Key term
OCR A-Level Geography H481
Coastal Landscapes
Topic overviewThe coastal system: inputs, outputs and flows of energy and materialSediment cells, the sediment budget and the sources of coastal sedimentWinds, fetch and the generation of wavesConstructive and destructive waves, and how waves breakTides, tidal range and ocean currentsLithology, geological structure and the plan of the coastWeathering and mass movement on the coastMarine erosion, transport and depositionBays, headlands, cliffs and shore platformsGeos, blow holes, caves, arches, stacks and stumpsBeaches and the changing beach profileSpits, bars, tombolos and salt marshesHigh and low energy coastlines as characteristic landscapesEmergent coasts: raised beaches, marine terraces and abandoned cliffsSubmergent coasts: rias, fjords and shingle beachesCoastal management and its effect on the sediment budgetPorts, tourism and unintended change at the coast
Glaciated Landscapes
Topic overviewThe glacier system: inputs, stores, flows and outputsGlacier mass balance and the equilibrium lineClimate, latitude and altitude as controls on glaciationGeology, relief and aspect in glaciated landscapesFirn, glacier ice, valley glaciers and ice sheetsWarm-based and cold-based ice, and the mechanisms of glacier movementWeathering, mass movement and nivation in cold environmentsGlacial erosion and the marks it leaves on rockEntrainment, transport and deposition of glacial sedimentCorries, arêtes and pyramidal peaksGlacial troughs, hanging valleys and ribbon lakesMoraines, erratics, drumlins and till sheetsCharacteristic glaciated landscapes and how they change over timeGlacio-fluvial landforms of deglaciation: kames, eskers and outwash plainsPermafrost, patterned ground and pingosPeople in periglacial landscapes: resource extraction and thermokarstPeople in glaciated landscapes: dams, reservoirs and valley change
Dryland Landscapes
Topic overviewDryland landscape systems: inputs, stores, flows and outputsAridity, the water balance and the UNEP aridity indexRainfall, pressure belts and the global pattern of aridityRock type and structure in dryland landscapesRelief, aspect and desert microclimatesSediment supply and the dryland sediment budgetPolar drylands and the cold desertsHot deserts of the low and mid latitudesSemi-arid environments and the desert marginsWeathering and mass movement in dryland landscapesFluvial and aeolian processes in the desertWadis, canyons, pedestal rocks, ventifacts and desert pavementsBarchans, linear dunes, star dunes, alluvial fans and bajadasThe Mojave and the Sahara as desert landscape systemsInselbergs, pediments and relict landforms of past pluvialsFrost-shattered debris, nivation hollows and solifluction depositsWater supply, dams and landscape changeTourism, off-road vehicles and landscape change
Earth’s Life Support Systems
Topic overviewWater and carbon as the foundations of life on EarthOpen and closed systems, and the major global stores of water and carbonInputs and outputs of the water cycle: precipitation, snowmelt and evapotranspirationInputs and outputs of the carbon cycle, and the forms of chemical weatheringEvaporation, transpiration, condensation and the causes of rainfallInterception, runoff and catchment hydrologyPhotosynthesis, respiration, decomposition and combustion as carbon flowsNatural sequestration in oceans, vegetation, sediments and rockStores, flows and physical controls in the tropical rainforestDeforestation, farming and forest management in an Amazon drainage basinStores, flows and seasonal change in the Arctic tundraOil and gas development in the Arctic tundra, and its managementDynamic equilibrium, land use change and water extractionFossil fuel combustion, carbon sequestration and feedback loopsChange over time in the cycles, and the monitoring that records itLinks and interdependence between the water and carbon cyclesGlobal strategies to protect the carbon and water cycles
Changing Spaces; Making Places
Topic overviewThe characteristics that shape a place profileContrasting place profiles: Chelsea and BlackpoolPast and present connections, and the scales that embed a placeShifting flows of people, resources, money and ideasSpace, place and the effects of time-space compressionPerception, identity and emotional attachment to placeInformal representations of place in media and the artsFormal and statistical representations of placeMeasuring social inequality and its spatial patternsDeindustrialisation, globalisation and structural economic changeRecession, austerity and the government's role in inequalityLiving with inequality: Sparkbrook and Sutton ColdfieldPlayers driving economic change at different scalesThe Ruhr: a region reshaped by structural economic changePlacemaking and the marketing of places to investorsDesign, mixed use and community-led placemakingRebranding through reimaging and regenerationSalford Quays: from docks to MediaCityUK
Trade in the Contemporary World
Topic overviewMerchandise, services and capital flowsGlobal trade patterns: inter-regional and intra-regional flowsTrade, export value and human developmentTrade as a driver of growth, stability and developmentTrade inequalities, conflict and injusticeTransport, technology and the global supply chainMultinationals, outsourcing and the new international division of labourRegional trading blocs and the European UnionSouth–south trade and the growth of traded servicesIndia: trade patterns of an emerging economyThe United States: a core economy shaping world tradeEthiopia: trade on the periphery of the global system
Global Migration
Topic overviewThe global migrant population: size, composition and direction of flowInter-regional and intra-regional flows, and the world's major migration corridorsRemittances, the Human Development Index and the migration-development linkMigration as a driver of stability, growth and developmentInequality, conflict and injustice in the global migration systemEconomic globalisation and the emergence of new source and host areasYoung workers, women migrants and the growth of South-South movementConflict, persecution and the world's refugee movementsNational immigration and emigration policy, and how it is changingMexico: an emerging economy shaped by a migration corridorThe United Kingdom: an advanced country driving change in the migration systemNepal: a low-income country with little leverage over its migration
Human Rights
Topic overviewThe idea of human rights and its legal foundationsNorms, intervention and geopoliticsForced labour and modern slaveryMaternal mortality and access to safe childbirthCapital punishment and where it persistsPatterns of gender inequality: schooling, reproductive health and workWomen's rights in IndiaHuman rights abuse as a cause and a consequence of conflictInstitutions, treaties and laws that protect human rightsGlobal governance of human rights in eastern DR CongoShort-term relief and long-term change in DR Congo
Power and Borders
Topic overviewStates, nations and the sovereign control of territoryNorms, intervention and geopoliticsContested borders and the legacy of colonial boundariesTransnational corporations and economic sovereigntyTrading blocs, supranational institutions and pooled sovereigntyEthnic dominance, minority marginalisation and separatismUkraine: sovereignty and territorial integrity under challengeResources, conflict and the causes of geopolitical instabilityGlobal institutions, international law and the flows that carry interventionSouth Sudan: governing a conflict from global to localShort-term and long-term outcomes of intervention for people and placesThe Democratic Republic of the Congo: global governance in an LIDC
Climate Change
Topic overviewReconstructing past climates from natural archivesIcehouse and greenhouse Earth, from Cenozoic cooling to the HoloceneContinental drift and volcanic activity as drivers of climateMilankovitch cycles and changes in solar outputThe natural greenhouse effect and the atmosphere's greenhouse gasesWarming of the surface, atmosphere and oceans since the late 19th centuryRetreating ice, shrinking snow cover and rising sea levelWhy greenhouse gas emissions have risen since the pre-industrial eraThe changing global balance of emissions, from an AC to an EDCThe enhanced greenhouse effect and the global energy balanceThe evolution of the global warming debateGovernments, international organisations and the media in the climate debateClimate models, the carbon cycle and feedbackFuture emission scenarios and projected temperature and sea level riseImpacts on ecosystems, health and extreme weatherThe vulnerability of people and environments to climate changeMitigation through energy efficiency, fuel shifts and low-carbon energyCarbon capture and storage, forestry strategies and geoengineeringRetreat, accommodation and protection as adaptationAdapted homes, cities, transport and economiesContrasting countries: impacts, opportunities and the challenges of respondingThe IPCC, international agreements and policy from global to local
Disease Dilemmas
Topic overviewWays of classifying disease, and the epidemic to pandemic scaleMapping the burden of malaria, HIV, tuberculosis, diabetes and heart diseaseDisease diffusion, the Hägerstrand model and the barriers that slow itTemperature, rainfall, relief and water supply as controls on diseaseMosquitoes, vectors and the seasonal rhythm of outbreaksClimate change, emerging infections and diseases that jump from animalsCholera in Haiti after the 2010 earthquakeRising living standards and the epidemiological transitionDiseases of poverty and diseases of affluenceAir pollution and lung cancer in ChinaMalaria in Nigeria: from causes to controlCardiovascular disease in the United KingdomThe World Health Organization and the surveillance of global outbreaksMédecins Sans Frontières and the West African Ebola epidemicPhysical barriers to treatment and the fight against HIV and AIDSMedicinal plants, their growing conditions and the trade that threatens themPharmaceutical transnationals and the global flow of medicinesEradication campaigns, grassroots education and the role of women
Exploring Oceans
Topic overviewThe size and spread of the world's oceansThe shape of the sea floor, from shelf to trenchSalinity and temperature through the water columnSurface currents and the great ocean gyresThe North Atlantic conveyor, from Gulf Stream to deep return flowLight, warmth and nutrients as limits on ocean lifeFood webs in the inter-tidal zone and the deep seaHarvesting Southern Ocean krillWhaling, stakeholder conflict and resource thresholdsOcean energy: oil, gas, waves and tidesMining the deep sea bed for metalsThe global commons, maritime zones and ocean governanceThe major sources of marine pollutionThe Deepwater Horizon oil spill and its aftermathDrifting plastic and the North Pacific garbage patchOcean acidification, warming seas and coral bleachingRising sea level and low-lying island communitiesSea ice, the albedo feedback and irreversible thresholdsThe changing Arctic: peoples, politics and new sea routesShipping lanes, container ships and seaborne tradeNaval power and contested seasPiracy and migration by sea
Future of Food
Topic overviewFood security and its three pillarsMeasuring hunger: undernourishment data and food security indicesShifting patterns of food security between and within countriesClimate, soil, water and relief as controls on where food can be grownThe journey of food from farm to plate, and the waste it leavesTypes of farming: intensive, extensive, subsistence and commercialGlobalisation, rising demand and global tastesThe issues and opportunities of a globalised food industryLand ownership, competition and land grabbingMalthus, Boserup and the population–resource debateYemen: conflict, aridity and the collapse of food accessVulnerable people and the pinchpoints in global food distributionDesertification and the drylands of the SahelExtreme weather, water scarcity and tectonic shocks to food productionInuit hunting and food security in the ArcticSalinisation, deforestation and agrochemical pollution from farmingThe Aral Sea: a landscape remade by irrigationHealth effects of hunger, over-nutrition and agrochemical exposureMalawi and the United States: contrasting experiences of food insecurityTrade policy, the World Trade Organization and appropriate aidAgribusiness, food TNCs, supermarkets and fair tradeFrom emergency relief to capacity building and system redesign
Hazardous Earth
Topic overviewThe Earth's internal structure and the global pattern of platesContinental drift and the evidence from fossils, rocks and ancient glaciationsSea-floor spreading, palaeomagnetism and the age of the ocean floorDivergent boundaries and the landforms of the mid-ocean ridgesSubduction at oceanic-continental and oceanic-oceanic boundariesContinental collision and conservative boundariesMagma chemistry, viscosity and explosive volcanism at subduction zonesEffusive eruptions, shield volcanoes and hot-spot volcanismVolcano size and shape, super-volcanoes and the Volcanic Explosivity IndexLava flows, pyroclastic flows and volcanic gasesTephra, ashfall, lahars and volcanic tsunamisEarthquake focus, depth and the seismic waves releasedMeasuring earthquakes: Richter, moment magnitude and Mercalli intensityFault scarps, rift valleys and the landscapes faulting createsGround shaking, ground displacement and liquefactionEarthquake-triggered landslides, avalanches and floodingTsunamis from sea-bed uplift and underwater landslidesWhy people choose to live in tectonically active placesThe impacts of volcanic eruptions in countries at contrasting levels of developmentThe impacts of earthquakes in countries at contrasting levels of developmentPredicting, monitoring and managing volcanic hazardsLand-use zoning, building design and managing earthquake riskChanging risk over time and the disaster risk equationThe Park model of disaster response
Geographical Skills
Topic overviewGeographical data, its types and the ethics of using itCollecting data: sampling, measurement error and digital devicesQualitative methods, sources and drawing conclusionsMeasures of central tendency and dispersionCorrelation, lines of best fit and Spearman's rankSignificance tests: chi-squared, Mann-Whitney U and the t-testClimate graphs, maps and graphical techniques
Power and Borders
- 12 subtopics
- 36 things to know
- Component 02
What Power and Borders covers
Power and Borders is examined in Component 02, Human interactions. It covers states, nations and sovereign control of territory; norms, intervention and geopolitics; contested borders and the legacy of colonial boundaries; how transnational corporations, trading blocs and supranational institutions limit sovereignty; ethnic dominance, minority marginalisation and separatism; resources and the causes of geopolitical instability; and the global institutions, international law and flows of people, money and ideas that carry intervention. It also covers Ukraine, where sovereignty and territorial integrity are under challenge; South Sudan, where a conflict is governed from global to local scale; the short-term and long-term outcomes of intervention for people and places; and global governance in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The 12 subtopics
Each one has its own page.
- States, nations and the sovereign control of territoryRecall 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.Open →
- Norms, intervention and geopoliticsRecall 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.Open →
- Contested borders and the legacy of colonial boundariesRecall 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.Open →
- Transnational corporations and economic sovereigntyRecall 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.Open →
- Trading blocs, supranational institutions and pooled sovereigntyRecall 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.Open →
- Ethnic dominance, minority marginalisation and separatismRecall 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.Open →
- Ukraine: sovereignty and territorial integrity under challengeRecall 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.Open →
- Resources, conflict and the causes of geopolitical instabilityRecall 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.Open →
- Global institutions, international law and the flows that carry interventionRecall 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.Open →
- South Sudan: governing a conflict from global to localRecall 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.Open →
- Short-term and long-term outcomes of intervention for people and placesRecall 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.Open →
- The Democratic Republic of the Congo: global governance in an LIDCRecall 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.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Your recallNot started
Key term
Why does the break-up of Yugoslavia show the fragility of a multinational state?
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Why do international norms change over time?
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Explain one reason economic sanctions are criticised as a tool of intervention.
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Define a transnational corporation.
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How does the threat of relocation give a transnational corporation power over a host government?
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How does the World Trade Organization constrain what a member government may do?
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Why do self-determination and territorial integrity pull against each other?
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How can competition for natural resources lead to conflict between states?
Evaluation
Why can resource wealth weaken a government rather than strengthen it?
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Why is oil central to the conflict in South Sudan?
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Explain one difficulty NGOs face working in South Sudan.
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What does the term LIDC mean?
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Why does the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo struggle to control the east of the country?
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Explain the difference between a border and a frontier.
Numbers
Which territory did Russia annex from Ukraine in 2014?
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What is global governance?
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What is humanitarian aid?
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What is an antecedent border?
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What is a regional trading bloc, and what does it often adopt towards non-members?
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How does ethnic dominance erode the legitimacy of a state?
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What did Ukraine give up under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, and what did it receive in return?
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Name the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.
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Why is regime change described as a long-term consequence of intervention?
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Define the term state.
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Define the term norm as it is used in international politics.
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Which conference of 1884 to 1885 divided Africa between European powers?
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What is a tax haven?
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Explain the difference between a free trade area and a customs union.
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Define separatism.
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Which region of eastern Ukraine saw fighting between government forces and Russian-backed separatists from 2014?
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What is meant by the resource curse?
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Explain the difference between the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court.
Numbers
What conflict preceded South Sudan's independence?
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How can maintaining peace in the short term bring long-term benefits to a place?
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Which minerals mined in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have funded armed groups?
Take Power and Borders further
The same content, four other ways.
Commonly confused
Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.
Nation vs State
Nation: a community held together by shared identity, language, history or culture, which may have no land of its own. State: A legal and territorial unit with a government, recognised borders and supreme authority over its own affairs.
Sovereignty vs Territorial integrity
Sovereignty: the supreme authority of a state to govern itself, make and enforce its own laws within its own borders, and act independently of outside control. Territorial integrity: The principle that a state's borders are inviolable and its land must not be attacked, occupied or divided by another state.
De jure state vs De facto state
De jure state: a country legally recognised as sovereign by other governments and admitted to international organisations. De facto state: A territory that governs itself and controls its own land in practice but holds no legal recognition, as Somaliland has done since 1991.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
Define the term state.
Model answer
A political unit with a permanently populated, clearly bounded territory, a government that exercises effective control over it, and the capacity to deal with other states.
- 2
Define sovereignty.
Model answer
Sovereignty is the supreme authority of a state to govern itself, make and enforce its own laws within its territory, and act independently of outside control.
- 3
Explain the difference between internal and external sovereignty.
Model answer
Internal sovereignty is a government's supreme authority over the people and territory it governs, while external sovereignty is its recognised right to act in world affairs without interference from other states.
- 4
Define territorial integrity.
Model answer
Territorial integrity is the principle that a state's borders are inviolable and that its territory must not be attacked, occupied or divided by another state.
- 5
What is a nation?
Model answer
A nation is a group of people bound by a sense of shared identity, usually built on common culture, language, history or ethnicity, who often feel entitled to a territory of their own.
- 6
Explain how a nation differs from a state.
Model 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.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
Power and Borders revision questions
- What does Power and Borders cover in OCR A-Level Geography?
- 12 subtopics: 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. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is Power and Borders organised?
- By the OCR H481 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in Power and Borders, on a schedule.
Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.
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