KAU_Week07_Alternative_Maps_Power_Accountability_Expanded_2026-10-21

1.

WEEK 07 / OCTOBER 21, 2026
WHO DEFINES
GEOPOLITICAL REALITY?
MAPS
POWER
Geography · Representation · Power
Alternative ways to map the world — and to ask who benefits, who is exposed, and
who gets political voice.
VOICE
HARM
Dr. Joel Ericson • Kazakh-American University
KAU / GEOPOLITICS & GEOECONOMICS / WEEK 07
01

2.

The default map
Political boundaries reveal sovereignty; they rarely reveal flows, unequal influence, or environmental consequences.
A political map clearly shows
Territory and borders
Where countries are located
Proximity and distance
THREE QUESTIONS TO ASK
01
What changes when we map relationships, not
just borders?
02
Whose power is visible—and whose experience
is missing?
03
How would a different map change our policy
conclusions?
But it can hide
Who controls capital and supply chains
Where benefits and harms accumulate
Who has meaningful political representation
NO SINGLE MAP CAN CAPTURE EVERY DIMENSION OF POWER.
KAU / GEOPOLITICS & GEOECONOMICS / WEEK 07
02

3.

Three pillars of geopolitical analysis
Scholvin: geography matters without dictating policy.
Source: Sören Scholvin, “Three Pillars of Geopolitics” (2016), adapted for teaching
01 NOT DESTINY
02 LONG-RUN PATTERNS
03 CAUSAL MECHANISMS
Geography creates constraints and
opportunities—not an irreversible
fate.
Geography helps explain persistent
patterns better than the timing of
particular events.
Explain the mechanisms linking
geography to outcomes; consider
politics and technology.
EXAMPLE
EXAMPLE
EXAMPLE
Kazakhstan: railways and customs
agreements can reduce the costs of
being landlocked.
Himalayan terrain limits routes over
decades but does not predict when
crises erupt.
A river can be a barrier or a transport
corridor, depending on investment
and rules.
KAU / GEOPOLITICS & GEOECONOMICS / WEEK 07
03

4.

Critical geopolitics
Geopolitical claims are representations: they describe the world, but they also help produce political reality.
Müller (2010/11); Ó Tuathail and Agnew; adapted by instructor
1. CONTEXT
2. LANGUAGE
3. POWER EFFECT
Who is speaking?
What institution?
What moment?
What categories, metaphors, or
priorities are used?
Whose interests are normalized?
What alternatives are obscured?
→
→
Application today
Use documented evidence, distinguish description from inference, and compare claims rather than caricaturing them.
KAU / GEOPOLITICS & GEOECONOMICS / WEEK 07
04

5.

How to Hide an Empire
Five permanently inhabited U.S. territories illustrate how citizenship, space, and political voice can diverge.
Daniel Immerwahr, How to Hide an Empire (2019); U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 Census
3.62 million
Residents of the five inhabited territories in
the 2020 Census
Territory
2020 pop.
Puerto Rico
3,285,874
Guam
153,836
U.S. Virgin Islands
87,146
American Samoa
49,710
N. Mariana Islands
47,329
WHY THIS MATTERS
Territorial residents have local
elections but unequal federal voting
power. Most maps omit them.
KAU / GEOPOLITICS & GEOECONOMICS / WEEK 07
05

6.

The right to a voice
Citizenship, residence, and representation do not coincide.
Simplified teaching comparison; not a full legal inventory of all rights and exceptions
Place / status
Presidential vote
Voting House member
U.S. Senators
Local self-government
Resident of a U.S. state
Yes
Yes
2
Yes
Resident of Washington, D.C.
Yes
Delegate only
0
Yes
Resident of Puerto Rico
No
Resident commissioner
0
Yes
Resident of Guam / USVI / NMI
No
Delegate only
0
Yes
Resident of American Samoa
No
Delegate only
0
Yes (territorial)
KAU / GEOPOLITICS & GEOECONOMICS / WEEK 07
06

7.

Three legal geographies of U.S. power
A territorial map must not confuse sovereignty, independent partnership, and foreign-hosted bases.
U.S. Department of the Interior; Compact of Free Association; instructional simplification
SOVEREIGN U.S. TERRITORY
FREELY ASSOCIATED STATES
Examples: Puerto Rico, Guam, U.S.
Virgin Islands, American Samoa,
Northern Mariana Islands
Examples: Marshall Islands,
Micronesia, Palau
Examples: Japan, Germany, Bahrain,
Qatar, Djibouti
U.S. law applies directly; residents
are subject to U.S. authority but do
not receive equal federal
representation.
These are sovereign states, but their
security arrangements and aid
relationships link them closely to
U.S. strategy.
These are not U.S. territory at all.
They remain sovereign states that
host American forces under
agreements.
KAU / GEOPOLITICS & GEOECONOMICS / WEEK 07
HOST COUNTRIES OF U.S.
BASES
07

8.

Beyond borders: four visual languages
The map changes when the question changes.
Illustrative visualization methods developed for the Visualize Environmental Impacts / Invisible Geography of Power teaching project.
A political map shows WHERE countries are. These diagrams reveal WHO IS
CONNECTED, WHO BENEFITS, and WHO BEARS THE COST.
01
SANKEY
Track resources, products, value, and harm through a chain.
02
CHORD
Show interdependence without making one state the center.
03
NETWORK
Follow ownership, contracts, regulation, and influence.
04
TIMELINE
Link today’s environmental problems to historical decisions.
KAU / GEOPOLITICS & GEOECONOMICS / WEEK 07
08

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

The paradox of selective globalization
Some things move across borders easily; other movements are highly restricted.
Adapted from the “Visualize Environmental Impacts” concept work
Cross-border flow
What facilitates movement?
What can restrict movement?
Manufactured goods
Trade agreements, logistics, multinational supply chains
Tariffs, sanctions, customs regulations
Capital
Financial markets, investment treaties, corporate networks
Capital controls, sanctions, investment screening
Fossil fuels and raw materials
Commodity markets, shipping, long-term contracts
Export controls, trade restrictions
Skilled professionals
Employer sponsorship, qualifications, university recruitment
Visas, salary thresholds, licensing
Agricultural and construction workers
Labor demand, recruitment agencies, temporary work programs
Quotas, employer-tied visas, immigration enforcement
Refugees and displaced people
Protection frameworks, family networks, humanitarian
admissions
Border restrictions, asylum procedures, limited admission places
KAU / GEOPOLITICS & GEOECONOMICS / WEEK 07
13

14.

A more revealing way to visualize global power
Decision–Exposure–Representation Matrix
Concept adapted from the “Visualize Environmental Impacts” materials
Dimension
What we would measure
Economic exposure
Dependence on external trade, investment, technology, and financial markets
Environmental exposure
Pollution, imported ecological pressures, resource depletion, and climate vulnerability
Mobility constraints
Visa access, worker rights, recognition of qualifications, and migration restrictions
Decision-making influence
Voting rights and negotiating power in international organizations, standards bodies, and treaties
Democratic representation
Whether affected populations can influence the relevant decisions, directly or indirectly
Institutional accountability
Access to courts, independent oversight, transparency, and enforcement mechanisms
Teaching point: instead of collapsing everything into one politically loaded ranking, visualize these dimensions separately.
KAU / GEOPOLITICS & GEOECONOMICS / WEEK 07
14

15.

Migration model comparison
Conventional temporary migration vs circular labor mobility with reintegration
Instructor concept note on circular labor mobility; adapted for classroom discussion
Conventional temporary migration
Circular labor mobility with reintegration
Worker receives an overseas placement
Worker receives a placement linked to a longer-term skills plan
Employment primarily serves destination-country labor demand
Employment serves destination-country needs and the worker’s development
Savings and skills may or may not be transferred home
Return, savings, certification, and enterprise financing are deliberately supported
Employer dependence may limit bargaining options
Portable skills and negotiated protections can increase worker options
Development impact is often indirect
Development outcomes can be measured through subsequent employment and enterprise
creation
This slide connects global mobility to development strategy — especially relevant for Kazakhstan and the wider region.
KAU / GEOPOLITICS & GEOECONOMICS / WEEK 07
15

16.

Six concrete environmental relationships to visualize
Useful starting points for analysis, assignments, and future research projects.
Adapted from the “Visualize Environmental Impacts” materials
Environmental problem
What a revealing visualization would show
Useful evidence
Fossil-fuel exports
Extraction country → corporate producer → importing country → final combustion →
global climate impacts
Global Carbon Budget, Climate TRACE
Exported plastic and electronic waste
Original consumer → waste exporter → receiving country → recycling, disposal, or
leakage into the environment
OECD waste-trade data, Basel Convention
Beef and animal-feed imports
Forest conversion → cattle ranch or soybean farm → trader → food processor → final
consumer
Trase, FAO
Timber from threatened forests
Forest origin → logging operation → intermediaries → manufacturer → importing
country; with species and legality information
FAOSTAT Forestry, traceability records
Colonial extraction
Historical administrative decisions → resource infrastructure → accumulated
pollution or degradation → present-day communities
Historical archives, environmental monitoring,
EJAtlas
Corporate and financial control
Foreign investor → company ownership → production site → profits, taxes, and
environmental liabilities
Ownership filings, corporate records, investment
data
KAU / GEOPOLITICS & GEOECONOMICS / WEEK 07
16

17.

Emissions as a geographic accounting problem
Production where? Consumption where? Harm where?
Our World in Data; scope 1/2/3 teaching simplification; linked to the Guardian article discussion of overseas emissions
The same physical system produces different responsibility maps depending on what is counted.
★ EXAMPLE A · ELECTRONICS
★ EXAMPLE B · FOSSIL FUELS
★ EXAMPLE C · FOOD / FEED
Production: factories in East Asia
Consumption: final markets in North
America and Europe
Question: should responsibility end
at the factory gate?
Production: coal, oil, or gas exporter
Combustion: importing country
Question: do exported emissions still
matter for the exporter?
Production: land-use change in
producer country
Consumption: meat, processed
food, or feed demand elsewhere
Question: who owns the
environmental footprint?
Teaching takeaway: a political argument about responsibility often begins with a choice about what geography we count.
KAU / GEOPOLITICS & GEOECONOMICS / WEEK 07
17

18.

The world political maps do not show
Two hidden geographies: physical consequences and legal-financial allocations.
ENVIRONMENTAL GEOGRAPHY
Extraction
Australia
Fuel use
Overseas
FINANCIAL GEOGRAPHY
Impacts
Sales
Profits
Tax rules
Worldwide
Global
Allocated
Jurisdictions
Emissions and climate consequences can cross political
borders without crossing back into the authorizing
jurisdiction.
Corporate profits can be allocated for tax purposes across
legal entities and jurisdictions, subject to law.
One shared analytical challenge: production, benefits, consequences, authority, representation, and
accountability may occupy different places.
SOURCE: Ericson, Invisible Geography of Power (concept note, 2026)
KAU / GEOPOLITICS & GEOECONOMICS / WEEK 07
18

19.

Australian coal: emissions cross borders
A project can be approved locally, burned elsewhere, and contribute to harms worldwide.
1 EXTRACT & APPROVE
2 EXPORT & BURN
3 WARMING & IMPACTS
Mine operator; Australian regulators
Buyer and power-generation facilities
overseas
Climate effects distributed across
countries
809 million tonnes
41,800 people
107 deaths
Modeled CO₂ emissions from one Hunter Valley
expansion scenario
Modeled people entering extreme poverty
Modeled additional deaths in Europe
The attribution–accountability gap:
Scientific estimates can link emissions to foreseeable harms; political voice, compensation, and enforceable
responsibility depend on institutions and law.
MODELED FUTURE IMPACTS — not observed deaths, proven legal liability, or an estimate of all Australian coal exports.
SOURCE: Abram et al., npj Climate Action (2025); Guardian / Carbon Impacts Tracer (Oct. 2026)
KAU / GEOPOLITICS & GEOECONOMICS / WEEK 07
19

20.

Apple, Ireland, and the geography of profits
Design, sales, tax residence, and legal profit allocation need not coincide.
COMMERCE
U.S. Apple group
Global supply chain
Non-U.S. customers
Strategy / IP / design
Suppliers and assembly
Sales and revenue
HISTORICAL PROFIT ALLOCATION
Irish-incorporated entities: ASI & AOE
EU state-aid review → Court of Justice
1991 and 2007 tax rulings applied during 1991–2014
2024 final judgment upheld recovery by Ireland
≈ €13 billion
This was a finding about unlawful Irish State aid—not a finding that €13
billion was owed to the United States.
EU estimate of unlawful tax advantages
SOURCE: Court of Justice of the EU, C-465/20 P (10 Sept 2024), press release 133/24
KAU / GEOPOLITICS & GEOECONOMICS / WEEK 07
20

21.

Two global systems. One political problem?
The mechanisms differ: physical causation versus legal allocation of profits and taxing rights.
QUESTION
AUSTRALIAN COAL
APPLE / IRELAND
PRODUCTION
Coal mined in Australia; burned abroad
Global product design, manufacture, and sales
BENEFITS
Export earnings; buyer energy supply
Corporate earnings; consumers; jurisdictions
CONSEQUENCES
Modeled climate harms across regions
Tax-base and public-revenue implications
AUTHORITY
Mine permitters; firms; buyer-country policy
Company structure; Irish and EU tax law
REPRESENTATION
Distant affected communities have limited voice
Citizens influence policy mainly within jurisdictions
ACCOUNTABILITY
Planning, disclosure, courts; contested remedies
State-aid enforcement; tax review; courts
Do not equate emissions attribution with legal tax liability. Ask instead: when do cross-border effects outrun effective
representation?
SOURCE: Abram et al. (2025); EU Court of Justice (2024); Ericson (2026)
KAU / GEOPOLITICS & GEOECONOMICS / WEEK 07
21

22.

Who gets a voice when consequences cross borders?
Attribution is information. Accountability requires enforceable institutions and political access.
EVIDENCE
AUTHORITY
REMEDY
Where do the consequences arise?
Who can make or reverse the decision?
Who can challenge it and obtain
redress?
THE ATTRIBUTION–ACCOUNTABILITY GAP
Better knowledge of cross-border consequences does not guarantee a right to influence decisions or obtain
compensation.
Defend: economic power can cross borders faster than
democratic remedies.
Challenge: courts, disclosure, treaties, and international
standards can bridge some gaps.
Class question: what additional evidence would show that an actual accountability gap exists in either case?
SOURCE: Conceptual teaching framework; Abram et al. (2025); CJEU (2024)
KAU / GEOPOLITICS & GEOECONOMICS / WEEK 07
22

23.

Central Asia map 1 — territory
A region of sovereign states
Factual labels and schematic regional basemap
What this map shows
5 sovereign states form the core of
the region
Kazakhstan sits between Russia,
China, and the Caspian basin
Territory matters — but territory is
not the whole story
5
core Central Asian states
KAU / GEOPOLITICS & GEOECONOMICS / WEEK 07
23

24.

Central Asia map 2 — connectivity
Routes convert distance into cost
Kazakhstan Ministry of Transport (2025 discussion of 2024 freight); schematic routing
What this map shows
China → Kazakhstan → Caspian
crossings → Azerbaijan/Georgia →
Türkiye/Europe
Kazakhstan’s strategic value rises
when east–west corridors work
reliably
Connectivity is about
infrastructure, logistics, and
political agreements
4.5 Mt
2024 Trans-Caspian freight
KAU / GEOPOLITICS & GEOECONOMICS / WEEK 07
24

25.

Central Asia map 3 — water and exposure
Upstream choices create downstream consequences
World Bank and regional water-governance summaries; schematic map
What this map shows
Amu Darya and Syr Darya tie
several states into one
hydrological system
Water releases upstream can
support or disrupt downstream
farming
Environmental exposure is not
evenly shared
Upstream →
downstream
exposure is shared unequally
KAU / GEOPOLITICS & GEOECONOMICS / WEEK 07
25

26.

Central Asia map 4 — mobility and people
People move; income flows back
IOM Uzbekistan (2024 estimate) and World Bank discussions of remittances
What this map shows
Large numbers of Central Asian
migrants work in Russia
Remittances are economic
lifelines for many households
Mobility is a geographic
relationship, not just a
demographic statistic
~2 million
Uzbek migrants in Russia, est. early
2024
KAU / GEOPOLITICS & GEOECONOMICS / WEEK 07
26

27.

Invisible geography of power
Who wins? Who loses? What do the maps leave out?
Conceptual teaching comparison: distinct historical contexts; contemporary trade is not automatically equivalent to colonial rule.
EXTRACTION & LABOR → VALUE & PROFIT → CONSUMPTION | WHERE DO SOCIAL AND
ENVIRONMENTAL COSTS FALL?
COLONIAL EXTRACTION
CONTEMPORARY SUPPLY CHAINS
Congo rubber under colonial rule
DRC cobalt and global battery markets
Coercion: colonial authorities organized extraction.
Production: mineral extraction occurs in the DRC.
Value: colonial governments and firms captured returns.
Value: processing, patents, finance and retail add gains.
Costs: violence and dispossession were borne locally.
Costs: mining communities may face labor and ecological risks.
Voice: people had little control over the rules.
Voice: bargaining power and legal remedies vary.
ASK: Who makes decisions? Who captures value? Who bears harm? Who can challenge the arrangements?
KAU / GEOPOLITICS & GEOECONOMICS / WEEK 07
27

28.

Practicum and first-half assessment
This week: individual interpretation, survey completion, and essay submissions.
INDIVIDUAL KAZISS
QUESTIONNAIRE
Reanalyze the two regional-risk and
cooperation graphs.
Use exact categories and numerical
evidence.
Worth 10 points.
STUDENT SURVEY
ESSAY & ATTENDANCE
Complete the survey individually.
10 points for completion only.
Survey answers are not graded.
Essay due Wednesday (60%).
Attendance contributes 20%.
Complete both practicum tasks (20%
combined).
FIRST-HALF GRADE
Essay 60% • Attendance 20% • Survey 10% (completion only) • Individual graphs 10%
KAU / GEOPOLITICS & GEOECONOMICS / WEEK 07
28

29.

A MAP CAN BE ACCURATE — AND INCOMPLETE.
Ask what is measured, what is missing, and who has the authority to define the picture.
The geography of power is not only the geography of borders. It is also the
geography of benefits, burdens, rights, and accountability.
ASSESSMENT REMINDERS
SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS
Essays due Wednesday • Survey: 10 points • Individual
graph questionnaire: 10 points
Essays and Surveys should be uploaded to iPortal AND sent
to j.ericson@kau.edu.kz
Read the map. Challenge the frame. Trace the relationship.
KAU / GEOPOLITICS & GEOECONOMICS / WEEK 07
29