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Political boundaries

are lines on land and/or water separating the territories of countries or sub-national entities such as states, provinces, departments, counties and so forth.

Antecedent

Borders that are established before there has been major settlement by people in a territory, before the creation of the cultural landscape.

Subsequent

Borders that are drawn in areas that have been settled by people, typically due to changes that have occured over time.

Consequent

Type of subsequent boundary - takes into account the existing cultural distribution of the people living in the territory and redevelops boundary lines to more closely align with cultural boundaries.Consequent boundaries are created as a consequence (because) of a cultural, religious, ethnic, or political divide between two groups.

Superimposed (from the outside/who drew it)

Border that is drawn over existing and accepted borders by an outside force.

Geometric

Borders that are established on straight lines of latitude and longitude instead of physical or cultural boundaries.

Relic

Border that no longer exists, but has left some imprint on the local cultural or environmental geography.

Open Boundary

A boundary in which there are no establishments and one is free to move from one side to another. The picture to the right is a town in both the Netherlands and Belgium

defined

Countries legally define and agree to where borders are located through an agreement or treaty.

Delimited

Identifying the location of the defined boundaries on a map. Usually at the same time that boundaries are defined and done through a legal designation.

demarcated

Visible marking of the landscape with objects, such as fences or signs.

Administered

Legal management of the border through laws, immigration regulation, documentation, and prosecution.

census

Process of reapportionment and redistricting in order to assure that each congressional district is roughly the same total population.

Reapportionment

Process in which U.S. House of Representative seats are re-allocated to different states, based off of population change.

Electoral College

Organization that utilizes the popular vote to then vote for President. Loss of congressional seat = loss of Electoral College seat.

Redistricting

A state’s internal political boundaries that determine voting districts for the US House of Representatives and the state legislature. Redrawn to accurately reflect the new census data. Goal

Representative Districts

The ideal, in which the voting districts are equal in population, contiguous, and compact. They are truly representative of the people living in the district.

Gerrymandering

Redistricting for a political advantage, when the political party that controls a majority of seats in the state legislature draws political district boundaries to maintain or extend their political power.

Packing

Clustering like-minded voters in a single district, thereby allowing the other party to win the remaining districts

Cracking

Dispersing like-minded voters among multiple districts in order to minimize their impact and prevent them from gaining a majority.

Hijacking

Redrawing two districts in order to force two elected representatives of the same party to run against each other.

Kidnapping

Moving an area where an elected representative has support to an area where he or she does not have support.

Results of Gerrymandering

Impacts election results at various scales -> National, state, local. Are our elections truly representative?

Devolution

is the process in which regions within a state demand and gain political strength and growing autonomy at the expense of the central government.

Physical Geography 

Regions that are separated from the central state due to physical features such as mountain ranges, deserts, or bodies of water. 

Ethnic Separatism

People of a particular ethnicity in a multinational state identify more strongly with their ethnic group than as citizens of the state.

Ethnic Cleansing 

State governments attack an ethnic group in an attempt to try to eliminate them through expulsion, imprisonment, or mass murder.  

Terrorism 

Organized violence aimed at government and civilian targets intended to create fear in order to accomplish political aims.

Economic or Social Problems 

Uneven development, different levels of economic activity/productivity, and conflict over the allocation of funding from the central level of government. 

Irredentism 

A majority ethnic group wants to claim territory from a neighboring state due to a shared culture with the people residing across the border. 

Democratization:

introducing democratic systems or principles to a country.

Supranational Organizations

An alliance of three or more states that work together in pursuit of common goals. 

Independent State

A political unit with defined borders, a permanent population, a government, sovereignty, and recognition from other states.

Nation

A group of people with a shared identity based on culture, language, religion, ethnicity, or heritage; they may live across many places.

Nation-State

A state whose political boundaries match the area where a particular nation of people live.

Stateless Nation

A nation of people that does not have its own state but often wants one.

Multistate Nation

A nation of people living in more than one state.

Multinational State

A state that contains multiple ethnic or cultural groups within its borders.

Autonomous or Semi-Autonomous Region

A region inside a state that has some power to govern itself independently from the national government.

Sovereignty

A government’s authority to control, defend, and make decisions about what happens within its territory.

Self-Determination

The right of a people—often a nation or ethnic group—to govern themselves and seek sovereignty.

Devolution

When power shifts from a central government to regional governments due to centrifugal forces.

Political Power

Control over people, land, and resources, seen through things like neocolonialism, shatterbelts, and choke points.

Territoriality

The connection between people and the land they claim culturally, politically, or economically.

Geopolitics

The study of how geography and politics influence each other.

Neocolonialism

Using economic, political, or cultural pressure to influence or control other countries.

Shatterbelts

Regions caught between stronger states, causing political and territorial instability.

Choke Points

Narrow waterways or passages that are difficult to navigate and highly contested for strategic use.

Toponyms

Place names that reflect cultural identity or contested space (e.g., Sea of Japan/East Sea).

Landlocked States

States with no access to the ocean, relying on neighbors for trade routes.

Enclaves

Territories completely surrounded by another state.

Exclaves

Parts of a state separated from the main territory by one or more other states.

Ethnic Enclaves

Areas in cities where people of the same ethnicity cluster together (e.g., Little Saigon in Houston).

4 Characteristics of a State

Defined territory, permanent population, government, and sovereignty.