Ap Human - Unit 4 Political Geography

Nation

A group of people with common cultural characteristics

Shatterbelt

A reigon caught between two stronger fueding forces

Centripetal

Forces that unify people and enhance support for the state

Federal

A country where governmental authority is shared between the central body and smaller reigonal authorities

Nation-State

A state whose political boundries correspond with its cultural boundries

Reapportionment

The process of reallocating electoral seats to voting districts

Unitary

A type of state where power is held by the central government only

Centrifugal

Forces or attitudes that tend to divide or weaken a state

Stateless Nation

A nation of people without a sovereign place to claim as home

Heartland Theory

A hypothesis that states that political power based in the heart of Eurasia could gain the strength to eventually dominate the world

Subnationalism

Allegiance of people to a traditional group or nation rather than the state

Failed State

A state where the government has lost the ability to provide the most basic of public services

Irredentism

When part of an existing state breaks away and merges with another

Autonomous Region

An area of a country that has freedom from external authority

Multistate Nation

When a nation stretches across international borders

Organic Theory

The ides that states are like organisms that have life cycles and need nourished by acquiring less powerful states to survive

Imperialism

Extending a country’s power and influence through diplomacy or military force

Sovereignty

The political authority of a state to govern itself

Rimland Theory

The idea that controlling the land near the coasts of Eurasia would eventually lead to world domination

Devolution

The transfer of power from the central government to regional governments within the state or the breakup of large state into several independent ones

Redistricting

The drawing of new electoral boundary lines in response to population changes

Colonialism

The process by which one nation exercises control over another country that they have settled in and taken over

Neocolonialism

Control by a powerful country of its former colonies or less developed countries using economic pressure

Gerrymandering

When officials redraw electoral districts to favor a certain political party