Challenges to Political-Territorial Arrangements - AP Human Geography

Puerto Rico came into American possession in 1898, following American victory over the Spanish in the Spanish-American War. For a time it was administered as a territory of the United States; however, in the 1950s its status was changed to that of a commonwealth territory. The meaning of this is controversial and often debated, but it essentially means that Puerto Rico retains autonomy in some areas but is under the control of the American government in other areas.

“Centrifugal forces” are forces within a country that work to pull that country apart. They are more common in larger states, particularly states that contain a large number of different nationalities competing for control and/or self-determination.

A “forward-thrust capital” is a capital that is deliberately located, or relocated, to a specific region within a country. Islamabad in Pakistan and Brasilia in Brazil are the two most notable examples of “forward-thrust capitals."

The Abyei dispute arose between Sudan and South Sudan and involves an oil-rich area of land on the border of the two nations. The Kashmir dispute arose between Pakistan and India, while the Cyprus dispute arose between Turkey and Greece.

Balkanization is a term used to describe the division or fragmentation of a larger state due to disputes amongst different ethnicities in its population. The term derives its name from the division of the Balkan peninsula in the nineteenth century.

The North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was signed in 1994 between Canada, the United States, and Mexico. The primary goal of the treaty was to eliminate barriers to trade between the three countries and provide mutual advantages designed to encourage growth.

The European Union was codified in 1993 by the Treaty of Maastricht. It was signed by twelve nations originally, but has since expanded to include the majority of the European continent. The Treaty of Maastricht created the common economic union of Europe and provided impetus for the creation of a standard currency—the Euro.

NAFTA aimed to create a free trade area between the United States, Mexico, and Canada- including market expansion and integration, and eliminating tariffs between the member states. The U.S. money supply in controlled by the Federal Reserve and the Treasury, and unaffected by NAFTA.

Both terms refer to an event in which there was a mass killing and both can be in relation to an ethnic conflict. However, the term "Ethnic Cleansing" is more specific than the term "Genocide". An "Ethnic Cleansing" is when a people group commits mass expulsion or mass killing of a particular ethnic group whom they do not want to exist either in a particular region or in the world as a whole. A "Genocide" can be an "Ethnic Cleansing" but it can also be a mass killing for reasons other than ethnicity. A "Genocide" can refer to a people group committing a mass killing of people within their same ethnicity which is not considered ethnic conflict but a different type of conflict such as religious conflict or perhaps economic conflict.

Here is an explanation how each of the incorrect answers are incorrect:

1.) There is no statistic that makes the difference between labeling a mass killing event as a "Genocide" or "Ethnic Cleansing". Both have a high death toll.

2.) Ethnicity and Race are not interchangeable terms. Ethnicity is someone's ethnic background, i.e. where their ethnic heritage is from. We often group that with a nationality, although that is also a slightly different term. Race, on the other hand, means the color of your skin. You may have the same color of skin as someone from a different ethnic background, or you can have a different color of skin as someone from the same ethnic background.

3.) Both terms, "Ethnic Cleansing" and "Genocide" can be used to explain the Holocaust of WWII. It can be classified with the more general term of "Genocide" as it was a mass killing. Because about 6 million Jews were killed with the purpose of removing them from a particular region, if not the world as a whole, it can also be more specifically classified as an "Ethnic Cleansing."

“Lebensraum” is the name of Hitler’s expansionist policies in the years leading up to, and including the beginning of, the Second World War. Hitler believed that the German people needed more room to settle to ensure the continued growth of the German nation. To that end, he was willing to invade surrounding countries and massacre or forcibly remove the population.

Antarctica is not owned by any sovereign nation, but many different countries around the world have claimed all or part of the territory in their recent history. Some of the biggest claims have been made by Norway, Russia, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Argentina, but none of these claims are internationally respected or accepted.

Hadrian’s Wall once served as the final frontier of the far northern reaches of the Roman Empire. It separated civilized Britons from the barbarian Picts and Gauls. In the years since it’s significance as a political boundary has waned and it is now located entirely within the territory of England. Because it is no longer a political boundary, but once was, it is called a “relic boundary.”

When the European empires were dividing up Africa into colonies, and later into independent states, they created “superimposed boundaries.” “Superimposed boundaries” are political barriers drawn in an area with complete disregard for the cultural, religious, and ethnic divisions within the people living there. It occurred frequently in Africa as the era of colonialism came to an end and the European powers created independent nations recklessly, without paying attention to the cultural divisions already in existence in the region.

Taiwan is an island off the coast of mainland China. In 1949, following his defeat in the Chinese Civil War, the nationalist Chiang Kai-Shek established his democratic China in Taiwan. For almost three decades this was the China that was recognized by most of the western world, whereas communist mainland China was considered illegitimate. Following the normalization of relations between China and the west in the wake of the death of Mao Zedong mainland China became recognized as the “real and legitimate” China. Taiwan exists in a kind of grey area in the minds of many people, although is considered part of China by the mainland Chinese government. It is called “Chinese Taipei” by many western governments out of a sort of diplomatic necessity.

Let's begin with separate definitions of the two entities. A state is similar to a country, in that it is a sovereign, bounded territory with its own government. Meanwhile a nation is a group of people with a shared culture and history. Neither is permanent, since a state can change its borders, and a nation can adjust its identity. Furthermore, nationhood is often tied powerfully to a piece of land, just as much as a state. Similarly, a state as much a product of history and people as a nation is. Thus the best description is the closest to our primary definitions: that a state is a political determination of sovereignty defined by its boundaries, while a nation is defined by its people.

A centripetal force in politics is any action that unites the people of a nation as one singular political unit. Events that create division or push people in a nation away from each other is known as a centrifugal force. A classic example of a centripetal force is any kind of attack on a nation, as it usually serves to create a mentality that the entire country was attacked.

A forward capital is a symbolically relocated capital city, usually because of either economic or strategic reasons. The former capital of Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, was located on the coast, and the residents of the interior felt distant from the government. The Brazilian government built a new capital, Brasilia, in the heart of the Amazon rainforest to try to unite the country. All the other capitals were not made capitals for this reason.

Nationalistic forces that bind a country together are called “centripetal forces.” Common examples of “centripetal forces” include a shared sense of common history, a shared language, reliable national institutions, and government legitimacy. The opposite of “centripetal forces” are “centrifugal forces,” which divide a country.

The term “Balkanization” comes from the Balkans region of Southeastern Europe. For many hundreds of years, the Balkans have been home to a large number of disparate and often hostile nationalities, usually governed under the administration of one empire (Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian, Yugoslavian). In the 1990s, this all disintegrated as each nationality sought its own state and control over the other nationalities. The term “Balkanization” has come to mean the hostile fragmentation of a large state into several smaller countries. Although it does not technically have to be wholly hostile, it generally is.