We explain what political geography is, what its object of study is and its auxiliary sciences. Also, differences with geopolitics.
What is political geography?
By political geography we understand the branch of human geography that studies human political organizations and their territorial distribution of the earth's surface. That is, it studies the geographical space determined by the borders and dynamics of nations, populations, cultures, etc.
Their object of study is truly broad, given that they have to do with political institutions in the world. In addition to the division of the globe into countries and territories, addresses geopolitical, economic and international dynamics as well as the dynamics of population exchange and its repercussions on the way human societies are organized.
In the latter it is distinguished from Political Sciences or Political Science, since also contemplates culture, society and other important elements that are beyond the strictly political.
The origin of political geography is closely linked to that of human geography and ethnography, which In its beginnings it responded to the needs of the great European Empires to know and organize the world that were distributed and considered other cultures and populations as objects of study.
For these and other reasons the discipline went into decline in the mid-20th century. However, reemerged in the 70s and 80s free of geographical determinism and other problematic interpretive tendencies.
See also: Limit
Importance of political geography
political geography It is a growing discipline, especially in recent times of globalization regional integration and debate around the dynamics of territorial and political organization of societies.
This has also caused growing contact between it and other branches of geography, such as economic, social and cultural. Together they offer a multidisciplinary approach typical of contemporary academia.
Objects of study of political geography
Political geography chooses the relationships between population, administration and territory as its main objects of study, according to three levels of study that allow structuring the analysis:
- The State As the base organizer of the political forces in conflict and main administrator of the territory;
- International relations That cover the geopolitical, geoeconomic and geostrategic dynamics expressed by the States;
- The provincial or regional regional Which is an internal level of the State, its internal administration and internal parceling.
Auxiliary sciences of political geography
political geography It has such a broad field of study that it often intersects with other disciplines such as economics, history, law (especially international law), sociology, demography and other social sciences.
Besides, His contacts with other branches of geography are frequent such as social geography, economic geography and physical geography.
Political geography and geopolitics
We should not confuse these two terms. Geopolitics studies international struggles to exercise power in geographic domains which occur between different States and global actors. It is an analytical science oriented towards rivalries, confrontations and conflicts, in which economic, diplomatic and military factors intervene.
Political geography, on the other hand, delves into the geographical constitution of States and many other elements that geopolitics, in its desire to focus on power, leaves aside.
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References
- “Political geography” on Wikipedia.
- “Political Geography” in Banrepcultural.
- “Geopolitics and political geography: distinctions” in El Ojo Digital.
- “Overview of Police Geography” in ThoughCo.
- “Political geography” in The Encyclopaedia Britannica.
