffort-toexertunifyingcontroleven over these institutions. In the economicfield,every modernstate tends to develope some degree of 21 The evidence publishedin a popular thatan articlein "politicalgeography" demonstrating bothallied and in several foreigncountries, Americanmagazinecaused seriousrepercussions of statements or in confidential documents neutral,is stillclassifiedmaterialin statedepartment one of our ambassadors. of Geopolitik forthe development 22 It shouldbe added thatthe menprimarily responsible see Carl Troll,"Geograwereforthemostpartnotmenof highstandingin Germangeography, phic Science in Germany,1933-1945,"Ainnalsof the Associationof AmericanGeographers, Americanstudentswere of geopolitics, XXXIX (1949): 128-135. Of thedangeroustendencies "Recent warned-inwhatappearsnow as muchtoo cautiousa manner-inRichardHartshorne, op. cit.,pp. 960-965. in PoliticalGeography," Developments


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unityof economicorganization. At the minimum,it establishesuniformcurrency, and some degreeof controlover external in economicinstitutions, some uniformity economicrelations. Beyond that,states of course vary greatlyin the degree to whichall aspectsof productionand trade-price and wages levels,etc.-are placed underuniformcontrol. because we live in a world in which the conFinally,and most importantly, is subject to the threatof destructionby other state-unit of tinuedexistence every states,everystate must striveto secure the supremeloyaltyof the people in all its regions,in competitionwith any local or provincialloyalties,and in definite oppositionto loyaltyto any outsidestate-unit. Throughoutthis statementof the organizationof the state-areaas a unit,the geographeris primarilyconcernedwith emphasis on regional differences. The state of course is no less concernedto establishunityof controlover all classes of populationat a singleplace. In politicalgeography,our interestis in the problem of unificationof diverse regionsinto a single whole; the degree of vertical unificationwithinany horizontalsegmentconcernsus only as a factoraiding or handicappingregionalunification. Parenthetically, we may also note the ways in whichthis primaryfunctionof the stateaffectsthe generalfieldof geography. Land-use, industrialdevelopment, trade,and a countlesslist of social aspects of humangeographyin any regionwill differin greateror less degreeas a resultof the effortsof the state in whichit is includedto controlits developmentas part of a singlewhole. Only the peculiarity of geographicstudyin such a large countryas the United States, where we are of our single state,has usuallyforcedto do most of our work withinthe territory permitted us to studygeographyas thoughwe could ignorepoliticalgeography. Our analysisof the primaryfunctionof any state leads directlyto the primary problemof politicalgeography. For no state-areaconstitutesby the natureof its land and people,a naturalunit fora state,in whichone merelyneeds to create a whichshall proceedto operateit as a unit. The primaryand continugovernment ing problemof everystate is how to bind togethermore or less separate and diverseareas intoan effective whole. For the politicalgeographer,thispresentsa wide rangeof specificproblemsfor analysis. In everystatearea, largerthansuch anomaliesas Andorraor Liechtenstein,the geographerfinds: (1) regionsthatare more or less separatedfromeach otherby physicalor humanbarriers; (2) regionsthatin greateror lesser degree divergein theirrelationswith outside states; and (3) regionsthat differamong themselvesin characterof population,economicinterests,and politicalattitudes. at each of thesetypesof problems.* Let us look briefly * Throughout thisdiscussiontheterm"region"is used to indicatemerelyan area in some thata regionis a unit. See or different fromneighboring way distinct areas,withno implication The Natureof Geography op. cit.,Chap. IX.


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Centrifugal Forces Geographersare familiarwiththe effectof particulartypesof physicalfeatures in handicappingcommunicationbetweenregions. Semple and others have describedfor our own earlyhistorythe politicalconsequencesof the forestedAppalachians and later of the mountainand desert barrierof the west. Whittlesey's studyof the Val d'Aran depictsin detail the problemin that bit of Spain north of the Pyrenees.23 In most modernstates,however,these problemshave largely beenovercomebythedevelopment ofthetelegraphand therailroad. They continue of importancehoweverin parts of the Balkans, in the highlandstates of Latin America,and in China. Since state-organization requirescommunication not only fromone region to the next, but froma centralpoint to each peripheralregion,distanceitselfis a centrifugal factor. Obviouslydistancewithina statedependson its size and shape. Size and shape are significant to the state in other,quite different respects,but I suggestwe wait untilwe have determinedthatin our analysis,ratherthanattempt to proceeddeductively fromsize and shape to consequences. Of humanbarriers,the most commonis the absence of humans. Uninhabited or sparselyinhabitedareas were, until recently,difficult and dangerousto cross. It was primarilyon this accountthat relativelylow mountains,in centralEurope or the Appalachians,long functionedas dividingzones. Even in the Alps, the problemof surmounting highelevationswas less serious,in the Middle Ages, than the difficulty of securingsupplies along the way and the ever-presentdanger of attackfrom"robberbarons." Further,the presenceof such relativelyemptyareas created,and stillcreates,a feelingof separationin the regionson eitherside. Both on this accountand because of distance,oceans continueto functionas the strongestseparatingfactors, otherthan the Arcticice, even thoughtheyhave long been crossed with relative ease. transFrance has firstinauguratedthe interesting experimentof incorporating oceanic areas into the organizationof its state. Its West Indian islands and the ofmetropolitan islandof Reunionin theIndian Ocean are now departments France, sendingdelegatesto its nationalassembly. We may be about to do the same with Hawaii. barrierto overcomeis separationby a zone populated Perhaps themostdifficult by a different people, especiallyan unfriendly people. The Germanshave apparentlyconvincedtheworldthattheseparationofEast Prussia bythePolish Corridor was an experimentthat is neverto be repeated. (They overlookedthe factthat to thatdevice.) 24 therewerenotone buttwo alternatives Serious difficulties may arise for a state if any of its regionshave closer rela23

"Trans-PyreneanSpain: The Val d'Aran,"ScottishGeographical DerwentWhittlesey,

Magazine, 1933: 217-228. XXXVI (1937): 24Richard Hartshorne,"The Polish Corridor,"Journalof Geography,

161-176.


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tionswithregionsof outsidestatesthanwiththosewithinthe state. This is commonlythe case where a boundaryhas been changedso that it now cuts across an withina singlestate. The partitionof Upper Silesia, in 1922, prearea formerly senteda particularlyintensecase.25 But thereare many cases, not dependenton boundarychanges,in whicha regionhas closer connections,particularlyeconomic connections,with regionsof other countriesthan with other regionsof its own state. We are familiarwith the politicalimportanceof this factorin each of the major regionsof Canada, each more closely related in certainrespectswith the adjacent areas of the United States than with the otherregionswithinthe Doamongthe regionsof the state-area minion. In some cases mutualinterdependence is less than the dependenceof individualregions on remote,overseas countries. in whicheach stateunit This is a major problemof the AustralianCommonwealth, is primarilydependenton separate trade with Great Britain. In Western Australia,this factor,togetherwith notablephysicaland hunianseparationhas led at times to demand for secession from the Commonwealth. NortheasternBrazil offersa somewhatsimilarproblemforstudy. The geographerhowevermustbewareof drawingconclusionsfromthe physical map, or, on the otherhand, of assumingthat an economicsituationto which we are accustomedrepresentsa "normal" developmentin economicgeographyindependentof a particularpoliticalframework. Consider southernCalifornia,separated by thousandsof miles of desert and mountainfromthe main body of the United States,facingthe Pacifichighwayto denselypopulatedlands of the Orient. And yet which region of the United States is more completelybound into the economyof the countryas a whole? All the previousexamplesare relativelyextremecases. In most instancesthe potentialitiesare highlyflexible. The plain of Alsace, separatedfromthe rest of France by the ruggedheightsof the Vosges, facingsouthernGermanyacross the narrowband of the Rhine flood-plainand easilyconnectedwithnorthernGermany by that navigableriver-with which state does it fitin termsof economicgeography? Surely the answer mustbe that in termsof moderntechnologyall these of the featuresare of minorimportanceand in termsof the economicpotentialities area it can be associatedalmostequally well in eitherthe French or the German economicunit. Separationof regionsby barriersor by divergenceof outsideconnectionsare forcesthat resultfromdiversityof commonlyless importantthan the centrifugal characterof the population. To secure voluntaryacceptanceof a single common organizationrequires some degree of mutual understanding;obviouslythis is easier in a populationhomogeneousin character. Further,where regionsdiffer of in social character,the tendencyof the stateto forcesome degreeof uniformity social life meets with resistance. Thus the very attemptto produce unitymay 25 RichardHartshorne, "Geographicand PoliticalBoundariesin Upper Silesia,"Annals of XXIII (1933): 195-228. the Associationof AmericanGeographers,


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intensifydisunity. Hungary, before 1918, was the classic example; since then Yugoslavia has been perhapsthe leading,among several,successors. What particularsocial characteristics maybe importantdependson the particular state. Everyonethinksof language and religion. I suggest,also, education and standardsof living,typesof economicattitudesand institutions, attitudestoward class and racial distinctions, and, especially,politicalphilosophy. For materialson thesetopicswe look to thatbranchof geographythathas been least developed-social geography. In mostcases what materialswe have provide onlythe raw data, the factsabout the distribution of,say, religionsor races,rather thanthe regionaldifferences in social attitudestowardsthese facts; it is the latter thatwe need. Thus, the factthatAlsace was predominantly Roman Catholic,like France but unlikemost of Germany,was less importantthan the factthat its attitudetoward therelationof churchand statewas similarto thatin the GermanEmpire of 18711918, and was in conflictwith the anti-clericalattitudeof the French Republic. in the termsstudiedby the physicalanthropologist, Racial differences, may be of no relevanceto our problem. The distribution, percentage-wise, in the different countriesof Europe, ofblondesand brunettes, dolichocephalic versusbrachycephalic -what does it matter? These factshave no reflection in social or politicalattitudes in those countries. Though standardmaterialin most geographiesof Europe, I submitthattheyhave no significance to politicalgeography,or forthatmatter,to geographyin general. in attiIn contrast,the United States is a countryin whichregionaldifferences tudes of people towardthe racial componentsof the regionalgroup-as indicated by skin color-are of tremendousimportancein social, economic,and politicallife. in racial composition,26 We have mapped and studied the underlyingdifferences in attitudes. but we have not studiedthephenomenonitself-namelythe differences kinds and degrees of Jim We need a map, a series of maps, portrayingdifferent Crowismin the United States. These I would rate as a firstrequirementfor an understandingof the internalpoliticalgeographyof the United States, for in no otherfactordo we findsuch marked regional cleavages, such disruptionto the nationalunityof our state. For geographyin general,in one quarterof our counfactorsin everyaspectof thehumangeography, try,theseattitudesare fundamental relatedto its physicalgeography. and are significantly Geographersare more familiarwith differencesin economic interests,since theseare more closelybound to the land. But theseare seldomseriouslydisrupting to nationalunity. It is true that almosteverymodernstate has experienced markedpoliticaltensionbetweenthe divergentinterestsof highlyindustrialregions and those of still primarilyagriculturalareas. But these very differencestend ratherthan competing,interests. Even when competing, to lead to interlocking, 26 RichardHartshorne, Review,XXVIII "Racial Maps of theUnitedStates,"Geographical (1938): 276-288.


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Marx to the contrarynotwithstanding, are easier to comproeconomicdifferences, in social and politicalattitudes. mise thandifferences the state is onlyin partialdegree an economicunit. Since it is Furthermore, basicallya politicalunit,the state necessarilyimposesthe greatestdegree of uniformityin politicallife. Political attitudesare peculiarlyinflexible. If a region is accustomedto one set of politicalconcepts,ideals and institutions-mostespeciallyif its people feelthattheyhave foughtin the past to establishthose political to bringthemunder the commoncloak of a values-it may be extremelydifficult in separatestateshave volunsystem. Even whereregionsformerly quite different tarilyjoined togetherto forma state,on the basis of commonethniccharacter-for examplethethreePolish areas in 1918,or the Czech and Slovak areas-the marked problems. in past politicaleducationled to difficult difference In times and areas of relativelyprimitivepolitical developmentsuch factors areas of relativelymaturepoliwere no doubtof minorimportance.In long-settled tical developmenttheymay be of firstimportance. The classic exampleis, again, to the FrenchRevolution,the people of thatprovince Alsace. Thanks particularly had become strongsupportersof political concepts,ideals, and institutionsthat monarchyof Hohenauthoritarian could not be harmonizedwithinthe semi-feudal, zollernGermany. Conversely,one may understand,on this basis, the negative reactionof the Swiss in 1919, to the proposal that the adjacent Austrianprovinceof Vorarlberg shouldbe added to theirstate.27 CentripetalForces The precedingdiscussionof politicalattitudespointsto an essentialingredient thathas been lackingin thediscussionup to thispoint. We have been considering a varietyof centrifugal factorsin theregionalgeographyof a state-areawhichmake to bind those regionstogetherinto an effectiveunit. In considering it difficult may be overcome,we have not asked whethertherewas any how such difficulties anythingtendingto pull these regions forceworkingto overcomethe difficulties, togetherinto a state. This, omissionI suggest,has been the singlegreatestweaknessin our thinking in politicalgeography. If we see an area markedclearly on both physicaland ethnicmaps as suitablefora state,butwhichformanycenturieswas notintegrated as a state-as in the Spanish peninsula,the Italian peninsula,or the Germanareawe cudgel our heads to findfactorsin its internalgeographythat will explain the failure. We forgetthatbeforewe speakoffailure,we mustask whatwas attempted. The Italian peninsula,togetherwith the northernplain attachedto the mainland but isolatedby the Alps, witha settledpopulationspeakingapproximatelya commontonguesince the Middle Ages, has offeredone of the most obvious geo27 As reported to me yearslaterby two geographers:LawrenceMartin,who had been sent to Switzerlandby PresidentWilsonto soundout the Swiss reaction,and Peter H. Schmidt,of St. Gallen,withwhomhe had discussedthe proposal.


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graphicunitsof Europe forthe developmentof a state. Yet Italy,as an Austrian ministerjeered, was only a geographicexpression; therewas nothingthat could be called even the beginningsof a state of Italy. For no one of importancehad any idea of producingan Italian state and had anyone tried,his purpose would have shatteredin conflictwithtwo opposingideas: one, the conceptof the Papal States,the secularcontrolof mid-Italyby the Pope in orderto securehis undivided dominationof Rome as the spiritualcapital of Western Christendom;the other, the conceptof a singlegreatempirein the heartof Europe, extendingfromnorthern Germanyto northernItaly. Only afterthe power of thesecenturies-oldideas had been irrevocablydestroyedby the fermentof the French Revolutionwas it possibleforany Italian leader to considerseriouslythe unification of Italy. One of the conceptsthat preventedintegrationin Italy is likewisethe key to the failureof medievalGermanyto develop a unifiedstate,at the time when the kingdomsof France and England were beingeffectively established. For centuries the personsholdingthe titleof King of Germany,and whateveropportunity that mightgive, were far more affectedby the highertitleof Emperor. Inspired by the granderidea of reincarnating the empireof Rome, theyfoughtto build a state straddlingthe Alps, unitingmany different peoples. The sacrificesmade in the vain attemptto accomplishthe greateridea destroyedthe possibilityof achieving the lesser when later emperorsfinallywere reducedto consideringGermanunity. The fact that a countryhas a name and a government, that an international treatyrecognizesits existenceas a state and definesits territoriallimits-all that does notproducea state. To accomplishthat,it is necessaryto establishcentripetal forcesthatwill bind togetherthe regionsof thatstate,in spiteof centrifugal forces thatare always present. The State-Idea The basic centripetal forcemustbe someconceptor idea justifying theexistence of this particularstate incorporating these particularregions; the state must have a raisond'etre-reason forexisting. Althoughignoredin much of the literatureof politicalgeography,this is not a new thought. Ratzel definedthe state as a sectionof land and a sectionof huidea.28 Maull, manityorganizedas a singleunitin termsof a particular,distinctive amongotherGermangeographers,has discussedthe conceptat some length.29It was presentedto thisAssociationa decade ago.30 At the primitivelevel,Ratzel explained,thisidea may be no morethanthe will of a rulerto which,forwhateverreasons,all the regionalpartsthroughtheirlocal leaders granttheirloyalty. In such a case, as in the empireof Charlemagneor thatof GhengisKhan, the statemay endurehardlylongerthan the lifetimeof the FriedrichRatzel,PolitischeGeographie, 3rd ed., Munichand Berlin1923,pp. 2-6. Otto Maull,PolitischeGeographie, Berlin1925,pp. 112-115. 30RichardHartshorne,"The Conceptsof 'Raison d'Etre' and 'Maturityof States'," (abXXX (1940): 59. stract),Annalsof theAssociationofAmericanGeographers, 28

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individualruler. In the attemptto perpetuatethe bindingidea of loyaltyto a personal ruler,there evolved the concept of hereditarymonarchy. Where that succeeded,however,we findtherewas always somethingmore-politically-minded people in the various parts of the kingdomcame to regardthe state,for reasons independentof the monarch,as representing somethingof value to them. Today the monarchicalinstitutionis safe only in those states in whichthe monarchhas exchangedtheactivepowerto rule forthepassive role of personification of the nationalheritage. To be sure, a state in whichthe originalidea has lost its validitywill not fall apart at once. The forcesof inertia,vestecfinterests,and fearof the consequences of changemay keep it goingmoreor less effectively forsome time. But inevitably a structurethathas lost its originalraisond'etre,withoutevolvinga new one, cannot hope to stand the stormsof externalstrifeor internalrevoltthat sooner or laterwill attackit. For when that day comes,the state,to survive,must be able to count upon the loyalty,even to the death,of the populationof all its regions. It is not merecoincidencethatthe termsI have been using came to me froma Viennesegeographer, in his analysisof thefailureof the Habsburgmonarchy.Unless Austria-Hungary, Hassinger wroteafterthe First World War, had been able to discoverand establisha raison d'etre,a justification forexistence,even without the calamityof thewar, it could not long have continuedto exist.3' Those statesare strongest,Ratzel had concluded,"in whichthe politicalidea of the statefillstheentirebodyof the state,extendsto all its parts."32 What does this mean for our studyof the politicalgeographyof a state? It means,I am convinced,thatbeforewe can begin to studythe problemspresented by the centrifugalforcesI have previouslyoutlined,we must firstdiscoverthe motivatingcentripetalforce,the basic politicalidea of the state. Under what concept,forwhat purposes,are theseparticularregionsto be boundtogetherinto one politicalunit,absolutelyseparatedfromeveryotherpoliticalterritory? Does this seem too remotefromgeography? Too much like politicalscience? The studentof geographyof climatesmustunderstandthe natureof air-masses,as analyzed by the meteorologist.We cannot intelligently study the geographyof soils until we have grasped the soil scientist'sanalysis of soil types. In agriculturalgeographyit is not sufficient, we now know,to studycrops and animals; we are concernedwiththe farmunitof organizationof crops fromfields,livestock in barnsand pasture,all directedtowardultimateproductionof foodforthefarmer and productsto be sold fromhis farms. We are not readyto begin the studyof farm geographyuntil we have analyzed the farmer'spurpose-the idea under whichhis piece of land is organized. Geographersusuallyknowquite a bit about farming,so theymay knowbeforehand what is in the farmer'smind,or perhapstheycan inferthatfromobservation 31Hugo Hassinger,in R. Kjellen and K. Haushofer,Die Grossniichte vor und nach dem Berlinand Leipzig,1930,p. 34. Weltkriege, 32 Ratzel,op. cit.,p. 6.


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of thevisiblefacts-the fields,silo,corncrib,or cow-barn. But to knowforcertain, you mustask thefarmer. Whom shall we ask concerningthe idea of the particularstate? Obviouslyone mustgo to thosewho actuallyoperatethe statein question. This is not so easy as in the case of the farmor factory. A modernstate is an organizationoperated,in greateror less degree,by all of thepolitically-minded people includedin it-ideally its entireadult population. One mightlogicallysuppose thatgeographersshouldbe able to findthe answer to this questionin studies in politicalscience. Unfortunately, fromour point of view,politicalscientistsseem to have concernedthemselvessolelywiththe idea and purpose of the genericstate-the purposes,that is, thatare commonto all states. This ignoresthe very thingthat is of directconcernto the geographer-namely the idea thatis distinctfortheparticularstatein contrastwiththatof otherstates, that which makes,for significantdifferencesfromcountryto country. Perhaps thatmeansthatit is logicallya problemforthe geographer. In any case, unless we can findthe answerto this fundamental questionin the works of otherstudents-perhapsof the historiansif not the politicalscientistswe are apparentlyforcedto work it out for ourselves. We must discoverand establishthe unique distinctiveidea underwhicha particularsectionof area and of humanityis organizedintoa unitstate. I realize thatthe problemis remotefromthe geographer'strainingand knowledge. But yearsof stumblingefforthave convincedme thatthereis no circumventing it. Until we can determineforany particularstate the idea underwhichit is organized,we shall have no basis on whichto analyze its politicalgeography;we shall not have startedon the significant contribution that geographycan make to the studyof states. Perhaps we exaggeratethe difficulty of the problembecause it is unfamiliar. To pin down preciselythe particularidea on whichany state is based is certainly but study of the essentialhistoricaldocumentsmay enable one to very difficult, come fairlyquicklyto a roughstatementsufficiently close to the markto be usable. Let me give you a case in whichone of my advanced graduatestudents33 had particulardifficulty-the state of Iraq. He finallyarrivedat somethinglike this: The idea of an Iraqi state sprang fromtwo factors: (1) the recognitionby the Great Powers of the special strategicand economicsignificance of the Mesopotamian region,and (2) theneed to providea pied a terreforArab nationalismbanished fromSyria. On the basis of thesetwo considerations therewas establisheda territoryembracingthe settledArab regionof the Tigris-Euphratesplain,togetherwith adjacent but dissimiliarregions of mountainand desert tribes,the whole to be developedas a separateArab state. You note that the idea of this state was a compoundof purposes and those, external:foreigndiplomacyand transportednationalistfire. That was the case in 1919. One would need to determinewhetherthe Iraqi have since evolveda truly nativeconcept. manuscript. 33Mr. JohnPatersonin an unpublished


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In mucholder states,we mayexpectto findthatan indigenousraisond'etrehas evolvedthatmay have littleor no relationto the originalgenesis. To determine the distinctiveidea of such,a state,therefore we must studythe currentsituation, ratherthantheremotepast. In the well-developedmodernstatepolitically-minded people in all regionsof the state-areaare consciousof theirloyaltyto the stateand have some commonunderstanding, even thoughnot clearlyphrased,of what that statemeansto them. In such a case, we may recognize,I think,the existenceof a nation-as somethingdistinctfromthe state itself. The Conceptof Nation At what I choose to call the moreprimitivelevel,the conceptof nationrepresentssimplya feelingof kinship,of belongingtogether,an extensionof the concept of family,more properlyan extensionof the conceptof the in-groupversus outsiders. While usuallyexpressedin termsderivedfromthe languageof the family -terms like "blood," "breed," "race," etc.,-it is in realityless of kin and more of kind-similarityof cultural,ratherthan of biologicalcharacteristics. The direct significanceof this elementaryconceptof nationalityto the state lies firstin the factthat all peoples tend to prefergovernmentby those of their own kind,even if inefficient or unjust,ratherthan any governmentover themby foreigners, howeverbeneficient.The second reason is thatthe individualseeks to identifyhimselfwithhis state; nationality,someone said, is "pooled self-esteem." Indeed the stateis sure of the loyaltyof the people onlyif thereis such identification. Each citizenmustfeelthatthe state is "his" state,its leaders,"his" leaders. For this to be possiblehe mustfeel thatthose who operatehis state,who govern him,are people like himself. The main purposeof a statehoweveris not the furtherance of a particularlanguage or culture. Its main purposesare political. The values over which it has completecontrolare politicalvalues. As the people in a state maturein positive politicalexperience,theirfeelingof belongingtogetherbecomesless dependenton the such obvioussimilaritiesas commonlanguage,and moredependenton common adherenceto particularpoliticalconcepts,ideals,and institutions.It is forthesake of thesethattheyare readyto devotetheirultimateloyaltyto theirstate. It is in termsof these concepts,more specificallydefinedto fitthe particular case, thatwe can explaintheevolutionof a Swiss nationout of a collectionof many smallregions,usingfourdifferent languages,separatedby imposingphysicalbarriers, with sharplydivergingoutside connections,and originallybroughttogetherby a seriesof historicalaccidents,includingforceof arms. In sharp contrastto Switzerland,and the other small states of long historic evolutionin westernEurope, is the situationin mostof the small statesof Eastern Europe. These owe theirexistenceprimarilyto the oppositionof individualnationalities,based on culturalkinship,to alien rule,but the geographicdistribution of the nationalitiesmade impossiblea systemof stateseach confinedto the single nationality.In the relativelyshortperiodof theirindependentexistenceas states, none have been able to evolvepoliticalvalues and institutions commandingnational


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loyaltyon a higherlevel thanthatof culturalkinship-i.e., theyhave not been able to bringthe nationalminorities,presentin almosteverycase, into membershipin the nation. It is difficult to summarizethe analysisof the conceptof nation into a single I would suggest that a statement,but, for those readers who wish a definition, "nation"may be definedas a groupof people occupyinga particulararea who feel themselvesheld togetherin termsof commonacceptanceof particularvalues that are of such primeimportanceto themthattheydemandthattheirarea and people shouldbe organizedin a distinctstate,as thepoliticalagencyby whichthosevalues may be preservedand furthered.34 The relationsbetweenthe stateand the nationare mutualand manifold. In the older national states of westernEurope, the nation,as Vidal de la Blache has pointedout,was in no smallpart the productof the state. William of Normandy, as successorto the Anglo-Saxon kings,establisheda relativelyeffectivestate,the kingdomof England, later expanded to includeWales. In the process,however, whateverdegreeof Anglo-Saxon nationhad developedwas destroyedin the conflictwiththe NormanFrenchconquerors. But in the course of centuriesthe state createda new nation,the English. Althoughmost of the kingdomcame to have a commontongue,the conceptof the nationwas acceptedin areas of the statebeyond the limitsof the English language-notablyin the Celtichighlandsof Wales. The subsequentunion of two states, England and Scotland, each of which had evolved a distinctnationalcharacter,led in time to the developmentof a larger, single,Britishnation. On the otherhand,the greaterpart of the island of Ireland, thoughincludedin the English kingdomfor centuriesand largelyconvertedto English tongue,neverbecamepart of the Britishnation. Likewise therewas no French nation-nor even a commonlanguage of what we thinkof as the singleFrenchpeople-until centuriesafterthe kings of France unityoverthe statearea we call by thatname. had establishedmoreor less effective kindof example,the French-speaking cantonsof Lausanne, Or, to take a different Geneva,and the Valais were includedin the Swiss state long beforetheirpopulations came to regard themselvesas part of the Swiss nation,and the process of becomingpart of that nationinvolvedno lesseningin theiradherenceto the language of France ratherthanthe Germaniclanguageof the greaterpart of Switzerland. In Norway and Eire the relationof state and nationwas reversed:the nation antedatedand demandedthe state. In the case of Poland we see a nation,originallyproducedin part by the long historyof a state,which survivedthe total destructionof that state and more than a centurylater demandedthe restoration of the state. The story of Austria-Hungaryis particularlyilluminating. The Habsburg monarchydid not disintegratedirectlybecause of the large numberof different 34This statement is a productof exchangeof viewswithProfessorHardy Dillard,Dean of of Virginia. the Law School,University


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ethnicregionsof whichit was formed,but ratherbecause thatstate neverevolved thatcould gain acceptance,not to say enthusiasm, politicalconceptsor institutions in its diverseregions.35 For an example in currentprocess, consider Yugoslavia. Ignoring for the threeregionalgroups-Serbs, momenttheGerman,Magyar,and Albaniandistricts, Croats,and Slovenes-voluntarilyjoined to forma state. Though based on close relationshipof South Slavic language,the main motivatingimpulsewas opposition to foreignrule by GermanAustriaand Magyar Hungary. In the hope of creating a nationtheyinventeda new nationalword-Yugoslav. But findingno positive politicalconceptfortheirstate-or failingto make real the conceptof a federation of relatedbut different groups-the state became increasinglyan imperialexpansion of the dominantSerbian group. In consequence,under the forceof outside attack by Germany,it broke internally. Again, however,the commonsuffering under foreigntyrannybroughtincreasedunityof feelingamong the three Slavic groups. This rise of Yugoslav nationalismhoweverwas splitby the socio-political conflictof communistrevolution,dividingthe countryby classes, ratherthan by had thecapacityto win overtheadherenceof all thepeople regions. If communism of an area to its faith,thecountrymightattainnationalunityon thatbasis-but no doubtonlyto be mergedin the largerunityof a CommunistEastern Europe. Today, dictatorialorders fromoutside have again awakened Yugoslav nationalism. In the struggleagainstalien rule fromMoscow, the regionalnationalitiesmay conceivablybe mergedinto a genuineYugoslav nation-unless the class conflictinherentin communismdestroysthe possibilityof unityof the people of even the smallestarea. The United States,one of the moststrikingand intenseof nationalstates,pretype. The nationantedatedthe state,but was itselforiginally sentsstilla different onlya part of an older Britishnationthathad been developedby the United Kingdom. Separated fromits then larger part by the AtlanticOcean, the American firesof sectorbecame a new nation,broughtto high temperin the revolutionary the War forIndependence. But this new nationfounditselfthennot organizedin one state,but in thirteen. The Constitutional Conventionof 1787 was broughttogetherto createa single state organizationto serve a nationrecognizedas already in existence. One furtherramification may be brieflysuggested. Once the concept of a nationhas beenwell establishedwithinan area, its spreadoutwardis notnecessarily limitedby the frontierof the state-area. Thus, when the Frenchnationalarmyin 1792 enteredthe French-speakingregionsof Savoy, a regionthathad neverbeen a partoftheFrenchkingdom,theyfoundthatthenationalconceptsof revolutionary France had precededthem. The Savoyards,who had neverbelongedto a nation, but had merelybeen subject to a feudalstate lackingin politicalideals, were preA Post-Mortemin Political 35 RichardHartshorne,"The Tragedyof Austria-Hungary: XXVIII (1938): Geography,"(abstract)Annalsof theAssociationof AmericanGeographers, 49. This content downloaded from 198.103.104.11 on Thu, 05 Nov 2015 11:41:10 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

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pared to regardthemselvesas partof thenationof France. It would be interesting to comparetheirattitudewiththatof theFrench-speaking areas of Switzerlandand Belgiumwhichwere likewiseconqueredat thattimeby the Frencharmies. The Conceptof the"Core Area" These considerationsshould enable us to look more criticallythan has hitherto been done,I believe,at the conceptof the core area of a state. Commonlywe look at France, England, Scotland,or Sweden-the classic cases in whichthe core area appears so important,whetherin the historyof developmentof the state-areaor thatof the evolutionof nationalunity. Or we contrastthe situationin thosecountries with that in Spain, where the centralarea, the Meseta, is relativelyweak. But considerthe territory of the old kingdomof Hungary,where the core-areaof Magyar populationin the rich plain of the Mid-Danube would appear to provide thenaturalfocusforsurrounding smallerlowlandsand mountainhighlands. While this situationno doubt facilitatedconquestand organizationof the large area included in the kingdom,nationalunitywas neverachieved. In contrastthe manyscatterednuclei of the Norwegianpeople,connectedonly by sea, providedthe basis for nationalunityand a modernstate. In the United States, no one area ever functionedas a single core, but ratherthe associationof a large numberof regions,closely interrelatedin an ever-shifting balance, forms the basis foreffective unity. Clearlywe mustdraw negativeas well as positiveconclusions. A core area is neithersufficient nor essentialto the evolutionof a nationor state. What is essential is a commonidea thatconvincesthe people in all the regionsthattheybelong together. Historicallyin certainstatesa core area may have played a major role in spreadingthat idea to otherregionsand it may continuetoday as in France, Argentina,or Mexico, to focus the interestof the regionson itselfas the center of what has becomea functioning unit; but the commonidea for a state may develop whereno core area exists. The Applicationof theState-Idea in Political Geography Whateveris foundto be the raison d'etre,the underlyingidea of the state,it is withthisconcept,I submit,thatthe geographershould startin his analysisof the state-area. What use is he thento make of it? His firstconcernis to determinethe area to whichthe idea applies,then,the degreeto whichit operatesin the different regions,and finallythe extentof correspondenceof thoseregionsto theterritory actuallyincludedwithinthe state. On this basis we may approachthe mostelementaryproblemin politicalgeogwithinthelegal confinesof its territory, those raphy-namelythatof distinguishing regionsthat formintegralparts of the state-areain termsof its basic idea, and thoseparts thatmustbe recognizedas held under controlin the face of eitherinor of oppositionon the part of the regionalpopulation. difference The vastareas ofthesubarcticlands,whetherin Alaska, Canada, Sweden,or the This content downloaded from 198.103.104.11 on Thu, 05 Nov 2015 11:41:10 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

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Soviet Union, sparselypopulatedby primitivetribes,with a few scatteredsettlementsof civilizedpeoples,are organizedpoliticallyas thoughtheywere coloniesof under the an outsidestate,even wherethereis no break in the extentof territory same flag. The same is true of tropicallowland areas, in almost all the Latin Americancountries. In mostof the latter,theseessentiallyunorganizedterritories creditedto the country.36 constituteover halfthe total area officially A moredifficult for definition is raised in examiningthe areas of longquestion settledIndian populationin the highlandsof tropicalAmerica-both in Central Americanstatesand in the Andes. Are theseareas of nativelanguageand culture to be consideredas integralparts of statesor are theynot stillcolonialareas subject to outsidecontrol,even thoughthe centerof controlis not in Spain but in the neighboringdistrictsof Spanish-Americanculture? A similarsituationmay be foundin more highlydevelopedcountries. Thus duringthe centuriesin whichall of Ireland was recognizedin international law as part of the United Kingdom,its greaterpart was certainlyoperatedin fact as a subjectarea, distinctfromthecontrolling state. Much the same may be truetoday of certainportionsof the Soviet Union, notablythe so-calledrepublicsof Central Asia-but the difficulty of determining the actual operationsof the Soviet governmentmakedefinitestatementimpossible. On theotherhand,we have in theUnited States clear-cutthoughtinyrelicsof internalcolonialismin the Indian reservations. If the idea of the stateis based on the recognitionof the existenceof a nation, then the major geographicquestion to consideris whetherthere is close correspondencebetweenthe area of the nationand that of the state. Are thereregions withinthe statewhose populationdo not feelthemselvespart of the nation? Are there regions of the nation that are not includedwithinthe state-the issue of irridentism ? It is not easy to measurethe area to be includedin a particularnationalgroup. In manycases we mustapproachthe questionindirectly. If we can determinethe essentialfactorsinvolvedin the particularnationality, we may be able to measure the area over whicheach of these factorsexists. On this basis we may establish certainareas that are clearly includedin the given nation,and otherareas that adherein termsof some factors,but not in termsof others. The entirearea over which the nation extends,but in varyingdegreesof intensity,may thenbe comparedwiththe area presentlyincludedin the state. We have thus determinednot only the areal correspondenceof state and nation,but also the regionsin which the nationalcharacteris partial ratherthan complete. We shall therebyhave presented,in part in map form,the basic factorsand relationshipsinvolvedin the primaryproblemof politicalgeography-the analysisof the degreeto whichthe diverseregionsof the state constitutea unity. 36 For morecomplete withan attempt discussion, to maptheseareas see RichardHartshorne, "The Politicio-Geographic Patternof theWorld,"Annalsof theAmericanAcademyof Political and Social Science,CCXVIII (Nov. 1941): 45 ff.


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Internal Organization At this pointwe reach one otherproblemfor analysis-the relationof the internalterritorialorganizationof the state-areato the regionaldiversitieswe have analyzed. Though all the regionsof a state are clearlyincludedunder the stateidea, have completeloyaltyto the overall conceptsof the nationalunit, regional differences inevitablycause some differences in interpretation and implementation of those concepts. If thesedifferences are relativelyminor,as in mostof France or, I presume,in froma singlecentralauthorUruguay,the regionsmay acceptunitarygovernment ity. If the differences are great,the attemptto imposesuch a uniformsystemmay provokeoppositionendangeringthenationalunity. Since such regionaldifferences are importantin most countries,but most states attemptto operateunder a uniform,centralizedgovernment, the numberof examples of this type of problemis very large. Spain, at the moment,providesone of the most striking. Certainstatesrecognizeopenlythe need to permitdiverginginterpretations of the overall conceptsof that state and hence significantdifferences in the institutions and laws thereunder. This is the system of the federal state, of which Switzerlandprovidesthe oldest example,the United States the largest. In both is guaranteedby the constitutional cases, a notabledegree of regionalheterogeneity divisionof powers. In this countrywe are at the momentengagedin one of our periodiccrises in determiningjust how much social and politicalautonomyis to be permittedthe regions that are crudelyrepresentedby our so-called States. This crisis, incidentally,causes the Congress of the United States to work for the social and politicalgeographer,producingraw materialusefulto us in measuringdifferences in intensityof regionalattitudestowardsthe factsof racial composition. The possible ways of organizingthe state-areaare not limitedto the unitary and the federalsystems. The United Kingdom,for example,has evolved in the course of its long historya mostcomplicatedsystemunderwhichWales, Scotland, NorthernIreland,the Isle of Man, and the ChannelIslands-each has a different degree of autonomyadjusted to its particularlinguistic,religious,economic,and politicalgeography. In determining of a country,the studentmust the methodof state-organization not merelythe wordswrittenintoa constistudythe actual methodof government, of the Soviet Union grants tution. He will recognizethat while the constitution on paper more independenceto its memberrepublicsthan is true of the individual States of this country,and even thoughit encouragesand exploitsa great variety of languagesand folkcultures,in everyotheraspect of economicand politicallife it operatesits vast area of radicallydifferent regionsas a highlycentralized,monostate. lithic ANALYSIS OF EXTERNAL FUNCTIONS

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halfis concernedwiththe externalrelationsof the state-areato the otherareas of the world,whetherthose are also organizedas states,controlledby outsidestates, or unorganized. For conveniencewe may group these relationsas territorial, economic,political,and strategic. TerritorialRelations relationswe are of course concernedin the firstinstancewith Under territorial the degreeto whichadjacent statesare in agreementconcerningthe extentof territorywhicheach includes. Whetherthe area in questionis large or small,agreementultimatelyrequiresthe determination of a preciseboundary. Of all the problemsof international relations,theseconcerningthe allocationof of boundariesare the most obviouslygeoterritoriesand hence the determination graphic. It is no doubtforthatreasonthattheyhave been the mostcommonobject of studyby geographers. In the last two decades Americangeographerscan point to notableprogressin the developmentof genericconceptsand usefulgenboundaries.37 eralizations,if not definiteprinciples,concerninginternational In muchof thisworkhowever,we stilltendto starton the wrongfoot. In the initialclassification of internalboundarieswe have, as geographers,looked firstat the physicalcharacterof the zones in whichthe boundarylines are drawn. This is not a classificationof international boundaries,but ratherof the featureswith which such boundariesare associated. If we startwithwhat we are studying-thestate-areas-we can recognizethe essentialfunctionof the boundaryfromits name: it is that line which is to be is under the acceptedby all concernedas boundingthe area in which everything jurisdictionof one state as against areas under differentjurisdiction. In welldevelopedregionsof the world it mustbe determinedto the exact foot. (Considerationof the functionsof a boundaryzone, as an elementof militarydefense,for example,is a separatequestionto be consideredelsewhere.) is the degree boundarytherefore The firstthingto knowabout an international to which it is acceptedby all the partiesconcerned-i.e., the adjacent states and the populationwhose statehoodis determinedby the locationof the boundary.3S Considerthe followingcases of international boundaries;the boundarybetween in thateach derivesmuch 37 The following seriesis unusualin Americanpoliticalgeography fromthe precedingstudiesand fromearlierstudiesby Europeangeographers:RichardHartshorne,"Geographicand PoliticalBoundariesin Upper Silesia," Annals of the Associationof XXIII (1933): 194-228; idem,"Suggestionon the Terminologyof AmericanGeographers, an der Universitat Leipzig,Heft des Vereinsder Geographen Mitteilungen PoliticalBoundaries," XXVI 14/15(1936): 180-192;abstractin Annalsof theAssociationof AmericanGeographers, Boundaries,New York, 1940; StephenB. Boggs, International (1936): 56 f.; S. Whittemore A HandbookforStatesmen,TreatyEditorsand BoundaryCommisJones,Boundary-Making: Press,1945. sioners,ColumbiaUniversity 38 A consideration boundariesfromthisapproachis given of a largenumberof international Aspects "A SurveyoftheBoundaryProblemsof Europe,"in Geographic in RichardHartshorne, of Chicago Press, 1938,pp. 163-213. Relations,C. C. Colby,editor,University of International


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Great Britain and France (includingthe Channel Islands with Great Britain); thatbetweenFrance and Spain; thatbetweenSwitzerlandand Italy (includingthe Ticino boundarythatreachesfar down the Alpine slopes almostto the Po Plain); and, finally,the boundarybetweenthe United States and Mexico both east and types of physicalzones. west of El Paso. These run throughradicallydifferent do not. But from the others divisions, ethnic Some correspondclosely with boundary,all are in the pointof view of the primaryfunctionof an international same category,namelythatof boundariescompletelyacceptedas finalby the states themselvesand the people of the borderareas. categoryis theFranco-Germanboundary(consideredas of 1930). In a different so by Germanyin the Though this was fullyaccepted by France and officially Treaty of Locarno, one could not assume that the Germanleaders intendedthat acceptanceto be finaland by imprisoningcertainof the local leaders in Alsace the its lack of faithin thecompleteacceptanceby the demonstrated Frenchgovernment Alsatianpeopleof theirinclusionin the Frenchstate. Still differentis the case of the German-Polishboundaryof the inter-war period,whichneitherstateacceptedas morethana temporarydivisionof territory claimedby both sides. Where boundariesrun throughprimitive,essentiallycolonial,regionswhichat presenthave very slightproductivevalue but offerpossibilitiesfor futureimporset of categories. Thus we may find tance,we may need to recognizea different themselvesto while not committing concerned, cases in whichfora timethe states in the wilderness, an ultimateboundary,raise no questionconcerningthe line lost but may at any momentchallenge,withthe forceof'arms,the line thathad apparentlybeen accepted.39 based on the primaryfuncIf we firstestablishsuch a systemof classification, tion of boundaries,and only then seek to determineto what extentthose of partypesof features-e.g., on naturaldivides ticularcategoriesare based on different of population,on ethnicdivisions,or on boundariesantecedentto state development-we may hope to avoid one of our more commonformsof geographicdeterminism. boundary(whetheror not it The second questionconcerningany international is fullyaccepted) is the degree to which its boundingfunctionis maintainedby the borderingstates,the degree,thatis, to whichall movementsof goods and percontrolledby theboundaryofficials. In examinsons across theline are effectively observethe ways in which the controlis will of course ing that,the geographer by the characterof the zone throughwhich the made easier or more difficult boundaryline is drawn. of a state A special aspect of boundaryproblemsemergeswhere the territory reachesto the sea. Though open to use by all, the seas are in factlittleused by Territorialclaimsin theUpperAmazon,"in Geographic 39Cf. RobertS. Platt,"Conflicting of ChicagoPress, 1938,pp. Problems,C. C. Colby,editor,University Aspectsof International 243-278.


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formostpurposesto definethe boundarysimplyas anyone. Hence, it is sufficient followingthe coast,as mosttreatiesdo. But forcertainpurposes,notablyfishing, of the line in the waters bordercontrol,and naval warfare,the exact determination law eitheras to may be critical. There is no overall agreementin international as part of of sea included the possession waters-the zone of territorial the width of the borderingstate-or as to the mannerin which the off-shoreline bounding thosewatersfollowsthe indentationsof the coast. The literatureon thisproblem is voluminous,but among geographers,Boggs, so far as I know,is the only one who has made special studyof the problem.40 The use of territorialwaters by merchantships of a foreignstate,commonly forthe purposeof enteringthe portsof the countryconcerned,representsthe most commonoccurrenceof use of territoryof one state for the purposes of another state. In this case the purposeis mutual. In other,more special cases, problems of a arise fromthe desireor need of the people of one stateto utilizethe territory foreigncountryin orderto have access to stillothercountries,or in some cases to a different part of theirown state. Both Canada and the United States have perwhose major of railroadsacross portionsof theirterritories mittedtheconstruction purpose was to connectregionsof the othercountry-e.g., the Michigan Central across Ontario fromDetroit to Buffalo,or the Canadian Pacific across the State of Maine fromMontrealto St. John,New Brunswick. European countriescommonlywill not tolerateforeignrailroads across their territories,but the Polish railroadsin the inter-warperiod operated,for Germany,throughtrainsbetween East Prussia and the main part of Germany. Nearlyall statesrecognizethe need of providingtransitservicefortradeacross of betweenstateson eitherside, thoughthis involvesa multiplicity theirterritories minor problemsof control. Most importantare provisionsfor transitfroman inland state to the seacoast in orderto have access to the countriesof the world accessibleby sea routes. The Grand Trunk Railroad of Canada, now a part of the Canadian National Railways,not only crosses New Hampshireand Maine to reachthe sea, but,when the winterice closes the St. Lawrence,uses the harborof Portland,Maine as its portof shipmentforforeigntradeof interiorCanada, which constitutesmost of the total trafficof that Americanport. In certainEuropean seem necessary:a sectionof a port,as at Trieste cases morespecificarrangements or Hamburg,may be allocatedexclusivelyto handle the transittrade of a foreign country.* Economic Relations Trade in commoditiesamongstatesin an essentialpart of the fieldof economic trade for which defigeography,treatedusuallyas simplya formof interregional economicreof international forms nite statisticshappen to be available. Other etc.,mightno less logicallybe studiedin ecolations,as in services,investments, 40 Boggs, op. cit.,pp. 184-192. * Air Transporthas ofcourseaddeda newvarietyoftransitproblems.


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nomicgeography,but as yetfewgeographershave attemptedto do this. While it is obviousthattheseeconomicrelationsbetweenindividualsor corporationsin one state and those in othersare somehowsignificant to the statesconcerned,it is by no meanseasy to determinewhatthatsignificance is. In consequencemanywriters in politicalgeographysee no alternativebut to throwin a sectiontreatingthe internationaltrade of the countryin standardeconomic-geographic fashion. In the analysisof a state-areathe need to considerits economicrelationswith outside areas arises fromthe fact that in many respectsa state operates,must operate,as a unit economyin relationwith other unit economiesin the world. The difficulties arise because,while it must operatecompletelyas a politicalunit, a state-areaoperatesonly partiallyas an economicunit. The firstproblemis to determineto what extentthe economyof one state-area is dependenton thatof others,thoughthe mereanalysisof self-sufficiency is onlya beginning. If one says thatthe United States producesa surplusof coal and iron, but is dependenton foreigncountriesfor much of its supply of tin, nickel,and manganese,of sugar and rubber-such a statement, even in precisepercentagefigures,tell us directlylittleof importance. If a countryhas plentyof coal and iron it can normallysecure the other metals mentionedfromwhereverin the world theyare produced. Under abnormalconditionsof war, or threatof war, it is essentialto knowthatthe manganesenormallycomes fromthe Transcaucususin the Soviet Union, the tin from British Malaya (but can be obtained in Bolivia), whereas the nickel comes fromadjacent Canada. Natural rubber supplies are availablein adequate amountsonlyin one remoteregion-Malaya-East Indies-but nearbyCuba can supplymostof our sugar needs. In general,the geographerwill analyze the economicdependenceof one statearea on othersin termsof the specificcountriesconcernedand theirlocationand politicalassociationin relationto the state he is studying. Since all sound tradingis of mutualadvantageto bothparties,to say thatone stateis economicallydependenton any othernecessarilyimpliesalso the converse. But the degree to whichany particularcommoditytrade,shippingservice,or investmentis criticallyimportantvaries in termsof the total economyof each of the two states concerned. It is only in this sense that the commonquestion "Is a particularstate economicallyviable?" has any validity,since everystate above the mostprimitivelevel is in some respectscriticallydependenton others. The problemis far fromsimple,but perhaps we can suggesttwo generalizations. As betweentwo countriesthat differgreatlyin the size of theirtotal national economy,the economicrelationshipsbetweenthem are more criticallyimportantfor the lesser country(though this mightnot be true under war conditions). This is true because these economicrelationships, whichmay be takenas equalized throughinternational balance of payments,will forma largerproportion of the totalnationaleconomyof the lesser state. An obvious exampleis foundin the relationof Eire to Great Britain,of Cuba to the United States. The second generalizationrests on the factthat the criticalsignificanceof the This content downloaded from 198.103.104.11 on Thu, 05 Nov 2015 11:41:10 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

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trade dependson the possibilityof alternatives, of findingothersourcesforneeded suppliesor othermarketsforproductswhichmustbe sold to maintainthe national economy. Most popular discussionstend to thinkonly of the former,whereas under the capitalistprofit-system under which most internationaltrade operates, it is the latterthat is more significant.The reason is thatfor most commodities of worldproductionthereare alternativesourcesof supplyat moderateincreasein cost; theremay not be alternativemarketseven at greatlyreducedsellingprices. Finally we may note thatrelativelyfew areas of the worldnow producea surplus of manufactured goods requiringa high degree of technologicaldevelopment and theseconstitutetherefore a relativelylimitedmarketforthe surplusof primary productsof farm,forest,and mine whichcan be producedwidelyover the world. Consequentlythe countriesproducingprimaryproducts,even the very necessities of life,may findit moredifficult to findalternativemarketsfortheirproductsthan the industrialcountriesproducingarticlesless essentialto life. With widerspread of industrialization over the world,this situationwould of course be altered,conceivablyreversed. It shouldnot be assumedhoweverthatthese roughgeneralizationswill provide the answerin any givencase. Considerthe problemposed by the independenceof Austria afterthe dissolutionof the Habsburg empire-a problemwhich Austria stillfaces. T'o surviveas a viable economicunit,Austrianeeded to maintainwith theadjacent regions,re-organizedas independentstates,a highdegreeof economic relationship. Its positionin competitionwith otherwisemore favoredregionsof industrialEurope, made it peculiarlydependenton marketsimmediatelyto the east. For these easternneighborssuch relationshipswere also necessaryfor the maximumeconomicprogress,but were not vitallynecessaryto economiclife. If, for political reasons, and to develop their own industriesat greater cost, they preferrednot to tradefreelywithAustria,theyhad the choiceof the less profitable plan, whereasfor Austria the alternativewas economiccollapse. In the nineteenthcentury,internationaleconomicrelations,thoughboth supportedand retardedby stateaction,were generallyoperatedas the privatebusiness of individualsand corporations. With the depressionof the 1930's, the rise of totalitarianstates,and the last war, therehas been an increasingtendencyforthe state itself to direct the operationsof internationaltrade and investment. In these respectsstates functionincreasinglyas economicunits so that the economic relationsamong them become increasinglyimportantin the politico-geographic analysisof the state. Political Relations is The mostobviousformof politicalrelationof a stateto any outsideterritory that of effective politicalcontrol-as a colony,possession,dependency,or "protectorate." Commonlywe recognizeonly a small numberof states as colonial,or imperial,powers: eight or nine in western Europe, togetherwith the United in islands States, Japan,Australia,and New Zealand (the two latterfunctioning This content downloaded from 198.103.104.11 on Thu, 05 Nov 2015 11:41:10 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

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of the SouthwestPacific). Germanywas eliminatedfromthe list by the First World War, Japan by the Second. If, however,we recognizethe colonialreality of areas adjacent to a state and legallyincludedin its territorybut actuallynot formingan integralpart of that state (as discussedearlierin this paper), the list is far longer-includingCanada, Norway, Sweden, the Soviet Union, China, the Union of South Africa,andmost of the Latin Americanstates. A new-comerto subjectto it in theprimithislist is the IndonesianRepublic,withlarge territories tive areas of Borneo,Celebes,Xetc. The legal formsof colonialrelationshipvary widely-even withina single empire, such as that of Great Britain. Further,these legal formsmay or may not the degreeto whichpoliticalorganizationis expressthe realityof the relationship, imposed and operatedby the outside state. It is the latter,I presume,that is our concernin politicalgeography. One characteristic of colonialareas thatis of particularconcernfromour pressystemof the home state entpointof view is the degreeto whichthegovernmental process of fullyincoris in the is extendedover the colonial territory. France France, but othersonly poratingcertainformerlycolonialareas into metropolitan partially. Many imperialpowers have always extendedtheirlegal systemsinto colonial areas so far as citizens fromthe home countryare concerned,so that withinany colonialarea theremay be an overlappingof two authorities-onehaving jurisdictionover citizensof the home state,the otherover nativepeople. in Many countriesrecognizedby treatyas independentstates,and functioning large degree as such, are nonethelessunder some particulardegree of political controlby an outsidepower. This may be limitedto utilizationof small fractions usuallythe armed services,of the of the territory of one stateby the government, other-e.g., Great Britain in militarycontrolof the Canal Zone of Egypt, the United States Navy at GuantanamoBay. The most important,relatively,is the Americancontrolfor essentiallyan indefiniteperiod,of the Panama Canal Zone, across themostpopulouspartof the Republicof Panama. In othercases, the outbut ratherexerciselimited side countrymaycontroldirectlyno partof theterritory, especiallyforeign of government, aspects control,as throughan adviser,over major has in thepast exerStates The United budget. national relations,customs,or the cised such controlfor limitedperiods over small states in the -Caribbeanarea; a group of outside powers for years operatedthe tariffcustomsof China to raise moneyto pay the Chineseforeigndebts. The clearestcase of politicaldomination of supposedlyindependentstatesby an outsidestatetodayis foundin the obvious controlby the Soviet Union over the internalpolicies as well as foreignpolicyof the "satellite"states on its west,fromPoland to Bulgaria, even thoughthis relationshipis expressedin no formaltreaties. Generallyspeaking,recognitionof independentsovereigntyof a state by the other states of the world presumesthat that state will maintainsimilarpolitical relationswithall friendlystates,will not be bound by special politicalassociations withany particularstates. Numerousexceptionshoweverare widelyrecognized. This content downloaded from 198.103.104.11 on Thu, 05 Nov 2015 11:41:10 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

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are recognizedas havingemerged Thus thedominionsoftheBritishCommonwealth fromcolonialto independentstatus,even thoughtheycontinueto be held together with the United Kingdom,extendingto in continuouslyvoluntaryconfederation each othernumerouspoliticaland economicprivilegesnot extendedto otherstates. Likewise outside states have long recognizedthe special politicalconcernof the United States forthe Latin Americanrepublics,a concernnow finallyexpressedin treatyas a mutualpolicyof association. Likewise theyhave recognizedthe longstandingpoliticalinterestof the United States in the negrostate of Liberia. The recentNorthAtlanticPact, thoughintendedprimarilyformilitarypurposes,conwould tendto createa specialpolitical tainspoliticalclauses which,if implemented, associationof the United States,Canada and the statesof westernEurope. Finally,of course,nearlyall the statesof the worldhave acceptedcertainpolitiin joiningtheUnited Nations; insofaras thisapplies to all states, cal commitments are universal,ratherthan geographicallydistinctive. such commitments StrategicRelations In no phase of politicalgeographydoes the geographerexperiencesuch diffihis geographicpointof view or in keepinghis eye focussedon cultyin maintaining problemshe is competentto studyas in the fieldof strategicrelations. Strategy obviouslydependson nationalpowerand thisis a subjecton whichthe geographer feelsreadyto contributehis share,in "geographicfoundationsof nationalpower." But in so doing he is migratinginto a fieldwhose core and purpose is not geography,but militaryand politicalstrategy. Further,to answerthe questionsraised in thatfield-e.g., "How strongis a state?"-one must analyze not only the geographicconditions,but a wide host of otherfactorsincludingthe effectof party of troops,effectiveness systemson the conductof foreignpolicy,moraleof fighting planes. personalleadership,size of standingarmies,and numberof fighting It is thereforenot merelyan intellectualexerciseto attemptto distinguishbetweenpoliticalgeographyand the studyof the power of states (to whichgeography has muchto contribute);it is a problemof practicalimportanceforthe individual geographerconcernedto outlinea unitaryfieldof political geographyin whichhe maycompetently work. The literatureof politicalgeographyprovidesno clear answer,so far as I can find,to this problem. Certainlythe developmentof Geopolitikgreatlyconfused the problemfor the Germangeographers,and those of our own colleagues who have hoped to establisha purifiedfieldof geopoliticshave inheritedthat confusion. Some writersevidentlysolve the problemby simplyomittingany considerationof strategicrelations. But surelythisproducesan incompletestudy. In the analysis of the externalrelationswith otherstate-areas,we must certainlyrecognizethat the state-area,as a unit,has vitallyimportantstrategicrelationswith the other areas of theworld. I therefore approachthisproblemwithno assurancethatwe have a satisfactory This content downloaded from 198.103.104.11 on Thu, 05 Nov 2015 11:41:10 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

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answer.41 But in this progressreport,it may be appropriateto presentas current

thinkingeven verytentativeconclusions. Every state-areain the world lives in a strategicsiutationwith otherstates,a situationthatmay be in part createdby its own actionsand policies,but in major partis determined forit by thoseotherstates. Thus Switzerlandin moderntimes has been a unit area of relativelysmall offensivepower,thoughnot inconsiderabledefensivepower,situatedin the midst of a group of largerneighbors,each fearfulof expansionof power by the others. In this situationSwitzerlandhas foundits best hope for securityin a policy of armed neutralitybecause such a neutralizedarea was in the mutual interest,defensively,of the neighboringpowers. In a much earlierperiod,in the sixteenth and seventeenthcenturies,when Austria was the only major power bordering Switzerland,and manyof its neighborswere small states,the Swiss Confederation allyingitselfwith followeda verydifferent policyof strategicrelations,frequently any of various neighborsin conflictwiththe others. The strategicrelationsof a state,in otherwords,mustbe adjusted to the particular strategicsituationin which it findsitselfat any time. With the unification of'Germanyin 1871, the strategicmap of Europe was changedno less than the politicalmap. Because thatnew unitincreasedin economicproduction,population,and power fasterthan any of its neighbors,and was able to "establishclose strategicrelationswith Austria-Hungary,forminga solid block of power across CentralEurope,all the otherstatesof Europe includingGreat Britain,were forced to changetheirstrategicrelationswith each other. Withinthe last fiveyearsthe United States has founditselfforcedto abandon one of its most time-honored principlesof internationalrelations-that of having no strategicrelationsin peacetimewith any states outside of the Americas. The new relationships enteredintounderthe NorthAtlanticPact followedan appraisal of the new patternof space-relationships of power as createdby the changedsystem of states in Europe. It mightbe significant, though now too late, to ask whetheran equally realisticappraisal of that situationin 1938 or 1939 would not have shownthe need fora similarstrategicassociationat thattime. Whateverreactionthe readermay have to that idea, our concernin this theoreticaldiscussionis merelyto illustratethe typeof problemthatseems appropriate forinclusionin the analysisof the politicalgeographyof a state-area. In studying the relationswhichsuch an area, operatingas a unit,entersintowithotherareas, we are concernedwith engagementswhich it has, or has not, made with other purposes. Interpretation of theseassociaunits,whetherfordefensiveor offensive tionsncessarilyinvolvesan appraisal of the space relationshipsof all the strategic 41 As examples ofattempts to handlethisproblemin specificcases,reference maybe madeto two studies,by the writer,one writtenearlyduringthe last war (thoughpublishedsomewhat later), the otherjust afterthe end of thatwar: "The UnitedStates and the 'ShatterZone' of Europe,"in Hans W. Weigertand V. Stefansson, Compassof the World,New York, 1944,pp. 203-214;and "The GeopoliticalPositionof theUnitedStatesand the SovietUnion,"Education, (October1946): 95-100.


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of passage. The problem areas involved,whetheras power unitsor as territories is logicallyinherentin the politicalgeographyof states and its geographicquality seems clear. It is equally clear fromour examples howeverthat in makingsuch a study, of which one must assume as given quantitiescertainfactorsthe determination here formsa main part of the studyof nationalpower,the fieldwe are attempting not inherentin most, to separatefrompoliticalgeography. But is this difficulty if notall, branchesof geography? We are constantlydependenton otherfieldsto provideus, as resultof lengthyresearch,withconclusionswhichwe acceptand use as established. Ideally,the studentin politicalgeographywould have at his commandconclusions alreadyarrivedat in studiesof the potentialmilitarypower of states,upon which he would base his interpretation of the strategicrelationsof the state he has under study. If such studies have not been made, the political geographer may findit desirableto make themhimself;as a geographerhe has commandof much of the basic materialnecessaryand with the help of colleaguesfromother fieldsmay be able to reach reasonablyreliableconclusions. But if our distinction betweenthe two fieldsis valid, the generalrequirement that a studentshould not lose his orientationin referenceto the core of his fieldis of particularimportance in this case; for otherwisethe attractivenessof studyingquestionsof such great momentas nationalpower may resultin his never returningto the fieldin which by trainingand experiencehe is fullycompetent. Relationof Territorial,Economic,Political,and StrategicRelations For purposes of organization,we have consideredseparatelyfour different typesof associationswhichthe state-areahas withotherareas of the world. It is also necessaryto see them togetherin their interrelationships.If one were to suppose that there would generallybe a high degree of correspondenceamong them,theexaminationof concretecases would reveal many discrepancies. Thus, popularthoughtassumesthatGreatBritain'smostimportanteconomicassociations and Empire,but actuallyher largest are withthe countriesof the Commonwealth and most criticaleconomictrade is with the United States. Argentinais more importanteconomicallyto Great Britain than any of her African possessions. Throughoutour history,the dominanteconomic and strategicconcern of the United States was with European statesand our major territorialproblemswere settledwith those states. And yet until 1949, the United States carefullyabstainedfromany continuouspoliticalassociationwith any European states. But it was primarilyour strategicconcerntowardEuropean statesthatled us into our special relationshipwith Latin America under the Monroe Doctrine. On the otherhand our politicalguardianshipof Liberia was unrelatedto any territorial, economic,or strategicconcern until the Firestone Tire Company utilized that foreconomicpurposes,in its projectforrubberproductionin politicalrelationship the 1920's, and in the last war we discoveredat least a temporarystrategicvalue in the need forairportsin West Africa. This content downloaded from 198.103.104.11 on Thu, 05 Nov 2015 11:41:10 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

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CONCLUSION

Political geography,as a distinctunit branch of geography,is to be justified neitherin termsof politicalaspects of geographynor in termsof geographicfoundationsof politics,since each of those constitutesbut a collectionof partial solutions separatedfromthe problemsinvolved. The core of politicalgeographyis of areas, the study of one distinctivephenomenonin the total differentiation is namelythe sectionsof area organizedas politicalunits. Areal differentiation both most markedand most importantin respectto units of land at the level of state-areas. The state-area,like a farmor an industrialplant,but unlikethese sectionsof area thatwe ordinarilystudyas "regions,"is an organizedunitof land and people, organizedby man accordingto a particularidea or purpose. Though in no proper sense an organism,the state-areais an organizationthat has genesis, structure, the analysisof a state-areamay be approached and function. Logically,therefore, fromany or all of thesethreeviewpoints. In contrastto genuineorganisms,there is no close mutualrelationshipbetweengenesison the one hand and structureand functionon the other; on the contrary,states have tendedto add pieces of territorywheneverit was possibleto do so, regardlessof need,and thento adapt function to the automaticallyresultingstructure. Hence the study of the genesis of state areas tendsto be largelyhistoricalin interest,throwinglittlelighton structure and function. Likewise, in contrastwith such areal units as farmsor industrialplants,the stateis not able to plan or evolveits regionalstructure, but mustsimplyoperatein whateverstructureits historyand geographyhave happenedto produce. Since the attemptto thesevary for everystate,not in minordegree,but fundamentally, finda generalprincipleof regionalstructureof state-areasis futile. Further,the state-area,thougha genuinegeographicphenomenon,is not a concreteobject exforits own sake. Hence the morphological citingdirectinterestin its morphology approachto the studyof the state-areais eithera dull and lifelessdescriptionof somethingthat appears real only on a map, or, if used as a methodof approach of function,temptsthe studentto naive formsof geographic to the understanding determinism. State-areas are important,both in the practical and in the academic sense, primarilyin termsof theirfunctions:namelywhatthe state-areaas a whole means deterto its partsand its relationsas a wholewithoutsideareas. These functions, minedby the human forcesthat operatethe state-areaas a unit, are greatlyaffectedby the structureof the state-area,whichof course is the currentproductof its past dvelopment. In a sequence of cause-and-effect relationships,science can safelyproceedfromcause to effectonlyin those situationsin whichthe relatively of similarcases makes possible the essmall numberof factorsand a multiplicity tablishmentof reliable scientificlaws or general principles. These requirements are lackingin politicalgeography. This content downloaded from 198.103.104.11 on Thu, 05 Nov 2015 11:41:10 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

1950

FUNCTIONAL


GEOGRAPHY

129

Consequentlywe concludethat the rational,scientifically reliable,and realistic approachto the studyof state-areasis to startwiththe phenomenawithwhichwe are mostconcerned-thefunctionsof the state-area-to determinehow these have been affectedby the characterof the area itself,its structureand contents,and to utilize historicfactsof genesis insofaras those aid us in understanding structural featurespreviouslydeterminedto be significant. There is howevera practicalsituationin which we may be forcedto reverse this procedure. If plans are being made for the constructionof an entirelynew state-area,or for major territorialalterationsin an existingone, one is forcedto attemptsome predictionof the capacityof such a projectedorganizationto function effectively as a unit. Political geographerswill be able to claim superior competencein attempting predictionsin such cases only if theyhave establisheda of the reasonswhy presentor past state-areashave high degreeof understanding or have not functioned effectively. The fundamentalinternalfunctionof the state-areais to establishitselfas an effectiveunit in fact,ratherthan merelyin internationallaw. T~hisrequiresthe conceptionand establishment of an idea of the state,a purposeor set of purposes, tendenciesresultinginevitablyfrom sufficiently strongto overcomethe centrifugal the separateand divergentinterestsof the diverseregionsthat are included,in a particulargeographicpattern,in the structureof the state-area. Externally,the state-areafunctionsas a unit area in friendlyor unfriendly relationswith other state-areasand other outside areas, relationsthat may be classifiedas territorial, economic,political,or strategic. Its specificrelationswith any one outsidearea may involvea complexof all these and furthertheyare interrelatedto its similar relationswith all otheroutside areas in a world system whichformsa singlewhole. The studyof these interrelations among state-areas is primarilya study in space relationshipsamong unit-areasdiffering in internal character,production,and power. I trustthat the categoricalmannerin whichthese conclusionsare stated will misleadno one to suppose thatthis paper is intendedas a blue-printwhichfuture studiesin politicalgeographyshould follow. We are not readyforthat,if indeed we ever should be. Rather the attempthas been to suggest how we may constructa systemforthe studyof state-areas,a systemthatmustbe sufficiently flexible to be bent to the differences that distinguisheach state-areafromall others, but whichmay enable studentsto workcumulatively, to build upon what has been producedby previousstudents. Because the themeof my paper is limitedto one branchof geographyit might appear to be addressedto onlya limitednumberof our members. I hope thatwill prove to be a large number,since we need the combinedeffortsof manyto work out more effectivemethodsof study. But this is not a call to all geographersto leave whatevertheyare studyingto work in thisparticularfield. In anothersense howeverthe paper is addressedto all geographers,certainly to all geographerswho specialize in any foreignareas. In your regionalstudies


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RICHARD HARTSHORNE

JUNE

you inevitablycome face to face with problems in political geography. As specialistsforyour particularregionyou know more about the underlyingfactors in its politicalgeographythan does the studentof politicalgeographyin general who is not at home in your region. In order that such knowledgemay be analyzed and organizedintostudiesusefulto otherstudents,lastingcontributions both to regional geographyand to political geography,we need to develop effective methodsfor study that will give political geographyan organized structureof knowledge,clearlyintegratedinto the fieldof geographyas a whole. This paper is a progressreportof effortsto achievethatgoal.


Hartshorne, R, Functional Approach in Geography

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