1. NATIONS AND BORDERS
CHAPTER 15

2. How do different countries relate to each other?
Essential Questions
What factors determine where boundaries between countries are established?
How do different countries relate to each other?

3. Important Ideas
Governments generally set up clear boundaries and exercise their power within these boundaries creating political units.
Political maps show political units, such as counties, and their borders.
Political power is distributed spatially within a political region or unit.
A nation’s power affects its international role.

4. Political Regions

5. Political Regions
Each government establishes clear boundaries over which it asserts its authority.
The area a government controls creates a political region or political unit.
Boundaries are also known as borders.

6. Identify the borders of the United States.

7. What three overlapping governments for a person in Mansfield, Texas?
Federal – United States
State – Texas
County- Tarrant County
City – Mansfield

8. Federal Government
According to the United States Constitution if there is a conflict between state, local or federal laws then the federal (U.S.) is supreme.
U.S. government is sovereign – it is not subject to any higher governmental authority.

9. What causes changes in a nation’s borders?
Purchase
Annexation
War

11. Pre-Columbian Mexico
New Spain in

12. International Relations
Within each country, a national government holds sovereign power.
There is no world government with sovereign power over nations.
Nations often compete and even conflict in order to protect themselves and seek security.

13. Balance of Power
The idea that if one country becomes too strong, other nations will band together against it.
It is also the idea that the amount of power that largest states should enjoy should not become too unequal.
The purpose of the “balance” is to prevent any nation from becoming so powerful that it is tempted to force its will upon other nations.

14. Factors that influence how much power an individual nation possesses
Size of the country
What is the population of the country?
How well education and united is the country?
How large and well-equipped are its armed forces?
What are the physical features of the country?
How productive is the country’s economy?

15. The amount of power a country enjoys affects its control of territory and resources, its ability to defend itself or wage war, and its influence on the course of international relations.

16. World’s Major Powers
United States
China
Russia
Japan
Great Britain

17. European Union
Association of countries of Europe with influence on international trade and relations.
Economic and political union of member states.
Currency is Euro
European Parliament located in Strasbourg, France.
The three leading or largest countries in the EU are Germany, France and United Kingdom.
The United Kingdom recently voted to leave the European Union.

18. UNITED NATIONS

19. United Nations
Organization of all the sovereign nations states in the world.
Founded after World War II, aim of the United Nations is to promote peace, prevent war, and encourage development in all nations.
All member states belong to the General Assembly.
UN Security Council are those larger powerful states – United States, China, Britain, France and Russia.
Security Council has power to send UN peacekeeping forces to areas of conflict around the world.

20. Assignment
Research the internet and select a current problem that is facing the United Nations or the European Union.
Identify the problem, describe the problem and summarize what the international organization is doing to resolve it.