Today we started Chapter 9: Development.  I gave out the vocab terms for the chapter so if you missed today's lesson make sure to get one from me.  I also gave out our first worksheet for the chapter which can be found on the assignments page of this site.  The first thing to understand is what is development.  Development is the process of improving through diffusion of technology and knowledge.  More develped countries have more technology and knowledge than less developed countries but also diffuse that knowledge and tech to LDCs.  While this improves the LDCs it has not narrowed the gap that exists between MDCs and LDCs... in fact if anything the gap has only gotten bigger.  Development has various components to it and in order to standardize what developed means the UN has developed the Human Development Index or the HDI for short.  It takes into account life expectancy, education, and earnings within a country and gives each country a score from 0.00-1.00.  The most developed nations will score over a 0.90 overall.  Norway leads the list of most developed according to this Index and the Congo is

Today we worked on FRQ practice (free response questions) and started test corrections for the last chapter test.  Here is a sheet that will help you with completing FRQs.  REMEMBER, the FRQs are 50% of your AP test grade.

This section we discuss supranational organizations which are international organizations, or unions, whereby member states transcend state boundaries
or interests to share in the decision-making and vote on issues pertaining to the wider grouping.  In order to join they give up their individual power as an independent state and come together for the common good of the collective whole.  Many examples of supranational organizations can be found... The European Union, NATO, OAS, OAU, NAFTA, etc...

Today we started talking about why borders cause problems.  The first step in knowing why they cause problems is to know the five basic shapes of states: Compact, Prorupted, Fragmented, Elongated, and Perforated.  Here is another link to info on them.  Another type of country border type is called landlocked borders.  If a country has a landlocked border it must rely on others in order to trade on the world market.  This article talks a little bit about landlocked borders and why they tend to be lower on the economic scale.

Yesterday and today we worked on introducing the Political Geography chapter.  We talked about Japan and China fighting over some island, Korea: one state or two?, Taiwan and China: are they independent from each other, Morroco's land grab in Western Sahara, and the development of the state concept.