APHG Unit 4

Political Geography

The study of ways in which the world is organized as a reflection of the power that different groups hold over territory.

State

Politically organized independent territory with a government, defined borders, and a permanent population (A country, American 'states' are provinces).

Sovereignty

The right of a government to control and defend its territory and determine what happens within its borders. If a state is not recognized as an independent country by other states, it is not considered sovereign.

Nation

Cultural entities meaning that they are made up of individuals who have forged a common identity through a shared language, religion, ethnicity, or heritage (often all four) DIFFERENT THAN STATES which are political.

Nation-state

The territory occupied by a group who view themselves as a nation is the same as the politically recognized boundaries of the state they call their own.

Multistate Nation

A nation that consists of people who share a cultural or ethnic background but live in more than one country.

Irredentism

Attempting to acquire territories in neighboring states inhabited by people of the same nation.

Multinational State

A country with various ethnicities and cultures living inside its borders is a multinational state.

Autonomous

A region is given some authority to govern its own territories independently from the national government.

Semi-autonomous

A region is given some authority to govern its own territories independently from the national government (Less freedom).

Territoriality

Attempt by an individual or group to affect influence or control people, phenomena, and relationships by delimiting and asserting control over a geographic area.

Colonialism

Describe the practice of claiming and dominating overseas territories.

Neocolonialism

The use of economic imperialism, globalization, or cultural influence to control a country (usually a former colony) without direct military or political control.

Choke Point

A narrow, strategic passageway to another place through which it is difficult to pass.

Shatterbelts

Territoriality and the quest for political power sometimes lead to instability in regions.

Self-determination

The right of all people to choose their own political status.

Imperialism

a policy of extending a country's power and influence through colonization, use of military force, or other means

Devolution

When the central power in a state is broken up among regional authorities within its borders.

Defining

Countries explicitly state in legally binding documentation such as a treaty where their borders are located.

Delimit

Drawing them on a map in accordance with a legal agreement.

Demarcated

A political border is physically marked on the landscape with visible objects like walls, fences, posts, or signs.

Administer

Manage the way borders are maintained and how goods and people will cross them.

Antecedent Boundary

Boundaries that are established before many people settle into an area.

Subsequent Boundary

Drawn in areas that have been settled by people and where cultural landscapes already exist or are in the process of being established.

Consequent Boundary

A type of subsequent boundary that takes into account the differences that exist within a cultural landscape.

Superimposed Boundary

Drawn over existing accepted borders, by an outside or conquering force.

Geometric Boundary

Mathematical and typically follow lines of latitude and longitude, or are straight-line arcs between two points.

Relic Boundary

Former boundaries that once existed but no longer have an official function.

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)

Established the structure of maritime boundaries, stating that a country's territorial seas extend 12 nautical miles off its coast.

Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)

Extends 200 nautical miles from its coast.

Federal State

Power is held by regional units.

Unitary State

More power is held by a central government that maintains authority over all of the state's territory, its regional units, and its people.

Concurrent

Shared powers between federal and state governments.

Reapportionment

Seats in the House of Representatives are reallocated to different states.

Electoral College

A set of people—called electors—who are chosen to elect the president.

Redistricting

A state's internal political boundaries that determine voting districts for the U.S. House of Representatives and the state's legislature are redrawn.

Gerrymandering

The party that controls a majority of seats in the state legislature typically draws legislative maps with a partisan advantage.

Majority-Minority Districts

Gerrymandered districts where minorities made up the majority of voters.

Ethnic Separatism

When people of a particular ethnicity in a multinational state identify more strongly as members of their ethnic group than as citizens of the state.

Ethnic Cleansing

When the state government attacks the ethnic group and tries to eliminate it through expulsion, imprisonment, or killing.

Supranational Organization

An alliance of three or more states that work together in pursuit of common goals or to address an issue or challenge that these countries share.

Economies of Scale

Where more goods and services can be produced for less money on average.

Ethnonationalism/ Ethnic Nationalism

Occurs when the people of a country identify as having one common ethnicity, religion, and language.