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Editors’ preface
he Top Spec Geography series
is designed to be used by 16–19
year olds in schools and colleges.
he writing teams, combining the
expertise of a specialist in their
field with that of an experienced
classroom teacher, have been
chosen to ensure that contemporary
and exciting geography, which
brings together the latest research
and thinking on topical themes, is
accessible to post-16 students.
ach book in the series consists of:
• written chapters, with
illustrations and data which
complement the text
• activities for use in groups and
as guides for private study.
ome activities are designed
to encourage discussion, while
others help to promote students’
understanding of the issues
• ideas for further research: most
post-16 teaching encourages
students to become independent
learners and some specifications
have research units designed to
help prepare students for this
• a glossary of key words and terms.
n addition, there are online
resources which have been written
to extend and complement the
book, and will ensure that the
most up-to-date research and
data are available. ach chapter
will remind you about these
resources which can be found at
www.geography.org.uk/topspec.
lthough the books have been
written mainly with geography
students in mind, the series may
also prove useful for students:
• taking public examination or
diploma courses in other subjects
• who want to read beyond their
exam courses in order to apply
or prepare for university
• looking at new topics in their
first year of university.
Contemporary conflicts and
challenges
Contemporary conflicts and
challenges may be a new theme
for many geography students
because political education and
conflict are not widely taught pre16. owever, it is a popular topic
in post-16 geography courses and
in universities, where it tends to be
known as ‘geopolitics’. he book
covers themes such as:
• why geographers study conflict
• conflicts over live issues
(including the proposed ighpeed 2 rail link between ondon
and Birmingham)
• separatism and the case for
independent nations
• armed conflicts
• contemporary challenges posed
by multicultural societies and
global poverty.
an Challenge
1. What’s conflict got to do
with geography?
This book will provide particular
support for students studying:
• Q 2 Contemporary Conflicts
and Challenges
• dexcel 2 Contested lanet
‘Bridging the evelopment
ap’
• orthern reland CC
2
‘ ssues in thnic iversity’
• B isparities in Wealth and
evelopment, ocio-cultural
xchanges, olitical outcomes
• re-U patial nequality and
overty, and ovements of
eople and oods.
Other students who may also find
this book useful include:
• those studying for diplomas
• those preparing for advanced
courses in citizenship, and
government and politics
• those preparing to apply for
courses in international relations
or sociology.
his book is about some of the
conflicts and challenges facing
the world at present. t is not
necessarily about fighting, but
about the ways in which people’s
attitudes and values may differ, and
how this can lead to different levels
of dispute. Conflict – defined as
‘disagreement caused by the actual
or perceived opposition of needs,
values and interests between
people’ – varies in many ways:
• n scale. t one end of the scale,
a local disagreement about a
planning application might raise
objections which can inflame
further into a dispute. Case tudy
1 below shows a dispute between
villagers in Cornwall over a
planning application for two wind
turbines. t the other end of the
scale, major conflicts can involve
entire countries and threaten
international peace.
• n origins and impacts. t the
time of writing, reenpeace (an
environmental pressure group) is
protesting against oil exploration
in the rctic cean. he group
claim it will have severe
environmental impacts on one of
the world’s last pristine regions.
ther conflicts may be economic
in nature (for instance, about
the protection of oil reserves)
and have economic impacts,
such as the cost of damage to
infrastructure. hey may also
be social in origin, such as the
protection or persecution of
minorities, and may have social
impacts, such as death or injury
to people, or their displacement.
ow conflict is seen or studied
therefore depends upon who
you are and whether you have
power or influence, such as the
right to vote ( igure 1.1).
•
olitically, a conflict refers to
a state of hostility between
two or more groups of people.
oliticians explore conflict in
terms of difference in ideology or
behaviour such as expansionism
(the desire to expand territory
into that occupied by someone
else). hey usually perceive
conflict in terms of a clash of
ideals and/or actions, which vary
between violent (e.g. terrorist
actions, violent uprisings and
war) and peaceful (e.g. discussion
and debate).
• eographers explore conflict
in terms of how space or
resources are used and by
whom. hey explore conflict in
terms of its spatial origins and
impacts, and are interested
in its scale, e.g. whether it is
international, national, regional
or local.
Bob Digby and Sue Warn
January 2012
Online resources
ach book in the Top Spec
Geography series has a range of
supplementary materials and
resources including:
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• extra information
• extended question lists
• model answers and mark
schemes
• links to relevant websites
• extended glossaries
• photo galleries.
o access these go to
www.geography.org.uk/topspec,
then click on the button for this
book. ou will then be asked for
your password.
The unique password for this
book is
Figure 1.1 he right to vote, as seen by Worldmapper. n this map, the size of each country is determined by taking the number
of years in which all adults have had the right to vote. t is calculated by multiplying the number of years of universal voting rights
(‘suffrage’) up to 2004 by the total population. Source: Worldmapper © copyright 2006
roup (University of heffield) and
ark ewman (University of ichigan).
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