AP Human Geography Vocab: Unit 4 Political processes

Annexation

The internationally legal addition of new territory into an existing state.

Antarctica

The largest land mass in the world not part of a sovereign state.

Apartheid

The physical separation of different races into separate geographic areas. It was instituted by the colonizers in 1948, and was designed to subjugate the black majority.

Autonomous region

A designated area within a country that has a degree of self-governance, allowing it to make certain political, economic, and cultural decisions independently from the central government

Balkanization

The contentious political process by which a state may break up into smaller countries

Border landscape

Two types: Exclusionary and inclusionary. Exclusionary is meant to keep people out, such as the border between the US and Mexico. Inclusionary is meant to facilitate trade and movement, such as the US-Canada border

Boundary, disputes

The conflicts that arise over the demarcation and control of political borders between states or regions.

Border dispute: Definitional

When two political entities cannot agree on a common definition of where their boundaries lie

Boundary dispute: Functional/Operational

A boundary dispute over how the boundary ought to function

Boundary dispute: Allocational/resource

A boundary dispute that involves conflicting claims to the natural resources of a border region.

Boundary dispute: Positional/Locational

Disagreements between countries over the specific location of a boundary or territory.

Superimposed boundary origin

Ignores the pre-existing cultural patterns (Typically a colonial boundary).

Antecedent boundary origin

Political borders established before the area in question is well populated or developed, often based on natural features like rivers, mountains, or lines of latitude and longitude

Subsequent boundary origin

A political boundary that is established after a certain cultural or social landscape has developed, often reflecting the existing patterns of settlement and land use.

Relic boundary origin

Historical divisions that no longer serve as formal political borders but still exist as cultural markers in the landscape

Definition Boundary

A legally established line that marks the limits of a particular territory or political unit, often described in legal documents or treaties

Delimitation boundary

Usually agreed upon through international treaties, reflecting negotiations between neighboring states

Demarcation boundary

A political boundary that has been marked on the ground with a physical structure, such as a fence or wall.

Natural/Physical boundary

A naturally occurring divide between two areas

Ethnographic/cultural boundaries

A boundary based on ethnographic and cultural considerations, such as language and religion

Geometric boundary

A boundary created by using lines of latitude and longitude and their associated arcs.

Militarized boundary

A boundary that is heavily guarded and discourages crossing and movement

Open boundary

A boundary that is not strictly regulated or controlled

Buffer state

A state that lies between two much larger and more powerful states

Capital

The city that serves as the seat of the government for a nation or region

Census

A survey of the total population of a region done by the governing body

Centrifugal

The factors that push people and regions within a state apart, creating division and potential conflict.

City-State

A small sovereign state that is made up of a town or city and the surrounding area

Cold war

The period of time following World War II where the united states and the Soviet Union emerged as superpowers and faced off in an arms race that lasted nearly 50 years.

Colonialism

Control by one power over a dependent area or people

Compact state

Countries where the distance from the center to any boundary does not vary significantly, creating a roughly circular shape

Confederation

A union of sovereign groups or states, often formed for purposed of mutual defense or the promotion of common interests

Conference of Berlin (1884)

A meeting where European powers convened to discuss the partition and colonization of Africa.

Contiguous zone

An area seaward of the territorial sea in which the Coastal state may exercise the control necessary to prevent infringement of its customs, fiscal, immigration, and sanitary laws.

Core/Periphery

A central region in an economy, upon which an outlying region depends. The central region also is dependent on the labor of the periphery country.

Decolonization

The process through which colonies gain independence from colonial powers, leading to the establishment of sovereign nations.

Democratization

The process of moving a nations government from an authoritarian to a democratic system.

Devolution

The transfer of power from a central government to a lower level of government, such as a regional or local government.

Domino theory

The idea that if one land in a region came under the influence of communists, then more would follow.

Enterprise Zones (EEZ)

A maritime zone extending up to 200 nautical miles from a coastal state’s baseline, where the state has exclusive rights to explore and exploit marine resources.

Electoral regions

The defined geographical areas that determine where voters reside and which electoral representatives they can vote for.

Elongated state

A state that is much longer in one direction than the other.

Enclave

The name given to a state that is completely surrounded by another state

Exclave

A region of a country that is completely separated from the main body of that country, usually by the borders of another country.

Ethnic cleansing

Rendering an area ethnically homogeneous by using force or intimidation to remove from a given area persons of another ethnic or religious group.

European Union

A political and economic union of 27 European countries that have chosen to cooperate closely in various areas, including trade, governance, and social policy.

Federal

Governmental authority is shared among a central government and various other smaller regional authorities.

Forward capital

A symbolically relocated capital city usually because of either economic or strategic reasons.

Fragmented state

Several noncontiguous pieces of territory

Frontier Genocide

The mass killing or displacement of indigenous peoples or minority groups by settlers, colonial forces, or governments during the expansion of frontier territories.

Homogenous

A quality or state of being all the same or similar in nature, which can apply to cultural, social, or physical traits within a defined area.

Geopolitics

The study of the geographical factors in world politics and inter-state relations.

Globalization

The process of increased interconnectedness and interdependence among countries, economies, cultures, and populations through trade, communication, and technology

Gerrymander

The practice of manipulating electoral district boundaries to favor a particular political party or group

Global commons

Natural resources and environments that are not owned or controlled by any single nation or private entity, but are shared and accessible to all of humanity.

Heartland theory

Suggests that whoever owns the heartland of Eastern Europe will control the world

High seas

The open waters of an ocean or a sea beyond the limits of the territorial jurisdiction of a country.

Horizontal integration

The merging of multiple companies within the same level and the same industry

Vertical integration

Involves acquiring other companies on different levels of the same supply chain.

Immigrant state

A type of state that receives immigrants.

Imperialism

The practice of a country extending its power and influence over other countries, typically through the use of military force, economic coercion, or cultural domination.

International organization

An alliance of two or more countries seeking cooperation with each other without giving up either’s autonomy or self determination

Iron curtain

A barrier that divided capitalist and communist nations

Irredentism

A land claim due to its historical significance or connection to an ethnic or national group within the state making a claim.

Israel/Palestine

A geographic region in the Middle east that contains a lot of conflict and war.

Landlocked

A country that is completely surrounded by the territory of more than one other country and has no direct access to the sea

Law of the sea

A body of international law that governs the rights and responsibilities of nations regarding the use of the world’s oceans, establishing guidelines for businesses, the environment, and the management of marine natural resources.

Lebanon

A country in the middle east that has an important community of Druze, but is now predominantly Muslim

Mackinder, Halford J

The geographer who proposed the Heartland theory

Manifest destiny

The American belief that it is the USA’s God given duty to spread west

Median-Line principle

An approach to dividing and creating boundaries at the mid point between two places

Multinational State

A state that is comprised of more than one nationality

Multi-State nation

Ethnic or cultural groups that exist across multiple state boundaries, forming a cohesive identity despite being divided by political borders.

Microstate/Ministate

A country that is both small in population and area

Nation

A group of people bound together by some sense of a common culture, ethnicity, language, shared history, and attachment to a homeland.

National iconography

Figural representations , either individual or symbolic, religious or secular; more broadly, the art of representation by pictures or images.

Nationalism

Identification with and devotion to one’s nation

Nation-state

A sovereign state inhabited by a relatively homogenous group of people who share a feeling of common nationality.

Neo-Colonialism

Refers to the practice of using economic, political, and cultural pressures to control or influence countries.

Nunavut

An Arctic territory in northern Canada governed solely by the Inuit.

Organic theory

States that nations must continually seek nourishment in the form of gaining land to survive in the same way that a living organism seeks nourishment from food to survive.

Perforated state

A state that completely surrounds another state

Prorupted state

A state that has a primary body of territory that comprises most of the state, but that also has a long extension that juts out from the rest of the country

Raison d’être

A person’s purpose or reason for living

Reapportionment

The redistribution of seats in the US House of representatives

Redistricting

The process of redrawing the boundaries of electoral districts to reflect changes in population

Regionalism

A foreign policy that defines the international interests of a country in terms of particular geographic areas.

Religious conflict

Disputes or struggles that arise primarily due to differences in religious beliefs, practices, or identities.

Rimland theory

Where major power struggles would take place, as it encompasses significant economic and strategic resources

Reunification

The bringing together of parts of one government

Satellite state

A country that is nominally independent but is under the influence and sometimes control of another much larger nation.

Self-Determination

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

Shatter belt

Regions that are politically fragmented and often subject to external pressures and conflicts, typically located between larger, more powerful nations.

Sovereignty

The political authority of a state to govern itself

State

A political entity that has a defined territory, a permanent population, a government, and the capacity to enter relations with other states

Stateless ethnic groups

An ethnic group with no sovereign state

Stateless nation

A group of people who share a common identity, culture, language, or history but do not possess their own sovereign state.

Subnationalism

Multinational state that contains people that give primary allegiance to a group or nation smaller that the population of the entire state

Suffrage

The right to vote

Supranationalism

The process of nation states organizing politically and economically into one organization or alliance