Fragmented Countries

Fragmented Countries

Overall, fragmented countries seem to have equal amounts of pros and cons.

Fragmented

Countries

Military/Defense

Fragmented countries are countries that are made up of at least two non contiguous territories.

Pros:

Defense

Economic activity

Cons:

Offensive military

Communications

Government control

There are three different potential configurations for a fragmented countries. These are: mainland and mainland, mainland and island, and island and island.

In a fragmented country there are both advantages and disadvantages when it comes to military defense tactics. For countries such as Greece, the mass amount of islands makes it difficult to hold a steady military. If Greece needed to be offensive, attacking and organizing a military force would be somewhat challenging to create. Even though Greece does not have have a powerful military force, defending their territory would be much easier than most countries. If the country were to be attacked, holding it against its attackers would not be a issue because how spread out the islands are.

Examples of fragmented countries include Angola, Greece, the UK and many more.

For example, Greece is a mainland and island fragmented country, with many islands off the mainland.

Political

Economic

Fragmented Countries can have many pros and many cons involving the government. When it comes to the government they're more cons than pros.

Being a fragmented country has its advantages and disadvantages economically.

Cons

Pros

Socio- Cultural

How does the shape of these countries aid or hinder economic activities? Fragmented countries have the ability for lots of different climates and weather conditions, making it helpful to produce more goods and possibly services, bringing in the money for the country. Countries such and Greece are hotspots for tourism because of all the cute little islands and water surroundings.

Being a fragmented does also have political pros. It allows for some more freedom for the people. Also, there may be smaller governments helping to run the smaller or fragmented parts of a country so there could potentially be lower crime rates. There are not many political pros for fragmented countries overall.

Because the country is so fragmented it is much harder for the people to communicate and visit with their government. Instead of being able to visit their capital easily, they have to travel over many parts of their country. Which can be a problem when they want to be involved by protesting, seeing major events happen, just to visit their country's capital, etc. Also, it is harder for the country to be one whole government because there are so many smaller governments involved. Also, it is harder for the government to get everyone's political views.

Fragmentation can aid economic activity by supplying a larger range of economic benefits by supplying more access to goods, like fish, oil, natural gas, etc. It can also create larger amounts of agricultural products that can be grown because there is more land at different locations, creating more possibilities of crops and agriculture. Importing and exporting goods can be easier because there is so much coast land. The shape can make trade a little bit harder with neighboring countries because of how far apart some places in the country are. It would also be harder to transport goods throughout the country because goods need to be transported to multiple areas.

Is there a country shape your group believes helps create unity more than your shape?

• We believe that compact countries has the best unity because they seem to have decisions made quickly and they know what what works best for their country and what makes the majority of people happiest.

How does the shape of your country influence the country's ability to create cultural unity amongst it people? Fragmented countries most likely have a hard time creating cultural unity but that doesn't mean they hate each other for it.