Unit 4:Political Geography Study Guide
What is a city-state? Give an example. Where was the 1st City-State historically recorded?
A city-state is a city or town with control over its surrounding land. It is the first formal boundary with walls. An example would be Ancient Mesopotamia, which is also where the first city-state was historically recorded.
What is a frontier? Describe characteristics and regional examples.
A frontier is a buffer zone which has not been conquered or exactly inhabited; there isn't much ecumene. An example would be the border between the US and Canada. Declining because of increasing political control.
What is a nation-state? Give an example.
A nation-state is a state empowered by a single nationality. It's made up of people that share common traditions and legal ties to the land. There aren't many examples today but nation-states are seen in stage 5 countries of the DTM like Japan.
What is a colony?
A territory owned and governed by a mother country usually in Europe. Does not have an established government.
What is the purpose of the United Nations? Whys is the United Nations considered a Supranational organization? What historically neutral country recently joined the United Nations?
UN is a peacekeeping organization. It's universal and contains 193 countries. Switzerland was the historically neutral country that recently joined the UN. (No standing military. )
What creates the boundary between the U.S. and Canada (3 boundaries)? U.S. and Mexico?
US and Canada: Physical Boundary (water), Geometric Boundary, Subsequent. ; US and Mexico: Physical (water), Subsequent,
What is a unitary state? What is a federal state? What is an Autocracy? What is Anocracy? What is a Democracy? Explain the pro's and con's to each type of government and know the defining characteristics.
Unitary: Ultimately supreme central government ; Federal: Power is divided among federal and local governments. ; Autocracy: One person has absolute power. (pro: quick to decisions, cons: ) ; Anocracy: Part democratic and part dictatorship ; Democracy: People elect delegates into the government. (pro: people choose leaders, cons: slow deliberation or change)
Explain the conflict over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands. How about the Spratly Islands?
Japan and China both claim these islands.
Know the past and current political ideological conflicts in Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, and China. Why has Japan not seen any political ideological conflict?
Japan has been isolated so it had faced no cuttlefish
What example, on a world-scale, best represents a nation divided into 2 states?
Korea
What is a good example of a nation divided between more than one state
Korea: North and south Western Shara Republic: Morocco and W Sahara Republic Taiwan and China
What are the advantages and disadvantages of large and small states?
Large states: have vast resources, supply of food, sustain large population, disadvantage is irredentism ; Small states: good communication, effectively control of borders, disadvantage is lack of resources
On a global scale, explain specific examples of supranationalism and devolution.
League of Nations was the first supranational military organization. In the 21st century most alliances are mainly economic. Devolution we can see that it is happening in the EU with Brexit, but mostly one happens due to countries on the waitlist we also saw it with the Soviet Union.
what is sovereignty? Give an example
when you have control external and internal affairs and the making of internal and foreign laws
Discuss the UNCLOS territorial laws, economic waters, and open sea laws. How have the UNCLOS laws empower small islands? How has this caused controversy in the UN? Explain the conflict with the Spratly islands
12 nautical miles from the shorelines. Full military, customs, and political control 200 nautical miles = economic exclusive zone. Resources here are vital and sought after smaller islands have a lot more power with UNCLOS laws. They also have control over vital resources (sparkly islands fought over due to overlap between coutnries)
Where did the first widespread use of a nation-state concept occur?
1800s because expansive global economy and Colonization.
Describe the British Empire by the year 1900 and then in the 1960's.
1900 most of the British Empire was on continents ; 1960: Islands and Africa
What is an exclave? Give an Eastern European example.
An exclave is a part of land that lies away from most of its other states. An Eastern European example is a piece of Russia that is an exclave. Alaska and Hawaii form the US
What is the only large landmass not part of a sovereign state?
Antarctica
Define and give examples of antecedent, superimposed, relic, and subsequent boundaries
Antecedent: the boundary existed before settlement (U.S. British Treaty of 1848) ; Superimposed: Created by conqueror/colonizer. Most prevalent in Africa. ; Relic: A former boundary that has a mark of functions. (Usually walls). ; Subsequent: Created after human settlements are established.
Why is Korea, Taiwan, and Western Sahara seen as 1 or 2 states with as many nations?
As for a country like Taiwan, China sees it as a part of China. But Taiwan sees itself as its own sovereign state. Korea, on the other hand, is physically one piece of land, but the culture, traditions, economy, and government are immensely different on both sides of the border. As for Western Sahara, Morocco sees it as one country but all the other countries see them as two.
Describe the main characteristics of terrorism.
Attack ordinary people ; No advanced weaponry ; Seek media attention ; Martyr ; Actions by groups operating outside government
Explain why shatterbelts are common in Eastern Europe.
Because there were so many ethnic and political conflicts during and after the fall of the Soviet Union. UKRAINE IS AN EXAMPLE. THIS HAS TO HAPPEN AFTER A MAJOR WORLD EVENT IN WITH MINORITIES WILL BE DISPLACED!!!!!!
Briefly explain the evolution of states from city-state to modern states.
City state-medieval state(monarchy)-nation state(ends after WW2)-multiethnic state. After WW2 the nation states double.
What are the characteristics of extremely small states? Where are most microstates found in the world? Why is there international outcry over the UCLOS power of microstates.
Control all the resources on the land and surrounding it. Most microstates are found in the Pacific Ocean. ; Found in the Pacific ; Most Microstates are from colonies, some are still colonies (this is where we see the last remaining colonies in the world)
Describe what is used to separate states or create boundaries.
Culture boundaries: culture, religion, ethnicities ; Physical boundaries: water, mountain, desert ; Geometric boundaries
Why did the Germans established the proruption known as the Caprivi Strip in present day Namibia (give 3 reasons)?
Cut off British communication ; Access to the Zambezi river and resources ; Trade route to the East and railway ; Create a port
What were the motives of European states in establishing colonies?
Expand their empire, Christianity, resources.
Define the different shapes of states. Give an example of each. Pros/Cons for each. Know examples of fragmented, perforated, compact, prorupted, and exclave.
Fragmented: Broken along specific boundary lines ; Perforated: Completely surrounded by another state. ; Compact: An ideal shape where communication from the government equally distributes across the state. ; Prorupted: Protruded by an extension which usually leads to more resources. ; Exclave: Territory away from its common land. ALASKA is an example.
What is gerrymandering? What are the 3 forms of Gerrymandering? How does a census lead to potential gerrymandering.
Gerrymandering is the redrawing of district boundaries in favor of political part. The three forms of gerrymandering air stacked votes and excess (the most used) illegal since 1985. Problem in that it takes away votes and local political power
What is imperialism? Colonialism? Describe the difference.
Imperialism is a policy of extending a country's power and influence through diplomacy or military force. ; Colonialism the policy or practice of acquiring full or partial political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically.
What is irredentism? Give a current example of irredentism in a global formal region today.
Irredentism is the breaking of boundaries along ethnic lines, but can also be political factions. An example is currently in any large country like Russia with the Chuchnians,
What are the benefits of belonging to the European Union?
Member states belonging to the EU gain benefits of better cooperation that breaks down barriers to free trade. ; Switzerland recently joined. Dissolves antiquated boundaries.
List the regions of the world that are members to the European Union. What historically neutral country in Western Europe recently joined? Why do countries continue to petition in joining the EU?
Members of the EU: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the UK. Countries are continuing to opetition in joining the EU because it creates greater economic and political cooperation and breaks down barriers to free trade.
After the breakup (devolution) of the Soviet Union where were most of ethnic Russian people clustered?
Most ethnic Russian people are in the west of the Ural Mountains, most of the Slavic Russians are located south of the Ural Mountains.
Discuss the causes and effects to the Arab Spring.
Non-Secular and don't divide church and state. Asia and the middle east in autocracies.
Describe al-Qaeda. How did Al-Qaeda view the U.S. in 1996 and in 2020? How is Al-Qaeda different from other terrorist sponsored organizations (state 3 reasons)?
Not a single unified group; the number involved is unknown ; Decentralized ; Systematic violence ; Originated out of the Mujahideen
Know the political geography theories: Rimland, Domino, Heartland.
Rimland: Controlling land and its surrounding water is the most powerful. Used by NATO. ; Heartland: Controlling all of Eurasia means you control all the resources. Used by the Nazis in WWI, and then the Soviet Union ; Domino: A way to contain the spread of communism. The US used as containment of communism; NATO was used to prevent the spread of the Soviet Union.
What is the world's largest state territory?
Russia, largest multiethnic state in the world, irredentism is possibly because they do not have a homogenous culture do an ethnic group may break off.
Why are states in a dispute over the land of Antarctica?
Seven states claim portions of the South Pole region: Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway, and the UK. The Antarctic Treaty, signed in 1959 by 47 states, provides a legal framework for managing Antarctica. It says that states can establish research stations there for scientific investigations. The main reason states strive to own Polar regions is for their natural resources.
What do states do to cooperate with each other? What is the main purpose of the United Nations?
States cooperate with each other to maintain strength in the region that were not contiguous to their own territory. The main purpose of the United Nations was to serve the role of a facilitator for discussions regarding international problems.Economic, political and militaric
How do the majority Northern Ireland citizens view the United Kingdom?
Stay united and they want to stay part of the UK
Give an examples of landlocked states. Are all compact states landlocked states? Describe a landlocked state that is enclave to a perforated state.
Sub-Saharan Africa. No. Swaziland and San Marino and Vatican City.
What is the role of Taiwan and Switzerland with the United Nations today?
Switzerland is part of the UN, and Taiwan is not.
What are the main motives of the main terrorist organizations? What are the goals of Boko Haram, ISIS, and Hamas?
Terrorists consider violence necessary as a means of bringing widespread publicity to goals and grievances that are not being addressed through peaceful means. ISIS wants to create their own sovereign country
How did the European Union change with the end of the Cold War?
The EU became the world's largest economic superpower at the end of the Cold War. ; Started with Belgium and Luxembourg.
Why is conflict so widespread in Africa? (Explain the European colonial powers legacy...)
The Europeans colonized and did not care about how ethnic groups were dispersed, so they superimposed boundaries. This caused conflict between ethnic groups because they were unevenly dispersed, and they wanted sovereignty.
Why were boundaries redrawn throughout much of Europe after WWI?
The boundaries were redrawn throughout much of Europe after WWI for the distribution of languages. Much of Europe was organized into nation-states.
How does terrorism differ from assassinations and other acts of political violence? Why is it difficult for countries to agree on defined acts of terrorism?
The difference between terrorism and assassinations/other acts of political violence is that terrorism is referred to an attack on ordinary and innocent people instead of a military target or political leader. It isn't always easy for countries to agree on defined acts of terrorism because of the motives and arguments of both sides. If we see suicide bombs on a residence nation as of internal conflict, it can be seen as both acts of terrorism and political violence. Acts of terrorism can be sponsored by the government. Terrorism shifts after WWII, from attacking political leaders to attacks on ordinary people.
How does terrorism differ from other forms of violence?
The difference between terrorism and assassinations/other acts of political violence is that terrorism is referred to attack on ordinary and innocent people instead of a military target or political leader.
explain the centrifugal force of the current shift in congressional seat in the US? How does this pattern follow international and inter-regional US migration patters?
The number of delegates in the N.E. has decreased, as the population center has shifted south, therefore the delegates have been moving to states in the south like Florida or Texas.
What is NAFTA (USMCA)? Purpose?
The purpose of NAFTA was to reduce trading costs, increase business investment, and help North America be more competitive in the global marketplace. THIS IS ALL ECONOMIC!!!
What are the main characteristics of state sponsored terrorist organizations?
They want political power, and some want to eradicate Western views and education.
Explain the economic and political hardships of landlocked countries.
When in an enclave you have to depend on your neighbors. ; Most landlocked countries are in Sub-Saharan Africa.
wha is a nation? give an example
allegiance to a homeland, with toponyms that does not have sovereignty ex. native Americans
What is a state? Give an example
an established area that has control over its internal and external affairs under a single federal government. Ex: US
what has happened to the number of sovereign states in the world since 1960
the number of sovereign states has increased by about a 100. Now multiethnic or multinational in the world today
