City-state
a city that forms an independent state with the surrounding territory
What is colonialism?
effort by one country to establish settlements in a territory and to impose its political, economic, and cultural principles on the territory.
Microstate
states with very small land areas
Nation
group of people who share common traits; tightly knit group of people possessing bonds of language, ethnicity, religion, or other shared cultural attributes
Sovereignty
independence from any outside control of internal affairs; autonomy of a country
A state is…
An area organized in a _______ unit and ruled b an established _______ that has control over its ______ and _____ affairs.
Political
Government
Internal and
Foreign
Why is the sovereignty of Western Sahara disputed?
Morocco claims Western Sahara, but most countries in Africa consider Western Sahara sovereign
Describe the relationship between China and Taiwan.
China’s government considers Taiwan a part of China, but most other countries consider China and Taiwan as separate nations.
Colony
territory that is legally tied to a sovereign state rather than being completely independent
What is a state territory that mainly corresponds to a particular ethnicity?
Examples?
Nation State
Japan, Iceland, Denmark, Slovenia
What is a multinational state?
Example?
country that contains more than one ethnicity (opposite of a nation state)
Russia recognizes 39 ethnic groups
How many remaining colonies are there? Examples?
about 60
Puerto Rico
When was the UN created and why?
At the end of WWII
To function as a facilitator for discussion regarding international problems
Identify some challenges the UN has in carrying out missions.
Limited power, lacks troops, lacks authority, tries to maintain neutrality
Why has the world become more democratic?
- Govt regulations in exchange for broadening individual rights and liberties
- Widening of participation of policy making
- Diffusion of democratic govt from North America to other regions
What are the 12 indicators that calculate Fragile State Index?
- 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
Describe the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
Which countries signed?
Which countries are suspect states?
- prevent spread of nuclear weapons & weapons technology, promote cooperation, & achieve nuclear disarmament
- US, Russia, UK, France, & China
- India, Pakistan, North Korea, & Israel
Distinctive characteristics of terrorism…
- Trying to achieve objectives through ____?
- Viewing ______ as a means of bringing widespread publicity to their cause.
- Believing in a cause so strongly they are willing to _____ for it.
- Organized acts of terror
- Violence
- Die
Describe the world’s major terrorist organization.
- 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
What are the three types of physical boundaries?
Desert
Mountain
Water
What makes a desert boundary effective?
Deserts are hard to cross and sparsely inhabited
What makes mountains effective?
must be hard to cross; sometimes isolate nationalities on either side
What makes water effective?
most common physical boundary
visible on a map, relatively unchanging, & offer good protection
What are two cultural boundaries?
Geometric
Ethnic
Describe geometric boundary & give an example.
Straight lines drawn on a map, usually correspond to a line of latitude
US & Canadian border along 49 North
Describe an ethnic boundary & give an example.
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)
What are five state shapes?
Compact Prorupted Elongated Perforated Fragmented
Compact State
- 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
Prorupted State
-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
Elongated State
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
Fragmented States
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
Perforated states
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
What is gerrymandering?
Provide an example of an alternate way of designing legislative districts.
- practice of drawing boundaries of legislative districts so as to unfairly favor one political party over another
- Bipartisan commissions:
What is the Fragile State Index?
What region has the most fragile states?
- 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)