Chapter 8: Political Geography Summary
1. Where are states located?
A state is a political unit, with an organized governmetn and sovereignty, wehreas a nation is a group of poeple with a strong sense of cultural unity. Most of Earth's surface is allocated to states, and only a handfull of colonies and tracts of unorganized territory remain.
2. Where are boundaries drawn between states?
Boundaries between states, where possible, are drawn to coincide either with physical features, such as mountains, deserts, and bodies of water, orwith such cultural characteristics as geometry, religion, and language. Boundaries affect the shape of countries and affect the ability of a country to live peacefully with its neighbors.
3. Why do boundaries between states cause problems?
Problems arise when the boundaries of states do not coincide with the boundaries of ethnicities. In some cases, one state contains mroe than one ethnicity, whereas in other cases one ethnicity is split among more than one state.
4. Why do states cooperate with each other?
Following World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union, as the world's two superpowers, formed military alliances with other countries. With the end of the Cold War, nationalities now are cooperating with each other, especially in Western Europe, primarily to promote economic growth rather than to provide military protection.