WebText- GEOGRAPHY OF
Chapter 15 –
DRAFT webtext by G. Atwood,
2012 --- Still draft, Oct 1 – will be updated again for the midterm.
Use with professional
courtesy and attribution including attribution of original sources where
indicated.
LINK
to printable version… it may differ a bit from this web-posted version.
NOTE: Students of GEOG3600
Geography of Utah are expected to view Rod Decker, political reporter, KUTV
(awesome) 2012 Spring semester lecture on ISSUES of Politics and
Subtitle:
Politics is the civil
expression of war… the allocation of power. (stray thought)
BIG CONCEPTS:
Policies matter… such as to the economy; and to
infrastructure; and to culture (how people live and live with each other).
Utah’s governance structure resembles that of many
states: federal, state, county, and municipal jurisdictions.
Demographics largely determine social policies
including the allocation of the state’s budget.
Utah’s population, on average, is younger than that of
the Nation with proportionately more children. For most of the second half of
the 20th century, over half of
One hypothesis for spatial distribution of party
affiliation is: urban Utahans tend to be Democratic; suburban Utahans tend to
be Republican; rural agricultural Utahans tends to be Republican; and rural
mining Utahans tend to be Democratic.
Another hypothesis for party affiliation is by
religion: LDS tend to be Republican. Non-Mormons tend to be Democratic.
Relationships with the Federal government are complex:
Federal land policies affect Utah as 2/3 of Utah is federally administered;
Utahans have traditionally benefited from large federal projects such as water
projects; however federally mandated and federally administered programs have
been met with resistance.
EVIDENCE.
Examine these figures from Zick and Smith (2006)… wonderful book, although data
are dated. .
Zick
and Smith, 2006, Chapter One –
For
background on context of politics in
Quotation:
Need a great quote.
LINK to The
15 Words of GEOG3600 and version
that can be printed.
CASES:
Topics… Questions to Ponder –
How have
How will they change in your
lifetime?
So what? How have / will the
changes affect you?
Overarching Goal of the Chapter:
Look at the people you
interact with and recognize whether and how politics and governmental programs
affect you. … your job (or lack of one) … your life style, your sense of place.
How are political patterns of
MAJOR CONCEPT:
Recognizing spatial contrasts
and exploring webs of relationships among people, places, and environments is
inherent to being a Geographer of Utah.
Specifics: by the end of this chapter… you should:
Be able to discuss news
articles about
Recognize how
Coaching for students of UofU GEOG3600-Geography of
You’ve memorized the Five
Themes of Geography. (Location, Place, Interaction, Migration/Movement, and
Region), now, memorize the five issues of social and behavioral sciences we’ll
explore in Part II of the course:
DEMOGRAPHICS
ECONOMICS
POLITICS
SOCIOLOGY
ANTRHOPOLOGY
Terms to understand with respect to issues of POLITICS
/ Governance
Understand these terms and
have a sense of how they related to Geography of
Politics
Political parties
Voting patterns
Political change
Conservative state
Government
Governance
County
State
Territory
Congressional district
Local government
Legislative bodies
Legislature
Judiciary
Supreme Court
Burning issue
Civil rights
Downwinders
Lesser developed nation
Electorate
THEORY / CONCEPTS towards an understanding of POLITICS
and geography of
FINAL SECTION OF THIS CHAPTER… So What?
GeogUtah
Mantra. That’s the underlying assumption of UofU GEOG3600-Geography of
Understanding leads to a
sense of place… understand
Tie POLITICS to others of the
15 Themes of Geography of Utah. See the web of relationships among
For POLITICS… webs will be
immediately apparent for the four other issues of social and behavioral
science. But think about how politics affects water (the HYDROSPHERE); and how
it is linked to MOVEMENT. Are any of the 15 themes of Geography of Utah not
woven in some way into webs of relationships with POLITICS / Governance?
LIST of “The 15 Words”
Loc
Place
Migra
Inter
Region
Geo
Hydro
Atmo
Bio
Anthro
Econ
Demog
PoliSci
Sociol
QLife
SELF QUIZ – Examine
the evidence (top of this web-text) …. Specifically the figures of Zick and
Smith and updated from census.
Discuss spatial patterns of
political issues in the context of three of the Big Concepts (above)
SUMMARY:
