Thursday 12-6: some additional political geography questions from Mr. LaRue

If you are reading this, it must mean that you have finished the notes -- both part one and part two -- which I have provided for you in previous classes. Now I would like today to perform the following four actions:

A) Answer the questions which I have provided below 

B) Create four of your own questions. You may model how to phrase the questions based on questions I have already asked, but naturally, you CANNOT ASK A QUESTION WHICH I HAVE ALREADY CREATED

C) Provide an answer of some sort to each of your own questions. It doesn't have to be huge big deal... two complete sentences each will do.


PLEASE SEND YOUR ANSWERS FOR A IN A SEPARATE EMAIL.... the subject line for the questions from "A" above should have your name plus "Mr. LaRue's 2nd set o' questions"

The subject line for "B" should be your name plus "my Q and A"


OK, without further ado, here are my questions for today (ANSWERS MUST BE AT LEAST TWO COMPLETE SENTENCES EACH)

A) The second round of notes proclaimed that "the state" provides services, demands that we pay taxes and obey its laws, etc etc . Here's my first question: WHAT IS "THE STATE"? Please provide a definition of what it is, not what it does. And no, the one provided in the notes already is off limits.... I think its way too abstract, and doesn't hit near enough what a state actually is

B) What's the difference between a "state" and a nation? (Please bear in mind, by "state" I don't mean something like "South Carolina" or "Texas" -- I mean the definition as laid out in "A" above)

C)  Which one is more important? Why?

D)  Is America an example of a multinational state? If so, could we end up like the former Yugoslavia from your notes?

E) In the notes, the first part of the definition for a nation is "a culturally defined group of people" ... what do you suppose that actually means?

F) The definition goes on to say that these people have a " shared past and  a common future". Question : since America is composed of 310,000,000 people from every country on earth, what exactly is our "shared past"? 

G) Based on your answer to F, what do you think America's future looks like?

H) In the notes, it is pointed out that the boundary lines of other nations have shifted over time. How likely is it that this will never happen here in America? And in the event it did happen, what might precipitate this/make it happen?

I) In the notes, it states that the earliest rulers ruled over a group of followers, not a particular territory. Question: what kind of modern day organizations can you think of that are like this? List them, and explain why they belong in this list

J) For "I" above, which do you think is more important for these "rulers" : their organization, or the nation where they reside/ the state they live under?

K) What about the people who these rulers are in charge of? Where does their allegiance lie?

OK, that should be enough exercise for today. Just make sure to get it done, as I would like very much to have a class discussion of a random sampling of all sets of questions the next time we meet

cheers,
Mr. L