political geography

Question 1

State

Answer 1

• often referred to as a country

- politically organized territory with : a permanent population, defined territory and a government

Question 2

Sovereignty

Answer 2

states right to exercise final authority over ones own social political and economic matters

Question 3

international law says that:

Answer 3

States are sovereign and have a right to defend against incursion from other states

Question 4

boundary vs border

Answer 4

boundary is a vertical plane dividing one state from another it includes the rocks below and the air above a border is the official line that separates two countries, states, or areas, or the area close to this line e.g. US and Canada

Question 5

territory

Answer 5

a country or communities property

Question 6

nation

Answer 6

community of people who all share a common bond of language ethnicity religion and other shared cultural attributes

• not a legal term and is highly contested
• also can be defined as other than another nation e.g. Canada is other than US
• nation is identified by its own membership

Question 7

Nation State

Answer 7

politically organized area that has a nation and a state occupying the SAME space

• assumes there are stable nations which well defined and live distinctly separate and do not have overlapping territory
• traditionally the “ideal” way to organize world+people but does not actually exist

Question 8

Closest real examples to a Nation State

Answer 8

France because of french identity/ language
Japan because 98.5% of the Japanese population are ethnic Japanese, who share the same history and culture.
Haida Gwaii because they were a nation state until colonizers cam and called Queen Charlottes now they have retaken name Haida Gwaii and are mostly Haida people and culture present there

Question 9

three countries never colonized

Answer 9

Antarctica, West China, Thailand, Tibet

Question 10

Major Colonizers in history besides France/Britain?

Answer 10

Japan, Russia

Question 11

JBNQA stands for

Answer 11

James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement

Question 12

JBNQA: what was the governments plan for James Bay

Answer 12

build a large hydroelectric dam and flood parts of the Cree’s and Inuit’s land

Question 13

What resulted after the Agreement was hastily signed in 1975?

Answer 13

three categories beneficiary land (residents), non-benificiery land (non-aboriginal lands), crown lands. The traditional laws of the inuit which had governed and defined land use up to then were neatly and silently suppressed and contained

Question 14

what is a dissident community

Answer 14

community who did not agree to relinquish their land and resources to the state

Question 15

Centripetal

Answer 15

forces that unify a country e.g. widespread commitment to culture common faith shared ideology and objectives countries’ identity

Question 16

Centrifugal

Answer 16

forces that divide a country e.g. internal religious, ideological, and linguistic differences Canada French and English

Question 17

tensions between centripetal and fugal forces can be impacted by what? (2)

Answer 17

• type of government

- changes in location of power in state

Question 18

unitary

Answer 18

government is centralized and exercises power equally over all parts of the state

Question 19

federal system

Answer 19

organizes state territory into regions substates or provinces which then have a degree of autonomy

Question 20

centralism

Answer 20

power becomes concentrated in central government (usually in unitary type of government) e.g. China former USSR

Question 21

devolution

Answer 21

movement of power from central government to regional government (strategy used to keep state together )

Question 22

ultimate expression of devolution is

Answer 22

separatism (Quebec, Scotland)

Question 23

what leads regions to seek devolution

Answer 23

ethnocultural, economic and spatial reasons

Question 24

multinational state

Answer 24

a state with more than one nation inside its borders (apples to nearly every state in the world) textbook e.g. former Yugoslavia

Question 25

multistate nation

Answer 25

a nation that stretches across borders and states e.g. Kurdistan (stretches over Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Iran, Armenia)

Question 26

Stateless Nation

Answer 26

a nation that does not have a state e.g. Palestinians

Question 27

When was the UN formed?

Answer 27

1919 after WW1

Question 28

How many states are there currently in the world?

Answer 28

193 however are constantly changing due to views

Question 29

How is a new state recognized?

Answer 29

1) application submitted to UN
2) security council considers application; 9/15 Council members, provided none of its five permanent members (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America) — have not vetoed it.
3) General Assembly considers. two-thirds majority vote is necessary for admission of a new State.
4) Membership becomes effective the date the resolution for admission is adopted.

Question 30

Do you believe that devolution is a stronger force around the world than centralization at the current time? Please explain your answer using examples.

Answer 30

Yes because there is a lot of fighting on going, more centrifugal than centripetal, Palestine, Quebec EU and Britain Scotland, also there are more multination states than nation-states which could contribute as well

Question 31

How does political geography help us to understand the current conflict in Iraq?

Answer 31

Multinational state: three main groups Sunni Shia and Kurdish (multistage nation) ongoing civil war and outside influences and wars too (9/11 and terrorism crisis with US)