Geopolitical Community Essay

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A geopolitical community is defined by Maurer & Smith (2013) as "a spatial designation--a geographical or geopolitical area or place. Geopolitical communities are formed by either natural or human-made boundaries." Natural boundaries can be a lake, island, forest, hillside or plateau. An example of this is the village that both my parents were born in called Pettorano Sul Gizio in Italy which is surrounded by mountains, which separates it from the next village. The village is naturally divided by mountains all around as it sits nestled in a valley. Human-made boundaries can be structural, political or legal in nature. Structural boundaries can be roads, canals, bridges or rail road tracks, while, legal boundaries can be comprised of city, county, state, provincial, territorial or country lines (Maurer & Smith, 2013). The differences in the geopolitical boundaries can be observed between Miami Dade County and Broward County since they are located within close physical proximity of one another, but since they are divided by two separate legal boundaries, they are considered two distinct geopolitical communities. Political boundaries could be exemplified by school districts or congressional districts (Maurer & Smith, 2013, p.396). A phenomenological community can be thought of as an assembly of individuals who share the same viewpoint, relationships, values, interests, beliefs and goals. A phenomenological community is looked at as a "relational rather than spatial designation" (Maurer & Smith, 2013). Geographical boundaries do not necessarily have to be shared in a phenomenological community. Religious, cultural and social groups are prime examples of a phenomenological community because their values and beliefs set them apart from other groups (Maurer & Smith, 2013). All of us live in a geopolitical community and most of us are part of many
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