Name ____________________________________________________ Hour ___ Date _____
De Blij Ch.15 State Organization and National Power
1. How does De Blij explain the reasons for European colonial expansion?
2. Describe the economic system that was implemented by colonial powers.
3. Why is colonialism not necessarily a pre-requisite for a state to become a major player in the
world economy?
4. How does the core; semi-periphery; periphery model help to clarify the long term impact of
colonialism?
5. Why was Mackinder’s heartland theory so controversial when he first proposed it?
6. What was the key to Spykman’s rimland theory in the context of when it was derived?
7. How did history prove Mackinder’s theory to be shortsighted?
8. Why is terrorism an important factor to consider in the present geo-political landscape?
9. How is the idea of a multi-polar world an important geo-political concept today?
10. Why would it be misleading to say that states with large populations are automatically more
important at a global scale than those with small populations?
11. Why would a state such as Nigeria spend a large sum of money to relocate its capital?
12. What is the relationship between the idea of a primate city and colonialism?
13. How does the idea of a forward capital differ for Pakistan than for Brazil?
14. Why did the German capital, Berlin shift to Bonn and then back to Berlin again?
15. How does a unitary state differ from a federal state? Why was federalism more popular in new
states that had been under colonial rule?