Unit 4: Political Geography Vocabulary List

Antecedent Boundary

A boundary that existed before the cultural landscape emerged and stayed in place while people moved in to occupy the surrounding area.

Autocracy

A country that is run according to the interests of the ruler rather than the people.

Boundary

An invisible line that marks the extent of a state’s territory.

Defined Boundary

A legally recognized boundary.

Delimited Boundary

A boundary noted on a map by cartographers.

Demarcated Boundary

Physical markers or barriers that identify a boundary.

Buffer State

A relatively small/weak country sandwiched between two larger powers, helping to prevent conflicts or being exploited.

Centrifugal Force

Factors that disrupt internal order and destabilize a state.

Centripetal Force

Factors that promote national unity and stability in a state.

Choke Point

A strategic narrow route providing passage through or to another region; significant for military and economic activity.

City-State

A sovereign state comprising a city and its immediately surrounding countryside.

Colonialism

An attempt by one country to establish permanent settlements and impose its principles in another territory.

Colony

A territory legally tied to a sovereign state rather than completely independent.

Compact State

A state that possesses a roughly circular shape with the geometric center relatively equal in all directions.

Consequent Boundary

A boundary that coincides with a cultural divide such as religion or language.

Democracy

A country in which citizens elect leaders and can run for office.

Devolution

The movement of power from the national government to regional governments within a country.

Elongated State

A state with a long, narrow shape.

Enclave

A territory surrounded by, but not part of, a country.

Exclave

A piece of national territory separated from the main body of a country by the territory of another country.

Federal State

An internal organization of a state that allocates most powers to local government units.

Federalism

A system in which powers are separated between states unified under a higher political authority.

Fragmented State

A state that includes several discontinuous pieces of territory.

Frontier

A zone separating two states in which neither state exercises political control.

Geometric Boundary

A political boundary formed by arcs or straight lines regardless of physical or cultural features.

Geopolitics

The study of effects of Earth's geography on politics and international relations.

Gerrymandering

The process of redrawing legislative boundaries to benefit the party in power.

Irredentism

A national group controlling one country while seeking control of an adjacent area of another country.

Microstate

A state that encompasses a very small land area.

Multiethnic State

A state that contains more than one ethnicity.

Multinational State

A state that contains two or more ethnic groups that coexist peacefully.

Nation-State

A state whose territory corresponds to that occupied by a particular ethnicity transformed into a nationality.

Neocolonialism

The use of economic, political, cultural, or other pressures to control or influence other countries.

Perforated State

A state that completely surrounds another state.

Physical Boundary

A boundary that coincides with deserts, mountains, or bodies of water.

Prorupted State

An otherwise compact state with a large projecting extension.

Relic Boundary

A boundary that has ceased to function but can still be detected on the cultural landscape.

Self-Determination

The concept that ethnicities have the right to govern themselves.

Shatterbelt

A region caught between stronger colliding external cultural-political forces.

Sovereignty

The ability of a state to govern its territory free from control of internal affairs by other states.

State

An area organized into a political unit ruled by an established government.

Stateless Nation

A group with a common culture occupying a territory but without independent political control.

Subsequent Boundary

A boundary established after settlement, evolving with the culture of the area.

Superimposed Boundary

A boundary imposed on an area by an outside power, ignoring cultural organizations.

Supranationalism

An alliance involving three or more countries for mutual benefit.

Territoriality

The connection of people, their culture, and their economic systems to the land.

Terrorism

The systematic use of violence by a group to intimidate a population or coerce a government.

Unitary State

A governmental system where nearly all sovereignty resides with the central government.