AP Human Geography - Commack Schools



AP Human Geography

Mrs. Bellisari

Chapter 8: Political Geography

Directions: Answer the following questions regarding Chapter 8 on a separate sheet of paper.

Key Issue #1 – Where are states distributed?

1. Define state and sovereignty. Provide an example of a state.

2. Define microstate and provide an example.

3. Explain the strengths and weaknesses of the United Nations.

4. Answer three of the following in a 4–6 sentence paragraph each. (3 paragraphs total)

a. Is Korea one state or two?

b. Is Taiwan one state or two?

c. Is the Sahrawi Republic sovereign?

d. To what extent does international law recognize territorial claims in the Arctic and Antarctic?

5. How did the concept of the state develop? Use specific examples from history to support your answer.

Key Issue #2 – Why are Nation-States Difficult to Create?

1. What is the difference between a multiethnic state and a multinational state?

2. Why are Denmark and Slovenia considered nation-states?

3. Explain how Communism acted as a centripetal and centrifugal force in the 20th century.

4. Provide one example from the following areas of the former Soviet Union and explain why that state is considered a nation-state.

a. Baltic States

b. European States

c. Central Asian States

5. Describe the various ethnicities that encompass the largest multinationalist state –Russia.

6. Describe the current turmoil that exists in one of the state from the Caucasus region.

7. Define colony. What are the three main motives for European colonialism?

8. What colonies still exist today?

Key Issue #3 – Why Do Boundaries Cause Problems?

1. What is a frontier? How is it different from a boundary?

2. Describe the importance of the physical boundaries and provide an example for each one:

a. Deserts

b. Mountains

c. Water

3. Explain why each of the following might be useful. Give an example for each.

a. geometric boundaries

b. religious boundaries

c. language boundaries

d. the Green Line boundary

4. What is the difference between a unitary state and federal state? Provide an example for each.

5. Define gerrymandering and describe the three different types of gerrymandering.

6. What is significant about “stacked vote” gerrymandering in the United States?

Key Issue #4 – Why do States Cooperate and Compete with each other?

1. Summarize the military cooperation in Europe. Incorporate figure 8-43 in your answer.

2. Define supranationalism - *This is not in your textbook but is a vital term for AP Hugs.

3. Explain the purpose of four of the following organizations?

a. EU

b. COMECON

c. Eurozone

d. OSCE

e. OAS

f. AU

g. Commonwealth

4. What is terrorism? How is it different from other acts of political violence?

5. How has the United States been affected by American terrorists? Cite specific examples of American citizens who became terrorists.

6. What is the chronology for the development of AL-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden?

7. Explain how the following Middle Eastern states are accused of providing state support for terrorism?

a. Afghanistan

b. Pakistan

c. Iraq

d. Iran

e. Libya

Discussion Questions to Consider During the Unit

• In his book 1984, George Orwell envisioned the division of the world into three large unified states, held together through technological controls. To what extent has Orwell’s vision of a global political arrangement been realized?

• In the Winter 1992-93 issue of Foreign Policy, Gerald Helman and Steven Ratner identified countries that they called “failed nation-states,” including Cambodia, Liberia, Somalia, and Sudan, and others that they predicted would fail. Helman and Ratner argue that the governments of these countries were maintained in power during the Cold War era through massive military and economic aid from the United States or the Soviet Union. With the end of the Cold War, these failed nation-states have sunk into civil wars, fought among groups who share language, religion, and other cultural characteristics. What obligations do other countries have to restore order in failed nation-states?

• Given the movement toward increased local government autonomy on the one hand and increased authority for international organizations on the other, what is the future of the nation-state? Have political and economic trends since the 1990s strengthened the concept of nation-state or weakened it?

• The world has been divided into a collection of countries on the basis of the principle that ethnicities have the right of self-determination. National identity, however, derives from economic interests as well as from such cultural characteristics as language and religion. To what extent should a country’s ability to provide its citizens with food, jobs, economic security, and material wealth, rather than the principle of self-determination, become the basis for dividing the world into independent countries?

• A century ago the British geographer Halford J. Mackinder identified a heartland in the interior of Eurasia that was isolated by mountain ranges and the Arctic Ocean. Surrounding the heartland was a series of fringe areas, which the geographer Nicholas Spykman later called the rimland, oriented toward the oceans. Mackinder argued that whoever controlled the heartland would control Eurasia and hence the entire world. To what extent has Mackinder’s theory been validated during the twentieth century by the creation and then the dismantling of the Soviet Union?

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