EQ2

Question 1

What is a state?

Answer 1

a territory over which no other country holds power or sovereignty - UN recognised 196 states in 2016

Question 2

What is a nation?

Answer 2

a territorialised groups of people who may or may not lack sovereignty, includes Scottish and Welsh nations part of the UK which is a sovereign state.

Question 3

What is sovereignty?

Answer 3

ability of a place and its people to self govern without any outside interference

Question 4

What is a dependent territory?

Answer 4

have autonomy for many aspects of governance but lack full sovereignty e.g. Greenland or Hong Kong.

Question 5

Why do sovereign states vary in their ethnic, cultural and linguistic unity?

Answer 5

results from historic migration, some states maintain a homogenous culture over time - citizens belong to a single ethnic group and share same cultural traits, may also be due to physical isolation.

Question 6

What is Iceland’s culture like?

Answer 6

until 1990s there was a strong sense of common identity and cultural homogeneity. Cultural traditions of hardships, food (shark) and cultural retreat (2008 McD closed), but younger people are shaping it, avid of consumer global culture (99% have internet) more people tourists increasing and people increasingly inhabiting there which increases cultural diversity.

Question 7

What is Singapore’s culture like?

Answer 7

More people migrate which increases co-existence due to being global military and trading hub under UK( particularly during the BE). It is easier to migrate than to Iceland, increased magnet for new waves of migrants who bring their customers, religions and festivals with them.

Question 8

What are historic borders?

Answer 8

long settled ethnic groups formed a strong association with their land. e.g. Europe’s geo-political map corresponds with its cultural and linguistic map

Question 9

What are natural/physical borders?

Answer 9

Physical features create natural obstacles e.g. Rivers(USA, Canada), mountains (Pyrenes), sea/oceans (English channel). Means armies cannot cross unnoticed and it creates a band of uninhabitable land easily separating 2 states without conflict.

Question 10

What are political borders?

Answer 10

Borders are drafted by the sovereign states, which may have not taken into account differences between religious or ethnic groups which could lead to conflict.

Question 11

What is a colonial border?

Answer 11

creation of colonial borders by imperial powers during the 19th century can lead to conflict.

Question 11

What is an example of political border conflict?

Answer 11

these divide similar ethnic groups or religious groups based on conflicting ideologies.
The UN divided Vietnam after 1945. Ho Chi Minh invaded the South to reclaim and reunify Vietnam - resulted in 3m deaths and population movements of Catholic moving to the South where they wouldn’t face prosecution in the Communist North.

Question 12

What is an example of colonial border conflict?

Answer 12

In Rwanda colonial borders were created by EU powers leading to the enclosure of Hutus and Tutsis, rival tribes.
Tutsi’s fled to Uganda then when they returned tensions rose. When Rwanda’s presidents plane was shot down it triggered or mass genocide in 1994 - 80,000 Tutsis massacred by Hutus.

Question 13

Why is Ukraine and Russia’s border contested?

Answer 13

Many ethnic Russians lived in Crimea (58%), when Crimea become an independent state part of Ukraine in 1991, there was controversy - in 2014 Russia annexed Crimea on basis that Russians weren’t being protected by the Ukraine government. International community condemned Russia’s annexation and imposed economic sanctions against trade.

Question 14

Why is Taiwan contested?

Answer 14

since 1950 Taiwan has been independent but China stills claims sovereignty and regards Taiwan as a rebel province - led to strained relations as Taiwan is increasingly recognised by production of computer technology.

Question 15

Why is Syria and Iraq’s borders contested?

Answer 15

Sykes - Picot line is a border between French occupation and the UK’s control in the Middle East. Large Kurdish, Shia and Sunni populations were divided across this line and extremist groups (Daesh and Al Qaeda) have incited conflict between 2 social groups - ISIS has killed over 200,000 people with the UK and USA fighting back.

Question 16

Why is Kashmir’s border contested?

Answer 16

High % of Muslims living in an Indian controlled state which is Hindu majority. Muslims want to live in Pakistan. Many years of unrest and conflict has occurred, there is danger both India and Pakistan will use nuclear powers.

Question 17

What happened during the 19th century?

Answer 17

Between 1500 and 1900 many EU powers had built global empires. Newly discovered South America was invaded and colonised by Spain, whilst the UK, France and Belgium colonised parts of Asia and Africa.

Question 18

How much control did the British Empire have?

Answer 18

By 1880 British Empire controlled 1/3 of world’s land surface and 1/4 of population, British culture and customs was spread through sports, language through local governance and education controlled by the UK.

Question 19

How have various wars and revolutions in the EU shaped dynastic rule?

Answer 19

This has formed many new nations e.g. war with France in 1871 united the small states of German speaking people to form Germany. Industrialisation allowed EU nations to expand, France to Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.

Question 20

What is nationalism?

Answer 20

belief that the interest of a nation are more important than those of another nation - idea of nationalism can bound colonialism.

Question 21

What did indigenous people think of colonalism?

Answer 21

Indigenous people of colonies often resented being controlled by another nation. This pushed a sense of nationalism with the colony. e.g. before India become part of the British Empire it was divided into several kingdoms, opposition to rule of the British Raj in India led to the unifying of many Indians together despite cultural/ethnic differences.

Question 22

When did colonised nations gain full independence?

Answer 22

Between 1945 and 1970 most colonised nations finally gained their freedom and became independent sovereign states.
From 1960s African states began seeking independence from their colonial masters - known as the ‘Wind of Change’

Question 23

Why did independence movements occur?

Answer 23

Germany, Italy, Spain lost territory after WW2, empires disintegrated following WW2 because of a high cost of war left the UK almost bankrupt, rapid population growth was a major problems for the UK gov and EU countries became less dependant on raw materials from their colonies.
Independence movements rose and people felt they had a common recognition and promotion of shared history, identification and peoples quality of life.

Question 24

What conflict occurred in Africa, known as the Wind of change?

Answer 24

DRC had a lack of resources, small groups of rich elites led to inequality, cross border ethnic tires between Rwanda and Congolese is a legacy of colonialism and a reason why conflict involved more than one nation.
Labour exploitation and disruption led to power struggles, despite its rich resources political mismanagements and conflict squandered the country’s early development opportunities.

Question 25

What were the impacts of the Wind of Change in the DRC?

Answer 25

Led to life expectancy at just 60, 5m died, GDP per capita in 2019 was just $500 per year.

Question 26

What was the post colonial in Vietnam?

Answer 26

Proxy war part of cold war, communist north and capitalist south, in 1964 S Vietnam was on the brink of being overrun, USA were persuaded to come to the rescue, ended in 1976.
Impacts - 3m killed, 150,000 wounded and cost the USA $950 bn, 500K children born with defects and 400K died from herbicide defoliant.

Question 27

What did the British give all commonwealth citizens in 1948?

Answer 27

a equal right to legally settle in the UK. Employers filled skill gaps with commonwealth migrants e.g. NHS and London underground held interviews for doctors in India and bus drivers in Kingston Jamacia.
This led to cultural clustering with common wealth families moving into the same area to share opportunities.

Question 28

What is cultural heterogeneity?

Answer 28

a society where there is a high level of cultural and ethnic diversity among its citizens e.g. Britain has people from Caribbean, Bangladesh, India etc

Question 29

What is colonial legacies?

Answer 29

legacy of language, tradition, architecture and place names remain in many countries e.g. England - driving style, cricket, language, place names.

Question 30

What is a tax haven?

Answer 30

They are places with low corporate tax rates e.g. Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Switzerland.
They tend to be politically stable and have secure banking and legal systems. But they can suffer economically as there is not enough tax money to pay for education, welfare, defences and health.

Question 31

Who do tax havens attract?

Answer 31

They attract TNCs and wealthy individuals who would rather migrate then face extortionate ‘millionaire taxes’, tax havens benefit them as they spend locally, but local people experience disadvantages especially with increased house prices.

Question 32

What do TNCs do instead of using tax havens?

Answer 32

Transfer pricing, which involves routing profits through subsidiary companies owned by parent companies but this could stunt a states development and attractiveness to migrants.

Question 33

Why do some TNCs choose not to relocate to decrease tax rates?

Answer 33

brand authencity, corporate responsibility, public perception and security is a concern.
TNCs may look to national govs for support during a financial crisis when their overseas assets become threatened by conflict or nationalism and they cant do this if using tax havens.
e.g. during the 2008 financial crisis the Royal Bank of Scotland was bailed out by the UK gov as 60% was still owned by them.

Question 34

What players are involved in tax havens?

Answer 34

IGOs- mostly support tax havens but since 2009 OECD have made a ‘blacklist’ of tax haven countries. G20 countries have taken actions to ‘name and shame’ them.
NGOs- such as Uncut, Oxfam and War on Want organise protests and boycotts against tax avoidance by TNCs e.g. Starbucks and Google. This damages the TNCs reputations and can lead to a loss of sales this leads them to volunteering to pay additional tax to recover from the damage.

Question 35

What countries are adopting alternative economic models?

Answer 35

Cuba, Bolivia, Venezuela promote more open market principles to more socialist models as they do not support globalisation and rising inequalities. This involves adopting more sustainable economic systems where govs must limit imports, ensure energy security and reduce TNCs and promote local business’s

Question 36

What is Bolivia’s new model?

Answer 36

President Evo Morales rejected neo-liberalism and is using alternative forces to increase development. Policies include re-nationalising resources such as oil and water with profits going to the gov rather than share holders of TNCs.

Question 37

What are the impacts of Bolivia’s model?

Answer 37

gas increased by 835%, electricity increased by 150%, telecommunications increased by 300%, improved healthcare, education and reduced wealth inequalities.
But Morales was forced to flee in 2019 due to protests after a rigged election.