Chapter 8 - Political Geography

Article: Hoping for Asylum, Migrants Strain U.S. Border

Thousands of Mexicans migrants cross the U.S. boarder each year in search of a better live, but the U.S. boarder patrol has caught over 90,700 apprehensions in the Rio Grande Valley in the past six months so now the migrants are seeking asylum from gang violence then the U.S. has to go through the legal trouble of looking at each case and deciding if asylum can be granted. 

Map:

I choose the UK because it is a very interesting display of boarders and a multi-nation state. Although Ireland, Scotland and Wales are all under British rule they consider themselves to be separate, in a recent vote however Ireland did not voted not to claim independence from the UK.

Readings:
"Lines in the Sand," Cullen Murphy
"Chapter 8: Political Geography" from Human Geography



How have the European set boundaries lead to more conflict?

              The modern map of the Middle East was largely drawn up by Britten and France based on the two countries agreements to follow a treaty created during WWI. The map that they drew did not really take regional characteristics into account and was created almost entirely for the personal gain of the two countries. The careless mapping of the middle east created geographic states in places which have clashing religions and social behaviors. Originally there was a plan to take regional characteristics into account called the Lawrence plan, however it never came into effect. As the boarders are today there are many divided ethnic groups that do not have a country, the Kurds are one such example of a stateless nation. The division of the Kurds have lead to conflict and unrest in the middle east because they would like to create their own state, however the Kurd territory has oil reserves which Iraq, Turkey and Syria would all like to keep control of. 
              If the boarders had been based off of the Lawrence map the Kurds and other divided nations may in fact have had a state, but because they were not divided in such a manner there will always be conflict among the various nations with in the states. Unfortunately redrawing the states so that ethnic groups and regions are together would now result in more conflict due to states anger over loosing valuable territory, so there is really no practical solution for unifying the divided ethnic groups. 

Gerrymandering explained: This is a great little video that explains Gerrymandering concisely.