Power and Borders | OCR A-Level Geography (H481)
Power and Borders
- 168 questions
- 12 subtopics
- Component 02: Human interactions, the compulsory places topic plus one of each optional pair
- Component 02
Power and Borders is examined in Component 02, Human interactions.
It covers states, nations and the sovereign control of territory, norms, intervention and geopolitics, contested borders and the legacy of colonial boundaries, transnational corporations and economic sovereignty, trading blocs, supranational institutions and pooled sovereignty, ethnic dominance, minority marginalisation and separatism, ukraine: sovereignty and territorial integrity under challenge, resources, conflict and the causes of geopolitical instability, global institutions, international law and the flows that carry intervention, south Sudan: governing a conflict from global to local, short-term and long-term outcomes of intervention for people and places and the Democratic Republic of the Congo: global governance in an LIDC.
Sample questions from Power and Borders
Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.
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States, nations and the sovereign control of territory
Explain how a nation differs from a state.
Show the answer
A state is a legal and territorial unit with a government and recognised borders, while a nation is a community held together by shared identity, so a nation can exist without a state and a state can contain several nations. -
Norms, intervention and geopolitics
What does the Responsibility to Protect establish?
Show the answer
It establishes that every state must protect its own population from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity, and that the international community should act where a state manifestly fails to do so. -
Transnational corporations and economic sovereignty
What is a tax haven?
Show the answer
A tax haven is a jurisdiction with very low or zero corporate taxation and strong financial secrecy, used to reduce tax liabilities that would otherwise be paid elsewhere. -
Trading blocs, supranational institutions and pooled sovereignty
Name three regional trading blocs outside Europe.
Show the answer
ASEAN in South East Asia, Mercosur in South America, and ECOWAS in West Africa. -
Ukraine: sovereignty and territorial integrity under challenge
Which region of eastern Ukraine saw fighting between government forces and Russian-backed separatists from 2014?
Show the answer
The Donbas, covering the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, where separatists declared breakaway republics. -
Resources, conflict and the causes of geopolitical instability
Why may a landlocked state come into conflict with its neighbours?
Show the answer
It depends on neighbouring territory for access to a port, so disputes over transit fees, pipelines or border closures can strangle its trade and escalate into confrontation. -
South Sudan: governing a conflict from global to local
How did the United Nations mission in South Sudan change what it did after fighting began in 2013?
Show the answer
It shifted from helping to build the institutions of a new state to protecting civilians, opening its own bases as protection sites for people fleeing the violence. -
Short-term and long-term outcomes of intervention for people and places
How can global governance benefit citizens of a state whose sovereignty has been challenged?
Show the answer
Outside recognition, funding, peacekeepers and legal support can help a government resist a stronger neighbour, and can give ordinary people security, services and a route to accountability they would not otherwise have.
The 12 subtopics
One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.
| Subtopic | What it covers | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| States, nations and the sovereign control of territory | Recall questions on states, sovereignty, internal and external sovereignty and territorial integrity, nations, nation-states, multinational states and stateless nations such as the Kurds, UN membership, de jure and de facto states such as Somaliland, and the dynamic political map, from South Sudan to the break-up of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. | 17 |
| Norms, intervention and geopolitics | Recall questions on international norms and why they change, the forms of geopolitical intervention, aid and sanctions as intervention, geopolitics and spheres of influence, hard and soft power, the Responsibility to Protect and why it is controversial, and why sovereignty and territorial integrity are not absolute. | 14 |
| Contested borders and the legacy of colonial boundaries | Recall questions on borders and frontiers, superimposed, antecedent and relict borders, the Berlin Conference and Africa's colonial borders, the Durand Line and the Radcliffe Line, Kashmir, territorial seas and exclusive economic zones, the South China Sea dispute and the 2016 arbitration, and the contested Arctic seabed. | 15 |
| Transnational corporations and economic sovereignty | Recall questions on transnational corporations and their economic power, transfer pricing and tax havens, the Irish tax ruling, the race to the bottom and the threat of relocation, export processing zones, the benefits of foreign investment, oil in the Niger Delta, how governments reassert control, taxing digital firms, and a global minimum corporation tax. | 14 |
| Trading blocs, supranational institutions and pooled sovereignty | Recall questions on supranational institutions and pooled sovereignty, trading blocs, free trade areas and customs unions, the European single market, Schengen and the euro, the 2016 Brexit referendum, ASEAN, Mercosur and ECOWAS, the World Trade Organization, loan conditions, and whether pooling sovereignty increases a state's power. | 13 |
| Ethnic dominance, minority marginalisation and separatism | Recall questions on ethnic dominance and state legitimacy, separatism and self-determination against territorial integrity, the 2017 Catalan referendum, the stateless Kurds, the 1994 Rwandan genocide and its colonial roots, the Rohingya of Myanmar, the civil war in Sri Lanka, and how governments reduce separatist pressure. | 13 |
| Ukraine: sovereignty and territorial integrity under challenge | Recall questions on Russia's annexation of Crimea, the Budapest Memorandum, Crimea's strategic value, fighting in the Donbas, the 2022 full-scale invasion and its causes, its impacts on Ukraine's government, people and places such as Mariupol, the UN General Assembly vote, reliance on sanctions, and the effect on global food supply. | 13 |
| Resources, conflict and the causes of geopolitical instability | Recall questions on resource competition and the resource curse, the Nile dispute between Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt, upstream and downstream states, conflict minerals and armed groups, the Kimberley Process, landlocked states, climate change as a threat multiplier, and why most conflicts are intra-state. | 13 |
| Global institutions, international law and the flows that carry intervention | Recall questions on global governance, the UN Security Council and the veto, the principles and weaknesses of peacekeeping, the Geneva Conventions, the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice, weak enforcement, the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and how flows of people, money, remittances, ideas and technology carry intervention. | 16 |
| South Sudan: governing a conflict from global to local | Recall questions on the war before South Sudan's independence, the 2013 civil war and the role of oil, UNMISS and its protection sites, mediation by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, the national government's role, NGOs and the dangers they face, the 2018 peace agreement, and the effects of conflict and intervention on local communities. | 14 |
| Short-term and long-term outcomes of intervention for people and places | Recall questions on humanitarian aid and its limits, regime change in Libya, the short-term aims and long-term benefits of peacekeeping, how sanctions reshape trade and affect citizens, how global governance can help or harm citizens, uneven outcomes within a country, and why effectiveness is hard to judge. | 13 |
| The Democratic Republic of the Congo: global governance in an LIDC | Recall questions on the Democratic Republic of the Congo as an LIDC, weak state control in the east, conflict minerals and cobalt, MONUSCO and the Force Intervention Brigade, the roles of NGOs, supply-chain rules and their unintended consequences, the opportunities and injustices of global governance, and why intervention has not ended the conflict. | 13 |
How the guide is worked
Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.
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Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
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Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
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Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.
Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.
Nearby topics
OCR A-Level Geography Active Recall Guide
Every topic, not just this one. 3,740 questions with their answers.