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Human Geography: Places and Regions in Global Context, 7e (Knox/Marston)
Chapter 10 Political Geographies
10.1 Multiple Choice
1) According to our text, imperialism begins with
A) exploration.
B) treaty negotiations.
C) colonization.
D) military expansion.
E) settlement-building.
2) Prior to Belgian colonialism in Rwanda, the Hutus and Tutsis lived together quite peacefully.
According to our text, conflicts between the groups emerged after the Belgians introduced the
concept of
A) money.
B) borders.
C) socio-political difference.
D) slavery.
E) cash crops.
3) Contributing to the conflicts and tensions in Africa is the colonial legacy of borders that
doesn’t include
A) dividing nations that had been united.
B) uniting nations that had been separate.
C) separating people from traditional resources.
D) cutting spatial relationships, like migration and trade patterns.
E) dividing people by religion.
4) The Kurds, Roma, Bedoon of Kuwait, and Palestinians have this in common—they are
A) the people of failed states.
B) stateless peoples.
C) newly sovereign nations.
D) members of the United Nations.
E) members of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
5) Which is the most inclusive organization (has most members) and has as a primary goal the
maintenance of international peace and security?
A) OPEC
B) United Nations
C) Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development
D) North Atlantic Treaty Organization
E) NAFTA
6) Which two countries are NOT members of the European Union?
A) Finland and Sweden
B) Germany and Denmark
C) Norway and Switzerland
D) Portugal and Austria
E) Spain and France
7) A federal state (or federation) is one
A) in which governmental power and control is centralized.
B) in which governmental power is disbursed to local units.
C) in which countries unite toward a common economic, or sometimes military, goal.
D) in which local units of government work to adopt uniform rules and regulations.
E) which is administered by the Federal government, like Washington, D.C.
8) Nationalists that want an independent state of Quebec are properly described as
A) secessionists.
B) irredentists.
C) orthodontists.
D) provincialists.
E) statists.
9) The Zapatista rebellion in Chiapas (Mexico) coincided with the beginning of NAFTA and
concerned the issue of
A) a peasant way of life.
B) indigenous rights.
C) globalization.
D) exploitation.
E) a peasant way of life, indigenous rights, globalization, and exploitation.
10) Drawing from social Darwinism, Friedrich Ratzel’s model of the state—in which state
growth and change were “natural” and inevitable—portrayed the state as a
A) snowball.
B) biological organism.
C) soldier.
D) religion.
E) volcano.
11) Ratzel’s belief that geopolitics stems from the interaction of ________ is still popular today.
A) power and territory
B) nature and society
C) men and women
D) the rich and the poor
E) space and place
12) The Berlin Wall and the Mexican border are good examples of ________ boundaries.
A) exclusionary
B) inclusionary
C) unitary
D) monetary
E) illusionary
13) Among the following, the best example of an inclusionary boundary is the boundary between
A) North and South Korea.
B) Wisconsin and Minnesota.
C) East and West Berlin during the Cold War.
D) the U.S. and Mexico.
E) Israel and the West Bank.
14) Frontier regions, where territoriality is underdeveloped, are known for their
A) marginality.
B) belonging.
C) rapid growth.
D) conflicts.
E) untapped resources.
15) Only ________ currently exists as a frontier region where territoriality is undeveloped.
A) Antarctica
B) Australia
C) sub-Saharan Africa
D) Siberia
E) Northern Canada
16) Which of the following best characterizes Antarctica?
A) the Last Frontier
B) the most recent member of the United Nations
C) a confederation
D) a pizza pie political union
E) a supraneocolony
17) Territories like Canada, Michigan, and Washtenaw County that are delimited by formal
boundaries are known as ________ spaces or regions.
A) de jure
B) de facto
C) de limito
D) de rigeur
18) As used in our text, the term state is closest in meaning to
A) nation.
B) territory.
C) country.
D) province.
E) colony.
19) In the context of the course and text, ________ is the best example of a state.
A) Minnesota
B) Quebec
C) Kurdistan
D) Egypt
E) Chechnya or Kosovo
20) Which of the following pairs best represent nation-states?
A) the Basque Region and Kurdistan
B) Japan and Iceland
C) United States and Canada
D) India and Russia
21) A cultural group with a territorial identity is known as a
A) nation.
B) province.
C) state.
D) race.
E) class.
22) Of the following, the United States is best characterized as a
A) republic.
B) confederation.
C) nation-state.
D) monarchy.
E) supranational organization.
23) To be considered a nation, a group of people must
A) share cultural elements like religion, language, history, politics.
B) have their own country.
C) reside in the same territory.
D) share a sense of nationalism.
E) be sovereign and self-determined.
24) The process of allocating electoral seats to geographical areas is known as
A) gerrymandering.
B) reapportionment.
C) secessionism.
D) irredentism.
E) separatism.
25) In the transition of the USSR to the CIS, Russia went from being the core of a federated state
to being the most powerful member of a
A) confederation.
B) coalition.
C) nation-state.
D) supranational organization.
E) zionist state.
26) Which of the following have been tried by 20th-century states to eliminate or minimize the
potential for fragmenting or breaking apart?
A) decentralization of power
B) consolidation or centralization of power
C) destruction of ethnic minorities
D) increased autonomy to ethnic minorities
E) decentralization of power, consolidation or centralizing of power, destruction of ethnic
minorities, and increased autonomy of ethnic minorities
27) From the following, the best example of a supranational organization is (are)
A) the Commonwealth of Independent States.
B) NAFTA.
C) the Canadian provinces.
D) the United Nations.
E) the European Union.
28) According to Ratzel’s theory of the state, imperialism emerges from the need for territorial
expansion tied to
A) population growth.
B) centrifugal forces.
C) low rates of natural increase.
D) irredentism.
E) a new world order.
29) Despite the independence of India, Rwanda and Algeria, the continuing effects of
colonialism are still seen in
A) English as the official language or lingua franca.
B) their incorporation into the world system core.
C) violent conflicts involving territory and power.
D) the large secondary (manufacturing) sector of the economy.
E) the loss of all cultural identity.
30) The North/South Divide is used in our text to distinguish
A) North African states from Sub-Saharan states.
B) anti-slavery from pro-slavery states.
C) former colonizers from formerly colonized states.
D) (former) communist from non-communist states.
31) Contract farming—whereby production in the periphery is for consumption in the core—is
one example of
A) neocolonialism.
B) regionalism.
C) self-determination.
D) the end of colonialism.
E) independence.
32) The (re)acquisition of sovereignty and territorial integrity following colonization is known as
A) decolonization.
B) post-colonialism.
C) neocolonialism.
D) protocolonialism.
E) quasicolonialism.
33) Of the following, the most prominent theory supporting U.S. involvement in the Vietnam
War was
A) the Domino theory.
B) zionism.
C) the theory of the state.
D) the Heartland theory.
E) anti-terrorism.
34) According to Halford Mackinder’s Heartland theory, the “geographical pivot” from which
world conquest could be controlled includes the area of
A) Eurasia, including Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asia.
B) Europe from Italy to Holland.
C) North America from Chicago to Montreal to Washington, D.C.
D) the Arabian peninsula.
E) Southeast Asia, including Indonesia.
35) Halford Mackinder, developer of the Heartland theory, thought that this country was most
likely to make a bid for world domination.
A) Russia
B) Britain
C) France
D) the United States
E) Japan
36) The East/West divide refers to the divide between
A) the New and Old Worlds.
B) the core and the periphery.
C) Indo-European language speakers and Sino-Tibetan/Afro-Asiatic language speakers.
D) the Christian and Islamic spheres of belief.
E) communist and noncommunist countries during the Cold War.
37) The fall of the Berlin Wall symbolizes the
A) end of the Cold War.
B) beginning of the “new world order.”
C) triumph of capitalism over communism.
D) end of the Cold War, the beginning of the “new world order,” and the triumph of capitalism
over communism.
38) The new world order is characterized by all of the following except
A) U.S. hegemony.
B) transnational corporate growth.
C) globalized capitalism.
D) regional instabilities.
E) reduction in world terrorism.
39) Which of the following trade-facilitating organizations is structured around a commodity
rather than a world region?
A) OPEC
B) NAFTA
C) EU
D) ASEAN
E) the United Nations
40) The recent experience of the Chechens and Kurds is similar in that both
A) recently received independence after a long and bloody struggle.
B) have struggled unsuccessfully for independence.
C) have occupied Palestine for centuries before being driven out by Zionists.
D) are the newest members of the European Union.
E) are oil-rich members of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
41) With globalization and the increasing importance of trade-facilitating organizations, states
are
A) disappearing.
B) growing as containers of political and economic power.
C) becoming sites of transnational flows and connections.
D) becoming irrelevant.
E) trying to spread the benefits of globalization.
42) The territorially-based sense of identity in groups like the Basques, Kurds and Quebec’s
French-speaking population is referred to as
A) regionalism.
B) sectionalism.
C) nationalism.
D) multinationalism.
E) territorialism.
43) ________ is the strong devotion to local interests and customs and has been used to explain
the Civil War as the Union’s effort to make sure that the strong attachment to the institution of
slavery would not take priority over the unity of the whole.
A) Regionalism
B) Sectionalism
C) Nationalism
D) Multinationalism
E) Territorialism
44) Whereas reapportionment adjusts the amount of political representation give to a certain
geographical area, redistricting adjusts
A) the geographical area.
B) population size.
C) Federal lands.
D) country, state and/or county boundaries.
E) the gerrymander.
45) The territory of Antarctica has been claimed by
A) the core countries.
B) countries of the periphery.
C) no country.
D) the United Nations.
E) a handful of countries from both the North and the South.
46) According to a map in your book, ________ claim the largest portions of Antarctica.
A) Australia and Norway
B) Chile and Argentina
C) the United States and Russia
D) New Zealand and France
E) Chile and Norway
47) Which of the following is not among the seven sovereign states that emerged from the
dissolution of Yugoslavia?
A) Crimea
B) Croatia
C) Bosnia and Herzegovina
D) Macedonia
E) Serbia
48) Political geography
A) has its roots in Hinduism.
B) has generally ignored the people-land tradition.
C) was influenced by social Darwinism of the mid-19th century.
D) places little importance on globalization.
49) For political geographers, ________ is (are) at the center of most inquiry.
A) the state
B) the nation
C) sovereignty
D) democracy
E) natural rights
50) The true nation-state
A) often contains two or more sizable nations within it.
B) gives sovereignty to each nation within its borders.
C) is relatively uncommon.
D) is best exemplified by France.
E) is best exemplified by the United States.
51) Lenin’s solution to the “national problem” was
A) brutal suppression of nationalism.
B) a federalist system of government.
C) the granting of independence to areas with less than 25% ethnic Russian population.
D) multiparty democracy and an independent judiciary.
52) In which form of government is significant power given to smaller units of government
within the State?
A) unitary State
B) confederate State
C) federal State
D) organic State
E) democratic State
53) After having been stateless for centuries, this culture group established its own state in
1948—and has been in territorial conflict with its neighbors ever since.
A) Inuit
B) Basques
C) Kurds
D) Jews
E) Roma
54) The relatively peaceful dismantling of the USSR
A) was facilitated in part by the fact that the USSR had a federal structure.
B) occurred in the mid-1980s.
C) would not have occurred without the brilliant statesmanship of President Bush.
D) left many of the Soviet Republics without independence.
55) Which of the following is NOT one of the states that formed from the former Soviet Union
after its breakup?
A) Ukraine
B) Russia
C) Kazakhstan
D) Chechnya
E) Estonia
56) The East/West divide that first emerged with the Russian Revolution of 1917 and is still seen
in US/China relations, is centered on the West’s anxieties about
A) colonialism.
B) neocolonialism.
C) human rights.
D) communism.
E) nationalism.
57) The state
A) is a set of institutions.
B) controls territory.
C) is active, not static.
D) is a set of institutions that controls territory and is active, not static.
58) The British presence in India
A) started with the interjection of the British military around 1700.
B) did not formally end until just after World War II.
C) was welcomed by the indigenous ruling elites.
D) had little lasting effect on Indian society.
59) The postcolonial history of India has included
A) partition.
B) regional conflicts.
C) ethnic conflicts.
D) partition, regional conflicts, and ethnic conflicts.
60) The main cause of civil strife in Rwanda stems from
A) antidemocratic values learned from the Germans.
B) interference by South Africa.
C) the Belgian colonial practice of favoring Tutsis.
D) the legacy of superpower competition left over from the Cold War.
61) The League of Nations
A) was formed in the middle of the nineteenth century.
B) established the colonial mandate system.
C) had no significant successes.
D) never allowed the Soviet Union to join.