Political Geography

Question 1

What is a country?

Answer 1

The traditional definition is a state with sovereignty over a geographic area with a permanent population, defined territory, one government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states

Question 2

What are 5 criteria that identify a country?

Answer 2

SPTGR - She Painted The Ground Red

SOVEREIGNTY over a geographic area
Permanent POPULATION
defined TERRITORY
one GOVERNMENT
enters RELATIONS with other states

Question 3

True or False: All of the United States of America is located in America

Answer 3

False! 99.5% of the US is in America.

Hawaii is in the Pacific and is not part of the continent of North America
US Territories are also part of the US but not in America

Question 4

True or False: Territories are part of the US

Answer 4

True

Question 5

True or False: US citizens living in a territory are ruled by what the 50 states decide

Answer 5

True! Territories are governed by Congress, so they are essentially ruled by what the 50 states decide, without any real representation for themselves. They can’t even vote for president.

Question 6

What are some of the US territories?

Answer 6

Guam
The northern Mariana Islands
American Samoa
The US Virgin Islands
Puerto Rico

Question 7

Which territory could become the 51st state someday?

Answer 7

Puerto Rico

Question 8

Which law always wins, federal or state?

Answer 8

Federal

Question 9

True or False: both state and federal governments can pass separate laws

Answer 9

True, state and federal governments both pass laws which can be problematic when they are different

Question 10

What does it mean to have tribal sovereignty?

Answer 10

That tribes have the right to govern themselves, like independent countries. They can pass laws separate or in violation of state and federal laws

Question 11

What is the only territory that is 100% governed by the federal government?

Answer 11

Washington D.C.

Question 12

What does the US and the European Union have in common?

Answer 12

Multiple different states
Open borders
Common currency
Government with representatives from the different states

Question 13

What is a difference between the US and the EU?

Answer 13

The US is a country and the EU is made up of countries

Question 14

What is a state?

Answer 14

An area organized into a political unit ruled by an established government that has control over its internal and foreign affairs

Question 15

True or False: a state occupies a defined territory on the Earth’s surface and contains a permanent population

Answer 15

True

Question 16

What is it called when a state has control of its internal affairs without influence of other states?

Answer 16

Sovereignty

Question 17

True or False: the term COUNTRY is a synonym (means the same) for STATE

Answer 17

True

Question 18

What is race?

Answer 18

A way to categorize people who share biological traits that a society thinks are important

Race is based on observable, physical traits

Question 19

True or False: race is only about a persons skin color

Answer 19

False

Question 20

What is ethnicity?

Answer 20

Categories based on cultural traits that a society finds important, rather than strictly biological traits

Question 21

True or False: an ethnic group is a group that has a shared cultural heritage

Answer 21

True

Question 22

What are types of culture that can determine your ethnic background?

Answer 22

Language, traditions, religion

Question 23

True or False: two people of the same ethnicity can be entirely different races

Answer 23

True

Question 24

What is self-determination

Answer 24

The right to govern themselves within sovereign states

Question 25

What is a nation-state?

Answer 25

A state whose territory is occupied by a particular ethnicity that has been transformed into a nationality

Question 26

What is a multinational state?

Answer 26

A state that contains two or more ethnic groups with traditions of self-determination

Question 27

True or False: Russia is now the world’s largest multinational state

Answer 27

True

Russia identifies 21 national republics that are supposed to be the homes of its largest ethnicities, but the government recognizes around 170 ethnicities

Question 28

What is an example of a nation-state?

Answer 28

Denmark, because the territory occupied by the Danish ethnicity closely corresponds to the state of Denmark

It isn’t a perfect example because the country’s 50-mile southern border does not divide the Danish and German ethnic groups precisely

Question 29

How did the USSR divide up its republics? USSR= Union of Soviet Socialist Republic

Answer 29

The USSR’s 15 republics were based on its 15 largest ethnicities

Question 30

What happened to the USSR’s 15 republics?

Answer 30

The 15 publics and ethnicities are now independent countries that represent varying degrees of nation states

Question 31

How are the 3 Baltic States unique?

Answer 31

They each have different languages, religions, and distinct historical traditions

Question 32

How did the 3 European States become their own ethnicities?

Answer 32

They were isolated from the main body of Russians between the 13th and 18th centuries

Question 33

How are the 5 central Asian states different from the 3 Caucasus States?

Answer 33

The central asian states (‘stans’ - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) are predominantly Muslim and speak Altaic languages

The Cacasus states (Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia) have Armenians who are Eastern Orthodox, Azerbaijan are Muslims who speak Altaic language, and Georgians are Eastern Orthodox Christians and identify with one of two ethnicities

Question 34

True or False: 20% of Russia’s population is non-Russian

Answer 34

True