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Geography 100: Political Unrest
Guidelines
Task
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Write a three-to-five-page paper (single-spaced) about the current political
unrest in North Africa and the Middle East.
Include a bibliography of resources you used (in addition to the body of the
three-to-five-page paper).
Utilize concepts from all five chapters: population, culture, environment,
political, and economic – but use only those concepts essential to “tell your
story.”
The fifteen “Political Unrest Questions” (below) are intended to help you
focus on appropriate “geographic” applications about political unrest, but
you are not limited to these questions – nor are you expected to utilize all of
them.
The “Political Unrest.htm” list of articles (in ANNOUNCEMENTS) is intended
for your use as a handy resource of a wide variety of articles that are very
current. You are definitely not limited to these resources, and many more
articles are being created daily. Utilize, among other Internet resource sites,
http://www.ihavenet.com/.
Utilize a wide variety of maps (large and small scale) so that you become
familiar with the relative locations of events, and form clear mental images of
North Africa and the Middle East.
You decide if you wish to focus on
1. One country (state);
2. Two countries (states), compared;
3. A region; or
4. A topic, i.e., oil, communications, population movements, etc.
Due Date
Monday, March 21st – anytime or earlier. Post in Class / Discussion Boards / Political
Unrest Paper.
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Political Unrest Questions
1. What sets current political unrest situations apart from previous political
unrest situations?
2. What roles do communications play in political unrest?
3. Which social media work best in political unrest situations, and what are the
differences in use and impact of each of the three most used social medias?
4. What impact, if any, might there be for political boundaries of each state
involved in political unrest?
5. What significant impact does political unrest have for a specific nation/state
for population movement: immigration, emigration, push & pull factors,
birth/death rates?
6. Do territoriality and tribal groups play a role in a specific country’s political
unrest?
7. What specific impacts do political unrest situations have on natural
resources? Economic development? GDP? GNI? National, International, and
Transnational corporations? Focus on a specific resource and/or company.
8. What impacts do political unrest situations have on the movement of people,
goods, and services within the state? Between states?
9. Does religion play any role in specific political unrest situations?
10. What are/were the specific cause(s) that triggered specific political unrest
situations?
11. What are the common “threads” between each of the current political unrest
situations in North Africa and the Middle East? What are the differences?
12. What economic impacts might each North African and Middle East state have
on the United States? Europe? Africa? Far East? South America?
13. What political impacts might each North African and Middle East state have
on the United States? Europe? Far East? South America?
14. Should other nations intervene in a political unrest situation? Diplomatically?
Militarily? If so, at what stage in the political unrest?
15. Once a regime has been disposed for a particular state, what will likely follow
in the short run? In the long run?
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Geographic Concepts Relating to
Political Unrest
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Population Geography
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birth/death rates;
carrying capacity;
immigration/emigration;
pull & push factors; and
total fertility rate.
Cultural Geography
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acculturation;
cultural diffusion;
culture core area;
diffusionism;
folk culture;
heritage site;
pastoral nomadism;
popular culture; and
territoriality.
Environmental Geography
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natural resources (oil, gas,
minerals) and their
distribution, uses, and
depletion;
types of air pollution, their
causes, and the chemical
content of each type;
water resources, allocation,
pollution.
Political Geography
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autocratic;
centrifugal and centripetal
forces;
enculturation;
ethnic cleansing;
failed state;
nation;
regionalism;
separatist movement;
sovereignty;
state; and
boundary dispute resolution.
Economic Geography
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capitalist system;
economic development;
economies of scale;
gross domestic product (GDP);
gross national income (GNI);
multinational corporation;
nationalization
supranational organization;
and
transnational corporation.
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