Chapter 9: Promise and Peril in the Provinces
No matter where you are, there will always be people that separate or group themselves by religion, race, culture, etc. Each group has power and impacts the country even if they aren’t globals.
People are usually in a sub-national unit in one way or another. A sub-national unit is any area that is below the level of state or country such as a county, district, or province. When a sub-national unit of a country comes to international attention, this indicates that there is a serious problem. Usually the problem is cause by a conflict between the local and national government or when cultural forces become a threat to the state. Because of the worldwide agreement that sub-national units should not be allowed to impair the country, external forces such as the UN come in and make sure that no catastrophic events occur. Just because the core countries are more successful does not mean that they don’t encounter the same sub-national problems like the periphery do. For example, Yugoslavia broke into different countries because of the hatred between all the ethnic groups. Each group tried to get even with each other, and conflict kept breaking out. Eventually the UN had to intervene and make peace between these groups. Although the core and periphery countries are equally vulnerable to these problems, peace and success are less likely to be found in the periphery countries. For example, after all the problems in Somalia, the country ended up having a starvation, drought, refugee crisis, and external forces’ aid gone wrong. All these differences and regions keep the world rough, but as these differences become similarities in the core and periphery countries, the world is becoming flatter.
Chapter 9: Promise and Peril in the Provinces
Within every country there are regions separated by culture, language, government, and ethnicity. Chapter 9 expresses how each region has an impact on the country itself. To a business entrepreneur in the capital, to a group of farmers living in edge sites, each group of people in that country can decide what fate lies in the place they live.
Subnational Units and Their Evolving Roles
A subnational unit is a territory that is below the level of state and country defined in some significant way (De Blij, 2009, p.209). An example of one is in Belgium, which is separated into two regions based on language: Flanders, who speak Flemish, and Wallonia, who speak French (and, as well, Brussels which is a mixture of the two, the capital). Belgium was very rough because the language barrier left many people separated, but after World War Two, the regions seemed to break up making the country "flatter" (De Blij, 2009, p. 211). England is split into 9 different regions for voting purposes as well. Unfortuantly 78% of the voters rejected to it, so London continued with the voting system that it previously had.
Rough Times in the Core
Just because the core is successful and prosperous does not mean it is all peaceful. Take Yugoslavia (the present-day Balkans) for example. In 1990, war broke out between the country's 17 ethnic regions. People living so close together had so much hatred toward each other that they broke off into their own separate countries. The problem was when the countries needed resources for each other conflict kept breaking out (De Blij, 2009, p.220). Eventually the UN had to step in and build the destroyed sites, and they tried to bring the countries at peace.
Subnational Units and Their Evolving Roles
A subnational unit is a territory that is below the level of state and country defined in some significant way (De Blij, 2009, p.209). An example of one is in Belgium, which is separated into two regions based on language: Flanders, who speak Flemish, and Wallonia, who speak French (and, as well, Brussels which is a mixture of the two, the capital). Belgium was very rough because the language barrier left many people separated, but after World War Two, the regions seemed to break up making the country "flatter" (De Blij, 2009, p. 211). England is split into 9 different regions for voting purposes as well. Unfortuantly 78% of the voters rejected to it, so London continued with the voting system that it previously had.
Rough Times in the Core
Just because the core is successful and prosperous does not mean it is all peaceful. Take Yugoslavia (the present-day Balkans) for example. In 1990, war broke out between the country's 17 ethnic regions. People living so close together had so much hatred toward each other that they broke off into their own separate countries. The problem was when the countries needed resources for each other conflict kept breaking out (De Blij, 2009, p.220). Eventually the UN had to step in and build the destroyed sites, and they tried to bring the countries at peace.
A Latent Threat
These regions of the world help keep the world rough, but unfortunately the more these barriers break and merge the more "flat" we are going to get. "All over the world, local aspersions reveal that the landscape of political geography is jagged and still eroding." (De Blij, 2009, p.232) states that our government, cultural, and language is becoming more similar in the core and periphery.
These regions of the world help keep the world rough, but unfortunately the more these barriers break and merge the more "flat" we are going to get. "All over the world, local aspersions reveal that the landscape of political geography is jagged and still eroding." (De Blij, 2009, p.232) states that our government, cultural, and language is becoming more similar in the core and periphery.
