Political Patterns and Processes

Weeks 16 - 20

January 3 - February 3

Essential Questions

• Why are independent states considered the building blocks of the world political map?
• What are the various political entities?
• How do the concepts of sovereignty, nation-states, and self-determination shape the contemporary world?
• How have colonialism, imperialism, independence movements, and devolution along national lines influenced contemporary political boundaries?
• How is political power expressed geographically?
• What is territoriality?
• What are the various types of political boundaries?
• What is the purpose of boundaries, and why are they often contested?
• Why is the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea significant?
• How do voting districts, redistricting, and gerrymandering affect election results on various scales?
• What is the difference between a federal and unitary state?
• What is devolution, and what are some factors that can lead to devolution?
• How have advances in communication technology facilitated devolution, supranationalism, and democratization?
• What are some examples of supranational organizations, and how can they challenge state sovereignty?
• What is the difference between centrifugal and centripetal forces, and how does these concepts apply at the state scale?

I can...

• Identify and define the different types of political entities.
• Explain the processes that have shaped contemporary political geography.
• Describe the concepts of political power and territoriality as used by geographers.
• Define types of political boundaries used by geographers.
• Explain the nature and function of international and internal boundaries.
• Define federal and unitary states.
• Explain how federal and unitary states affect spatial organization.
• Define factors that lead to the devolution of states.
• Explain how political, economic, cultural, and technological changes challenge state sovereignty.
• Explain how the concepts of centrifugal and centripetal forces apply at the state scale.

Standards

• SS.Geog2.a.h - Evaluate population policies by analyzing how governments affect population change.
• SS.Geog3.b.h - Analyze the role of supranational organizations (e.g., NAFTA, NATO, UN).
• SS.Geog5.a.h - Analyze the intentional and unintentional spatial consequences of human actions on the environment at the local, state, tribal, regional, country, and world levels.