Entscheidet die Form eines Landes über dessen Schicksal?

Zwei nicht uninteressante Fragen: Ähneln sich Länder, die geografisch ähnliche Formen aufweisen? Entscheidet die Form eines Landes über dessen Schicksal?

The Five Types of Territorial Morphology [compact, prorupt, elongated, fragmented, perforated] sounds like a fun parlour game, at least in cartophile circles (is Portugal compact or elongated? Is or isn’t Somalia prorupt? Does New Zealand qualify as fragmented?) But there is a serious, geopolitical concern behind this attempt at classification. For a country’s shape has a profound impact on its economic success, and even its political viability.