Unit 4—Political Organization of Space (www.collegeboard.com/ap)

A.   Territorial dimensions of politics

1.    The concept of territoriality

2.    The nature and meaning of boundaries

3.    Influences of boundaries on identity, interaction, and exchange

B.   Evolution of the contemporary political pattern

1.    Territorial assumptions underlying the nation-state ideal

2.    Colonialism and imperialism

3.    Internal political boundaries and arrangements

C.   Challenges to inherited political-territorial arrangements

1.    Changing nature of sovereignty

2.    Fragmentation, unification, and alliance

3.    Spatial relationships between political patterns and patterns of ethnicity, economy, and environment

 

 

Study Questions (AP Student Companion):

1.     What is political geography?

2.    Why is the traditional notion of the nation-state concept presently in transition?

3.    Define sovereignty.  How is it manifest among the members of the family of nations?

4.    Distinguish between the meaning of “country” and “nation-state”.

5.    In what sense are boundaries at the core of the inquiries conducted by political geographers?  Identify types of boundaries and their function.

6.    How are cooperation and conflict involved in influencing the distribution of social, political, and economic spaces on Earth at different scales?

7.    What is the impact of multiple spatial divisions on people’s lives (e.g., school districts, congressional districts, suburban subdivisions, state and country boundaries, free trade zones, etc.)?

8.    What are some of the causes of border conflicts and internal territorial disputes?  Provide some examples (either current or historical).

9.    How do differing points of view play a role in disputes that develop over territory and resources?

10. How does a nation’s shape affect both issues of governance and the development of its foreign policy?

11. How can developments such as new technologies and new markets act as change agents in a region?

12. How have colonialism and imperialism been both constructive and disruptive forces in the era since the Age of European Exploration in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries?

13. How can efforts at religious conversion through missionary activities cause political and cultural conflict in an area?

14. What are some of the forms that supranationalism takes in the contemporary world?

 

 

 

Vocabulary (AP Student Companion)

1.    alliance system (369-382)

2.    balkanization (492-298)

3.    boundaries (348-354)

4.    centrifugal forces (361)

5.    centripetal forces (359-361)

6.    colonialism (363-365)

7.    compact state (347)

8.    demarcation (349)

9.    devolution (492-498)

10. elongated state (347)

11. enclave (177, 347-348)

12. enculturation (18-19, 27-31)

13. ethnic conflict (429-432)

14. exclave (177, 347-348)

15. federal system (358-359)

16. frontier (351)

17. geopolitics (364-366, 492)

18. gerrymander (362)

19. Heartland Theory (365-366)

20. imperialism (363-365)

21. irredentism (R-20)

22. microstate (346)

23. nation-state (344-346)

24.  nationalism (352, 359-360)

25. perforated state (347)

26. politics (340-341)

27. prorupted state (347)

28. Rimland Theory (366)

29. secular state (157-158)

30. sovereignty (344)

31. state (341)

32. stateless nations (342)

33. supranationalism (360, 375-382)

34. territoriality (339-341)

35. theocracy (339)

36. tribalism (351)

37.  unitary system (358-359)

 

Activities

·      Lecture/Discussion of Text, Chapters 25-27

·      Discussion of study questions

·      “The Sun Never Sets On the British Empire”,  Lesson Plan by Judith Mahnke, Raoul Wallenberg Traditional High School, San Francisco.   The lesson plan is located at this website:  mage.geog.macalester.edu/apgeogdemo/Lessons/lessons2/imperialism.html

·      “Who Owns Antartica?”,  Lesson Plan by P.J. Morris Adams, Richland Northeast High School, Columbia, SC.  The lesson plan is located at this website:  mage.geog.macalester.edu/

·      “The Rise of Nationalism and the Fall of Yugoslavia” Human Geography in Action,

Chapter 12

·      “The Political Imprint: All Nations Great and Small”,  AP Student Companion, Chapter 8

 

Assessment

·      Multiple Choice Test #4

·      Free Response Question #4

Classroom Activities Assignments