Political Identities(身份) and Landscapes.ppt

Political Identities(身份） and Landscapes（景观） Chapter 8 1、the key points of the text A state （国家)constitutes（构成） the basis for political organization and action. Each state is a sovereign unit(主权单位）. Some states are stable, while others seem to be in a constant state of turmoil（混乱）. The variations in types of states and governments, the stability（稳定） and safety within and between states, and the changes taking place in terms of governance and interrelationships （相互关系） among states are key ideas to keep in mind when trying to examine the spatial(空间） variations of states. Regions become significant（重大的） creations when states combine to form unions or similar multinational （跨国）structures（结构）. The nature of the region （地区）within the ideas of political geography is another central theme. Our identities attached to states（隶属） also shape （塑造）the landscapes we inhabit（栖息） and our culture shapes the existence and nature of the state. State Creation International boundaries（国际边界) reflect the security(安全）, territorial integrity（领土完整）, and political power of a state. Defining the Nation-State A nation state is a clearly defined cultural group occupying a clearly defined political territory.（文化组定义占领一个明确界定的政治领土 ） The concept（概念） of the nation state is important because it is commonly used to refer to（涉及） the political unit of a state it plays an important role in the contemporary（当代） political world Predecessors（前身） of the Nation-State Before c.1600, the territories of kings（界王） depended on the allegiance of people（效忠的人） rather than clearly defined boundaries (the exceptions （除掉）to this situation were Greece and some Italian cities). Until the sixteenth century, divisions（分区） based on religion characterized（特征） European empires（帝国）. Medieval（中世纪） Europe consisted of feudal states（封建国家） with continually changing boundaries that were replaced by absolutist states（专制主义国家） with monarchy（君主） systems. It was only about 200 years ago that these states were replaced by more defin