AP Human Geo Unit 4 (PR 2)

Decolonization

The act of getting rid of colonization, or freeing a country from being dependent on another country

Self-determination

the process by which a country determines its own statehood and forms its own allegiances and government

Annexation

when territory is added as a result of a land purchase or when a territorial claim is extended through incorporation

Planned capital cities

creating a new capital in a location where a city did not previously exist

Suffrage

the right to vote in political elections

Voting district

a generic term adopted by the Bureau of the Census to include the wide variety of small polling areas, such as election districts, precincts, or wards

Electoral college

a body of people representing the states of the US, who formally cast votes for the election of the president and vice president

Gerrymandering

manipulate the boundaries of (an electoral constituency) so as to favor one party or class

Aristocracy

a form of government in which power is held by the nobility

Absolute monarchy

Rule by one person — usually a king or a queen — whose actions are restricted neither by written law nor by custom

Constitutional monarchy

A form of national government in which the power of the monarch (the king or queen) is restrained by a parliament, by law, or by custom

Commonwealth of Nations

an intergovernmental organisation of 52 member states that are mostly former territories of the British Empire

Free-market democracy

countries with elected representative parliamentary systems

Republic

a state in which supreme power is held by the people and their elected representatives, and which has an elected or nominated president rather than a monarch

Communism

a political theory derived from Karl Marx, advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs

Devolution

the transfer or delegation of power to a lower level, especially by central government to local or regional administration

Proletariat

workers or working-class people, regarded collectively (often used with reference to Marxism)

Geopolitics

the global-scale relationship between sovereign states

Centrifugal forces

factors that tear apart the social and political fabric of the state

Power vacuum

when someone has lost control of something and no one has replaced them

Autonomous republic

A type of administrative division similar to a province or state. A significant number can be found within the successor states of the Soviet Union, but the majority are located within Russia

Heartland-Rimland model

An effort to define the global geopolitical landscape and determine areas of potential future conflict (proposed by Mackinder in 1904)

Heartland

the central or most important part of a country or region

Rimland

a peripheral area of a country or region

Shatterbelt

a region whose internal, geographical, cultural, religious, and political fragmentation is compounded by pressures from external major powers attracted by the region's strategic location and economic resources

Buffer state

a small neutral country, situated between two larger hostile countries, serving to prevent the outbreak of regional conflict

Containment

a principle of US foreign policy that sought to prevent the expansion of Communist power

Satellite state

a country that is formally independent in the world, but under heavy political, economic and military influence or control from another country

Domino effect

the theory that a political event in one country will cause similar events in neighboring countries, such as the spread of communism during the Cold War