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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.
Balance of power
A condition of roughly equal strength between opposing countries or alliances of countries.
Boundary
An invisible line that marks the extent of a state's 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 rather than completely independent.
Compact state
A state in which the distance from the center to any boundary does not vary significantly.
Democracy
A country in which citizens elect leaders and can run for office.
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.
Gerrymandering
The process of redrawing legislative boundaries for the purpose of benefiting the party in power.
Landlocked state
A state that does not have a direct outlet to the sea.
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.
Perforated state
A state that completely surrounds another one.
Prorupted state
An otherwise compact state with a large projecting extension.
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 for 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.
Weapon 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.
