Politics

Question 1

What did the sex pistols ‘Anarchy in the UK’ represent?

Answer 1

• The political turmoil of the time.

Question 2

What does music represent?

Answer 2

• Can be seen to reflect the political feelings of the time.
• Today we can see the impact of someone like Taylor Swift.
• Can music bring power back to the people?

Question 3

What is significant about the world map?

Answer 3

• More than anything it’s a political map.

Question 4

What does land represent in human geography?

Answer 4

• Is a lot about territory which is essentially a manifestation of power relations.

Question 5

What is territory?

Answer 5

• A manifestation
• A bounded piece of land
• A unit of continuous space
• Container of social and political action
• JOHN AGUVEW, ‘territory’. Dictionary of Human Geography

Question 6

How do we think of states, nations and nation-states?

Answer 6

• Bounded with internationally recognised borders and legitimised military backing.
• Nation state strongly relies upon legality of borders
• Establishment that manages distribution of resources and production of knowledge.
• Common identity, conglomeration of understandings and meanings, myths and legends- all make up the nations state concept.

Question 7

Describe the conflict in Cosovo

Answer 7

• Declared its own state independent from Serbia after a series of wars.
• International community is undecided as to whether to recognise Cosovo as its own nation state.
• Shows territory is a contested issue

Question 8

Describe the conflict in Palastine

Answer 8

• Similar issues surrounding Israel and palastine as cosovo.
• Israel has an advanced military while Palastine has none. This brings into question the use of force.

Question 9

Describe the conflict in Kashmir

Answer 9

• In the area around Pakistan three different states want to claim the same area- India, China, Pakistan

Question 10

How are nation states established?

Answer 10

• Some elements originated in Greek times, others in Medieval period but primarily in the Peace of Westphalia
• Peace of Westphalia (1648) ended 30 and 80 year was in Europe by establishing borders and designating secular powers as controllers of territories legitimised by mutual recognition.
• Reduced the political control of religious institutions
• 20th century also saw key border divisions being drawn up.

Question 11

Describe modernity in relation to political geography

Answer 11

• Division of labour and industry emerged in the 17th and 18th century with the emergence of political governance.
• State control over territory was tied to modern notions of resource use.
• Thomas Hobbes was key in understanding the rights of the individual as well as that of the state.

Question 12

Describe sovereignty in relation to political geography

Answer 12

• Claims to control over land, territory and population

- This was once pinned to the authority of the monarchy but now the government.

Question 13

How can sovereign territory be created?

Answer 13

• Canada has a strong claim to the artic which is unclaimed and strongly contested despite the presence of native people.
• European and Canadians fighting for sovereignty and resources. Canada claimed Artic by claiming Inuit people. This became an issue in the Col war when Canada moved Inuit people further north to prevent trespassing Russians.

Question 14

Describe the bananas in Central America?

Answer 14

• Bananas were once a very rare commodity.
• Two men who formed a fruit company and built large areas of land in Central and South America gaining huge amounts of control in Guatemala, Honduras etc
• In the 1930s many plantation workers went on strike.
• United fruits company and American government worked to overthrow Guatemalan government and this led to a 40 year civil war.
• We need to consider where the nation state ends and where industry and commerce begin.

Question 15

What is sovereignty?

Answer 15

• Claim to autonomous control over land, territory and populations.

Question 16

Describe colonialism in Central America

Answer 16

• Enduring relationship of domination… between an indigenous majority and a minority of interlopers who are convinced of their own superiority.
• As much about resources as about claiming sovereignty.
• Social organisation is structured around our use of resources such as oil and fossil fuels or even coffee and tea- DAN CLAYTON, DICTIONARY
• Our country quickly became dependent on colonies resources while colonised people were dependent in the relationship.
• Idea of improvement even in the natural world which included both land and peoples. People outside Europe considered either non-human (slaves) or in need of civilising.
• Imperialism is more subtle using coercion and force.

Question 17

How is cartography used as a tool of colonialism?

Answer 17

• Very important to the colonial project

Question 18

How has science and technology been used as a tool of colonialism?

Answer 18

Improve territories

• Improve efficiency in agriculture and production- new bananas were introduced but disease/fungi wiped out this particular banana. Most common banana now is the cavendish banana which is also threatened.
• Gregg Mitman did a study in tropical medicine in rubber plantations of Liberia/rubber plantations contested between UK and US. America used tropical medicine as a leverage to achieve a foothold in Liberia.

Question 19

How were ideologies, discourses, narratives and film used as a tool of colonialism?

Answer 19

• Creating narrative, imagery and landscapes that justify domination and superiority.
• Environmental determinism- popular 20th century idea- humans controlled by environment/ landscapes. Used to justify European superiority because it is ‘natural’.

Question 20

How was the influence of finance and debt a tool of colonialism?

Answer 20

• Structural adjustments policies (SAPs)- IMF and World Bank policies that coerced nations into transforming their economic base in exchange for ‘development’. Way of gaining land for the west.
• Dispossession and destabilisation- e.g. Niger River Delta & the Movement for the Survival of the Ogani People (MoSOP) related purely for the desire for oil.

Question 21

What is a weekend?

Answer 21

• Nothing has controlled time more than work. Specifically, the exchange of labour for a wage that was first established in the 17th century.
• Idea of 7 day week has a long history, while the concept of the weekend didn’t properly emerge until the mid 20th century.
• The right to a weekend for the working class was only gained through many centuries of struggle.
• We came to they conclusion that colonialism is very much set in our society.
• Karl Marx is one if the most significant political thinkers in terms of labour and class.

Question 22

Describe historical materialism

Answer 22

• Marx came up with the concept and wanted too understand more about the history of labour.
• He argued that historical developments came form the ‘mode of production’ rather than a person
• How do we organise life’s needs and surpluses
• Various kinds of production: hunter gatherers, feudalism, capitalism
• Class has a crucial role in production

Question 23

Describe class consciousness

Answer 23

• Class is defined by its relationship to production
• Serfs vs landed gentry, workers vs owners etc
• Labour essentially works for less than the product that they produce. This is essentially the idea of profits and exploitation that are key components of capitalism
• Class consciousness is the awareness of one’s own standing.

Question 24

Describe the bread and roses strike of 1919 in the USA

Answer 24

• Strike for organisations of time- length of day and number of days- successful
• Reduction of 56 to 54 hours and also resulted in a reduction of two hours of pay.
• The women collectively decided to stop working in protest
• ‘Rose’ referred to the idea that the working class deserved a life which was more than just making ends meet.
• This strike got what they wanted as well as a stream of additional legislation.

Question 25

Describe solidarity

Answer 25

• Unities of interests, shared conditions, sympathies
• Solidarity has been the bans for union labour organising within place and across space.
• At what scales are solidarity most effective- regional, national and international

Question 26

Describe strikes and the university strikes?

Answer 26

• Concept that time is money
• Universities have been made into an investment opportunity particularly due to rising tuition fees. Within these we are competing against our peers for jobs etc
• Student mental health crisis from uncertainty surrounding the potential success of our investment
• This is countered by people who argue that we’re in training to be citizens as well as workers. However, some also consider it a reproduction of class.
• Universities are currently decreasing lecturers pensions. The university is trying to shift away current responsibility to their lecturers. This would result in £10,000 a year reduction in pensions.