AP HuG - Vocab - Ch. 8

Allocational boundary dispute

disagreement over who owns the resources

Anocracy

a country that is not fully democratic or fully autocratic, but rather displays a mix of the two types.

Antecedent Boundary

a boundary that was defined before an area was settled

Autocracy

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

Autonomous Region

a section or territory of a country that has a degree of self-government in its decision making

Balance of Power

a condition of roughly equal strengths between opposing countries or alliances of countries

Balkanization

process by which a state breaks down through conflicts among its ethnicities

Boundary

an invisible line that marks the extent of a state's territory

Chokepoint

a narrow passage that restricts traffic to another region

City-state

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

Colonialism

an attempt by one country to establish settlements and to impose its political, economic, and cultural principles in another territory

Colony

a territory that is legally tied to a sovereign state rather than completely independent

Compact state

a state in which the distance from the center to any boundary does not vary significantly

Consequent boundary

boundaries drawn to accomodate existing cultural differences

Cultural boundary

boundaries based on cultural traits such as religion or language

Cultural shatterbelt region

regions of continuing and persistent fragmentation due to devolution

Definitional boundary dispute

disagreement on where the border is

Democracy

a country in which citizens elect leaders and can run for office

Devolution

the movement of powers from the central government to regional governments within the state

Elongated state

a state with a long, narrow shape

Federal state

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

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 boundary that has regular, often perfectly straight, lines drawn without regard for an area's physical or cultural features

Gerrymandering

the process of redrawing legislative boundaries for the purpose of benefiting the party in power

Imperialism

desire to control greater amounts of territory

Irredentism

the political claim to territory in another country based on ethnic affiliations and historic borders

Landlocked state

a state that does not have a direct outlet to the sea

Law of the Sea

states that each coastal nation has territorial sovereignty over 12 miles of water off their coast and maintains exclusive economic rights over 200 miles of water off their coast

Locational boundary dispute

dispute over where border lines are placed on a map

Microstate

a state that encompasses a very small land area

Multinational state

state that contains two or more ethnic groups with traditions of self-determination that agree to coexist peacefully by recognizing each other as distinct nationalities.

Multi-state nation

ethnic groups territorially divided by one or more international boundaries

Nation

a large group of people who are united by common cultural characteristics, such as language and ethnicity, or by shared history

Nation-state

a state whose territory corresponds to that occupied by a particular nation

Neocolonialism

economic and political strategies by which wealthy countries indirectly maintain their influence over less wealthy areas

Operational Boundary dispute

dispute over how the boundary should be run/managed

Perforated state

a state that completely surrounds another one

Physical boundary

physical features that serve as a means of separation (mountains, deserts, rivers, etc.)

Prorupted state

an otherwise compact state with a large projecting extension

Relic boundary

a boundary that no longer serves as an international border

Self-determination

the concept that ethnicities have the right to govern themselves

Semi-autonomous region

a subdivison of a country that has some degree of, but not complete, self-government

Shatterbelt region

an area of instability between regions with opposing political and/or cultural values

Sovereignity

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

State

an area organized into a political unit and ruled by an established government with control over its internal and foreign affairs

Stateless nation

an ethnic group or nation that does not possess its own state and is not the majority population in any nation state

Subsequent boundary

a boundary line that is established after the area has been settled and that considers the cultural characteristics of the bounded area

Superimposed boundary

boundaries that ignore cultures already occupying the area

Terrorism

the threatened or actual use of illegal force and violence by a non state actor to attain a political, economic, religious, or social goal through fear, coercion, or intimidation

Unitary state

an internal organization of a state that places most power in the hands of central government officials

Weapons of Mass Destruction

a nuclear, biological, chemical, or other weapon that can kill and bring significant harm to a large number of humans or cause great damage to human-made structures, natural structures, or the biosphere

Supranationalism

three or more countries organizing politically and economically into one organization or alliance

Demarcating boundary

boundaries identified by physical objects like walls, signs, and fences

Delimited boundary

boundaries drawn on a map

Administered boundary

boundary enforced by a government or the people

Territorial waters

the area around a country's coast recognized as being under that country's jursdiction

Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)

an area of the ocean extending 200 nautical miles from a state's coast in which the state has jurisdiction over both living & nonliving resources