Deck 6: Political Geography

Question 1

Which term refers to the supreme authority or right of individual states (countries) to control political, economic, and social affairs within its territorial boundaries without external interference?

A) Sovereignty
B) Nation
C) Nation-state
D) Democracy
E) State

Answer 1

A

Question 2

The concept of nationalism involves which of the following arguments?

A) State governments need to reflect national diversity.
B) Members of minority groups should be dispersed throughout the state.
C) State governments must be in the hands of the dominant cultural group.
D) The state should exceed the area occupied by a particular national group.
E) All of the above

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Nation-states emerged in Europe during which century?

A) The sixteenth century
B) The seventeenth century
C) The eighteenth century
D) The nineteenth century
E) The twentieth century

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Following the Napoleonic Wars, the map of Europe was redrawn in 1815 depicting states demarcated on which of the following bases?

A) Dynasties
B) Religions
C) Languages
D) Both A and B
E) All of the above

Question 5

What was the largest colony in the British Empire in terms of physical size in the late nineteenth century?

A) Australia
B) South Africa
C) Qatar
D) Canada
E) India

Question 6

Which of the following is a prime example of a stable and genuinely multinational state?

A) Canada
B) Switzerland
C) The United States
D) France
E) Belgium

Question 7

States that approach the nation-state ideal are primarily found in which continent?

A) Europe
B) North America
C) Africa
D) Asia
E) South America

Question 8

During the process of exploration, Britain viewed Canada as a source of which of the following?

A) Fish
B) Fur
C) Lumber
D) Wheat
E) All of the above

Question 9

Which of the following colonies did Britain view as a key source of wool, gold, and wheat?

A) South Africa
B) Canada
C) India
D) Australia
E) Nigeria

Question 10

Both France and the United States have used islands in the Pacific for which of the following purposes?

A) Developmental objectives
B) Economic reasons
C) Trade purposes
D) Military testing
E) All of the above

Question 11

Colonialism effectively ended following which significant event?

A) World War I
B) The creation of the League of Nations in 1920
C) World War II
D) The Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union
E) 9/11 and the beginning of the "War on Terror"

Question 12

The belief that the United States had an exclusive right to occupy North America was known as which of the following?

A) Manifest destiny
B) Nationalism
C) Colonialism
D) Imperialism
E) Environmental determinism

Question 13

What were the two leading world areas before the beginning of European colonialism?

A) China and Rome
B) India and Africa
C) China and the Islamic region
D) India and Egypt
E) South Africa and France

Question 14

Which term refers to the study of state power and influence in international relations?

A) Geopolitics
B) Sovereignty
C) Neopolitics
D) Centripetal forces
E) Centrifugal forces

Question 15

When did geopolitical theory originate?

A) Late eighteenth century
B) Early nineteenth century
C) Late nineteenth century
D) Early twentieth century
E) Late twentieth century

Question 16

Heartland theory, which has strong environmental determinist overtones, is associated with which of the following geographers?

A) Jones
B) Deutsch
C) Clark
D) Mackinder
E) Ratzel

Question 17

The 1904 Mackinder heartland theory reflected British concerns about which of the following perceived threats?

A) Russian threats to British colonies in Asia
B) German threats to British colonies in Africa
C) German threats to the countries of Western Europe
D) Russian threats to the countries of Northern Europe
E) American threats to British colonies in the Caribbean

Question 18

Mackinder contended that the Europe-Asia land mass was the "world island" and that it comprised which of the following regions?

A) An interior "heartland"
B) A surrounding "inner or marginal crescent"
C) An inner "desertland"
D) The outer seas
E) Both A and B

Question 19

The terms pivot area, marginal crescent, and inner crescent are associated with the theory proposed by which of the following geographers?

A) Jones
B) Ratzel
C) Kjellen
D) Hartshorne
E) Mackinder

Question 20

The argument that the power controlling the inner or marginal crescent could control all of Europe and Asia, and therefore the world, is associated with which of the following theories?

A) Heartland theory
B) Rimland theory
C) Geopolitik theory
D) Deutsch theory
E) Centrifugal theory

Question 21

Karl Haushofer's geopolitical theory is thought to have influenced which of the following?

A) The United States' foreign policy during the Bush presidencies
B) The domino theory of southern Asia
C) European colonialism
D) Nazi expansionism
E) The collapse of the Soviet Union

Question 22

Which of the following scholars argued that from an American perspective there was considerable advantage in a fragmented rimland?

A) Spykman
B) Kjellen
C) Hartshorne
D) De Seversky
E) Jones

Question 23

What are centrifugal forces?

A) Those that serve to bind a nation together
B) Those that serve to split a nation apart
C) Useful in the becoming of a place
D) Those that serve to build world power
E) Those that seek to dominate other nations

Question 24

What are centripetal forces?

A) Those that serve to build world power
B) Small elite war groups used in a time of war
C) Those that serve to split a state apart
D) Those that serve to bind a state together
E) None of the above

Question 25

Examples of centrifugal forces with respect to the concept of nationalism include which of the following?

A) Multiple religions
B) A long common history
C) A short common history
D) A common religion
E) Both A and C

Question 26

What is the most common centripetal force?

A) State boundaries that are subject to dispute
B) A weak state identity
C) A powerful raison d'être or state identity
D) Divisions in language and religion
E) Lack of a long common history

Question 27

The Cold War between the democratic capitalist states of the US-dominated NATO and the Communist states belonging to the USSR-dominated Warsaw Pact lasted from the end of World War II to which of the following decades?

A) Early 1970s
B) Late 1970s
C) Early 1980s
D) Early 1990s
E) Late 1990s

Question 28

Why are rivers popular boundaries?

A) They are easily demarcated
B) They are easily surveyed
C) Their location is permanent
D) They repeatedly change course
E) Both A and B

Question 29

What is the basis of the argument that all political boundaries are artificial?

A) They are simply lines on maps.
B) What is meaningful in one context may be meaningless in another.
C) They are subject to change.
D) They do not necessarily coincide with natural features.
E) They lack sufficient barriers.

Question 30

Which of the following is an example of a diaspora?

A) The Kurds' desire to create their own state
B) The centuries-long movement of Jewish people away from the Middle East
C) Capturing culture in folk-type music
D) The evolution of Salt Lake City as the North American home to Mormons
E) The territorial expansion of the British Empire

Question 31

What was the effect of the Balfour Declaration of 1917?

A) It was an influential catalyst for World War I.
B) It allowed for the creation of a Jewish national home (now Israel).
C) It procured global agreement on reducing pollution.
D) It provided a common voice for independent African states.
E) It divided Europe along linguistic and religious lines.

Question 32

Secessionist movements arise when groups within multinational states want to do which of the following?

A) Create their own separate state
B) Leave to an adjacent country
C) Be accepted within their state
D) Return to their original country
E) Declare war on the dominant group

Question 33

Canada's unity is NOT threatened by which of the following?

A) Quebec separatism
B) Western Canadian separatism
C) Eastern Canadian separatism
D) Claims of national sovereignty of many Indigenous nations
E) None of the above

Question 34

The Basque cultural territory is divided by the border which separates which two countries?

A) France and Spain
B) Spain and Portugal
C) France and Germany
D) France and Italy
E) France and Switzerland

Question 35

In countries with significant internal divisions, which of the following may threaten state stability?

A) Secessionist movements
B) "Nations within" wanting to link with members of the same nation in other states
C) Irredentism
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 36

The view held by one country that a minority living in an adjacent country belongs to the first country is referred to by which of the following?

A) Geopolitics
B) Nationalism
C) Colonialism
D) Sovereignty
E) Irredentism

Question 37

The Kurds are an example of which of the following?

A) A cultural group failing to achieve state identity
B) A strong nation-state
C) A group that has achieved independence in the form of a nation-state
D) A low-land culture
E) The success of forming an independent state

Question 38

The fragmented political states of contemporary Africa are which of the following?

A) Feudal states
B) Creations of a colonial history
C) A reflection of a long African history
D) Nation-states
E) Long-standing sectarian conflicts

Question 39

In what year did the African Union replace the Organization of African Unity?

A) 1990
B) 1996
C) 2002
D) 2008
E) 2014

Question 40

Which of the following have been identified as a functional prerequisite for the existence of a state?

A) Economy
B) Culture
C) Law
D) Political power
E) All of the above

Question 41

The transfer of power from central to regional or local levels of government is known as which of the following?

A) Devolution
B) Colonization
C) Decolonization
D) Centralization
E) Core-periphery

Question 42

Which of the following was primarily responsible for conflict in the former Yugoslavia?

A) Religion
B) Ethnicity
C) Economy
D) Both A and C
E) Both A and B

Question 43

Which of the following major cultural divisions runs through the former Yugoslavia?

A) That between Celtic and Romance languages
B) That between Celtic and Germanic languages
C) That between Protestantism and Catholicism
D) That between eastern and western Christianity
E) That between Islam and Christianity

Question 44

How many former republics made up the USSR and are now independent states?

A) 0-10
B) 11-20
C) 21-30
D) 31-40
E) 41-50

Question 45

Which of the following had the second-largest population in the former USSR, after that of Russia?

A) Ukraine
B) Uzbekistan
C) Belarus
D) Georgia
E) Estonia

Question 46

The conflict in Kashmir is between Pakistan and which of its neighbours?

A) Afghanistan
B) Bangladesh
C) Nepal
D) India
E) China

Question 47

How many areas of tension exist in the Himalayan Mountains alone?

A) Five
B) Six
C) Seven
D) Eight
E) Nine

Question 48

How many people were estimated to have been killed during the civil war in Sri Lanka between the 1970s and 2009?

A) Less than 25,000
B) 25,000-50,000
C) 50,001-75,000
D) 75,001-100,000
E) More than 100,000

Question 49

Approximately how long did the civil war in Sri Lanka last?

A) 10 years
B) 15 years
C) 20 years
D) 25 years
E) 30 years

Question 50

The 28-member European Union has a population that is larger than the total population of the three countries of Canada, the US, and Mexico, with approximately how many millions of people?

A) 100-199 million
B) 200-299 million
C) 300-399 million
D) 400-499 million
E) More than 500 million

Question 51

Who propagated the idea that Europe would be a more peaceful place if, instead of uniting, it divided into many small ethnic states?

A) Messick
B) Jones
C) Prescott
D) Kohr
E) Kjellén

Question 52

Which demographic was most likely to have voted for Britain to leave the EU in the 2016 Brexit referendum?

A) Younger people
B) Working class
C) Older people
D) University educated
E) Both B and C

Question 53

The political philosophy of anarchism was advocated by which of the following geographers?

A) Kropotkin
B) Réclus
C) Vidal
D) Both A and B
E) Both B and C

Question 54

Oligarchy, defined as rule by an elite group of people, is usually based on which factor?

A) Wealth
B) Dictatorship
C) Royal blood
D) Elected representation
E) Military might

Question 55

By which of the following centuries was democracy generally adopted and commonly practised?

A) The sixteenth century
B) The seventeenth century
C) The eighteenth century
D) The nineteenth century
E) The twentieth century

Question 56

Which of the following reflects an oppressive and arbitrary form of rule that is established and maintained by force and intimidation?

A) Democracy
B) Dictatorship
C) Oligarchy
D) Monarchy
E) Anarchy

Question 57

Zedong, the leader of the peasant revolution in China, is associated with which of the following?

A) Marxism
B) Possibilism
C) Maoism
D) Socialism
E) Anarchism

Question 58

The state apparatus includes which of the following?

A) Military forces
B) Police forces
C) Legal systems
D) Political systems
E) All of the above

Question 59

What does the term gerrymandering refer to?

A) The realignment of electoral boundaries to benefit a particular political party
B) The idea that neighbourhoods tend to vote the same way over long periods of time
C) The fact that electoral districts that have vastly different populations
D) The goal of producing fair election results
E) The creation of equal electoral districts

Question 60

Malapportionment is a term used to describe which of the following?

A) The idea that neighbourhoods tend to vote the same way over long periods of time
B) The creation of electoral districts of varying population sizes so that one party will benefit
C) The process of ensuring equal electoral districts
D) The intention of avoiding electoral bias
E) The realignment of electoral boundaries to benefit a particular political party

Question 61

A form of gerrymandering that involves the creation of electoral districts of differing population sizes to benefit a particular party is the definition of which of the following terms?

A) Devolution
B) Contextualism
C) Malapportionment
D) Urban statistics
E) Spatial imbalance

Question 62

Which of the following exerts a local influence on voting?

A) Campaign effects
B) Environmental effects
C) Sectional effects
D) Contextual effects
E) All of the above

Question 63

From the 1983 British election data, which of the following is an example of an environmental effect on voting?

A) Differences in local and regional political culture produce spatial variations in the support given to the various political parties.
B) Individuals may be influenced in their voting decisions by their social contacts.
C) Vote-switching is more common in the safer seats and the longer-established parties do better in the marginal constituencies.
D) The higher the level of unemployment in an area, the more successful the Labour Party candidate.
E) None of the above

Question 64

After the end of World War I, the nature of conflicts between communism, fascism, and liberal democracy became which of the following?

A) Ideological
B) Economic
C) Territorial
D) Local
E) Practical

Question 65

Approximately how many civil wars are being fought throughout the world?

A) Less than 10
B) 10-19
C) 20-29
D) 30-39
E) 40 or more

Question 66

A 2003 World Bank study has suggested that the principal cause of civil war is which of the following?

A) Lack of international influence
B) Lack of development
C) Terrorism
D) Dissatisfaction with the regime
E) All of the above

Question 67

In what year did Canada claim sovereignty over the entire Arctic Archipelago of North America?

A) 1909
B) 1867
C) 1923
D) 1895
E) 1918

Question 68

Which country has NOT made claims to parts of the High Arctic?

A) Canada
B) Germany
C) Russia
D) Norway
E) Denmark

Question 69

As of 2019, how many nations are recognized as nuclear powers?

A) 0-5
B) 6-10
C) 11-15
D) 16-20
E) 21-25

Question 70

In which of the following have there been examples of mass protest against authoritarian rule?

A) Nepal
B) Ukraine
C) Serbia
D) The Philippines
E) All of the above

Question 71

Between 1977 and 2017, the number of not free nations (as defined by the Freedom House) decreased from 64 to how many?

A) 16-25
B) 36-35
C) 36-45
D) 46-55
E) 56-65

Question 72

Between 1977 and 2017, the number of free nations (as defined by the Freedom House) increased from 43 to how many?

A) 50-59
B) 60-69
C) 70-79
D) 80-89
E) 90-99

Question 73

According to American lobby group Freedom House, in recent years, democracy has weakened in which of the following countries?

A) Russia
B) Hungary
C) Pakistan
D) The Philippines
E) All of the above

Question 74

Western, Sinic, Buddhist, Japanese, Islamic, Hindu, Orthodox, Latin American, and African are the nine major cultures identified by which of the following scholars?

A) Smith
B) Huntington
C) Kant
D) Fukuyama
E) Young

Question 75

Algeria, Mozambique, and the Congo region are all former colonies that achieved independence after long civil wars.

Question 76

European countries began developing world empires in approximately 1300 and achieved maximum extent in the eighteenth century.

Question 77

Many multinational states are politically unstable, prone to changes of government, and/or expressions of "minority nation" discontent.

Question 78

Colonial powers drew the boundaries of many African countries without considering African identities, which has led to contemporary instability and political fragmentation.

Question 79

In recent European history, colonialism took the form of territorial conquest throughout the Americas, much of Asia, and most of Africa.

Question 80

The rimland theory argues that the state controlling North America holds the key to world domination.