Unit 4: AP Human Geography

Devolution

Movement of power from the central government to the regional government within a state, caused by ethnocultural, economic, and spatial forces.

Compact State

An efficient state shape with equal distance from center to edge, ideal for having the capital at the center. Examples include Poland, Hungary, Austria, Germany, and Bhutan.

Elongated State

A state that is long and narrow, which can lead to potential isolation and poor internal communication. Examples include Chile, Malawi, Gambia, Panama, Italy, Norway, and Vietnam.

Prorupted State

A compact state with a large projecting section, either to separate two states or provide access to resources. Examples include Thailand, Namibia (Caprivi Strip), and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Perforated State

A state that completely surrounds another state. Examples include Lesotho in South Africa and Vatican City surrounded by Italy.

Fragmented State

A state that consists of several discontinuous pieces, separated by water or other states. Examples include Fiji, Indonesia, Russia, the UK, the US, France, and Australia (which has Tasmania as an exclave).

Landlocked State

A state that lacks a direct outlet to the sea and is surrounded by other countries. Common examples include those in Africa, Belarus, Mongolia, Chad, and Paraguay.

Gerrymandering

The practice of redrawing legislative boundaries to favor the party in power, which was declared illegal in 1985.

Wasted Vote

A gerrymandering strategy that spreads opposition voters across districts so they are the minority.

Excess Vote

A gerrymandering strategy that concentrates opposing voters into a few districts.

Stacked Vote

A gerrymandering strategy that links areas of like-minded voters into oddly shaped boundaries.

UNCLOS

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, a treaty established in 1982.

Nautical Mile

A unit of measurement equal to 1.15 land miles.

Territorial Sea

The area extending 12 nautical miles from a state's coastline, where the state has rights for fishing and innocent passage.

Contiguous Zone

The area extending 24 nautical miles from a state's coastline.

Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)

The area extending 200 nautical miles from a state's coastline, where the state can explore and manage natural resources.

High Seas

The waters beyond the Exclusive Economic Zone, which are open to all states.

United Nations (UN)

An international organization created to promote world peace, which replaced the League of Nations.

NATO

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a military alliance of 16 democratic states formed to prevent the spread of communism.

Warsaw Pact

A military agreement among communist Eastern European countries to defend each other and provide the Soviets with allied states.

European Union (EU)

An economic organization of 27 countries formed to promote development and remove trade barriers after World War II.

COMECON

An economic organization that promoted trade and sharing of natural resources among 7 Eastern European communist states, plus Cuba, Mongolia, and Vietnam.

ASEAN

Association of Southeast Asian Nations, includes Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, formed during the Vietnam War against communism.

OPEC

Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, consists of Middle Eastern countries that control oil production.

NAFTA

North American Free Trade Agreement, which increased avocado consumption among Mexico, the US, and Canada.

State

Area organized into a political unit and ruled by a government, has a permanent population, occupies a defined territory; Ex: largest - Russia, smallest - Monaco.

Sovereignty

Inner affairs of a region are independent from control by other states.

Nation

A group with a common culture.

Nation-state

Population of a country is homogeneous; Ex: Denmark, Slovenia, Japan, Iceland.

Stateless nation

Ethnic group without a state; Ex: Kurds in the Middle East.

Microstate

Sovereign state with small population and land; Ex: Monaco.

City-state

First states, made of towns and surrounding countryside, some with military power such as the Roman Empire; first arose in Mesopotamia.

Self-determination

Concept that ethnicities have the right to govern themselves.

Satellite states

States dominated by another state politically and economically.

Multi-state nation

Nation that stretches across borders of states; Ex: North and South Korea.

Multi-ethnic state

State with more than one ethnicity; Ex: US.

Multinational state

Country with more than one ethnicity with self-determination; Ex: Russia's Caucasus region with the Azeris, Armenians, and Georgians.

Decolonization

Colonial settlements become independent nations; Ex: 13 colonies.

Colony

Territory legally tied to a state rather than being independent; Ex: Puerto Rico, not a part of Congress but is home to US citizens.

Colonialism

Country establishes settlement to impose its politics, economy, and culture on that territory.

Imperialism

Control of territory already occupied by another society.

Ethnonationalism

Ethnicity wants its own sovereignty.

Morphology

States geographical shape affects spatial cohesion and political viability; Ex: Chile is skinny.

Berlin conference

1884-85, European nations claim Africa and created superimposed borders.

Versailles peace conference

Leaders after WW1 redraw the map of Europe.

Apartheid

Domination over a certain race, specifically black in South and Southwest Africa, now Namibia, from 1948-90.

Cold war

Diplomatic, political, military rivalry between the US and Soviets from 1945-1991.

Organic theory

Theory that states are born and they need nourishment and living space to survive.

Heartland theory

Mackinder's theory from the early 1900s that the best base for world domination is the Eurasian heartland.

Rimland theory

Spykman's theory from 1944 that the best base for global domination is the Eurasian rimland.

Choke point

A geographical land feature such as a valley or waterway narrowing, causing a decrease in forces making their way through.

Centripetal forces

Forces that bind or hold together; Ex: strong leadership, external threat, education, democracy, Russian language for the Soviet Union.

Centrifugal forces

Forces that divide or tear a state, including devolutionary forces; Ex: culture/religious/linguistic differences.

Democracy

System where citizens elect leaders and can run for office.

Autocracy

Country run by ruler's interests.

Anocracy

Political system that is not fully democratic, a mix of two.

Unitary system

Centralized control, no local power, works best in nation states with less cultural differences, smaller states, ex: france, european countries, north korea, kenya, rwanda, china.

Confederal systems

Less central power, lots of power to states, confederate states.

Federal systems

Between unitary and confederal, ex: United states, canada, brazil, india, belgium.

Reapportionment

Assigning representation based on population every census.

Redistricting

Redrawing district boundaries so each district contains the same amount of people.

Frontier

Zone no state exercises complete political control, rather than boundaries separating.

Border conflicts

Positional, territorial, resource, functional.

Shatterbelt

Distress bc of cultural/ethnic conflict, ex: israel, kashmir, east europe during cold war.

Physical Boundaries

Desert (Sahara desert), mountain (himalayas india), water (rio grande R.).

Cultural boundaries

Geometric (straight line drawn on map, canada and US border), religious, language, ethnic (england,france,portugal,spain boundaries, bc of language or religion), Ex: pakistan and india.

Delimited boundary

States disagree about interpretation of documents that define a boundary, Ex: Argentina and Chile's borders on the Andes mountains, drawn on map to show limits of space.

Antecedent boundary

Result of area becoming population and gaining value, existed before present settlement occurred and the culture arrived, Ex: US and canada, Ohio R.

Subsequent boundary

Developed with the evolution of cultural change, Ex: irish catholic and protestant northern ireland, velvet divorce in Czechoslovakia.

Open boundary

Boundary people can cross w/o obstacles, Ex: EU allows people to travel between member states.

Natural boundary

Based on physical geography, Ex: rivers like Rio Grande.

Militarized boundary

Heavily fortified boundaries, discouraged crossing of people, good, info.

Superimposed boundary

Political, dividing ethnically similar population by a more powerful country, cause loss of culture, creation of new culture, migration, government change, ineffective governance, multi state nation, multinational state Ex: Kurds in Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Africa in the Berlin Conference.

Relic boundary

Historic boundary, no longer used/nonfunctional, Ex: berlin wall germany, great wall China.

Defined boundary

Established by legal document, divides two entities, invisible line.

Demarcated boundary

Identified on physical landscape, sign or complex system, ex: DMZ, berlin wall.

Geometric boundary

Straight line, doesn't follow physical features, large-egypt and libya, small-suburbs.

Irredentism

Country wants to annex similarly ethnic portion of another country, Ex: Hitler invading czechoslovakia, Somalia - ethiopia conflict over somalis, serbians in bosnia, kashmir region in india, reich trying to connect all german speaking people in europe.

Allocational dispute

Disagree over resources at borders, Ex: iraq and Kuwait over rumaila oil field.

Functional disputes

Disagree over policies applied along boundary, immigration, Ex: mexico border.

Definitional boundary dispute

Two or more parties disagree on interpretation of legal doc or map, Ex: chile and argentina.

Locational boundary dispute

Conflict over location or place of boundary, Ex: egypt and sudan.

Operational boundary dispute

Conflict over operation, Ex: is migration allowed?, US and mexico.

Enclaves

Country or part of a country surrounded by territory of another, Ex: lesotho.

Exclaves

Part of the country is separated from the rest.

Forward capital

Capital city positioned near the international border, confirms the state's determination to maintain presence.

Geopolitics

Study of interplay between international political relations and environmental context.

Supranationalism

3 or more countries form unions for economic, political or cultural reasons.

Terrorism

Systematic use of violence to intimidate populations, Ex: 9-11, afghanistan and pakistan harbor al-qaeda terrorists.