Chapter 8: Political Geography Flashcards Preview

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Flashcards in Chapter 8: Political Geography Deck (34)
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1
Q

City-state

A

a city that forms an independent state with the surrounding territory

2
Q

What is colonialism?

A

effort by one country to establish settlements in a territory and to impose its political, economic, and cultural principles on the territory.

3
Q

Microstate

A

states with very small land areas

4
Q

Nation

A

group of people who share common traits; tightly knit group of people possessing bonds of language, ethnicity, religion, or other shared cultural attributes

5
Q

Sovereignty

A

independence from any outside control of internal affairs; autonomy of a country

6
Q

A state is…
An area organized in a _______ unit and ruled b an established _______ that has control over its ______ and _____ affairs.

A

Political
Government
Internal and
Foreign

7
Q

Why is the sovereignty of Western Sahara disputed?

A

Morocco claims Western Sahara, but most countries in Africa consider Western Sahara sovereign

8
Q

Describe the relationship between China and Taiwan.

A

China’s government considers Taiwan a part of China, but most other countries consider China and Taiwan as separate nations.

9
Q

Colony

A

territory that is legally tied to a sovereign state rather than being completely independent

10
Q

What is a state territory that mainly corresponds to a particular ethnicity?
Examples?

A

Nation State

Japan, Iceland, Denmark, Slovenia

11
Q

What is a multinational state?

Example?

A

country that contains more than one ethnicity (opposite of a nation state)
Russia recognizes 39 ethnic groups

12
Q

How many remaining colonies are there? Examples?

A

about 60

Puerto Rico

13
Q

When was the UN created and why?

A

At the end of WWII

To function as a facilitator for discussion regarding international problems

14
Q

Identify some challenges the UN has in carrying out missions.

A

Limited power, lacks troops, lacks authority, tries to maintain neutrality

15
Q

Why has the world become more democratic?

A
  1. Govt regulations in exchange for broadening individual rights and liberties
  2. Widening of participation of policy making
  3. Diffusion of democratic govt from North America to other regions
16
Q

What are the 12 indicators that calculate Fragile State Index?

A
  • based on sum of scores for 12 indicators
    1. security apparatus
    2. factionalized elites
    3. group grievance
    4. economic decline
    5. uneven economic development
    6. human flight & brain drain
    7. state legitimacy
    8. public services
    9. human rights & rule of law
    10. demographic pressures
    11. refugees & IDP
    12. external intervention
17
Q

Describe the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
Which countries signed?
Which countries are suspect states?

A
  • prevent spread of nuclear weapons & weapons technology, promote cooperation, & achieve nuclear disarmament
  • US, Russia, UK, France, & China
  • India, Pakistan, North Korea, & Israel
18
Q

Distinctive characteristics of terrorism…

  1. Trying to achieve objectives through ____?
  2. Viewing ______ as a means of bringing widespread publicity to their cause.
  3. Believing in a cause so strongly they are willing to _____ for it.
A
  1. Organized acts of terror
  2. Violence
  3. Die
19
Q

Describe the world’s major terrorist organization.

A
  • Al Qaeda means “the base” or “the foundation”

- Duty to wage a holy war against US bc of US involvement in Saudi Arabia and Israel

20
Q

What are the three types of physical boundaries?

A

Desert
Mountain
Water

21
Q

What makes a desert boundary effective?

A

Deserts are hard to cross and sparsely inhabited

22
Q

What makes mountains effective?

A

must be hard to cross; sometimes isolate nationalities on either side

23
Q

What makes water effective?

A

most common physical boundary

visible on a map, relatively unchanging, & offer good protection

24
Q

What are two cultural boundaries?

A

Geometric

Ethnic

25
Q

Describe geometric boundary & give an example.

A

Straight lines drawn on a map, usually correspond to a line of latitude
US & Canadian border along 49 North

26
Q

Describe an ethnic boundary & give an example.

A

Coincides with differences in ethnicity (language and religion)
Language - Europe
Religion - when Britain partitioned India due to predominantly Muslim areas in the West (present-day Pakistan)

27
Q

What are five state shapes?

A
Compact
Prorupted 
Elongated
Perforated
Fragmented
28
Q

Compact State

A
  • distance from center of state to any boundary does not vary significantly
  • Benefits: ease of communication & easy to defend
  • Downfalls: small in size, scarce in resources, lack population needed for labor
    Example: Poland
29
Q

Prorupted State

A

-Otherwise compact state with large projections created for two reasons:
1. provide state with access to resource (i.e. water)
2. Separate 2 states that otherwise would share a boundary
-Downfalls: difficult to govern & protect prorupted regions
Example: Thailand

30
Q

Elongated State

A

Benefits: less land to protect (maybe) & access to more resources from different regions
Downfalls: poor internal communication (maybe), difficult to protect, & regions may be isolated from capital
Example: Chile, Italy

31
Q

Fragmented States

A

Benefits: local ethnicities/nationalities maintain large degree of independence
Downfalls: difficult to protect, difficult to mandate national level laws, political conflict if separated by another state, communication hindered, & transportation of goods difficult
Examples: Japan, Indonesia, India

32
Q

Perforated states

A

A state that completely surrounds another one
Downfalls: unrest in surrounding state can carry into surrounded state, inside state must rely on outside state for imports/exports
Example: South Africa bc it surrounds Lesotho and Swaziland

33
Q

What is gerrymandering?

Provide an example of an alternate way of designing legislative districts.

A
  • practice of drawing boundaries of legislative districts so as to unfairly favor one political party over another
  • Bipartisan commissions:
34
Q

What is the Fragile State Index?

What region has the most fragile states?

A
  • Annual report published by the US assessing UN member states on vulnerability of collapse or conflict
  • middle east/eastern/northern africa (Yemen, Somalia, Syria, South Sudan)