Regions of the World 1900-1-RGS

Course content:

1. Region, socio-economic region - definitions, methods of delimitation. Political map of the world. Cultural regions. International economic cooperation and integration - regional and international organizations.

2. Europe: Contemporary challenges (demographic changes, aging society, migrations, cities - areas of shrinking and dynamic growth, economic situation, social polarization in Europe, the place of Europe on the international stage, Europe vs. climate change)

3. Oceania - specific features of the communities and economy of the Oceania islands, with particular emphasis on their spatial diversity resulting from different natural origins, dispersion, isolation and peripheral location in relation to the rest of the world. General characteristics will be enriched with examples from French Polynesia.

4. Island regions. Socio-economic development in the island areas of the Pacific, Indian, Atlantic and Caribbean Oceans (importance of agriculture, tourism and functions of tax havens). Examples of European island areas - Cyprus and Malta. The importance of tourism for the economic development of island areas.

5. Southeast Asia:

- why is Southeast Asia considered a separate region? Comparison of the most important features of all Southeast Asian countries combined with considerations on how much region is in the region, what connects these countries and what divides them.

- How did 17,000 islands come to be one country? How nature, history, and cultures shape the largest Muslim country in the world.

6. East Asia - Japan - socio-demographic changes (aging of the society, changes in the national and ethnic structure, changes in social norms) and economic changes (from the economic miracle to stagnation of development, structural changes in the economy and consumption changes in society) in Japan from World War II to the present day. Japan in international economic structures. The impact of the tsunami and the nuclear disaster in Fukushima on the socio-economic functioning of the country after 2011.

7. Africa south of the Sahara - delimitation of the region in various classifications; regional divisions of Africa; environmental, cultural, social and economic characteristics of the countries of the region; urban and rural areas in Africa; the most important problems of the continent in the 21st century.

8. North Africa and the Middle East - the most important terms and delimitation of the region; ethnic-cultural and demographic characteristics; social and economic specificity of the countries of North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.

9. North America. The specificity of social and economic regions - selected regions of the United States of America and Canada. Regions with specific problems, including: agricultural and mining.

10. Latin America - Andean countries - geographical location, common elements of history, demographic features of society and economy. The specificity of Andean countries is largely determined by the "difficult natural environment" - high mountains, climatic and vegetation conditions, in which agriculture is "inscribed", mineral resources in the mountains and high percentage of the Indian population.

11. Latin America: socio-economic characteristics of the great Yucatan region (three southern Mexican states: Quintana Roo, Yucatan and Campeche). Directions of the region's development versus deforestation and the situation of indigenous people. Opportunities and threats resulting from the implementation of a new infrastructure investment - Tren Maya.

Note: the above topics are the general scope of the course, not the titles of individual lectures. These topics can be discussed in more than one class.

Estimated number of hours that the student must spend to achieve the learning outcomes defined for the course:

2 ECTS course, including:
1 ECTS (30 hours) - hours in direct contact with the lecturers, i.e. participation in classes
1 ECTS (20 hours) - student's own contribution, reading the literature, library tasks, (10 hours) preparation for a written test, own work of students(10 hours).