Chapter 4, Section 3
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This document provides an overview of key concepts in political geography, including: 1) The four main categories of government are democracy, monarchy, dictatorship, and communism. 2) Important geographic characteristics used to describe countries are their size, shape, and location. 3) National boundaries can be natural, following physical features, or artificial, following lines of latitude and longitude. Regional political systems divide power within countries into smaller units like states, counties, and municipalities.
Chapter 4, Section 3
- 1. Chapter 4, Section 3 Political Geography Objectives: 1 - define 4 categories of government 2 - identify 3 important geographic characteristics used to describe a country 3 - distinguish between natural and artificial boundaries 4 - identify main types of regional political systems
- 2. Nations of the World… Currently we have 245 countries in the world (debatable, depends on HOW you define a country) State = country -- an independent unit that occupies a specific territory and has full control of internal and external affairs Nation -- a group of people with a common culture living in a territory with a sense of unity Nation-State -- a nation and a state occupy the same territory Question: Is it possible for a nation not to have a territory? --Palestine, the Kurds, the Basque -video on Palestine Street, video on the Basque
- 3. Types of Government Democracy - citizens hold political power either directly or through representatives…examples? Monarchy - a ruling family headed by a king or queen holds political power and may or may not share the power with citizen bodies…UK, Saudi Arabia Dictatorship - an individual or group holds complete political power…North Korea Communism - nearly all political power and means of production are held by the government in the name of all the people…examples?
- 4. Geographic Characteristics of Nations 3 geographic characteristics of a country: Size - does size equate power? Use examples to prove it… 2) Shape - goods, govern-ability, relations to other nations…chile versus germany 3) Location - relative location, Singapore versus Bolivia, landlocked
- 5. National Boundaries Why do you think boundaries are important? Language, taxes, legal code, claiming resources Natural Boundaries -based on physical features: rivers, lakes, chains of mountains ex. Rio Grande, others? -what if physical features change? Artificial Boundaries -fixed line following latitude and longitude lines see 49degrees N b/w US and Canada (book) -what other artificial boundaries can we find? -how did this idea of setting boundaries affect Africa? -what other artificial boundaries are there? In China? Let’s look at a map of Senegal…
- 7. Regional Political Systems Why do countries and nation-states divide power into smaller units? How do they do this? In US: states, counties, cities, towns, villages, municipalities, neighborhoods, etc… Countries, too, can join or form groups: EU, UN… More to come on this when we dissect regions of the world…