APHG - Chapter 8 Vocabulary

State

a defined territory with a population and sovereign government

Microstate

a very small territory with a population and sovereign government

Sovereignty

absolute control over domestic and foreign affairs

Nation State

state whose territory corresponds to an ethnicity (homogeneity)

Multistate Nation

a nation that includes one ethnic group that has been split between two or more states.

Multinational State

a state that contains an ethnic group with the desire of self determination (self rule)

Stateless Nation

an ethnic group or nation that does not have its own sovereign state

Multiethnic State

a state that contains more than one ethnicity

Fertile Crescent

a crescent shaped region of the Middle East that was particularly fertile several thousand years ago

City State

a sovereign state comprising a city and its immediate surrounding countryside

Self Determination

the process by which a country determines its own statehood and forms its own allegiances and governments

Devolution

the process of moving powers from a central government to smaller governments, such as regional, state, or local

Colony

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

Colonialism

The effort by one country to establish settlements and to impose its political, economic and cultural principles on such territory

Cultural Boundaries

the border between two different ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups.

Physical Boundary

A boundary based on the geographical features of the Earth's surface

Geometric Boundary

Political boundaries that are defined and delimited by straight lines

Subsequent Boundary

a boundary that is drawn where people have settled

Consequent Boundary

a boundary between opposing cultural, ethnic, or political groups, that was established to settle disputes, end wars, and establish a clear separation between groups

SuperImposed Boundary

political boundaries that kept colonial shapes after decolonization

Antecedent Boundary

the name of a boundary between two states that is created before the area is populated

Relic Boundary

a boundary that no longer exists

Frontier

A zone of territory where no state has governing authority

Law of the Seas

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

Elongated State

A state whose territory is long and narrow in shape

Prorupted State

a state that exhibits a narrow, elongated land extension leading away from the main territory

Perforated State

A state whose territory completely surrounds that of another state

Fragmented State

A state that includes several discontinuous pieces of territory

Landlocked State

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

Democracy

A political system in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who can elect people to represent them

Autocracy

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

Anocracy

A system of government where elements of democracy and autocracy are employed

Democratization

the process of establishing representative and accountable forms of government led by popularly elected officials

Gerrymandering

Process of re-drawing political voting districts to favor one political party

Wasted Vote

Spreads the opposition supporters across many districts

Excess Vote

Type of gerrymandering that concentrates opposition supporters into a few districts

Stacked Vote

Links liked-minded, distant voters with oddly-drawn boundaries

United Nations

an international organization that was founded in 1945 with the goal of promoting international cooperation and resolving conflicts between states

NATO

North Atlantic Treaty Organization, with a purpose to unify and strengthen the Western Allies' military response to a possible invasion of western Europe by the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies.

Warsaw Pact

an alliance founded in 1955 between Eastern European countries to serve as a military and political unit of contiguous communist nations.

European Union

Economic alliance of major Western European nations that coordinate trade, immigration and labor policies, making its members one economic unit

COMECON

(Council for Mutual Economic Assistance) the supranational organization created in 1949 by members of the Warsaw Pact for trade and the sharing of natural resource

Terrorism

the systematic use of violence by a group in order to intimidate a population or co-erce a government into granting its demands

Shatterbelts

regions of cultural diversity and political instability with weak states, local rivalries, geostrategic importance, vital natural resources, and international interference

Chokepoints

geographic locations where the flow of people and goods can be constricted and choked off in the event of a conflict

Neocolonialism

continued economic dependence of colonies on their former occupiers