Geography - migration, identity and sovereignty

• mass migration has been good for China's economy overall
• 1978 - on the eve of economic reforms 20% of China's population lived in cities - today the figure is 55%
• relocation of 400 million rural people gave many Chinese cities a 'site factor' certain to attract FDI (a large, modestly priced labour force)
• the Chinese government's authorisation of free movement can be viewed with hindsight as a rational economi decisions allowing China to benefit from globalisation
• the 'migrant miracle' that followed underpinned 30 years of rapid economic growth

• core-periphery growth in Spain has accelerated in recent years that a rural region in Madrid has been all but abandoned
• following decades of depopulation - 8 people per square km now remain in one of Europe's least populated areas
• some provinces have 600 villages with fewer than 100 people and an average age of 57
• high rural unemployment has meant that young people continue to seek out new opportunities in Madrid and Barcelona (important hubs in the global economy)
• Spain's low birth rate means rural recovery is unlikely
• when local schools shut a threshold or tipping point is reached - there is no return

• international migration inside the EU Schengen area
• process of core-periphery polarisation is sometimes repeated at larger spatial scales
• within the EU free movement of labour has helped an international core-periphery pattern to develop
• the EU core region (southern England, northern France, Belgium and much of western Germany) - includes world cities (London, Paris, Brussels and Berlin)
• labour migration flows from eastern and southern Europe are directed towards these places
• most national border controls within the EU were removed in 1995 when the Schengen Agreement was implemented - enables easier movement of people and goods within the EU and means that passports do not usually have to be shown at borders
• UK did not sign
• Eastern European nations implemented the agreement in 2007-08
• Schengen brings benefits as EU labour can move to where there is most demand but also costs - once someone is in 1 EU country they can move to others
• most EU states have witnessed the growth of popular movements opposed to this arrangement
• fears of terrorism and uncontrolled refugee movements have led some poeple to question free movement

• Singapore was rated as an emerging economy
• now a developed nation
• population of 5 million
• great ethnic diversity due to its past as a British colonial port and subsequent transformation into the world's 4th largest financial centre
• many global businesses and institutions have located their Asia-Pacific head offices in Singapore
• many foreign workers and their families have relocated there so Singapore has many international schools

• >2% of the Japanese population is foreign or foreign born
• growing status of Japan as a major global hub from the 1960s onwards, migration rules have made it tough for newcomers to settle permanently
• nationality law makes the acquisition of Japanese citizenship by resident foreigners an elusive goal (long term pass or go home test has a success rate of less than 1%)
• Japan faces the challenge of an egeing population
• 3 workers per 2 retirees by 2060
• many people thing Japan's government will need to loosen its grip on immigration

• low percentage of foreign workers due to a recent history of restrictive migration policies
• country currently operates a points system for economic migrants called the 'Migration Programme' 
• 2013 - 190,000 economic migrants were granted access to Australia
• the top 5 source countries were India, China, the UK, the Philippines and Pakistan
• until 1973 - Australia's government selected migrants largely on a racial and ethnic basis - 'White Australia Policy'

• illegal migration to Europe first began to grow noticeably in 2006
• rising numbers of migrants from North Africa and the Middle East have attempted to cross the Mediterranean in unsafe fishing boats often piloted by ruthless traffickers
• 2016 - estimated 1 million people has attempted crossing 
• Mediterranean migrants are a diverse group of people - include both economic migrants and refugees of varying faiths and ethnicities
• many travel large distances to reach the shores of the Mediterranean
• DEATHS AT SEA: 700 dead when a boat capsized in rough seas off the Italian coast in April 2014. By the end of the year, approx 3700 pepole had died and a further 160,000 people were rescued at sea - majority departed from Libya
• POLITICAL REACTION: most migrants arrive in Greece or Italy where any asylum claims must be processed. Greeks and Italian governments both want large numbers of migrants to settle there permanently - both countries want to see the burden of resettlement shared with other EU members - Germany has taken many migrants
• ETHICAL DEBATE: number of accepted asylum seekers in 2015 amounted to less than 0.1% of the EU's population. Suicide bomber in the Paris attacks in December 2015 was a Syrian refugee who had travelled to France via Greece. Political debate has intensified over whether border passport checks should be reinstated within the EU as part of an emergency situation
• globalisation is partly responsible 

• internal migration within the UK
• UK's south-north population drift accelerated during 1980s
• deindustrialisation of northern cities e.g. Liverpool and Sheffield triggered the exodus of many young people towards the UK's economic core of London and the south east
• London's population reached a record high of 8.7 million in 2016
• house prices have tripled in value since 1995 as a result of high demand from incomers and investors
• since 1945 the gap between house prices in northern and southern England has grown and lessened several times
• rising costs of doing business in the capital have sometimes triggered out-migration of people and businesses
• regenerated post industrial cities e.g. Cardiff and Bristol offer an attractive alternative to London; the BBC relocated to Manchester in 2011
• London's global hub status means the UKs core-periphery imbalance is likely to persist

• migration from Poland to other EU states
• Poland's government has encouraged its population to work overseas and make the most of EU membership
• poland has lost population every year since 1960s with the trend accelerating since 2004
• a low brith rate and ageing population is forecast to age and shrink
• few people migrate into Poland - it has the lowest foreign born population % of any EU state
• remittances help compensate for the labour loss and brain drain in the short term there is no guarantee remittances will continue to be sent in the long term
• children of polish migrants born in the UK could feel less connected to poland and may send less money in the future
• by 2050 there may be only 1.3 working people for each child or elederly dependent in poland compared with 1.75 today
• continued emigration may become economically and socially unsustainable

• issue of illegal migration across the Mexican border is a major policy issue that divides the public and politicians alike
• Barrack Obama called for work permits to be issued to many of the approx 8 million unauthorised workers living in the USA - some of his opponents demanded that a wall be built along the Mexican border to stop illegal migrants from Central America from heading north in large numbers
• spatial distribution of unauthorised workers in the USA is high uneven
• US citizens have different views on migration
• common issues that divide US public opinion:
• ECONOMIC IMPACTS: migrants - important in US economy, legal and illegal migrants work long hours for low pay, high unemployment in some cities has led to calls for American jobs to to be given to American citizens instead
• NATIONAL SECURITY: terrorist attacks on the USA in 2001 = heightened security concerns, support grew for anti immigrant movements, Donald Trump suggested that Muslims should be banned from entering the USA because of global terror groups ISIS
• DEMOGRAPHIC IMPACTS: USA and other developed countries, youthful migration helps offset the costs of an ageing population, higher birth rates of some immigrant communities is changing the ethnic population composition of the USA - 1/5 of the population is Hispanic
• CULTURAL CHANGE: migrants change places when they influene food, music and language - lots of Hispanics so more Spanish language soap operas on channels like Netflix
• number of families crossing the border increased as a result of drought and gang-related violence in El Salvador

• physical isolation of Iceland ensured that its population experienced a strong sense of common identity and culutral homogeneity
• Icelandic people like to share rotten shark at parties - the meat of the Greenland shark is naturally poisonous because the shark contains fluids that allow it to live in cold water without freezing
• 2008 - McDonald's closed its restaurants in Iceland its high prices has deterred customers - empty premises were taken over by a locally-owned comapny selling exclusively Icelandic food and ingrediants instead - global culture in retreat
• many young Icelanders are avid consumers of global culture
• approx 30,000 tourists visit Iceland each day of the year to see its geography - tourists exceed inhibitants = greater cultural diversity
• Singapore is a cultural melting pot of Malay, Chinese, Indian and European influences all of which have intermingled
• 1926 - 46 played a strategic role as a military and trading hub under British administration
• political decision to make it a free port where no taxes were collected, encouraged migration from many places
• after independence, Singapore became a fast-growing 'Asian Tiger' - magnet for new waves of migrants who bring their customs, religions and festivals with them

• European powers began to colonise Africa in the 1700s - aimed to create a system of raw material extraction for export and made little productive investment in African countries
• legacy of colonialism is a host of unstable states that often lack cultural coherence
• Congo - home to 240 ethnic groups who jointly came under Belgian rule in the late 1800s and finally gained independence in 1960
• cultural diversity has posed a huge challenge to post-colonial unity and has been a major factor contributing to conflict in DRC
• problems arise from the way that the boundaries between DRC, Uganda and Rwanda were established by Belgium, GB and Germany
• geographical regions traditionally occupied by ethnic Tutsi and Hutu people became fragmented
• conflict in Rwanda between Tutsi and Hutu people spread to Uganda and DRC, 1998-2008 over 5 million people died in the 'African World War' 
• armies and military groups from DRC's 9 neighbour states repeatedly entered DRC on the grounds that the ethnic groups with whom they claimed kinship required support

• boundaries of Russia have changed - Russia annexed parts of Ukraine in 2014
• rationale provided by Putin was that many ethnic Russians live in Ukraine
• Crimea used to belong to Russia (or the Soviet Union) - inclusion as a part of the independent state of Ukraine, was controversial due to the large number of ethnic Russians still living there
• 2014 - brief period of civil conflict in Crimea ended with the territory being annexed by Russia
• international community condemned this but no actual steps were taken to prevent it

• Middle East provides another instance of an unhappy fit between state borders and a regions ethnic map 
• main area of conflit: Sykes-Picot line - boundary drawn by GB and France in 1916 in order to define their own spheres of influence in the Middle East
• large Kurdish population of 25 million distributed between Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria - Sunni and Shia Muslim populations were also divided by the Sykes-Picot Agreement
• Al Qaeda shown little respect for either territorial borders or human rights
• Jihad are against all other religions - soldiers have pursued a strategy of annihilating minority communities - activities: war crimes and genocide
• immense military challenge ro defeat Daesh (ISIS), to begin the political and cultural rehabilitation of the region in the hope that geopolitical stability returns

• China has claimed sovereignty over Taiwan since 1949
• Taiwanese sovereignty has strained relations between China and other global superpowers (USA, EU)
• dispute dates back to 1949 when, following the Communist victory in mainland China, 2 million Chinese Nationalists fled to Taiwan and established a government of their own on the island
• Taiwan claims independence as a distinct state and wants to become a member of the UN
• when Taiwan first broke away, the UN decided that it could not recognise both Taiwan and the Peoples Republic of China
• Taiwanese government hopes in time to be recognised
• Taiwanese firms like Foxconn are major investors in China making both countries interdependent

• by 1880, held dominion over 1/3 of the world's land surface and 1/4 of its people
• the Empire was a vehicle for the diffusion of the English language and British laws, customs, arts and sports on a global scale
• British Empire founded on exploration and communications technology (sea power and the telegraph)
• the Royal Navy dominated the high seas around 1700 - 1930s
• after independence many ex-British colonies voluntarily chose to remain in the commonwealth
• several states and places around the world contain the Union Jack in their flag (Australia, Fiji, the Falkland Islands, Bermuda and Ontario (Cananda))

• DRC suffered from a 'resource curse'
• raw material wealth attracts numerous outsiders who eventually find local collaborators to help find more natural resources
• Geopolitical changes:
• colonised by Belgium, 1870 - 1960
• independence as Zaire, 1960 - 90s
• regime change and conflict, 1990s - 2005
• attempted conflict resolution, 2005 - present
• Factors influencing change:
• raw materials
• geopolitical strategies
• cross-border ethnic ties
• displaced refugees
• economic costs - political mismanagement and conflict
• environmental costs - conflict led to abandonment of farmland and the re growth of secondary forest. loss of vegetation occurred near refugee camps where poor sanitation has allowed diseases e.g. cholera to thrive
• human costs - lowest HDI scores. life expectancy 49, deaths are among younger people due to infectious diseases and malnutrition due to lack of health services because of conflict

• during the 2 decades up to 1887 Vietnam was gradually annexed by France as one of its colonies - became known as French Indochina - during WW2 colony was invaded and taken over by Japanese forces
• Ho Chi Minh took over the northern city of Hanoi and proclaimed a provisional government independent of French rule
• French Indochina dissolved by the UN
• Vietnam split into communist north and capitalist south
• communists, Soviet and Chinese military - infilltrate and capture south Vietnam - USA came to the rescue
• Vietnam war - against the backdrop of the Cold war between USA and Soviet Union
• 20 years of fighting, 8 years of US intervention - USA eventually led to US troops being withdrawn
• communist forces seized control of Saigon - renamed to Ho Chi Minh City
• over 3 million people killed - a lot from starvation due to the corrupt economy
• strategic bombing in the north destroyed infrastructure
• damage - socially and environmentally - herbicide sprayed over south Vietnam causing deaths and disabilities - Napalm (flammable liquid) used to burn off vegetation
• large economic cost
• Vietnam survives between USA and China which has now taken over the Soviet Union as the superpower in this global region

• ethnically and culturally diverse nation
• 2015 - almost 2 million lives had been lost to conflict - some of the worst vilence in the semi arid Darfur region (on the fringe of the Sahara desert)
• Darfur home to many different Black African and Arab groups = potential for ethnic conflict
• after Sudan's independence in the 1950s, members of ethnic Arab tribes came to dominate national government - Black African groups felt marginalised and some formed the Sudan Liberation Army and began attacks on government targets
• Arab military groups (Janjaweed) began to attack Black villages in Darfur
• displacements of people
• peace agreement reached 2005
• 2011 - Sudan abandoned the struggle for unity 
• civil war broke out in South Sudan in 2013
• Sudan has some of the worst health and development indicators in the world

• Cuba, Bolivia, Venezuela - attempted to follow an alternative development pathway
• rather than adopta free market capitalism favoured by the USA and EU - have followed socialist principles where possible
• Venezuela has proven fossil fuel reserves than any other OPEC member states
• Venezuela - been able to assign a very large part of government spending to edcuation, health, employment and support for small scale businesses
• Venezuela rejected IMF and World Bank offers of support
• Venezuelan oil projects used to be owned by TNCs (e.g. Chevron, ExxonMobil and BP)
• 2015 - social organisations and institutions worked together to build alternative models of development in the face in globalisation
• provded Cuba with free oil supplies for many years

• UN has been deeply involved with attempts to resolve conflict
• 1999 - around us$10 billion has been spent on the deployment of UN peacekeeping troops
• largest allocation of UN funds for conflict management there has ever been
• 'UN Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo' (MONUSCO)
• 20,000 peacekeepers have been stationed in DRC  - they can fire weapons if it becomes necessary to do so
• MONUSCO has provided Congolese people with protection from rebel and military groups
• it has left the country dependent on external support to guarantee political stability
• 2005 - International Court of Justice ruling that Uganda must compensate DRC for the plundering of natural resources during the conflict that claimed over 5 million lives

• gvernment-run water services in Tanzania had fallen into disrepair in the 1990s but still managed to deliver safe water to some of the poorest households in capital city slums
• clean water is essential if social development goals are to be met e.g. improved school attendance for boys and girls
• unsafe water results in illness and school absenses 
• before the water system existed. girls frequently missed school as they spent their days carrying buckets of water from wherever it could be found to their family home
• Tanzania approached World Bank for help - World Bank insisted that Tanzania privatise its water services return for a new us$143 million loan
• water services were sold to British led consortium - took over the day to day running of the city's water supplies
• water bills were issued to all households with access to drinking water
• when some households could not apy their bills they were disconnected - the poorest and most vulnerable families reverted to the use of unsafe water sources and girls began missing school again
• 2005 - Tanzanian government successfully cancelled the contract with City Water and the services are run locally again with the support from several external players (e.g. African Development Bank)
• 2012 - Indian government provided a US$178 million loan for water projects symptomatic of a wider shift among poor countries towards seeking support from new superpowers e.g. China and India 

Montreal Protocol

• issue of ozone depletion due to overuse of CFCs found in fridges and aerosol sprays
• Montreal Protocol signed in 1987
• large number of individual governments prepared to back an importand global goal
• CFCs were phased out rapidly as a result of exceptional international co operation

Climate Change Agreement

• climate change was first raised as an urgent issue in 1992 
• international co operation on climate change has taken place very slowly
• although a new international agreement on action was reached in Paris 2015 - pledges that were made to reduce carbon emissions do not go far enough - pledges cannot be enforced either

CITES (Convention on international trade in endangered species of wild fauna and flora)

• entered into force in 1975
• banned trade in endangered species and their products
• adopted by 181 countries
• successess = Haiwaiin Ne Ne bird and the Arabian Oryx
• rising wealth in China, Indonesia and South Korea has acutally increased illegal trade in ivory and rhino horn (illegal)
• without a cultural shift away from the use of these products, CITES will not be able to protect some species

• international collaboration helped popularise the 'ecosystem services' approach to biodiversity management
• financial value - calculated for threatened biomes and species strenghtening the rationale for their preservation
• 'ecosystem services' is a philosophy that fits well with the capitalist values of the global economic system 
• UN adopted and promoted globally

• the UN Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention) aims to protect and ensure the quantity, quality and sustainable use of transboundary water (water resource that occupies a territory shared by more than one state) resources by facilitating co operation 
• EUs framework directive - established in 2000 with the goal of improving water quality across Europe

• Antarctica has special status following 1959 Antarctic Treaty
• 53 nations are now signatories
• nobody owns Antarctica but around 20 nations have permanent scientific bases there (several of whom previously made territorial claims)
• Antarctica lacks indigenous people

• UN convention on the law of the sea (UNCLOS) is a vast global treaty covering:
• navigational rights, territorial sea limits, economic jurisdiction (power to make legal decisions), legal status of seabed resources beyond the limits of national jurisdiction, conservation, management of marine ecosystems and a binding procedure for settlement of disputes between states
• signed in 1982
• PROTECTION OF MARINE BIODIVERSITY: 167 nations signed - must follow Whaling Commission guidelines. Many species of whale were hunted almost to extinction but have since been helped to recover. Agreement made to stop hutnting whales but some nations did not follow - Japan and Norway
• REGULATION OF GLOBAL SHIPPING FLOWS: 90% of all global trade flows between countries involve sea travel - container ships. Illegal activities can cause marine pollution. illegal for ships that have recently delivered oil to use sea water to wash out their tanks. assists the movement of invasive species which swim inside ships and become stowaways
• EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE: area of water extending 200 nautical miles from a states shoreline (they can exploit, develop, manage and conserve all resources found there)
• RIGHTS OF LANDLOCKED STATES: 42 states have no sea coast. under UNCLOS landlocked states have a right of access to and from the ocean. Bolivia's claim that Chile should return to it an area of coastline lost during a war 150 years ago

• representations of rural life and landscapes play an important role in the reproduction of English culture
• rural life is portrayed in a range of different media in ways that draw a connection between the coiuntryside and English identity
• some important national myths have strong association with a rural sense of place
• iconic English classical music - linked with images of the countryside - music is sung or heard regularly at national sporting events or festivals
• rural landscape paintings used by the government in WW2 to foster patriotic feelings and behaviour
• when national countries changing due to globalisation - countryside can signify stability
• provide a comforting sense of the past in people's imagination
• age of rural buildings, a percieved stability in the appearance of the rural landscape and important history landmarks found in the ocuntryside help to evoke nostalgia

• Uk used to be the 2nd largest global manufacturer of cars after the US
• 1950s - exports by car companies e.g. Jaguar, Rover were the world's largest
• rising production costs and strong German and Japanese competition led to dwindling mass car production under UK domestic ownership
• jaguar land rover - company combines 2 motor brands under the foreign ownership of India's Tata motors
• rebirth of the mini has been a success story for German owners BMW. UK remains the base of mini assembly. company is foreign owned and the car is assembled using parts made in other EU countries
• Rolls-Royce cars are sold worldwide - £200,000. manufacturing reemains based in West Sussex
• MG Motor UK - hq in Birmingham but owned by China's Shanghai Automotive Industry corporation. cars designed and assembled in Longbridge but actual parts made in China
• Lotus cars - made in Norfolk but owned by a Malaysian carmaker
• Bentley - produced by a German TNC, Volkswagen in Crewe

• competition from wealthy overseas buyers has been a major contributing factor to the rise in London property prices sinc e 2000 and the huge gap in house prices that has opened up between the capital and the rest of the UK
• Russian buyers have driven up prices in fashionable areas e.g. Mayfair.
• record sale price of £140 million was achieved for a flat in One Hyde Park development in 2014 - anonymous buyer widely believed to be Russian
• French and Russian acquisitions of property in Chelsea the neighbourhood character is changing
• restaurants have started serving pickled herrings, snails and other non British menu items
• some local businesses have begun to close in December each year as the Russians and French go home for Christmas

• Catalan people have their own language and culture
• 1979 - the Spanish government has recognised Catalonians as a separate nationality within the Spanish state but has not granted full independence
• Catalonians have autonomy over some spheres of governance and even possess their own police force
• many seek full independence
• Catalonian flags are a common sight in its capital city Barcelona
• support for independence has climbed to more than 50% in recent years

• Scottish people chose to remain part of the UK in 2014
• some Scots resent the way their nations destiny is controlled by mainly English politicians
• very little support remaining for either the English Conservative party or Labour Party in Scotland
• many Scots object to being governed by either parties
• ecnomic reasons why Scots think they would be better off going it alone
• much of Scotland's income comes from oil and recent low prices mean independence could come at a greater cost than some nationalists previusly supposed
• the UK government originally agreed to the referendum on independence following continuing democratic pressure and lobbying from the Scottish people
• the ultimate hope of many Scotish nationalists is to create an independent small state while remaining within the larger trading area of the EU
• the UK referendum decision in 2016 to leave the EU haa compliacted the Scottish issue further

• emerging economies have experienced significant internal political tensions in recent years
• the costs and benefits of globalisation have not bee distributed evenly among their population - in some cases this uneven pattern has clear regional or ethnic dimensions that threaten disunity
• BRAZIL: football world cup 2014. over US$22 billion was spent in preparation for the world cup, including stadium and infrastructure construction. protestors againts using the money for this instead of fixing things for Brazilians e.g. poor public services, high food prices, and the need for political reform due to corruption.
• RUSSIA: worlds largest state and parts of its preiphery are home to ethnic groups that are spatially and socially distant from the powerful core region of Moscow.
• INDIA: divisions India are complex. Religious division between the majority Hindu and minority Muslim population. The country's cricket team bring people together
• CHINA: hukou system that many rural migrants living in urban areas feel deproved of the full benefits of Chinese citizenship. 300 million people who have left rural areas have found it hard to gain permanent settlement rights in cities.