The Drying of Lake Urmia As a Case of the “Aralism” Concept in Totalitarian Systems
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International Journal of Geography and Regional Planning IJGRP Vol. 4(1), pp. 043-063, May, 2018. © www.premierpublishers.org. ISSN: 1108-3450x Analysis The Drying of Lake Urmia as a Case of the “Aralism” Concept in Totalitarian Systems Nasser Karami Department of Geography, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), NO-7491 Trondheim, Norway E-mail: [email protected] Similarities exist in countries with totalitarian regimes with respect to the environment and the widespread destruction of natural landscapes. Analyses of the drying of the Aral Sea in central Asia and Lake Urmia in Iran, and comparisons including the general environmental conditions of totalitarian systems, revealed similar behaviors toward the environment in the two contexts, as well as a unique pattern. The author proposes the term “Aralism,” since Aral Sea case demonstrates all dimensions of this perceived pattern. Most processes affecting the Aral Sea were similarly observable in the drying of Lake Urmia. Analysis of these dimensions was based on the pattern of “Aralism” and a comparison of 20 factors common to the drying process. The results revealed that political goals in totalitarian systems had affected the respective environments in different ways, but the most significant impact on the landscape was caused by an ideological project. The author concludes that much of the specific characteristic behavior of totalitarianism in the cultural landscape was observable in the natural landscape. In conclusion, the paper shows that “Aralism” is a form of development with negative impacts on nature, such as often occurs in totalitarian systems. Key words: Aral Sea, “Aralism”, totalitarianism, Lake Urmia, water management INTRODUCTION Specific reports on the Aral Sea show that not only warnings were published in mass media and responded to geographers but also managers and other decision- by the local population. However, the Iranian government makers have been aware of the consequences of the never ceased to stop its plan to develop croplands, and it agricultural development for the drying process (Hummel, continued even where conditions were extreme in the lake 2017; Jin et al., 2017; Roll et al., 2006). The results of a basin. cost-benefit analysis commissioned by the government of the Soviet Union had a cost–benefit analysis done It is noteworthy that the drying of the Aral Sea and Lake revealed that the benefits of agricultural growth in areas Urmia is due to the environmental impact of the such as the Karakum Desert would outweigh the broad implementation of specific agricultural projects. In the Aral disadvantages such as the drying up of Aral Sea (Roll et Sea case, the development of vast cotton farms in the al., 2006). There were evidently some political and Karakum Desert and in the Lake Urmia basin has led to an economic necessities that meant that the Soviet increase in the area under crops and changed the government followed a plan without hesitation, the results traditional cultivation pattern. The projects have been of which would destroy a landscape over a widespread planned and monitored at the highest level of government. area. The same process is observable in Lake Urmia Some of the main dimensions in the two projects are: the basin. Evidently, environmental experts repeatedly warned imposition of non-flexible projects on vast landscapes; the of the destructive effects of changes to the hydrological prioritization of ideological goals, the disregard of the need system in the area (Hasanzadeh et al., 2012). The for biodiversity and environmental differences; the use of The Drying of Lake Urmia as a Case of the “Aralism” Concept in Totalitarian Systems Karami N. 044 authoritative methods to implement the projects; and the • They do not value individuality and individuation. responsible institutions’ failure to monitor and control the • Everything is meaningful in cooperation with the projects. These matters have led to the need to frame of a ideology and the main goal. common model to redefine the fate of the Aral Sea and • They are based on a complete and comprehensive Lake Urmia. ideology, and maintenance of the belief in this ideology. • There is no privacy; the system interferes in all aspects If “imposing an ideological project on a landscape” is of life. recognized as the primary character of totalitarianism • Even for the most complicated issues, the (Woody, 1940), it can be claimed that disregard of the representatives of the systems have preconceived need for biodiversity in natural landscapes probably has solutions. They reduce the most complicated points and common roots in the disregard for individuality in social make simple suppositions about them. landscapes. This hypothesis can be used for many • They do not recognize civil society. examples of totalitarian systems, including Iran’s plan for • The main objective is to attract the majority of people. self-sufficiency in food supplies, North Korea’s plan to In the short term, the systems do not consider anything multiply the yields of rice fields, the Pol Pot regime’s plan other than attracting the masses. to convert all of Cambodia’ agricultural land to rice fields, • Despite public belief, totalitarianism belongs to the the Assad regime’s plan for Syria’s self-sufficiency in modern world and is a modern phenomenon. wheat production, the Southeastern Anatolia Project • The power structure is completely focused, and this can (GAP, Guneydogu Anadolu Projesi) in Turkey, and the lead to the domination of a bureaucratic system. Nahr-al-Sanai Project in Libya responsible institutions • On its way to gaining total power, a totalitarian system In the study reported in this paper, the initial research grants to the citizens a proportion of whatever it has question was: “Is there a relationship between confiscated from them. totalitarianism and environmental degradation?” Assuming • Propaganda is an essential and strategic pillar of the answer was positive, the second question was “Is the totalitarianism. News publications re filled with drying of the Aral Sea and Lake Urmia an example of the propaganda. effect of totalitarianism on the environment?” A positive answer led to the third research question: What are the Friedrich and Brzezinski (1956) state that the main seven common features in the drying of the Aral Sea and Lake traits of totalitarianism are (1) single-party dictatorship, (2) Urmia? cult of a leader, (3) ideology control, (4) terror and secret police, (5) control of the media and cultural activity, (6) propaganda, and (7) centralized control of economy as. It MAIN CONCEPTS is apparent that the core of totalitarianism is “An ideology that must dominate the landscape” (Spencer et al., 2005, Totalitarianism not necessarily a characteristic of p. Chapter 1). Single parties, terror, and propaganda are authoritarian and dictator governments, nor is it some of the methods whereby dominant ideologies are fundamentally related to the past or to a temporary political implemented and imposed. In regional management, situation (Spencer et al., 2005). Rather, totalitarianism is environmental aspects of totalitarianism can be found in essentially a modern phenomenon and has only been any project that makes hierarchical impositions on the possible in the modern era (Arendt, 1968). According to landscape. Figure 1 shows a simplified version of this Arnet (1968), Friedrich and Brzezinski (1956), and process, and Figure 2 shows the analogical impacts of Spencer et al. (2005), there is a consensus on the totalitarianism in society and nature. From the two Figures, following aspects of totalitarian systems: it is apparent that most of the sociological impacts of totalitarianism have an analogous impact on the environment. Figure 1: A simplified overview of the process whereby environmental aspects of totalitarianism are imposed on landscapes The Drying of Lake Urmia as a Case of the “Aralism” Concept in Totalitarian Systems Int. J. Geogr. Reg. Plan. 045 Totalitarianism in Totalitarianism in cultural landscape natural landscape Negation of individuality Negation of biodiversity Impose massive unsustainable Quantity pivotal Projects on nature Depreciation natural resources Simplification to economic Goods Populism Rural-oriented Needing people to get Freely abuses natural government rations resources Failing EIA (Environmental Deactivation of civil society Impacts Assesment) Growth at the expense of Externality nature No Privacy No real protected safe zones Figure 2: The main impacts of ideological totalitarian master plans on cultural landscapes and natural landscapes The common characteristics of both totalitarian systems’ 2005). and totalitarians’ relationships with the environment and • Totalitarian systems have the power to accelerate regional planning can briefly be described as follows: natural processes, such as desertification and periodic flooding. • Totalitarian systems have an economic view of nature • Public policy Ii non-democratic countries such as China as opposed to an ecological view. They regard natural is increasingly associated with a form of “environmental resources as economic goods, not ecological authoritarianism,” or a "public policy model that components (Arnet, 1987). concentrates authority in a few executive agencies • What totalitarians call a regional plan mainly comprises manned by capable and uncorrupt elites seeking to a group of goals, not a single goal. According to Woody improve environmental outcomes” (Beeson, 2010). (1940), the meddling