AP HUMAN GEOGRAPHY--CHAPTER 8 POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY READER’S NOTES--DUE DATE
January 17,
2014
Field Note: Independence is Better than Servitude 219-221 [pgs. maybe misnumbered in the book]
What is the capital city of Ghana?
What was so unique about the statue
of Ghana’s first president Kwame
Nkrumah?
What did the quotes on the statue
say?
When did Ghana gain its
independence?
Why didn’t decolonization eliminate
political and economic problems for
Africa?
What kind of political problems did
each new state have to deal with?
What kind of economic problems did
the new states encounter?
What ended up happening to
Nkrumah in 1966?
After decades of European rule, what
did the colonized countries want?
How did European colonialism
organize the world?
How did European colonialism
politically organize the colonies?
How is Space Politically Organized into States and Nations? 222-223
What is political geography?
What is a state?
Why are the political maps of the
world so natural and accepted by
everyone?
Why is the world map of states not
natural?
What does geographer Stuart Elden
point out about the concept of
territory?
What is territoriality?
How does Robert Sack define
territoriality?
What is sovereignty?
Why is sovereignty tied to the
concept of territoriality?
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AP HUMAN GEOGRAPHY--CHAPTER 8 POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY READER’S NOTES--DUE DATE
January 17,
2014
What is territorial integrity?
The Modern State Idea 223
How did the North American Indian
tribes delineate territory? What did
they fight over?
How did Ancient Greece and Rome
influence the modern European state
idea?
Who was the political geographer
who found aspects of the modern
state in many places and points in
European history?
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What was mercantilism?
What 3 elements were in existence
while powerful families struggled for
dominance in 17th century Europe?
What was the even that marked the
beginning of the modern state system
in Europe?
What did the language of this treaty
do?
What marked a fundamental change
in the relationship between people
and territory?
How does territory define a society?
What was absolutism?
What prevented absolutism from
continuing in Europe?
What happened in France in 1789?
What became the new political
authority in France and then other
countries including the USA?
Nations 254-255
How do geographers define nation?
How does Benedict Anderson define
the nation?
Why are the French not a good
example of a nation?
How is a nation identified?
How can a country have multiple
nations within their borders? Give
examples from the book
AP HUMAN GEOGRAPHY--CHAPTER 8 POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY READER’S NOTES--DUE DATE
January 17,
2014
Nation-State 223-227
What is a nation-state?
How does the idea of nation-state
play out in regards to ethnic groups?
How did the French Revolution
promote democracy?
What is the key problem with the
idea of nation-state?
What century is considered the true
century of nationalism in Europe?
How did European state leaders use
the tool of nationalism to strengthen
their states? (3 ways)
What do states provide to the people
within their borders?
How did European states use the
colonization of Africa and Asia to
promote nationalism within their
state?
Multistate Nations, Multinational States, and Stateless Nations 227-229
What is a multinational state?
Why did the people of the former
Yugoslavia never achieve a strong
sense of nationhood?
What is a multistate nation?
What is the nature of the conflict
between Romania and Hungary in
regards to the state of Transylvania?
What is a stateless nation?
What is the Kurdish Security Zone?
Why was the KSZ established?
Why does the idea of an independent
Kurdish state seem unlikely in the
future?
European Colonialism and the Diffusion of the Nation-State Model 229-230
How did Europe export its idea of
state to the rest of the world?
What countries were involved in the
first wave of colonization?
What countries were the colonizers in
the second wave of colonization?
What was the Berlin Conference in
1884-1885?
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AP HUMAN GEOGRAPHY--CHAPTER 8 POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY READER’S NOTES--DUE DATE
January 17,
2014
What did the imperial powers do
during both waves of colonialism? (2
elements)
Construction of the Capitalist World Economy 230-234
How is the construction of global
order characterized in the world
today?
How did Europe emerge out of
colonialism as the major center of
economic and political activity?
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What are the three basic tenets of
Wallenstein’s World Systems Theory?
What is the meaning of capitalism?
What is commodification?
What is the core?
What is the periphery?
What is the semi-periphery?
What does the World Systems Theory
help to explain in regards to colonial
powers?
World-Systems and Political Power 234
What does economic power mean in
the current system?
What does political power mean in
the current system?
Why don’t all the states have the
same ability to influence others?
What 3 things happened on the world
map as a result of the newly
independent states following the
boundaries of their former
colonizers?
What is the greatest political
challenge facing the nation-states of
Africa since independence?
How Do States Spatially Organize 234-235
Who developed the theory of forces
within a state that can either unify or
AP HUMAN GEOGRAPHY--CHAPTER 8 POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY READER’S NOTES--DUE DATE
divide the country? What year was
this?
Explain the meaning of centripetal
forces.
Explain the meaning of centrifugal
forces.
Why is geography important to
understating how states govern
themselves?
January 17,
2014
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Form of Government 235
What are unitary governments?
How does the unitary form of
government operate in France?
What is a federal system of
government?
How does federalism accommodate
regionalism?
Devolution 236
What is devolution?
Ethnocultural Devolutionary Movements 236
How do ethnocultural forces
stimulate devolution in some
countries?
How has devolution affected China in
regards to the Uyghur (wee-gurs) and
Tibet?
Economic Devolutionary Forces 238-240
What economic argument do the
Catalonians argue in favor of
devolving and separating from Spain?
What economic argument do the
Sardinians argue in favor of devolving
and separating from Italy?
What economic argument do the
Brazilians argue in favor of devolving
and separating from the Amazonians
in the North?
Territorial Influences on Devolution 240-241
Where are most devolutions usually
likely to occur?
Where does the U.S. face its most
serious devolutionary challenge?
Why?
What territorial characteristics play a
significant role in starting and
sustaining devolution?
AP HUMAN GEOGRAPHY--CHAPTER 8 POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY READER’S NOTES--DUE DATE
January 17,
2014
Electoral Geography 241-242
What different areas do electoral and
political geographers to understand
voters in certain areas?
What is territorial representation in
the USA?
Explain the meaning of
reapportionment in the Rustbelt and
the Sunbelt?
How does a state dilute minority
voters in a state?
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What are majority-minority districts?
What is gerrymandering? Give an
example of gerrymander in the USA.
How are Boundaries Established, and Why Do Boundary Disputes Occur? 242-244
Describe a boundary between states?
How has the discovery of subsoil
reserves affected boundary disputes
between states?
What is a state’s air space defined as?
Establishing Boundaries 242-244
How do states typically define
boundaries between each other?
What is the role of the cartographer
in creating boundaries?
How is a boundary demarcated?
Types of Boundaries 244
What are geometric boundaries?
Give some examples of geometric
boundaries.
What are physical-political
boundaries?
Give some examples of physicalpolitical boundaries?
Why are physical boundaries not
always reliable?
Boundary Disputes 244-245
What are definitional boundary
disputes? Give one example.
What are locational boundary
disputes? Give one example.
What are operational boundary
disputes? Give one example.
AP HUMAN GEOGRAPHY--CHAPTER 8 POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY READER’S NOTES--DUE DATE
January 17,
2014
What are allocational boundary
disputes? Give one example
How Does the Study of Geopolitics Help Us Understand the World? 245
Define the meaning of geopolitics.
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How does understanding geopolitics
help us to under our world?
Classical Geopolitics 245
When did classical geopolitics begin?
German School 245-246
Who was the first German professor
to study Geopolitics?
What geopolitical theories resulted
from the study of Charles Darwin’s
evolutionary theories?
What is lebensraum?
What was the result of these theories
turned into policies in the late 1930s
in Germany?
The American School 246
What article did Sir Halford J
Mackinder, a geographer publish in
1904?
What did Mackinder believe were the
keys to world domination?
Explain Mackinder’s heartland
theory? See “pivot-area” for an
explanation?
After World War II, why were people
interested in revisiting Mackinder’s
heartland theory?
Mackinder wrote a final paper in
1943, what was he concerned about
in the paper?
Influence of Geopoliticians on Politics 246
What were Ratzel and Mackinder’s
geopolitical theories grounded in?
What supranational organization was
formed as a result of geopolitical
concern after World War II?
AP HUMAN GEOGRAPHY--CHAPTER 8 POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY READER’S NOTES--DUE DATE
January 17,
2014
Why did geopolitical theories lose
their influence after World War II?
Critical Geopolitics 246-247
Explain the basic concept behind
critical geopolitics.
How does O”Tauthail say American
presidents have defined “us” and
“them”?
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Geopolitical World Order 247
What where the five possible world
orders believed to have emerged
among 3 major powers after World
War II?
What would a geopolitical order
based on unilateralism look like?
What Are Supranational Organizations, And What Are Their Implications For The State? 248-249
What is a supranational corporation?
What was the first supranational
organization? When did it come
about?
What new supranational organization
formed to replace the league of
Nations after World War II?
What do states commit to by joining
the United Nations?
Regional Supranational Organizations 249
Explain Benelux and who belongs to
it?
What was the Marshall Plan?
The European Union 249-252
How did the formation of the
European economic Community come
about?
How many member states are in the
European Union?
When did the European Union get a
single currency? What is it called?
Under the rules of the EU what must
the richer countries do?
AP HUMAN GEOGRAPHY--CHAPTER 8 POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY READER’S NOTES--DUE DATE
January 17,
2014
Explain the controversy around
Turkey joining the EU? Who opposes
their membership? Why?
How Does Supranationalism Affect The State? 249-255
Why is the EU such a different and
remarkable supranational
organization?
What are some of the major
challenges to the EU today?
How does globalization erode the
state’s position and power in the
world?
How do fundamental religious groups
challenge world order?
What is Deterritorialization.
What is Reterritorialization.
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