Political Geo Tests 3 And 4

Front 1

Define Power

Back 1

factors that enable one actor to manipulate another actor’s behavior against its preferences

Front 2

Name the 8 qualities that must be included in any power analysis.

Back 2

1. Territory
2. Natural Resources
3. Population
4. Government
5. Economy
6. Circulation
7. Military
8. Foreign Relations

Front 3

Define and explain autarky

Back 3

national policies of economic self-sufficiency, this idea is absolutely insane in the 21st century

believe interdependence creates strength

Front 4

Be able to explain why the Strait of Malacca is so vulnerable to piracy attacks

Back 4

o Between Indonesia and Malaysia
 One of the Narrowest and busiest in the world
 Creates bottleneck area for ships
 Several tiny islands… hiding places

Front 5

Why are power rankings still difficult, especially in the context of some examples

Back 5

power analysis is becoming difficult because we keep redefining power, it’s hard to define because it’s not always easy to quantify

Front 6

• Be able to explain why the waters near the Horn of Africa has seen such a tremendous surge in piracy over the past 20 years

Back 6

o Valuable Traffic
o Target Oil Tankers
o Collapse of Somalia
 Law-less land
 Law-less Sea
o Increase in violence especially off of the coast of Somalia

Front 7

Since 9/11, what type of groups have we been forced to consider in terms of power analyses?

Back 7

Terrorists

Front 8

Be able to define geopolitics:

Back 8

geography of international relations

Front 9

• Be able to define and explain Organic State Theory (who came up with it, what did it grow out of, what did it state, etc.)

Back 9

o Developed by Friedrich Ratzel, compares the State to an organism, the State is land, with man on land, and the two are linked by the State idea, the State and its development conform to natural laws and are tied to the natural environment
o Humans and land are linked by the State idea, living space (Lebensraum) is needed to survive, states must grow or they die, deterministic in nature, Ratzel wasn’t trying to justify policy action with his theory!!!

Front 10

Be able to describe in general terms the way most pirates operate in terms of the types of weapons they carry, and the types of goods they are most often seeking

Back 10

o Low Tech weapons
 Upswing in guns
 Most often seeking high value, low bulk cargo
• EX: electronics, jewelry, cash

Front 11

• Know the man whose vision of Europe as a superstate controlled by Germany was seized upon by German scholars and officials after WWI and used as a tool for rebuilding Germany into a world power

Back 11

o Rudolf Kjellen

Front 12

• Know where most piracy incidents occur in terms of territorial waters versus international waters; know where piracy really needs to occur in order to be truly classified as piracy

Back 12

o Most take place in port on territorial waters of countries – in jurisdiction of whose countries waters
o Has to take place in international waters to be classified as piracy
 No public international laws

Front 13

• Know what type of power Alfred Thayer Mahan advocated; know his list of 6 fundamental factors related to the development and maintenance of this type of power

Back 13

o Naval/sea power
1. Geographical position: interconnection of water ways
2. Physical conformation of state: inlets, harbors, defensibility, rivers
3. Extent of territory: length of coastline
4. Population numbers: sheer numbers, larger navy
5. National character: favor in doing
6. Governmental character: is government going to make proper investments for sea power

Front 14

Define seperatists

Back 14

o Separatists – trying to call attention to desire to separate from or to gain autonomy

Front 15

Define ideologists

Back 15

o Ideologists – seek to incite revolution (left-wing) or maintain the status quo (right-wing)

Front 16

• Know what theory Sir Halford Mackinder developed; know the three sentence (WHO RULES…) doctrine he stated as the core of this theory

Back 16

o Heartland Theory
o Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland; Who rules the Heartland commands the World-Island; Who rules the World-Island commands the World

Front 17

• Know the 3 major weaknesses of Mackinder’s theory

Back 17

o Mackinder didn’t give enough weight to the growing power of North America, he failed to explain the contradiction of his thesis of power of the possessor of the Heartland with the relative weakness of Russia/Soviet Union prior to WWII, he failed to take into account the growing importance of air power and other technology

Front 18

Know what type of terrorism is on the rise, even as political terrorism is declining; know why this type of terrorism is much more alarming and dangerous

Back 18

Religious terrorism

Front 19

• Know which infamous terrorist was killed on 5/1/11 in Pakistan by a team of U.S. Navy SEALs

Back 19

Osama Bin Laden

Front 20

Know the theory that Nicholas Spykman developed in response to Mackinder’s work

Back 20

o Rimland Theory: who controls the Rimland controls Eurasia, who controls Eurasia controls the destinies of the world; Rimland was an area that was vulnerable to both land and sea power so prepare for both

Front 21

• Using the context we gave throughout our discussion of terrorism, be able to explain why this individual’s death does not spell an end to international terrorism

Back 21

o Osama Bin Laden: he was the face for Al-Qaeda, but there will either be a rise another leader in their group or another leader in their group or another group, he was not the only terrorist

Front 22

• Know the man who developed Geopolitik in Germany as a result of his bitterness and criticisms over Germany’s defeat in WWI

Back 22

Karl Haushofer

Front 23

Be able to name two examples of areas in the world that are principal producers of illegal narcotics; know why a large percentage of the marijuana consumed in the United States is actually grown in the U.S. (think trafficking)

Back 23

o South America
 Opium, Cocaine
o Golden Crescent – Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan
 Opium, Hash, Black Tar Heroin
o Large percentage of Marijuana consumed in the US is actually grown in the US due to how bulky marijuana is, and it easier to transport within state line than it is over international lines.

Front 24

Be able to generally explain, from a pure monetary standpoint, why it is so difficult to curtail the production of the plants (marijuana, opium poppy, coca plant) by the farmers living in the poorer developing world

Back 24

o Easy to grow
o The plants are easy to adapt to environmental conditions
o VERY profitable

Front 25

• Know the first geostrategist to advocate a geopolitical view of the world based on air power; know what recommendations he made to the United States in terms of its geopolitical strategy

Back 25

o Alexander de Seversky
o We should develop massive air superiority, dominate the Western Hemisphere, Avoid small wars as a useless sapping of strength, abandon overseas bases as costly luxuries

Front 26

Know what area of the world was referred to as “the Area of Decision”

Back 26

Northern Polar Region

Front 27

• Know what regions Saul Cohen refers to as shatter belts (currently) and what region he sees as a gateway region

Back 27

Shatter belts: areas or regions prone to chronic instability (Southwest Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa)

Eastern Europe is gateway region

Front 28

• Know what area of the world has ALWAYS been a hotbed for geopolitical thought, research, and writing

Back 28

Latin America

Front 29

• Know the situation that saw the first instance of drug trafficking becoming a major problem (what countries were involved, what drug, etc.)

Back 29

Opium Wars

Between China and Great Britain

Front 30

Be able to explain what happened to the drug trafficking routes from South America to the United States when the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) strongly cracked down on drugs entering the United States through south Florida in the late 1980s

Back 30

o Decreased the flow into Florida – Moved Path through Mexico
 Calderon started War on Drugs
• Upswing in violence
o Heavier trafficking through Mexico
o Cracked down on Andes territory cocaine trafficking switched to Opium

Front 31

• Know what types of arms account for most of the deaths in conflicts worldwide on an annual basis

Back 31

Assault Weapons (smaller weapons) … AK47

Front 32

Know the 3 reasons why world military expenditures dropped after the Cold War 1989 until 1998

Back 32

1: Drop in oil prices and worldwide recession of the mid 1980s reduced funds available for arms
2: Many developing countries were already saturated with weapons
3: A number of developing countries had become producers of weapons themselves

Front 33

• Know the Arab-owned transnational corporation that was exposed in the 1990s as having supported terrorist groups and arms merchants financially, as well as laundering drug money (acronym is okay here)

Back 33

BCCI

Front 34

Be able to describe the difference between a religious activist and a religious fundamentalist

Back 34

o Religious Activist – someone who is politically active with their religious views
o Religious Fundamentalist – someone who firmly believes in and lives by the fundamentals of a religion, but they do not have to give a damn about politics

Front 35

• Know what former country’s breakup was influenced heavily by the religious differences among the groups there (“religion was the most important cultural identifier”)

Back 35

Tibet

Front 36

• Know what country today is probably the closest to being a true theocracy (DON’T PUT VATICAN CITY HERE!)

Back 36

Iran - their parliment is for show

Front 37

• What approach is stressed by critical geopolitics as a way to move beyond the limited “us vs. them” Cold War view of the world

Back 37

Holistic approach

Front 38

• Be able to define and explain buffer states/buffer zones; be able to describe the concentric ring of buffers formed by the Soviet Union after WWII

Back 38

o Buffer state/buffer zones: states or regions that are sandwiched between areas of strength
o Concentric ring: extra layer of defense; Soviet Union annexed many States in their first ring by politically absorbing them; satellite countries-ideological allies but independent, treated similar to colonies-not allowed to change ideology; the last ring was a series of neutral states-Finland, Austria, Turkey
o Soviet ring started falling apart shortly after it was constructed because they were forced to withdraw troops by international world, ideological changes,

Front 39

• Be able to define and explain the domino theory; know what US conflict was heavily influenced by this theory; know what this theory being applied to today in terms of its spread

Back 39

o Domino theory was that the Soviets and communists ideologies would be contagious, Soviets and Communists along with most socialists were inheritably evil and were focuses on world domination
o Vietnam conflict was influenced by domino theory
o Applied to Islamic Radicalism today, leaders of Arab world promoted the theory in hope of U.S. aid

Front 40

Know what characteristic ethnic nationalism has primarily been based on throughout time

Back 40

Language

Front 41

• Know which language survived after the Jewish Diaspora as a liturgical language, and was the obvious choice for an official language of Israel when it was founded in 1948

Back 41

Hebrew

Front 42

Be able to define and explain lingua franca

Back 42

Languages used as trade and general communication among people who speak other languages of their own

Most lingua francae are the languages of the formal colony masters…not always

Front 43

• Know what language emerged after World War II as the nearest thing to a worldwide lingua franca and the TWO major reasons why that happened

Back 43

o English
 The 22% of World territory was over British Rule
 US emerged as a world power after conflict of WWII … Language of money

Front 44

Be able to define and explain Esperanto

Back 44

o The Universal Language
o Intended to be a worldwide, nonpolitical, value-free lingua franca
o Nouns end in –o, adjectives end in –a, infinitive verbs end in –i
o 16 basic grammar rules
o About 3 million worldwide speakers today
o Rejected by US ultraconservatives as no-good, commie “one-worldism”

Front 45

Know why Saudi Arabia has yet to conduct an official census

Back 45

Scared when results come out it would show how outnumbered the natives are

Front 46

Be able to explain the 4 reasons why Switzerland has been able to change from a culturally plural society to a true nation-state over the past 700 years

Back 46

1: No correlation between religion, language, where you live (urban ) and economic status – identify with each other as Switz
2: People’s of Switzerland came together voluntarily over a long period of time (700 years)
3: A confederation
 Divided into Canton … forces compromise; a nice even spread
 Hold large measure of authority
 Language crosses authority
4: Practices DIRECT democracy more than any other country in the world
Hold numerous referendums, more than any other country

Front 47

• Be able to describe the step-wise fashion in which rural-to-urban migration typically occurs in most countries

Back 47

o Rural Areas TO Provincial Towns TO National Capital / Primate City

Front 48

Be able to give some examples of changing orientations

Back 48

o State realigns itself politically, can be a result of economic or trade pattern change
o Ex: Australia-once primarily alligend w/ UK, 20th century relationsip weakened due to distance decay and started new relationship with East and South Aisa-geographic sense
o Ex: Soviet Union breakup, all the “Stans” felt culturally similar to those south of them rather than Soviets

Front 49

Be able to name and define the three types of warfare

Back 49

1. Conventional warfare: organized military units with standard weapons and equipment doing battle with each other; 2 countries directly at war with each other
2. Guerrilla Warfare: typically the result of an asymmetrical conflict (one force is overwhelmingly superior to the other), the guerilla force consists of small irregular units lacking uniforms, usually engage in surprise attacks and have a great deal of mobility
3. Terrorism: the key difference here is that the first two types target military targets, terrorism involves violence or a threat against any members of society, often much smaller groups than even guerrilla forces, usually urban-based as well, often treated as a criminal activity by many countries, probably best described as both a criminal enterprise and an act of war, targets any member of any enemy society to advance terrorists’ political objective

Front 50

Be able to define asymmetrical conflict

Back 50

One force is overwhelmingly superior to the other

Front 51

Be able to define and differentiate between anti-terrorism and counterterrorism

Back 51

o Anti-terrorism: defensive measures such as increased security, checkpoints, surveillance, etc.
o Counterterrorism: offensive operations against terrorist groups

Front 52

Know the three weapons types that are classified as weapons of mass destruction

Back 52

Nuclear, biological, chemical

Front 53

Be able to explain why the population “explosions” in the developing world are much more prolonged than the ones observed in Europe and the U.S.

Back 53

Developing countries tend to be in the Pre-Industrial Stage, which has high birth rates and death rates, or are in the Transitional Stage, which has lower death rates and higher birth rates due to increased food production and improved medical care. However women do not yet have increased opportunities or access to birth control

Front 54

Know what conflict saw the first use of modern chemical warfare

Back 54

WWI

Front 55

• Be able to define and identify mutually assured destruction and what technological development led to the birth of that concept

Back 55

o Nuclear war became an un-winnable scenario
o SLBM (Submarine Launched Ballistic Missiles), nuclear arsenal became mobile

Front 56

Be able to differentiate between rebellion and revolution

Back 56

o Rebellion: seeks to overthrow incumbent leaders or modify unpopular policy; ex. Group trying to overthrow President Obama
o Revolution: seeks change in the very system of government (as well as current leaders), even producing rebellions

Front 57

Be able to differentiate between insurrection and insurgency

Back 57

o Insurrection: impulsive, quick
o Insurgencies: require greater degree of planning

Front 58

• Be able to explain system disequilibrium, relative deprivation, and resource mobilization; be able to indicate, generally speaking, what types of States are most ripe for resource mobilization to occur; also, be able to use Algeria as a case example of the three theories working together to describe the destabilization in that country

Back 58

o System disequilibrium: severe shocks to the system that can spark social unrest; possible shocks include natural disasters, wars, epidemics, rapid social change
o Relative deprivation: actor’s perception of discrepancy between their value expectations and their value capabilities, helps explain socioeconomic class wars; what we think we are getting vs. what we are actually getting
o Resource mobilization: revolution is explained by structural mechanisms that allow for dissent to grow into an uprising, democracy allows outlets; most ripe for resource mobilization is countries with authoritarian regimes that allow limited freedom
o Algeria: experienced system disequilibrium due to decolonization; relative deprivation-there was government funded education but jobs weren’t available, high unemployment; resource mobilization-outlawed political parties except for Islamist parties

Front 59

Be able to define and explain insurgent state

Back 59

o An insurgency group takes over territory in a country and starts acting like the government there

Front 60

Be able to define and explain pro-natal state

Back 60

o Encourages Procreation
Encouraging population growth through natural means

Front 61

Know what densely populated European country is actually encouraging emigration

Back 61

The Netherlands

Front 62

• Know some of the reasons why many Asian and African countries rejected most efforts to curtail their population growth rates by the developed world

Back 62

o These countries viewed Western suggestions that they curtail their population growth rates as demographic warfare, (genocide) and thus they refused to listen – a decision they are now regretting.

Front 63

• Know what country is being used as a model of the wealth a society can attain if population growth is brought under control

Back 63

Japan

Front 64

Be able to explain how the developed countries, even with very low (sometimes negative) rates of increase, are contributing to population problems

Back 64

o Resource Consumption
 A child in US will consume 50x more than an African child in their lifetime
 Developed countries need to reciprocate  cut back resource consumption

Front 65

• Know what types of immigrants generally are being encouraged to come to countries that are encouraging immigration

Back 65

o Financially independent
o Highly educated/skilled
o Assimilates easily

Front 66

Be able to define and explain “brain drain”

Back 66

o The immigration of the best and brightest, from developing countries to developed, which takes away intelligence and successful people away from their home country

Front 67

• Be able to define, explain, and give an example of the Model of the Insurgent State, including all three stages.

Back 67

o Contention: mobile warfare and guerrilla campaigns once base camps have been established,

equilibrium: here the insurgent state has been established, we may see a move to conventional warfare if the insurgency becomes organized enough,

counteroffensive: the ultimate fate of the insurgency is decided


o Example-Columbia, areas that have come under control of FARC, haven’t made the transition to conventional warfare yet; Sri Lanka has gone through all 3 stages, establishment of Eelam, when counteroffensive was achieved central government reintegrated insurgent state back into the country

Front 68

Know the 3 factors relating to the concept of strategic minerals

Back 68

o 1. Mineral is essential for defense,
2. Supplies are found largely or entirely outside the country,
3. During war, strict control/conservation of it is necessary

Front 69

• Know which political ideology’s spread has been thought to provide more avenues for peaceful resolution (it’s said that countries with this ideology don’t go to war).

Back 69

Democracy

Front 70

Know the treaty that established Latin America as a nuclear-free zone in 1967

Back 70

Treaty of Tlatelolco

Front 71

• Be able to describe the impact that the establishment of nuclear-free zones had on the location of France’s weapons testing sites

Back 71

o France originally tested weapons in Nigeria,
o Went to French Guinea to test weapons, had to move testing sites when Latin America became nuclear-free zone, went to South Pacific

Front 72

• Be able to describe the general treatment of countries that act as belligerent States today by the international community

Back 72

These states become diplomatically and economically isolated quickly

Front 73

Know the three sources that were used to create much of our international law

Back 73

Roman Law, Anglo-Saxon Common Law, Christian Theology

Front 74

Be able to define conventions in terms of their importance in international law

Back 74

Multilateral treaties, countries sign and become part of international law

Front 75

Be able to define and explain bilateral negotiations

Back 75

o Two countries negotiating deal to prevent going to war, most important in conflict resolution

Front 76

• Know the 4 factors that have contributed greatly to the degradation of our environment in the modern era – all are interdependent

Back 76

o 1: Rapid Population Growth
o 2: Increasing wealth leading to increased per capita consumption
o 3: Increasingly sophisticated technology
o 4: Accelerating Urbanization

Front 77

• Know the impacts of the Environmental Policy Act of 1970

Back 77

o Spelled out goals and policies to guide federal action impacting environmental policy
o Established strength of Environmental quality to identify policy issues and alternatives for environmental administration
o Strengthened by Clean Air and Clean Water Acts

Front 78

• Understand how our current political structures, specifically length of office terms, influence policy in regards to environmental issues

Back 78

o Short-term limits contribute to quick policies that effect now, and good portion of term is spent trying to be re-elected
o Less incentives
o Hardly any planning for the future

Front 79

• Know the three types of decisions that must be made in regards to environmental issues

Back 79

o 1: Priorities of resource allocation
o 2: Distribution of Costs
o 3: Distribution of benefits

Front 80

• Know what crisis awakened the American public for the first time to the fact that petroleum can be used as a political weapon in 1973; know what event actually caused us to start seeking “energy independence” in 1979

Back 80

o Oil Shocks
 1973 Arab Oil Embargo
 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran

Front 81

• Know the 3 reasons why the price of oil in the mid-1980s plunged, and what happened to the U.S.’s percentage of imported oil afterward

Back 81

o 1: Increased Productive Capacity as a result of increased efforts to find more oil after the shocks
o 2: Increase in purchase of fuel efficient cars after shocks
o 3: Conflict in SW Asia, specifically the war between Iraq and Iran, those countries selling oil on the Black Market, and Saudi Arabia’s reaction to this

Front 82

• Know how many times more energy (on a per capita basis) the developed countries consume in comparison to the developing world

Back 82

x5 more

Front 83

• Be able to describe the type of country that would be MOST affected by dramatic oil price spikes

Back 83

o Countries that don’t export oil
o Countries that are just starting to develop, but extremely reliant on fuel
 They cannot bear extra costs as this process is just starting to move along

Front 84

• Know what fuel is and will still continue to be the world’s most important internationally traded fuel

Back 84

petroleum