Pluralism and Political Geography

People, Territory and State

Nurit Kliot, Stanley Waterman

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781317338567
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Physical Sciences
• Subtopic: Geography
• Index: Geography

In this comprehensive study, problems of racial and religious division are examines in places as diverse as Northern Ireland and the West Bank. Territorial and spatial expression, intergovernmental relationships in federal states, alliance blocs within the United Nations and American foreign policy are among the wide range of subjects covered. The problems are considered using both traditional and radical approaches, but throughout, the book argues that apply the concept of pluralism isn the best way of understanding the political geography of the modern world.

Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

Nurit Kliot and Stanley Waterman

This volume explores pluralism as a research topic in contemporary political geography. As the science studying ‘areal differentiation’ or ‘spatial variation’, geographers have for long understood the relevance and importance of the theme of pluralism. As such, this book not only presents recent work on people, territory and state from pluralist perspectives but also shows the great variation that exists among the community of researchers who study pluralism.

INTRODUCTION

The most common definitions of pluralism focus attention on two major meanings of the word. The first defines it as a theory that states that reality is composed of a plurality of entities and the second defines pluralism as a state of society in which members of diverse ethnic, racial, religious or social groups maintain an autonomous participation in and development of their traditional culture or special interest within the confines of a common civilisation (Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary 1977).

The concept of pluralism is 70 years old and was defined only following the definition of monism (i.e. absolutism) and in opposition to it in view of the multifarious nature of reality. Pluralism is often used as a synonym for diversity and is frequently used in ethnic studies.

Dahl (1980) uses pluralism in two different but related ways. First, there is conflictive pluralism defined by the number and pattern of relatively enduring cleavages which characterise conflicts among persons. Second, there is organisational pluralism or the number and autonomy or organisations characterising conflicting situations among a given collection of persons. Cleavages which characterise conflictive pluralism are based on social classes, language, religion, race or ethnic groups and represent, perhaps, the most widely studied area of pluralism.

CONFLICTIVE PLURALISM

Many researchers claim that ethnicity is the most prominent factor in conflictive pluralism. Others give priority to class and socio-economic order in society. Many ethnic groups are traditionally mutually exclusive and solidarity within the groups is often based on common language, cultural history and a common future (Parsons 1975: 53–83; Douglas, this volume, Chapter 7). Cultural discord (referring to the underlying incompatibilities among fundamental beliefs held by different groups) is not a new theme in geographical enquiry (Evenden and Cunningham 1977: 7). Expressions of cultural discord include political conflicts, such as those rooted in disagreements over territorial claims, economic, religious and linguistic conflicts.

Discords and conflicts based on race are frequent themes among geographers and non-geographers alike. For instance, the racial conflict in South Africa can be analysed from several different perspectives. The apartheid policy of the South African government supports the formation of Black reserves and encourages the migration of Blacks to the newly formed Bantustans. Christopher (1982: 127–38) has pointed to the success of this policy; between 1970 and 1980, white South Africa became ‘whiter’. The great dilemma of apartheid is that economic prosperity depends to a large degree on an integrated economy while the policy calls for racial segregation and the building up of the Bantustans (Pollock 1971: 364–67).

Race is the cornerstone in the Botswana state-idea of developing a multiracial state free of tensions as compared with the racial policy of South Africa (Knight 1977). Racial conflicts have been prominent in Southern Africa during the 1970s, with the guerrilla warfare in Rhodesia and mounting warfare in Namibia and against South Africa itself (Stephenson 1975). Moreover, the economy of states in Central and East Africa is strongly influenced by a reaction to the racial policy of South Africa (Hoyle 1978: 31–50; Reitsma 1974: 421–29). Race and ethnic identity of Blacks play an important role in American society (Morrill, this volume, Chapter 8). The electoral behaviour of Blacks shows that they often tend to give bloc support to candidates of their own race (O’Loughlin 1980). Similarly, recent riots in the United Kingdom have also had a racial background.

Second to race as a source of discord are linguistic differences. Linguistic discord seldom appears as the sole factor. Generally, it is accompanied by differences in religion and ethnicity. In Belgium, society is fragmented into the Flemish north and the Walloon south, but the north is also Catholic and is economically and politically inferior to the south (Claeys 1980: 169–89).

The religious component is highly influential in ethnicity, as the Canadian and Irish cases clearly indicate. The ethnic pluralism of Canada is transmitted into the political system through the federal government’s implementation of bilingualism and biculturalism and in the secessionist trends of Quebec (Thorburn 1980: 151–68; Cartwright 1981: 205–24; Knight, Chapter 11). The Northern Ireland problem is often described erroneously as a conflict between the Protestant and Roman Catholic communities (Boal and Douglas 1982); it is more accurately perceived as cultural and national discord (Pringle 1980; Boal 1980). Boal and Douglas (1982) present Northern Ireland as a plural society, through its cultural attributes, political, demographic and economic behaviours.

Ethnicity is intimately related to the evolution of the political systems in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries through the force of nationalism. Ironically, just as ethnicity and politics go hand in hand in the process of state-building, it is also manifested in the expansion and fragmentation of the twentieth century state system (Stack 1981: 3–15). Recent disputes in Western Europe have been based on differences in both race (England), language (Belgium), religion (Northern Ireland, Netherlands, Germany). Many of the ethnic minorities of Europe speak the language(s) of a neighbouring state and problem areas such as Alsace, Upper Silesia and Schleswig are on the frontiers of contiguous states. Irredentism plagued Europe whenever ethnic minority groups were located just beyond the limits of a state controlled by that ethnic group. Different ideologies were also behind the various claims and even anticolonialism can be interpreted as an ideological motivation for a territorial claim (Burghardt 1973: 225–45).

Different territorial claims clash in the Israeli- occupied West Bank. While it is still striving to integrate within Israeli society, the Arab minority is still segregated to a large degree from the rest of Israeli society (Soffer; Brawer; Rowley, this volume, Chapters 9, 13 and 15). The new nations of Africa face an acute problem of integration as a result of their tribal diversity. The new boundaries failed to coincide with ethnic territorial boundaries (Parsons 1975: 53–83). Independence movements keep the small Pacific Islands separate just as the Caribbean states are independent and separate with little viability as states (Haas 1970: 97–120). Sovereign states are sensitive to the degrees of irredentism on their peripheries and dedicate considerable effort towards ‘nationalising’ the peripheries. Mexico attempted to increase the integration of border regions within the national economy without losing the economic benefits it enjoys from the U.S. (Dillman 1970: 243–48). Similarly, the Dominican Republic removed all Haitian influence from their mutual border (Augelli 1980).

At the micro level of cities, there are examples of cities divided, such as Belfast (Boal and Livingstone, Chapter 12) and cities which are integrated such as Jerusalem (Haupert 1971: 312–19). On the transnational level, we find that ethnic conflict tends to influence international instability in a number of regional subsystems. The most prominent cases are refugees such as the Palestinian or South East Asian refugees and foreign workers, who endanger the stability of some Western European states.

ORGANISATIONAL PLURALISM

Harold Laski was among the first to use the concept of pluralism in the area of politics. Federalism was a central doctrine of Laski’s pluralist conception (Breitling 1980: 1–19). Federalism and federal systems were discussed from pluralistic perspectives by political scientists, sociologists and geographers. Federalism is considered to be the most geographically expressed form of government because it is based on regional differences and regional variations (Robinson 1961: 2). Federalism is a compromise between centripetal and centrifugal forces (Dikshit 1971: 97–116). Hartshorne specified certain centrifugal forces, such as physical barriers which handicap communication between regions, sparsely inhabited areas and areas inhabited by people ethnically different from the majority (Hartshorne 1950: 129–37). The failure of federalism in Central Africa is accounted for by the centrifugal force of the segregationalist policy of Southern Rhodesia (Dikshit 1971b: 224–29). McColl (1967; 1975) also seems to have adopted the theme of ‘areally differentiated’ pluralism in his work on the geographical bases of revolutions. The pillars of power in Asian revolutions are population, terrain, organisation and power, religion and race (McColl 1975: 301–10).

Organisational pluralism is determined, among other things, by the polyarchal nature of the regime, the structure of political institutions and the autonomy of various organisations within society.

Von Beyme (1980: 80–102) offers a check-list for pluralism in different spheres of society in which he includes the party system, the interest-group system, marginal and regional groups and pluralism in the mass media. Governments adjust the political systems of plural societies in order to answer for diversity and to prevent irredentism. Nigeria reorganised its areal government between 1967 and 1977 as a response to the dangerous pluralism in that country (Mawhood 1980: 103–16). Canada issued The Official Languages Act (1969) in order to determine bilingual districts (Cartwright 1981). Local government reform and reform in regional and administrative districts are also carried out with pluralism in mind (Burghardt; Honey; Paddison, Chapters 17, 18 and 19).

PLURALISM, DEVELOPMENT, CAPITALISM AND SOCIALISM

The issue of development cuts across conflictive and organisational pluralism. Dahl (1980) has pointed to the possible cleavages formed by social classes in addition to language, religion, race or ethnic group. Radical geographers tend to interpret the state of developing and developed regions as resulting from the organisational structure of the Capitalist system.

Dahl also considers the question of control as prior to the question of ownership of means of production, hence the question is not whether an order is socialist or non-socialist but how much autonomy is permitted to economic enterprises and the nature of internal and external co...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Original Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• 1. Introduction
• PART I : THEORY AND POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY
• PART II : PEOPLE – HUMAN PERSPECTIVES ON PLURALISM
• PART III : TERRITORIAL PERSPECTIVES ON PLURALISM
• PART IV : PLURALISM – THE STATE AND THE WORLD
• CONCLUSION
• Index