Ch. 7 Key Issue #2 – Why Have Ethnicities Been Transformed into Nationalities?

  1. What is “nationality” and how is it similar to the concept of ethnicity?
  1. How are nationality and ethnicity different in the United States of America?
  1. In the late 18th century what traits came to define the American “nation”?
  1. What is the concept of self-determination and what is the political manifestation of it called?
  1. Give two examples of transforming ethnicities into nationalities in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries?
  1. Why did Britain and France eventually try to stop the expansion of Nazi-Germany?
  1. In what ways is Denmark a good example of a nation-state?
  1. What factors make Denmark an imperfect nation-state?
  1. In what way do politicians and governments try to instill loyalty to a country?
  1. Why is mass media in most countries (other than the US) controlled or regulated by the government?
  1. In what various ways is nationalism fostered?
  1. What is the difference between centripetal and centrifugal forces, and which is most associated with nationalism?
  1. What is a multinational state, and what are some European examples?
  1. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s, what new nation-states have been created?
  1. What makes Russia the largest multinational state, and what nationality has become particularly troublesome for Russia? Why?
  1. What difficulties do Russians in other countries face?
  1. What effect did the collapse of the Soviet Union have on the Caucasus region?
  1. How did Karl Marx and the Soviet communists view nationalism, and what methods did the Soviet Union use to suppress it?
  1. Why were the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia dismantled during the 1990s?
  1. Why has the creation of the nation-state Slovenia out of the former Yugoslavia been easier than in other parts of the region?

Chapter 8 – Political Geography

  1. How have political conflicts during the twentieth century different from those experienced this century?
  1. How is the exercise of political power today different from during the Cold War?

Key Issue #1 – Where Are States Located?

  1. What is a “State”, with what word is it synonymous?
  1. How many states are there in the world?
  1. What is the only part of the earth’s surface that is not part of a state?
  1. What countries test the definition of a state?
  1. What caused the split of Korea into two countries, and what has halted the progress of reconciliation for the two?
  1. What is the political distinction between China and Taiwan?
  1. What conflicting claims exist over Western Sahara?
  1. What are the five largest states in the world?
  1. What is a microstate, and what do most of them have in common?
  1. In what different ways was the earth’s surface organized before the existence of “states”?
  1. What form did ancient states take, and what are some examples of some the most powerful ones?
  1. How and when were the modern states of France, Britain, and Spain created? Germany and Italy?
  1. What three reasons summarize why European states established colonies starting around the 15th century?
  1. What is the difference between Colonialism and imperialism?
  1. What were the two largest European empires, and how did their colonial practices differ?
  1. When did many African and Asian states come into existence after the decline of European imperial control? How many?
  1. What is the most populous colony remaining in the world?
  1. Describe the colonial relationship between the United States and Puerto Rico?