geopolitics

“Unfortunately, most world political maps aren’t telling you the whole story. The idea that the earth’s land is cleanly divvied up into nation-states – one country for each of the world’s peoples – is more an imaginative ideal than a reality. Read on to learn about five ways your map is lying to you about borders, territories, and even the roster of the world’s countries.”

Source: www.polgeonow.com

This is a nice article to get students to look past the officialness of a world map to explore some of the complexities that make contemporary political geography so compelling. In a nutshell, this article discusses 5 major themes:

Missing countries
Incomplete control
Undefined borders
Disputed territories
Territorial seas

Tags: borders, mapping, political, territoriality, sovereignty.

“A radical fringe Islamic group names ISIS is fighting to establish a extremist Islamic state in Iraq and Syria…and beyond. They control eastern Syria, western Iraq, just took control of Iraq’s 2nd largest city of Mosul and are advancing on the capital Baghdad. In this podcast, the professor John Boyer outlines just a few of the contributing factors to why this significant event is taking place, the geographic/historic background of the state, and the consequences for the future of the region.”

Source: www.youtube.com

If you haven’t yet discovered John Boyer, a.k.a. the Plaid Avenger, I recommend exploring his site. He has numerous resources for world regional geography and current global affairs. His colorful persona is highly entertaining for college age-students as his class attracts over 3,000 students each semester (you can decide for yourself whether that personality works for you and your classroom). This particular ‘plaidcast’ discussion focuses on Iraq’s current devolution and possible total collapse.

Tags: Syria, Iraq, MiddleEast, conflict, political, geopolitics, borders, colonialism, devolution.