Political Geography : An Introduction

It is true that at present every region of the planet belongs to some political entity or other and that unit has complete dependence on the geographical environment. Presently political geography has become an important independent existence branch of the subject of geography. Political geography is a discipline that deals with both political science and geography. Political geography is a dynamic science, as it studies the transformative relationships of political activities under different states and the evolving relationships between states.

Like various human actions, political work is also the result of his political will or ideology. When the political ideas developed in the political will or human community become collective and equally mature, when they take ground existence, then from there, the existence of the state as a political entity begins.

With the same political ideology, the surface existence of the initial state is expanded, which is possible due to human interaction in the various facts of the natural environment available there. Similarly, it is possible to have different states in different areas of the surface. Political geography makes a field analysis of the changing interrelations of human political activities and various facts of the environment.

Definitions

1. According to the American geographer Valkenberg,

Political geography is the geography of political units and it provides a geographical interpretation of the relationships between nations.

2. According to the French geographer Goblet,

The part of human geography in regional context Studies political events such as the biology of organisms, it is called political geography.

3. According to British geographer Moody,

Political geography is the analysis of the relationship between the community and physical environment.

4. According to American Geographer Pounds,

Politically organized areas are concerned with the spread of their resources and the specific geographical form they create. The study of itself is political geography.

5. According to the American geographer Alexander,

Political geography is the study of political territories affected by surface features, under which the study of the organization of the region in various ways by humans to fulfill political objectives.

6. According to another American geographer, D'Hitlesey,

The essence of political geography (Kerneli) is a political field whose importance is clearly related to its climate, geography, and natural resources.

7. According to Jackson,

Political geography is the study of political undertakings in a spatial context.

Therefore, three definitions of the nature of political geography are clear from the above definitions which are ecological, regional, and spatial and organizational or conductive in the form of relationships.

Nature of Political Geography

The essence of geographical ideology is regional variation. Therefore, the variation of political elements from one place to another is the objective of political geography. Political elements include the following:

First - political geography is the study of the relations established between the two components called earth and state. The elements generated by the political powers in the state on earth come in its nature.

Second - the idea that generates these powers is the basis of demarcation of political constituent political territories (states) and its political control over the territory lies in it. Political geography studies political activities and interrelationships of the earth.

Third - The theory of change in political geography is studied at the geographical, economic and political level. In these, changes at the geographical level take place at a very slow pace, while changes in the economic system take place at a very rapid pace and changes at the political level occur at a moderate pace. State-related changes are not isolated but complete in an inter-related form.

All types of non-biotic elements ie status, structure, climate and biological elements such as the human population and the economic activities developed by it affect various political processes, events of the state and They themselves are also affected. Political geography is the geographical study of organized areas on political grounds.

Territory is the geographical requirement of a political unit. Similarly, a state cannot be formed without a human (population).

A politically organized unit on the ground is related to humans and becomes meaningful as an economic, social and political unit. A state is a part of the global nature of the world and is also a part of the world political model. It is clear that different states are interrelated in equality or inequality with each other with respect to their static and dynamic elements.

Carlson has rightly stated that "political geography expresses their geographical relation by studying the interrelations of earth and state." The state is the regional unit of political geography and the state is the subject of political science.

The nature of political science is also like that of human beings, as Mackander has said, 'Geography is a science, art and philosophy like nature. Hence political science is also a science, art and philosophy. 'Science is said because it observes scientific methods. Within which data compilation, hypothesis, theory and model are used, which can be scientifically investigated at any time.

Art is called because it is used from a thematic method approach. Philosophy is taxing because it attempts to understand philosophically the human-environment correlation. It is conceptualized that what, why, how and where a political action takes place on the terrain. Lastly, political geography is an inter-desciplined, flexible nature and dynamic matra branch of human geography with a far view.

Objectivity and objectivity should be evident in the study of political geography. Emotionalism is not important in this branch. There are three steps in the study and research of political geography. The first is to collect field observations and facts related to the topic, second collected material analysis and third analysis so that the subject nature is clear.

Source : Rajeev Bansal's (SEPD)