AP Human Geography Unit 4 Vocab

Anocracy

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

Autocracy

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

Boundary

An invisible line that marks the extent of a states territory.

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 ratherthan completely independent.

Democracy

A country in which citizens elect leaders and can run for office.

Federal state

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

Frontier

A zone separating two states in which neither state exercises political control.

Gerrymandering

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

Microstate

A state that encompasses a very small land area.

Multinational state

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

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.

Self-determination

The concept that ethnicities have the right to govern themselves.

Sovereignty

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 that has control over its internal and foreign affairs.

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.

Fragile States Index

An annual report published by the Fund For Peace that ranks the majority of countries in the world on state fragility based on 12 indicators.

UNCLOS (Law of the Sea)

United Nations Conference in Law of the Sea standardized the territorial limits for most countries at 12 nautical miles. States have exclusive rights to the fish and marine life within 200 miles

Political Geography

The spatial analysis of political phenomena and processes.

Reapportionment

The process of reassigning representation based on population, after every census.

Territoriality

Defense of a space against encroachment by other individuals.

Multi-state nation

Nation that stretches across borders and across states.

Stateless nation

A group of people with a common political identity who do not have a territorially defined, sovereign country of their own.

Centripetal force

An attitude that tends to unify people and enhance support for a state.

Centrifugal force

A force that divides people and countries.

Devolution

Transferring responsibility for policies from the federal government to state and local governments.

Balkanization

The contentious political process by which a state may break up into smaller countries through conflicts among ethnicities.

Irredentism

The policy of a state wishing to incorporate within itself territory inhabited by people who have ethnic or linguistic links with the country but that lies within a neighboring state.

Shatterbelt

A region caught between powerful forces whose boundaries are continually redefined.

Supranational organization

Organization of three or more states to promote shared objectives.