THE MODELS
SCALE & PATTERN
CAUSE & EFFECT
COMPARE
TRAP ANSWERS
100
Mackinder's model claimed control of this Eurasian interior region would lead to world domination.
What is the Heartland? MC TIP — Mackinder: whoever rules Eastern Europe commands the Heartland; whoever commands the Heartland commands the World-Island. A land-power theory.
100
At the global scale the EU pools sovereignty; at the national scale this backlash process appears.
What is devolution (or nationalist withdrawal, as in Brexit)? MC TIP — Supranationalism and devolution pull in opposite directions at different scales. Naming both scales is the credited answer.
100
The Berlin Conference's geometric boundaries caused this lasting effect across Africa.
What is multinational states with divided ethnic groups and persistent internal conflict? MC TIP — Superimposed boundaries ignored existing cultural patterns. Name the boundary TYPE and the consequence together.
100
One is the political container; the other is the people who feel they belong together.
What are a state and a nation? MC TIP — A multinational state has many nations inside one state. A multistate nation has one nation spread across many states.
100
The trap: a stem calls the United States a nation-state. What is wrong with that?
What is that the U.S. is a multinational (multiethnic) state, not a nation-state? MC TIP — True nation-states are rare — Iceland, Japan, Denmark, Portugal. Any large diverse country labeled a nation-state is a distractor.
200
Spykman's counter-model located global power in this coastal ring of Eurasia instead.
What is the Rimland? MC TIP — Rimland is a SEA-power theory and is the intellectual basis for Cold War containment. Mackinder = interior. Spykman = coastal ring.
200
A country appears unified on a world map, but a language map of the same country shows this.
What is a multinational state with clustered ethnolinguistic regions? MC TIP — Belgium's Flemish-Walloon split and Canada's Quebec are the standard two. Language clustering predicts devolutionary pressure.
200
Ethnic cleansing and forced migration cause boundaries to be redrawn in this way after conflict.
What is along cultural (ethnographic) lines, as in the former Yugoslavia? MC TIP — Balkanization is the term for a region fragmenting into small hostile units. Yugoslavia is the CED's example.
200
One is drawn before people settle an area; the other is forced on top of an existing cultural pattern.
What are antecedent and superimposed boundaries? MC TIP — Superimposed is the colonial one and the one that causes conflict. Subsequent boundaries grow WITH the culture.
200
The trap: an answer choice says supranational organizations eliminate member-state sovereignty. Why is it wrong?
What is that members voluntarily pool LIMITED sovereignty and retain the right to exit? MC TIP — Eliminate, surrender entirely, permanently — absolute language flags the wrong choice.
300
Wallerstein's model divides the world into these three tiers — the framework behind most Unit 4 and Unit 7 questions.
What are core, semi-periphery, and periphery? MC TIP — World-systems theory explains uneven development as a RELATIONSHIP, not a stage. It reappears constantly in Unit 7.
300
The spatial pattern gerrymandering produces on a district map, and its technical name.
What is a highly irregular, non-compact district shape? MC TIP — Compactness is a legal test for gerrymandering. Odd fingers and tendrils reaching across a map are the visual evidence.
300
The 1947 partition of British India along religious lines caused this immediate demographic event.
What is one of the largest forced migrations in history, with roughly 15 million displaced? MC TIP — Cause: a superimposed, culturally drawn boundary. Effect: forced migration and enduring conflict over Kashmir.
300
One concentrates all authority centrally; the other constitutionally divides it with regions.
What are unitary and federal states? MC TIP — Federal suits large, diverse states. Unitary suits small, homogeneous ones. Mismatch the two and you get devolutionary pressure.
300
The trap: a mountain range border is labeled a relict boundary. Name the correct classification.
What is a physical boundary — relict describes a boundary that no longer functions? MC TIP — Two separate systems: classify by what it FOLLOWS (physical, geometric, cultural) and by how it EVOLVED (antecedent, subsequent, superimposed, relict).
400
The organic theory of state expansion, which compared a state to a living thing needing room to grow, was proposed by him.
What is Friedrich Ratzel? MC TIP — Ratzel's organic theory was later used to justify expansionism and Lebensraum. AP asks you to identify the theory and its misuse.
400
A boundary that no longer functions politically but is still visible on the landscape — name the type and an example.
What is a relict boundary, such as the Berlin Wall or Hadrian's Wall? MC TIP — Relict boundaries are landscape evidence. Tie them to sequent occupance from Unit 3.
400
Landlocked status causes this specific economic effect the CED names.
What is higher transport costs and dependence on neighbors for port access? MC TIP — Bolivia, Chad, and Lesotho are the examples. It is a Unit 4 shape concept with a Unit 7 development consequence.
400
One splits a voting bloc across many districts; the other crams it into as few as possible.
What are cracking and packing? MC TIP — Both are gerrymandering. Cracking dilutes; packing wastes votes by concentration. Either way the map looks non-compact.
400
The trap: students call the EU a federal state. Name the correct term and the distinction.
What is a supranational organization — its members remain sovereign states? MC TIP — A federal state has one sovereign government over its regions. The EU's members can and do leave.
500
The model predicting that a neutral zone between two rival powers becomes a site of repeated conflict.
What is a shatterbelt? MC TIP — Eastern Europe, the Balkans, and the Middle East are the named shatterbelts. A choke point is different — a narrow passage of strategic value.
500
Nationally a state is wealthy, but a resource-rich province funds the rest and resents it — name the process this produces.
What is devolution driven by uneven economic development? MC TIP — Catalonia, northern Italy, and Scottish oil all fit this pattern exactly. The CED calls economic devolution out by name.
500
A state adopting an official language and a national curriculum is deliberately producing this effect.
What is a centripetal force strengthening national identity? MC TIP — Push the chain: it also suppresses minority languages, which can BECOME a centrifugal force. AP rewards seeing both.
500
One seeks to break away from a state; the other seeks to annex kin living in a neighboring state.
What are separatism and irredentism? MC TIP — Direction is the tell. Separatism pushes OUT from inside. Irredentism reaches IN from outside.
500
The trap: a question asks why Africa has so many multinational states, and an option blames ethnic diversity itself. What is the better answer?
What is superimposed colonial boundaries drawn at the Berlin Conference without regard to existing cultural patterns? MC TIP — AP credits the POLITICAL cause over the cultural one. Blaming diversity is the distractor every time.
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