Crimea: Regionalism and Regional Movements

Team Exercise – Wiki:
Devolutionary Pressures in Europe
(15% of the final grade)
(Final Project due: Saturday, December 5 at 11:59 PM)
(Rough Draft due: Saturday, November 21 at 11:59 PM)
This exercise is based on the most important aspects highlighted in the section “Regionalism and Regional Movements” from Chapter # 7 of our course textbook (pages: 246-257, and other pertinent sections of this chapter). In this activity, students will be assembled in groups of 5-6 members each. Every group will select a leader that will be in charge of the overall project and coordination of the project. The selection of the group leader must be completed before Saturday, November 7. S/He (the leader) must notify me (your professor) on the same date of appointment. The final grades will be based on the contribution of each member to the overall project, especially from the Wiki portion of this assignment. A brief report of your performance and of each member of the group by your peers will also be required.
The leader will be responsible for organizing the group collaboration, cleaning up, and formatting the collective works. The work is to be evenly distributed between all group members. Each group member must contribute directly into the same wiki page using the online editor. By Saturday, November 21, your rough drafts must be completed and uploaded to Turnitin.com by the group leader ONLY; all wikis will be made public and accessible to all students for viewing. After reviewing your classmates’ wikis, you’ll be allowed to continue working on your wiki until the due date (Saturday, December 5). 
The group will compose a paper that must include an outline of the project, an analysis of the information provided, and a conclusion section. The format of the team project must include three major sections, using titles and subtitles separating each section: a) Introduction (which must be composed by the entire team); b) Case Studies (individual activity); and, c) Conclusions team activity). It is also required to include a,d) Bibliography section, which will be included at the end of the project, and to produce a, e) Map in which the team will include the countries/regions studied included in their work. 
Once the team completes the project (in the Wiki), the leader must submit the group’s work to the plagiarism detection website Turnitin.com by the due date: Saturday, December 5 at 11:59 PM.
Each member of the group will select and work on a region of Europe that is experiencing devolutionary pressures. Nevertheless, the group selections must include at-least three of the following countries/regions: Ukraine, Scotland (Great Britain), and Catalonia (Spain). At the end of this document you will find a map of Europe that shows the regions of this continent (not including Russia) that are experiencing devolutionary pressures (“Europe: Foci of Devolutionary Pressures, 2008”); these regions are marked in red.
Below you’ll find the grading criteria:
The wiki (and paper) should be between 4000 – 6000 words.
Must include works cited (in the body of the text and in the Bibliography).
Bibliography.
Proper spelling and grammar.
Proper writing structure (Introduction, Case Studies, Conclusions, Bibliography).
Table of Content (no page numbers required).
On topic writing (must directly respond to all questions posed in the Instructions – see below).
You may use any of the available online collaboration tools available in Blackboard or external (email, chat, etc…) to collaborate within your group. All group members must participate, if team members are failing to properly contribute, please message the team leader and the course instructor.
Format of the Wiki (and Paper submitted to Turnitin.com):
Cover Page: Title, Names of Members of the Group and regions studied, GEA 3500, Fall 2015, Date Submitted
Introduction (group activity): Briefly answer the following questions to introduce the overall project. Note that you will have to answer the same questions in the Conclusions section in detail, so you should just include a general overview of the issues presented in this section.
What are devolutionary pressures and how are these expressed in Europe? 
What has caused a resurgence of regionalism in Europe in recent times?
What role has cultural identity played in the formation of these processes/pressures?
What common characteristics and themes are shared by the regions experiencing devolutionary pressures and studied by your group?
What distinguishes the inhabitants living in these regions from the majority of the national population of the country where they live in?
Case Studies (individual activity): After providing an overview of the location of the region you are studying in relation to the country where it is situated, answer the following questions:
In terms of its physical landscape, where is the region that is experiencing a devolutionary process located (i.e., a mountainous regions, flatlands, etc.) and what type of climate is prevalent? (use Figure 2.5 and 2.4 of the textbook).
According to the sources you have consulted and in your opinion, do these physical/natural characteristics have played any role in the historical background for this devolutionary process? How?
How do the people that inhabit the region you are studying speak about their relationship to the land and the environment? Do they express any ideas on biodiversity conservation?
Do they say anything about their homeland? If the region you are studying has a website (official or not), what role do maps play on their web site/s?
Is this region located close to or far from the center of power of the country (the national capital city)? 
Does this condition have any impact on the reasons why they would like to gain at-least more autonomy to make their own decisions?
According to the source/s you have consulted, what are the main reason/s why this population would like to break-up or gain more autonomy from the country in which they live in?
Do this/these source/s mention any explanation/s based on cultural or ethnic characteristics? For example, speaking a different language? Which one? Professing a different religion? Which one? Economic disparities?
In addition, to these questions, and, in case some of these regions have their own websites, or you have consulted a source published by a native inhabitant of the region, or you have read excerpts from interviews, look for discussion of conflict, cooperation, or disagreement with national governments, private companies, or multinational corporations working in this region. You may also want to use the following questions to improve your research:
Do the people living in the region you are studying have more than one self-generated website and do those sites present different ideas?
Is there a regional or national project or policy that is disputed?
What position is taken on the website/s? How is the position framed in relation to their rights to self-rule and culture?
What major issues and challenges does the site highlight and how do these relate to globalization?
Conclusions (group activity): In this section you must make meaningful comparisons among the regions your group has studied, summarizing all the previous issues (questions) covered in the Introduction section and in the Case Studies portion.
What are devolutionary pressures and how are these expressed in Europe? Here you should include an overview of regionalism and regional movements in Europe.
What has caused a resurgence of regionalism in Europe in recent times?
What role has cultural identity played in the formation of these processes/pressures?
What common characteristics and themes are shared by the regions experiencing devolutionary pressures and studied by your group?
What distinguishes the inhabitants living in these regions from the majority of the national population of the country where they live in?
How do the people living in these regions speak about their relationship to the land and the environment?
In terms of cultural identity, are there regional differences in the groups you have studied?
In terms of their unity, how integrated are the people living in these regions? Are there any regions studied by your group that show internal conflicts or lack of unity?
Taking in consideration all aspects of your study, how do you envision the future of Europe will look like in 50 or 100 years?
Bibliography (group activity): You must include a full citation of all resources included in your Wiki/Paper in this section.
Technical Aspects of the Paper submitted to Turnitin.com: Your paper must conform to the following formatting: 12-point font (Arial, Times New Roman, Garamond, or Book Antiqua), one-inch margins all around, double-spaced, and number the pages. Not formatting your paper according to these specifications will result in a 10-point discount in your final grade for this assignment.
Europe: Foci of Devolutionary Pressures, 2008
Source: de Blij, Harm J. and Peter O. Muller. 2010. Geography: Realms, Regions, and Concepts. 14th edition. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
My portion is to be written on Crimea