Decolonisation without independence

The massive decolonisation of the post World War II era resulted in a new political map of the world. The great majority of the new independent states were essentially coincident with the former administrative colonies. However, in a quarter of cases the ending of colonial status did not result in the emergence of a sovereign state. The colonial powers sought to reduce the number of small and potentially weak states by various mechanisms. Thus colonial mergers took place between administrative units within the same empire, and only occasionally between units in different empires. Some dependencies were absorbed by more powerful neighbours and others incorporated into the political structure of the metropolitan power. Prior to 1960, in terms of population and size, the colonies which failed to achieve statehood at independence were substantially smaller than those which did. Thereafter there was little to distinguish them. The legacy of the merged colonies has ranged from successful secessionist movements to integrated states. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The new state flags as the iconographic symbols of the post-Soviet space

State flags may be appreciated as iconographic symbols according to Jean Gottmann's definition. Especially interesting is to analyze the state flags in the moment of their creation – as for example on the territory of the former Soviet Union where almost all the new independent states have to create or restore their state symbols. On many of these flags we can see the historical elements, the political and geographical situation of a new state or even religious beliefs of most of the inhabitants. On the state flags we can also observe the state ideology, but its interpretation may be ambiguous, e.g., the green color on the state flag means either that the state is proud of its rich nature or that Islam is a state religion. Ambitions are expressed on the flags of the entities, which are fighting for their independence.     

The new state flags as the iconographic symbols of the post-Soviet space

State flags may be appreciated as iconographic symbols according to Jean Gottmann's definition. Especially interesting is to analyze the state flags in the moment of their creation – as for example on the territory of the former Soviet Union where almost all the new independent states have to create or restore their state symbols. On many of these flags we can see the historical elements, the political and geographical situation of a new state or even religious beliefs of most of the inhabitants. On the state flags we can also observe the state ideology, but its interpretation may be ambiguous, e.g., the green color on the state flag means either that the state is proud of its rich nature or that Islam is a state religion. Ambitions are expressed on the flags of the entities, which are fighting for their independence.     

Created versus natural coastal islands: Atlantic waterbird populations, habitat choices, and management implications

Nesting colonial waterbirds along the Atlantic Coast of the United States face a number of landscape-level threats including human disturbance, mammalian predator expansion, and habitat alteration. There have been changes from 1977 to the mid-1990s in use of nesting habitats and populations of a number of seabird species of concern in the region, including black skimmersRynchops niger Linnaeaus, common ternsSterna hirundo Linnaeaus, gull-billed ternsSterna nilotica Linnaeaus, least ternsSterna antillarum Lesson, royal ternsSterna maxima Boddaert, and sandwich ternsSterna sandvicensis Cabot. These species form colonies primarily on the following habitat types: large, sandy barrier or shoal islands, natural estuarine or bay islands (mostly marsh) man-made islands of dredged deposition materials (from navigation channels), and the mainland. Significant changes in the use of the dredged material islands have occurred for these species in New Jersey and North Carolina, but not in Virginia. Population declines and changes in bird habitat use appear to be at least partially associated with the conditions and management of the existing dredged material islands, coastal policy changes associated with creating new dredged material islands, and competing demands for sand for beach augmentation by coastal communities. As these and other coastal habitats become less suitable for colonial waterbirds, other man-made sites, such as, bridges and buildings have become increasingly more important. In regions with intense recreational demands, coastal wildlife managers need to take a more aggressive role in managing natural and man-made habitats areas and as stakeholders in the decision-making process involving dredged materials and beach sand allocation.     

Mitigation of seismic and meteorological hazards to marine oil terminals and other pier and wharf structures in California

For the past 12 years, the California State Lands Commission has been involved in the operational monitoring, structural inspection and requalification of 45 marine oil terminals along California’s coast, which have an average age of about 50 years and plans to keep these structures in service for another 20–40 years. Having seen the port and harbor damage from the 1995 Kobe and 1999 Izmit earthquakes, the potential for a major disruption in petroleum product production is real. Losing the daily gasoline production for a period of weeks or months as a result of a moderate earthquake or tsunami could significantly affect the economic well being of California and much of the western United States. In addition, a major oil spill resulting from such an event could cause the closure of a major port for days or even weeks. Such a closure would further affect the economy of California and the United States. Most of these facilities were designed to primitive seismic standards and for vessels much smaller than those currently moored. Many of these structures have never had a comprehensive underwater inspection. Wind and current forces on large tank ships can cause mooring lines to break or cause serious structural damage to supporting structures. In California, non-regulatory progress has been made in the following areas: (i) underwater and above water inspections or audits; (ii) mooring analyses and structural/environmental monitoring in high velocity current areas; (iii) seismic analyses and structural rehabilitation with updated seismic hazard data; and (iv) accelerometers on marine structures. In addition, standards have been developed and are proposed to be regulatory by early 2004. The new standards include most of the items listed above, but also extend into many other areas. Along with the proposed regulations come many issues that raise economic and political questions. These issues are not unique to marine oil terminals and are applicable to other pier and wharf structures in harbors.     

Wild wheat to productive drylands: Global scientific practice and the agroecological remaking of Palestine

This paper traces how scientific research on wheat (Triticum) worked to establish Palestine as a region sought for colonization. Recent work in geography has refined our understanding of agricultural expansion as an outcome of colonization, however, this work leaves the place-making capacity of agricultural research largely unexplored. My claim is that rather than a byproduct of colonization, wheat research served to remake Palestine as a biophysical region in need of improvement and colonization. I show how a shift in the plant sciences from research in taxonomy to plant breeding corresponded to an agro-climatic shift on Palestine from an undesirable, arid region to a promising dryland agricultural region. In this way, wheat research drew Palestine and the United States into a wider effort to transform arid areas into agricultural drylands. Drawing on a previously unexplored episode of technical cooperation between researchers in the United States and Palestine, I argue that we must examine how wildness, native-ness, and agro-climatic suitability are scientifically constituted within and not apart from colonial conquest. In doing so, the paper calls for reconsideration within geography and political ecology of the place-making relationship between colonization and scientific practice.     

Croatia and Central Europe — the geopolitical relationship

The position of Croatia on the border of larger geographic wholes (Central Europe, the Mediterranean, the Balkans) makes it a transitional region for these larger areas. However, the Pannonian region of Croatia, as the largest part of its national territory, places it in the ranks of the Central European states. The long historical ties of the Croatian lands with the Austrian and Hungarian centers of Central European power also confirm Croatia's affiliation with Central Europe. The cultural, civilization, religious and other characteristics, which today ease Croatia's communications with Central European countries, are unavoidable. With state independence, Croatia acquired the political sovereignty vital for its Central European orientation and was liberated from the problems of the Balkans, although it is still struggling for its territorial integrity. Croatian statehood was realized soon after the reunification of Germany, which in fact renewed the concept and content of Central Europe. This fact opened many questions tied to the rivalry and political balance of the European powers, which is also connected to the geopolitical position of Croatia.     

国外军事地质学热点问题

近年来以美国为代表的西方军事强国在军事地质学领域已取得了很大进展,尤其在应对未来战争方面作了许多准备。通过系统搜集国际军事地球科学会议(ICMG)和美国地质学会(GSA)有关军事地质学的最新专题研讨会论文与其他公开出版资料,梳理了当前国外军事地质学研究的热点问题并阐述了其新进展,其中作战领域包括地形情报研究、军事基地选址、潜在特殊战场环境调查、地下重要设施评价、非常规作战环境调查;非作战领域则包括抢险救灾、生态环境保护和环境安全评价等。最后分析了当前军事地质学研究存在的问题,并指出了其未来发展趋势。     

Indexation and Normalization Modeling of Natural Gas Endowment

A novel modeling method is presented for indexing and normalizing natural gas endowments of petroleum provinces. The approach is demonstrated with data from Canada, the Unites States, and Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries. A variable shape distribution model (VSD) is used to fit the conventional natural gas endowment published by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) for 29 provinces in LAC countries and 85 provinces in Canada and the United States. These data are indexed and normalized to generate curves showing number of provinces versus normalized endowments. Results are compared with normalized endowments from provinces in other regions around the world, including Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, North Africa, and the former Soviet Union (FSU). The comparison gives the method predictive power for estimating the natural gas endowment, particularly in LAC provinces that at present have little exploration activity. Of particular importance is the fact that all the curves of the various regions display a generally concave pattern throughout. The exception is the LAC curve, which displays the shape of an inverted S and has a distinct convex pattern at the largest gas endowment volumes. This comparison suggests there is potentially a large volume of natural gas in the region that has not been considered in previous studies.     

State and local response to damaging land subsidence in United States urban areas

Land subsidence caused by man-induced depressuring of underground reservoirs has occurred in at least nine urban areas in the United States. Significant efforts to control it have been made in three areas: Long Beach, California; Houston-Galveston, Texas; and Santa Clara Valley, California. In these areas coastal flooding and its control cost more than $300 million. Institutional changes were required in each area to ameliorate its subsidence problem.

In Long Beach and Houston-Galveston, efforts were made to mitigate subsidence only after significant flood damage had occurred. To arrest subsidence at Long Beach, the city lobbied for a special state law, the California Subsidence Act, that required unitization and repressuring of the Wilmington oil field. In the Houston-Galveston region, the Texas State Legislature authorized formation of the Harris-Galveston Coastal Subsidence District with authority to regulate ground-water pumping by permit. This solution, which was achieved through efforts of entities affected by subsidence, was the product of a series of compromises necessitated by political fragmentation and disjointed water planning in the region. Amelioration of subsidence in the Santa Clara Valley was a collateral benefit from the effort by water users to curtail ground-water overdraft in the valley. Importation of surface water and a tax on ground-water pumpage reduced ground-water use, thereby allowing the recovery of water level and the arresting of subsidence.     

Croatia in the continental traffic network of Europe

Croatia is located on the southeastern edge of Central Europe (Ruppert 1995), between the navigable Danube River and the Adriatic Sea, so that participates not only in continental traffic, but in the maritime and river traffic of Europe as well.Although the transit position of Croatia is very favorable, transportation itself has unfortunately not been developed in accordance with these advantages. This is a result of the social-economic, especially political, development of the region in the course of its history. Unfortunately, politics also influences the selection of transit routes in this part of Europe today. With the break-up of socialist states, particularly the former Yugoslavia, new states have appeared which are seeking their place in the European traffic network. Because of the momentarily uncertain political circumstances, the construction of some transit routes in Croatia have not been foreseen in international developmental plans for continental transit, despite the fact that they would be logically expected given the advantages of their position.     

Population Growth, Climate Change and Water Scarcity in the Southwestern United States

PROBLEM STATEMENT: In a simple economic model, water scarcity arises as a result of an imbalance between the supply of and demand for water sources. Distribution in this setting is the source of numerous conflicts globally. APPROACH: Already, the Southwestern United States (US) suffers from annual drought and long-standing feud over natural water resources. RESULTS: Population growth in the Southwestern United States along with the continued effects of climate change (natural and anthropogenic) predicts a perpetual decline in natural water sources, such as smaller snowpacks, in the coming years. As the increasing number of communities across multiple US states that subsist off of natural water supplies face water shortages with increasing severity, further water conflict will emerge. Such conflicts become especially protracted when the diversion of water from a source of benefit to one community negatively impacts nearby communities of humans and economically vital ecosystems (e.g., marshlands or tributaries). CONCLUSION/RECOMMENDATIONS: The ensuing politics and health effects of these diversions can be complicated and future water policies both domestically and internationally are lacking. To draw attention to and stimulate discussion around the lacking policy discussion domestically, herein we document existing and emerging consequences of watery scarcity in the Southwestern United States and briefly outline past and potential future policy responses.     

The certified Maine North Woods, where money grows from trees

Beginning in the 1990s, private ownership in Maine forestland shifted from a number of corporate owners to a patchwork of timber investment management organizations (TIMOs) and real estate investment trusts (REITs). This transformation reflected restructuring trends in the paper and pulp industry. During this same period, forest certification increased to levels that today make Maine one of the most certified states in the United States with nearly 8 million acres certified by one of a number of certifying entities. This paper examines the contradictory tensions of these trends. Specifically, the conservation goals of certification are undercut by increased investment in timber resources characterized by new financial instruments focused on return on investments. The increased use of first-party, industry-based certification suggests that the antagonisms between capital and conservation are being resolved in ways that undermine the purported conservation goals of forest certification standards.     

Environmental conservation and the production of new territories: the example of French départements

Very important initiatives have been taken and policies have been adopted in the European Union to protect areas of great importance for threatened species and habitats. Protected areas differ broadly in terms of category, natural conditions and administrative organisation, from international initiative such as Biosphere Reserves, European ones with Natura 2000 network until the institution of national and regional protected areas. In France, the administrative subdivisions known as “départements” were created with the French Revolution in the end of the eighteenth century; in 1985 an original and autonomous procedure to establish special protected areas, called “Sensitive Natural Spaces” (SNS) was devolved to them. The scope of this paper is to present an overview of these devolved powers which enable French départements to create protected areas and to levy a departmental tax on sensitive natural spaces (DTSNS). We statistically studied some parameters by multivariate methods in order to explain the choices of this policy by the départements. The huge variations in the way these powers are implemented prove the development of new environmental territories.     

Changes in the location of the United States Defence industrial base: Analyses of causative factors

During the last few decades international diffusion of the industrial activities among the established and the newly industrialized countries has occurred. Concurrently, the United States (US) has lost some of its status as the dominant industrial power in the World's markets. These changes have forced the US Department of Defence to surrender, at least partly, one of its principal strategic tenets, that of placing the reliance for its defence goods and services almost exclusively on the supplying entities located within the boundaries of the US.To a significant extent, these developments have come about as the result of the US policies not to intervene in the nation's and world's markets, and a deliberate and comprehensive intervention via policies, laws, and regulations in such markets by the governments of the other countries, including the US allies. The significant reduction of the military threat from the former Soviet Union may already have altered the conduct of the economic policies and defence strategies by the US, by its allies and by other nations.It is reasonable to assume that the US will see the continuation of international collaboration in the development, design and production of the future weapons systems. The former US allies and the other industrial nations, on the other hand, are in quest for further expansion of these industrial bases, and show limited interest in the further collaborative effect in the development of the future weapons systems.Unless appropriate co-operative economic and strategic policies are implemented, the emerging conflicts among the US, its allied and other industrial nations, presently in their infancy, may develop into a more intense confrontation among the world's industrialized nations. If this takes place, the US will be forced to abandon its laissez-faire policies, limit access to its markets and curtail the international diffusion of its industrial entities. The ultimate result of these developments may be geoeconomic conflicts among the industrial nations.This article is adopted from chapter in a forthcoming volume,Political and Geo-economic Issues Confronting the United States, the European Community, and Japan by Ewan W. Anderson and Ivars Gutmanis.     

The emerging Islamic State: Terror,territoriality, and the agenda of social transformation

The world has recently been witness to the emergence of a new contemporary geopolitical phenomenon: the declaration of Islamic States by specific Islamic organizations. This phenomenon has the potential to dramatically transform the geopolitical setting of the Middle East and to have farreaching effects on a global level. Of these most prominent, however, has undoubtedly been the June 2014 declaration by the “Islamic State” organization of a “caliphate” covering large areas of the two war-torn states of Syria and Iraq. The aim of this article is to interrogate the territorial aspects of the Islamic State and to discern what makes it unique and exceptional in comparison to the many other Islamic political organizations that have emerged in recent years. In order to facilitate a better understanding of territoriality, I distinguish here between two major dimensions: conceptions of territoriality and tactics of territoriality. My working assumption is that by distinguishing between conceptions and tactics of territoriality, we can compare the exercise of territoriality by states and, in the present case, organizations. In this article, I argue that the Islamic State poses a challenge to both the conceptual and tactical dimensions of the contemporary territory and territoriality of modern states. Yet, while its conception of territoriality may be widely shared by other political Islamic organizations, its uniqueness lies in its tactics and strategies. Indeed, it is the brutal tactics of the Islamic State that are less acceptable to many Muslims around the world, not its political conception, which enjoys considerable support in the Muslim arena. Yet, when comparing it with modern states, the Islamic State poses a challenge to the territory and territoriality in both conception and tactics.     

Temporal variation of tropical cyclones in the North Atlantic Basin

A total of 269 tropical storms and hurricanes originated in the North Atlantic basin from 1960–1989. Of these, 76 made landfall on the continental United states. This study divides the 76 tropical storms into their month of formation. Seasonal shifts in the principal areas of tropical cyclone formation over the Atlantic basin have been recognized for many decades. The results of the study suggest that the early and late season tropical cyclones develop in areas which are first affected by the position of the sun, resulting in an increase in water temperatures. These cyclones normally make landfall along the Gulf Coast and usually are of low intensity. Formation areas shift eastward in mid-summer with a slight increase in intensity. By late August and early September, the formation areas have extended to the Cape Verde Islands. These storms tend to strike the east coast of the US and are normally more intense. By the end of the hurricane season, the primary formation area has shifted back to the Gulf of Mexico, with low intensity storms affecting the Gulf Coast.     

Taming the killer lakes of Cameroon

A chain of volcanoes, some of them still active, extends from the Atlantic Ocean into the highlands of Cameroon. Mount Cameroon, located at the edge of the continent, erupted in 1999 and 2000 and spewed lava part-way down its flanks, cutting off a coastal road. A number of the now extinct (or dormant) volcanic craters on the continental part of the line are filled with water, forming crater lakes. These lakes have achieved mythical status in local tribal lore. Lacking a written history, prior to the arrival of the colonial powers, much of our understanding of past natural phenomena relating to the lakes is based on these myths.     

Human occupation of the continental shelf during the late pleistocene/early Holocene: Methods for site location

Archaeological sites containing significant information not available from terrestrial sites occur along former land surfaces now submerged and buried on the continental shelf. Although sites may occur anywhere along these former land surfaces, factors essential to man's survival, such as fresh water and food resources, make site locations somewhat predictable. Landforms such as rivers, lakes, and bays represent locations where one or more of the basic subsistence factors are provided. These relict landforms on the continental shelf can be detected easily using high-resolution seismic profilers. Physical sampling of landforms targeted as potential site areas is usually the only method for confirming the presence of an archaeological site. Sediment samples from a potential site are subjected to a series of sedimentary analyses which discriminate between archaeological deposits and natural sedimentary deposits. These methods for locating inundated and buried archaeological sites on the continental shelf were tested in a Gulf of Mexico study funded by the United States Department of the Interior, Minerals Management Service. The study suggests that at least two locations sampled along the ancient Sabine River Valley represent archaeological deposits dating from the Late Wisconsinan period of lower sea stand.     

鉴别生物成因气体主要地化指标的再认识

最近,俄罗斯地球化学工作者在汇总近25年来美国、欧洲和独联体等国家同行利用碳、氢同位素鉴别烃流体成因的资料时,对原来认为油气藏中甲烷碳、氢同位素及其不同埋深之间的变化规律有了一个新的认识。即：甲烷碳同位素较轻（δ13C（CH4）=-60‰～-70‰）的甲烷,不仅在地下浅部生成,也可在深部（达-4．5km）由烃流体决生变化而成。同时,这些气体的氢同位素也很轻（δD（CH4）＜-200‰）。他们认为深部成因的烃类气体和烃流体的分布比原来预计的要广泛得多,相应地,以前利用同位素资料确定天然气成因,以及据此结果进行的含油气性预测评价,均应进行适当的修正和补充。