Aphg- unit 4

Political Geography

Study of the ways in which the world is organized as a reflection of the power that different groups hold over territory (Ex: China does not recognize Taiwan as state)

state

an organized political entity with a defined territory and government, a country

Sovereignty

The right of a government to control and defend its territory and determine what happens within its borders

Nations

a sovereign state whose citizens are all homogeneous (very similar) in factors such as language or common descent. NO EXISTING COUNTRY IS PURE NATION STATE. (Some are close: Estonia, Japan, Iceland)

National-state

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

Multistate nation

People who share a cultural or ethnic background but live in more than one country (Ethnic Russians)

Irredentism

Attempting to acquire territories in neighboring states inhabited by people of the same nation (Russia in Ukraine)

Multinational state

A country with various ethnicities and cultures living inside its borders (Iraq:Sunni, Shia, Kurdish, Yugoslavia: break up after Soviet Union)

Autonomous

Some countries contain regions that are autonomous, they are given some authority to govern their own territories independently from the national government. (Hong Kong is autonomous using a system of government and currency that differs from the rest of the country)

Semiautonomous

Contain regions that are semiautonomous, they are given the authority to operate under certain different laws. (American Indian reservations)

Stateless nation

A people united by culture, language, history, and tradition but not possessing a state (Basque, Palestinians, Israel, Kurds)

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 (forming borders, national identity through names, flags, anthems, citizenship requirements)

Colonialism

Claiming and dominating overseas territories (European countries gaining control)

Neocolonialism

Use of economic, political, cultural, or other pressures to control or influence other countries, former dependencies (Kenya owes money to Chinese government for railroads)

Choke point

Narrow, strategic passageway to another place through which it’s is difficult to pass (thermopylae, strait of Malacca)

Shatterbelts

States form, join, and break up because of ongoing, violent, conflicts among parties and because they are caught between the interests of more powerful outside states (Balkan peninsula)

Self-determination

right of all people to choose their own political status (Balkan peninsula shatter belt is a consequence of nations fighting for self-determination against outside powers)

Imperialism

Push to create an empire by exercising force or influence to control other nations or peoples (European colonial movements)

Devolution

process occurs when the central power in a state is broken up among regional authorities within its borders (soviet union, devolution led to creation of 25 independent states)

Defining Boundaries

countries state in legally binding documentation such as a treaty where their border are location, using reference points such as natural features or lines of latitude and longitude. (British and Guatemala signed a treaty establishing a boundary)

Delimita boundaries

Drawing boundaries on a map in accordance with legal agreement (us did in its 1848 treaty with Mexico)

Demarcated boundaries

physical objects such as stones, pillars, walls, or fences as being boundaries (us debating whether its border with Mexico should be fenced with a wall)

Administer

manage they way boundaries are maintained and how goods and people will cross them (DMZ, or Schengen Area)

Antecedent boundaries

Established before many people settle into an area (boundary between the US and Canada established before most European Americans settlers moved into the territories in the us)

Subsequent boundaries

Drawn in areas that have been settled by people and where cultural landscapes already exist or are in the process of being established, MOST COMMON, LENGTHY AND RELATED TO TERRITORIALITY, France and Germany boundaries)

Consequent boundary

is a type of subsequent boundary, take account the differences that exist within a cultural landscapes, separating groups BECAUSE (CONSEQUENT) of distinct languages, religions, ethnicities, other traits. (Former Yugoslavia, serbia large territory by Serbs)

Superimposed

drawn over existing accepted border, by an outside or conquering force (in Africa when Europe met at Berlin conference)

Geometric boundaries

follow lines of latitude and longitude, or are straight-line arcs between two points, instead of following physical and cultural features (Africa, Colorado, wy=oming, Utah)

Relics

former boundaries that once existed but no longer have an official function (boundary between east and west Germany, Vietam)

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea

established structure of maritime boundaries, stating that a country’s territorial seas extend 12 nautical miles off its coast and that EEZ extends 200 nautical miles coast (1.1508 miles)

Exclusive economic zone

Extends 200 nautical miles from its coast, states do not have full sovereignty over their EEZ but have access to resources found within the water or beneath the sea floor of the EEZ, generate energy