AP Human Geography Chapter 8: Political Geography – Flashcards
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State
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An area organized into a political unit and ruled by an established government that has control over its international and foreign affairs.
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Sovereignty
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Independence from control of its internal affairs by other states
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6 LARGEST states
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Russia Canada USA China Brazil Austrailia
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How many Microstates are there?
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About 24
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What do Microstates have in common?
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All have very small land areas
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6 MICROstates
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Monaco Andorra St. Lucia St. Kitts & Nevis Grenada Malta Dominica
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When and by who was the UN established?
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1945 (end of WWII) The Allies
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Why did the number of members in the UN grow in 1955?
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16 European countries who were liberated from Nazi Germany joined
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Why did the number of members in the UN grow in 1960?
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17 new members joined, all but one being former African colonies of Britain and France
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Why did the number of members in the UN grow in 1990s?
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26 countries were added because of the break up of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia (several microstates were among those who joined)
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5 permanent members of the UN Security Council
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China Russia France UK USA
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Ancient States
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Civilizations made of city-states (fertile-crescent)
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Medieval States
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Estates ruled by barons and kings in which people worked for housing/military protection (knights)
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Nation-State
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A state whose territory corresponds to that occupied by a particular ethnicity
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Self-Determination
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Concept that ethnicities have the right to govern themselves
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Multi-ethnic State
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A state that contains more than one ethnicity
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Multi-national State
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A country that contains more than one ethnicity with traditions of self-determination
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Why is Denmark a good example of a NATION-STATE?
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90% of the pop = ethnic (Danes who all speak Danish)
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The 2 regions that keep Denmark from being a 'perfect' nation-state
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Faeroe Islands Greenland
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Faeroe Islands
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21 islands ruled by Denmark for 600 years Has nearly 50,000 inhabitants who speak Faeroese
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Greenland
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World's largest island 12% of the pop = Danish Rest of pop = native Greenlanders (who control own domestic affairs)
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How did communists suppress the issues of ethnicity and nationalism?
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- Writers and artists = forced to use "social realism" focusing on communist, economic, and political value. - Minimized organized religion to prevent rebellion - Russian language = primary language used
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With the fall of Communist governments in the 1990s, what kinds of problems have arisen and why?
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- new boundaries were created - new governments trying to take control of countries - countries with ties to the government now have no security, laws, etc.
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3 of the 15 new states that formed after the Soviet Union dissolved int the BALTIC region
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Estonia Latvia Lithuania
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3 of the 15 new states that formed after the Soviet Union dissolved int the EASTERN EUROPE region
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Belarus Moldova Ukraine
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5 of the 15 new states that formed after the Soviet Union dissolved int the CENTRAL ASIAN region
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Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Tajikistan Turkmenistan Uzbekistan
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3 of the 15 new states that formed after the Soviet Union dissolved int the CAUCASUS region
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Azerbaijan Armenia Georgia
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Major religion and language of each of the Baltic States
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Lithuania: Roman Catholic, language from the baltic group Estonia: Protestant, speaks a Uralic language Lativa: Lutheran, language from the baltic group
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Ethnic divisions among the Eastern European states are blurred for what reasons?
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All 3 groups speak similar East Slavic languages & are mostly Orthodox Christians
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Have there been ethic problems in Central Asia?
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Relatively peaceful but not completely (Tajikistan is in a civil war and stuff)
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How many different nationalities are found in the country of Russia?
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39
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Why are independence movements flourishing among russian groups?
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Russia is less willing to suppress these movements forcibly than the Soviet Union was
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Russia has resisted the independence movement in Chechnya for what 2 reasons?
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It contained Pockets of Petroleum They were afraid other countries would follow
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Azeris (Azerbaijan)
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Iran restricts teaching of the Azeri teaching, its western part is separated by a 25 mile corridor that belongs to Armenia
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Armenians (Armenia)
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Numerous clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan have occured
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Georgians (Georgia)
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Last portion of its land from war these portions are now declared as independent countries
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What's the main problem with the Caucasus region?
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Boundaries set by the countries do not match the ethnicities that live there
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Colony
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A territory that is legally tied to a sovereign state rather than being completely independent
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Colonialism
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An effort by one country to establish settlements in a territory and to impose its political, economic, and cultural principles on said territory
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Summarize 3 reasons Europeans sought colonies
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God, Gold, and Glory
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What country had the largest empire?
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Britain
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What country had the second largest empire?
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France
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Colonial Practices of UK
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Planted colonies on every continent
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Colonial Practices of France
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West Africa and South East Asia
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List the Largest remaining colonies in the world and who possesses each
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Puerto Rico-US Western Sahara- Morrocco French Polynesia-France New Caledonia-France Netherlands Antilles- Netherlands Mayott-France Northern Territory- Australia
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Boundary
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An invisible line that marks the extent of a state's territory
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Physical Boundary
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Coincides with significant features of natural landscapes Ex: Mississippi River used as a border
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Cultural Boundary
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Follows the distribution of cultural characteristics
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What are the three types of physical boundaries
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Deserts Mountains Water
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Desert physical boundaries
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-Hard to cross -Common in Africa/Asia
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Mountain physical boundaries
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-Hard to cross -Good at separating nationalities -Can be confusing where exactly the boundary lies
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Water physical boundaries
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-Most common type -Very visible -Good protection against attack -They can moving
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What are the three types of cultural boundaries
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Geometric Ethnic Cyprus' "Green Line"
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Geometric cultural boundaries
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-Straight lines Ex: part of the USA/CAN border
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Ethnic cultural boundaries
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-Try to separate speakers of different languages/different ethnicities Ex: India/Pakistan
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Cyprus' "Green Line" cultural boundaries
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-A wall/buffer zone Ex: Divides the turks & Greeks on the Island of Cyprus
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Compact States Advantages
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-Good communication -Easy to govern Ex: Burundi/Kenya/Rwanda/Uganda
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Elongated State Problem
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Poor internal communication Ex: Malawi/Chile/Mozambique
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Reason for Prorupted States
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-Provide state with access to a resource (water) -Separate 2 other states that would otherwise share a boundary Ex: Nambia/Democratic Republic of Congo
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How is a Perforated State dependent on the 'Perforatee'?
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It must depend on the other for resources Ex: Lesotho
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Differnt kinds of Fragmented States
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-Offshore islands -Seperated by water -Seperated by an intervening state Ex: Angola/Tanzania
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Landlocked States
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A state that lacks a direct outlet to a sea because it's completely surrounded by one or several other countries
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Where are the most landlocked states located?
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Africa
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Why are the most landlocked states located in Africa?
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Colonialism
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What problems do landlocked states face?
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They must play nice with coastal neighbors with coastal neighbors for exports
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Africa's 14 landlocked states (There are actually 15 but I don't know the last one so oh well deal with it m8)
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Mali Burkina Faso Niger Chad Central African Republic South Sudan Uganda Rwanda Burundi Zambia Zimbabwe Botswana Swaziland Lesotho
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Democracy
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A country in which the citizens elect leaders/can run for office
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Autocracy
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A country that is run according to the interests of the ruler rather than the people
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3 ways Democracies and Autocracies differ
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D - People choose the leader - Leader's power = constrained - Political Participation = Encouraged A -Rulers = Succession -People's power = Suppressed -No societal institutions take part on politics
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Why has the world become democratic?
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-Monarchies are becoming irrelevant/replaced -People want to be engaged -Diffusion from the UK/USA
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the Arab Spring
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Revolutionary wave of demonstrations/protests/riots/civil wars in the Arab world (Began Dec 18, 2010)
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Unitary State
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Places most power in the hands of central government officials
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Federal State
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Allocates string power to units of local governments within the county
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What makes a Unitary state system appealing to a country?
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-Few cultural differences -Good communication
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Where are Unitary states most common?
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Smaller countries
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Why do multinational states usually adopt unitary systems?
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Values of one nationality can be imposed on another nationality Ex: Rwanda
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Why is the federal state system more effective in larger states?
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-Empower nationalities -Capital = too remote and they need to cover more isolated places somehow
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Good examples of federal states
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Russia Canada USA Brazil India
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Why has small Belgium adopted a federal system?
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To accommodate the Flemish and Waloons
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Why has very large China adopted a unitary system?
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To promote communist values
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France????
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Unitary system SO MANY COUNCILS ??????????
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Why are boundaries of USA legislative districts occasionally redrawn and how often does it happen?
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To ensure each district has appropriately the same population Every 10 years
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How is the legislative district boundary redrawing different in the US than in Europe
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US is gaining population Europe is losing population
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Gerrymandering
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Process of redrawing boundaries for the benefit of the party in power
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3 types of Gerrymandering
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Wasted Vote Excess Vote Stacked Vote
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Wasted Vote
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Spreads oppositions supporters across many districts making them the minority
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Excess Vote
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Concentrates the opposition in a few districts
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Stacked Vote
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Links distant areas of like-minded voters together
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How is Gerrymandering combined with ethnicity for political use?
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African Americans/Hispanics tend to vote democrat, so put them in the same districts
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Why is the idea of 2 superpowers a relatively new one?
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In the past there have usually been more (WWI = 8)
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Balance of Power
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A condition of rough;y equal strengths between opposing allies
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Purpose of NATO? (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)
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Military alliance between 16 democratic states (USA/CAN/14 other Euro states)
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Purpose of former "Warsaw Pact" countries
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Military agreement among communist Eastern Europe states to defend each other in case of attack
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When was the EU formed?
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1958 During the cold war
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What states formed the EU
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Belgium France Italy Luxembourg Netherlands West Germany
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Why was the EU formed
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To heal Western Europe's WWII scars
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What are some important changes in the EU recently?
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Many more states joined up ??????
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Explain the Eurozone Crisis?
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Global recession of 2008 = stronger and weaker countries got kinda screwed because the Euro had some stuff happen to its value and stuff (I HAVE NO CLUE OKAY)
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OSCE
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- 56 members - Purpose = Can call upon its members to supply troops
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OAS
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- 35 members - Promotes social, cultural, political, & economic links between N&S American states
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AU
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- 53 members - Placed emphasis on promoting economic integration in Africa
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The Commonwealth
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- 53 members - Members seek economic/cultural cooperation
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Terrorism
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Systematic use of violence by a group in order to intimidate a population/coerce a government into granting its demands
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3 typical methods/acts of terrorists
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-Achieve objectives through spread of fear throughout a population (Bombing, hijacking, kidnapping, etc) -Violence is an okay way to get widespread publicity to their goals that aren't being addressed peacefully -Believe in the cause so strongly that they are willing to die in attacks
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Why is terrorism different from other acts of political violence?
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attacks are aimed at ordinary people, not political/military targets
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in what ways does al-Qaeda, its religious and political views, and its methods pose a challenge to Muslims?
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Challenge to express disagreement with the USA & Europe while still disapproving of terrorism
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in what ways does al-Qaeda, its religious and political views, and its methods pose a challenge to Americans?
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Challenge to distinguish peaceful but unfamiliar principles in Islam from the misuse & abuse of Islam by terrorists
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3 ways states have given support to terrorists
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- Provide sanctuary for wanted terrorists - Supply weapons/money/intelligence to terrorists - plan attacks using terrorists
