This map compares when women got the right to vote in a given country. (The asterisks suggest that a woman's right to vote came in stages in that country; for example, some states/provinces may have allowed women to vote earlier than the national law or the national law initially applied only to women who met certain age/property requirements  and full suffrage came later.) i.redd.it/jmwkxomstiq01.jpg

This article from Geographical magazine (UK) examines the issues behind the "Macedonia" naming dispute that has soured relations between Greece, the former Yugoslavian People's Republic of Macedonia, and Bulgaria: Who is Macedonia? Where is Macedonia? What was Macedonia? Why does it matter? geographical.co.uk/geopolitics/hotspot/item/2674-hotspot-greece-and-macedonia

This interactive map gauges the economic and political risks of doing business in various countries around the world. www.marsh.com/content/marsh/political-risk-map-d3/prm-2018.html

This map compares when slavery was formally abolished in the Western Hemisphere. (Because of colonization patterns, not everything lines up neatly with contemporary nation-state borders.) hillfighter.deviantart.com/art/Abolition-of-Slavery-Americas-215869460

Soft power -- one of the metrics students in my "Mission Possible: Global Issues, Leadership Choices" class come to understand firsthand --  is the power to get other people to do what you want because they like, admire, trust, and respect you (as opposed to the coercive force of hard power). This map, based on opinion surveys of European Union residents, hints at shifts in American soft power resources. 
www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/7qrb1w/changing_views_of_the_united_states_in_the_eu/

Google tracks search terms and can aggregate search data by state. These two maps compare where residents searched for "gun shops" vs. "gun control" more frequently. The map on the left is from the last week of February (i.e., after the Florida high school shooting). The map on the right is from the previous year. www.businessinsider.com/gun-control-gun-shop-map-2018-3

Transparency International, an NGO that fights corruption by shining a bright light on it, has released its latest Corruption Perceptions Index.  Among countries now seen by their residents as having become more corrupt over the last few years: Hungary, Spain, Madagascar, Turkey, El Salvador, Australia, Liberia, and Bahrain.  Countries seen as moving towards less corruption include Estonia, Greece, Senegal, Costa Rica, Belarus, Cote d'Ivoire, Latvia, and the Czech Republic. For the full report, see www.transparency.org/news/feature/corruption_perceptions_index_2017.

This map shows which countries are still lacking a U.S. ambassador (current as of February 22). The majority of these vacancies do not even have an ambassadorial nominee. www.statista.com/chart/12990/these-countries-still-dont-have-a-us-ambassador/

This map reveals one of the lesser-known stories of African politics: movement towards less authoritarian governments over the last 30 years.  ("Anocracy" is a term from political science and human geography that refers to a blend of democracy and authoritarianism.) i.redditmedia.com/kiSNwvnU1px5h9o-A-SgvQYFiueSHbObtlCjfkQQY6o.png?w=1024&s=addac291648a93926051c0a739d6fc59

"[C]an someone's geographical location play a part in whether they will join a hate group? According to a group of University of Utah geographers whose research was published in the Annals of the American Association of Geographers on Friday, the answer is yes. 'Hate is a geographic problem. The ways people hate are based on the cultures, histories, ethnicities and many other factors dependent on place and place perception,' the geographers said in a news release." www.deseretnews.com/article/900010002/geography-of-hate-u-study-examines-hate-groups-based-on-region.html

The Economist (UK) produces an annual Democracy Index, which has documented, in part, the retreat of global democracy since 2008. This map is the result of the newest Democracy Index. Click on the link to see country-specific information. www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2018/01/daily-chart-21

The efforts of Catalonia to separate from the rest of Spain continue to make headlines, but Spain's headache is one many other European countries share. This map looks at separatist movements across Europe, and the accompanying article from The Guardian (UK) provides information on each one:
www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2017/oct/27/beyond-catalonia-pro-independence-movements-in-europe-map

The Institute for Economics & Peace has released its 2017 Global Terrorism Index. The good news: deaths due to terrorism dropped 13% globally between 2015 and 2016, including declines in Afghanistan, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Syria (which together, along with Iraq, accounted for 3/4 of all terrorism-related deaths). The bad news: more countries than ever before (77) reported at least one death due to terrorism in 2016, terrorist attacks against civilians were up 17% on the year, and certain countries have seen significant increases in terrorism-related deaths (a single-year increase of 40% in Iraq, an 8-fold increase in Egypt since 2002, a 16-fold increase in Turkey since 2002). The chart below shows the 10 most fatal terrorist attacks in 2016. For the full report, see  visionofhumanity.org/app/uploads/2017/11/Global-Terrorism-Index-2017.pdf

This map is based on data from Latinobarómetro, an opinion poll conducted in 18 Latin American countries annually. i.imgur.com/wDWqFq3.png

This interactive site maps out data collected on happiness in the latest Gallup World Poll and allows users to see how national happiness correlates to other variables, including economic production, freedom, social support, lack of corruption, and life expectancy. (As it turns out, many of these are variables students control in my "Mission Possible: Global Issues, Leadership Choices" simulation.)  www.alexanderbastidasfry.com/happy/

The mapping of congressional districts is currently before the U.S. Supreme Court. This interactive map, courtesy of the U.S. Census Bureau, show the boundaries of all current congressional districts: www2.census.gov/geo/maps/cong_dist/uswall/cd115/CD115_WallMap_large.gif

A months-long civil protest, focused primarily in the mountainous region of northern Morocco known as the Rif, has gone all but unnoticed in the U.S. Protesters in Rif are objecting to police brutality, but this is just the latest chapter in Rif's estrangement from the rest of Morocco. Not only is the region mountainous, it is historically Berber, not Arab, and was a Spanish, not French, colony prior to independence in 1956, putting it at a geographic, linguistic, ethnic, and economic disadvantage when the country was re-unified. Even though Rif has a relatively small population, it has produced most of the Moroccan immigrants to Western Europe. This map shows the former colony of Spanish Morocco and the independent city of Tangier with, outlined in red, the once-aspirational Republic of Rif. upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/43/Rep%C3%BAblica_del_Rif.svg/2000px-Rep%C3%BAblica_del_Rif.svg.png

The Southern Poverty Law Center, which has been tracking hate groups in the U.S. for decades, has created this interactive map of the 917 hate groups presently known to be operating in the U.S.: www.splcenter.org/hate-map.

For the most part, the Himalayas separate India and China, but the two countries have long-standing border disputes at both the western and the eastern ends of their long border. It is the eastern end that is currently in the news. China is trying to extend a road across the Doklam Plateau, a strategic area bordering India and claimed by both China and Bhutan (an Indian ally). The Indian military has sent troops to the area, where they are presently in a high-altitude standoff with their Chinese counterparts. www.ft.com/content/d56c92b0-78e6-11e7-90c0-90a9d1bc9691

Advocates of democracy have been studying "islands of stability" within conflict zones for clues about how to promote elected representational government while respecting local traditions and preserving existing borders. Case in point: Somalia has been a failed state for 25 years, but the semi-autonomous northwestern part of the country known as Somaliland (green on the map below) has a population of 4.5 million people with their own currency, coast guard, courts, and elections. Based on their research in Somaliland, the authors of this article share three observations that may bear relevance for other hot spots from Afghanistan to Syria to Yemen. (1) It can be better to reinforce regional authority instead of trying to support (or create) a strong central state; (2) traditional government by elders can be blended successfully with democracy; and (3) "statehood" can accommodate a range of self-government situations without outright secession. www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/07/18/as-the-u-s-gets-more-involved-in-somalia-beware-these-three-fallacies

With a fragile cease fire in place in southwestern Syria, this map shows regions of control as they currently exist. [Damascus is the capital of Syria; Aleppo had been Syria's largest city before the civil war; Raqqa was claimed by the Islamic State as its capital; Deir Az Zor is where IS is regrouping now that Raqqa is encircled and Mosul is (mostly) back under the control of the Iraqi government.] interactive.aljazeera.com/aje/syriamap/syriamap.jpg

This animation shows the emergence of U.S. political boundaries over time, which closely tracks settlement, from the early 1800s to 2000. i.redd.it/uatjbhm50g2z.gif

How much a person knows about geography affects his or her opinions about foreign policy, sometimes in surprising ways. A recent poll conducted on behalf of The New York Times, for example, found that only 36% of adults could correctly identify North Korea on a map -- but those who could identify North Korea on a map were more likely to support economic sanctions, diplomatic pressure, and cyberattacks and to oppose airstrikes and sending ground troops than those who could not find North Korea on a map. To paraphrase geographer Harm de Blij, a better understanding of geography serves as a "superb antidote" both to isolationism and to misleading public information about world affairs.  www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/05/14/upshot/if-americans-can-find-north-korea-on-a-map-theyre-more-likely-to-prefer-diplomacy.html