APHG Unit 4

Nation -

a term encompassing all the citizens of a state; a tightly knit group of people having bonds of language, ethnicity, religion, and other shared cultural attributes. (This is very few states)

States -

A politically organized territory that is administered by a sovereign government and is recognized by a significant portion of the international community. A state has a defined territory, a permanent population, a government, and is recognized by other states.

Nation-states -

A recognized member of the modern state system possessing formal sovereignty and occupied by people who see themselves as a single, united nation. Most nations and states aspire to this form, though it is realized almost nowhere.

Stateless nations -

Nation that does not have a state.

Multinational states -

A multinational state is a sovereign state, which is viewed as comprising two or more nations.

Multistate nations -

A nation that stretches across borders and across states.

Autonomous region -

sections of a nation that have a degree of independence in several issues.

Semi Autonomous region -

largely self-governing within a larger pterm-7olitical or organizational entity

Sovereignty -

Ability of a state to govern its territory free from control of its internal affairs by other states.

Colonialism -

Rule by autonomous power over a subordinate people and place.

Imperialism -

the extension or imposition of power, authority, or influence

Devolution -

The process whereby regions within a state demand and gain political strength and growing autonomy at the expense of the central government.

Neocolonialism -

The entrenchment of the colonial order, such as trade and investment under a new guise.

Shatterbelt -

a region "whose internal, geographical, cultural, religious, and political fragmentation is compounded by pressures from external major powers attracted by the region's strategic location and economic resources

Choke point -

a strategic narrow route providing passage through or to another region.

Territoriality -

The connection of people, their culture, and their economic systems to the land.

Relic boundary -

A boundary that has ceased to function but can still be detected on the cultural landscape. It no longer exists as an international boundary

Superimposed boundary- .

a boundary that has been imposed on an area by an outside or conquering power. This boundary ignores the cultural organizations on this landscape

Subsequent boundary -

A boundary that is established during the process of intensive settlement.

Geometric boundary -

A boundary that is formed by one or more straight lines and/or arcs.

Consequent boundary -

A subsequent boundary that is created to accommodate a region's cultural diversity.

Demilitarized zones -

an area from which weapons and military forces have been removed.

UNCLOS -

(The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) - Rights and responsibilities of nations in the use of international waters, established territorial seas, and exclusive economic zones

District -

a territorial division (as for administrative or electoral purposes)

Reapportionment -

the reassignment of representatives proportionally among the states in accordance with changes in population distribution

Redistricting -

to revise legislative districts

Majority-minority districts -

Determining representatives' districts, the process by which a majority of the population is from the minority.

Gerrymandering -

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

Federal state -

Tend to have more locally based, dispersed power centers.

Unitary state - Tend to have more top-down, centralized form of governance.

Tend to have more locally based, dispersed power centers.

Ethnic separatism -

the advocacy of a state of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, governmental or gender separation from the larger group.

Ethnic cleansing -

A purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religion group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic or religious group from certain geographic areas.

Irredentism -

any political or popular movement that seeks to claim or reclaim and occupy a land that the movement's members consider a "lost" or "unredeemed" territory from their nation's past.

Subnational political-

territorial units (Ex. Spain, Nigeria) made up of a small area such as a city, town, or village that has its own local government.

Supranational organizations -

A venture involving three or more nation-states involving formal political, economic, and or cultural cooperation to promote shared objectives. Ex. European Union

Democracy -

Government based on the principle that the people are the ultimate sovereign and have the final say over what happens with the state.

Centripetal -

Forces that tend to unify a country- such as widespread commitment to a national culture, shared ideological objectives and a common faith.

Centrifugal -

Forces that tend to divide a country - such as internal religious, linguistic, ethnic, or ideological differences.

Ethno nationalism -

support for the political interests of a particular ethnic group, especially its national independence or self-determination.