Non-Effective National Territory : A Characteristic of Third World States / Bob J. Walter.

In an effort to improve understanding and to provide better solutions to the world's political problems, this paper examines national territory or states in terms of their functional processes and their spatial structures. Examples from Third World states are provided. The author first presents a model of political territory. It has a boundary incorporating a state's legally defined political territory. This formal region of the state can be subdivided into two units. The first, called the effective national territory or ENT, is that portion of state territory where the central authority has control and can exercise coercive power. Within this regional unit would be the capital. The second unit is the noneffective national territory or N-ENT. It is that portion outside the normal reach of the state's central authority. The author maintains that the N-ENT is as important to the state as the ENT in spatial terms because its presence establishes a two region spatial structure in the political area. This structure has impact on the political processes of the state because in functioning effectively the central authority will attempt to eliminate this element if it is to fulfill its prime objective. Many Third World states have a portion of their territory as N-ENT. For example, a number of states in Africa such as eastern Mauritania, northern Mali, and northern Chad have large stretches of their national area without a permanent population. Another type of N-ENT is where a section of one state is outside the central authority's control because of a neighboring state's claim and occupation. This occurred in Chad when Libya claimed a strip along the northern border. (RM)

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