ABSTRACT

A major component of the spatial organization of the Earth's surface is its division into 150 or so sovereign states, each with a well defined (though perhaps contested) territorial reach. This division is commonly used in social sciences as a basic set of units of analysis – the world is described, and accounted for, in terms of similarities and differences among its states. That division is often accepted as unproblematic: it is natural to use countries as reporting units (despite some debate over whether countries are regions (Johnston 1984d)). The validity of this approach has rarely been questioned by political geographers, among whom the need for, and hence existence of, states has normally been taken for granted (Johnston 1980a, 1981a, 1981b). Further, the links between political geography and economic and social geography have rarely been explored, so that until recently the rôles of the state in everyday life, and the importance of state territory in that, have not been central geographical concerns.