UNIT 6 APHG FINAL

Nation

a group of people with unifying cultural characteristics and a perceived home. It consists of people with a common ethnic identity.

State

this is an area organized into a political unit and ruled by an established government that has sovereignty over its internal and external affairs. (Ex: North and South Korea)

City-state

A state whose territory is confined to a city’s boundaries (Ex. The first states in Mesopotamia, which was at the eastern end of the Fertile Crescent, were known as city-states.)

Nation-state

is where political boundaries coincide with the territory occupied by a particular ethnicity that has been transformed into a nationality. (Ex. Denmark)

Multinational state

a state that contains two or more ethnic groups. Territorial conflict often occurs in multinational states. (Ex. The island of Cyprus contains two ethnic groups, Greek and Turkish.)

Self-determination

the right to become an independent state. (Ex.there are still ethnic groups within Russia like Chechnya fighting for self-determination.)

Sovereignty

a government or state with a supreme power or authority to govern itself or another state. (Ex. Morocco and Western Sahara.)

Centrifugal Forces

promotes division within a state—pulls countries apart.

Regionalism

is the identification with a minority group and region rather than a state.

Centripetal Forces

promotes unification within a state—pulls countries together.

Nationalism

is the loyalty and identification with one nation or state and its goals, above all others.

Colonialism

a policy by which a nation maintains or extends its control over foreign dependencies.

Imperialism

refers to the control of territory by a foreign power

United Nations (UN)

a global organization that focuses on peace and security.

• established in 1945

• political/military alliance

• headquarters in NYC

North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

a regional economic alliance between the US, Mexico, and Canada

European Union (EU)

a regional economic union that also includes elements of political unity including a common currency

• Established in 1958

• Promote peace through economics and international trade

• Economic alliance

Supranational Organizations

includes the membership of two or more states that relinquish some degree of sovereignty for the benefits of an alliance with other states. (Ex. European Union.)

North-Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

became the opposing military alliance of the Cold War. (International Alliance of 26 countries of Europe and North America.)

• Established in 1949

• Military alliance

• Prevent soviet union from invading democracies of Europe

Terrorism

is the systematic use of violence by a group in order to intimidate a population or coerce a government into granting its demands.

Boundary

an invisible line that completely surrounds a state, marks the outer limits of its territorial control and gives it distinct shape. (Ex. Antarctica is divided up and claimed by countries.)

Physical Boundaries

follows an important geographic feature on the landscape. (Ex. Boundary between Spain and France is the crest of the Pyrenees Mountains.)

Cultural Boundaries

political boundary that separates different cultures. (Ex. former Yugoslavia.)

Religious Boundaries

boundary that separates different religions (Ex. Muslims are reorganized into Pakistan and Hindus into India.)

Language Boundaries

boundary that separates different language speakers (Ex. In Europe; France, Spain, Portugal etc. all based their boundary lines because of the language people spoke.)

Artificial (geometric) Boundaries

political boundaries defined and delimited as straight lines or arcs. (Ex. Mason-Dixon Line.)

Superimposed Boundary

forced onto a populated area by an outside power that is unconcerned with preexisting divisions. (Ex. African States)

Enclave

is a piece of territory that is surrounded by another political unit of which it is not part of.(Ex. Lesotho by South Africa.)

Exclave

states that have fragmented territory that lies completely within the boundary of another state.(Ex. West Berlin during the Cold War.)

Landlocked

states that lack access to the ocean or sea. (Ex.Lesotho)

Frontiers

is a zone or area between states where no state exercises complete control. (Ex. the Arabian Peninsula)

Political Geography

the spatial study of the organization and distribution of political phenomena. (Ex: boundaries, voting patterns, distribution of wealth etc.)

Geopolitics

the study of the influence of such factors as geography, economics and demography on politics.

State

this is an area organized into a political unit and ruled by an established government that has sovereignty over its internal and external affairs. (Ex: North and South Korea)

Micro-state

states with very small land areas. (Ex. The smallest micro-state in the United Nations is Monaco.)

Multinational state

a state that contains two or more ethnic groups. Territorial conflict often occurs in multinational states. (Ex. The island of Cyprus contains two ethnic groups, Greek and Turkish.)

Stateless nation

an ethnic group is divided among more than one state. (Ex. In the Caucasus region the Kurds.)

Rimland Theory

Nicholas Spykman developed this theory arguing that the rimland area surrounding the heartland (including the world's oceans) was the key to world political power.

Heartland Theory

Sir Halford Mackinder developed this theory in the beginning of the 20th century that stated that the Eurasian landmass was the world's heartland and thus the key to world domination.

Sovereignty

a government or state with a supreme power or authority to govern itself or another state. (Ex. Morocco and Western Sahara.)

Regionalism

is the identification with a minority group and region rather than a state.

Colonialism

a policy by which a nation maintains or extends its control over foreign dependencies.

Colonies

a group of people who settle in a distant land but remain under the political jurisdiction of their native land. Colonialism refers to the control of territory previously inhabited. (Ex. Europeans in Latin America, Asia and Africa)

Gerrymandering

is the redrawing of legislative boundaries to benefit a specific political party in power.

Unitary State

country with a centralized government and cultural homogeneity. (Ex. Unitary states include Western Europe such as Britain or France.)

• Advantageous for an ethnically homogenous state

• Japan, Saudi Arabia, France, Spain

• Most governmental powers reside at the national level

• Typically smaller states

Federal States

allocate significant power to the units of local government and work well in multinational states where there is potential ethnic conflict. (Ex. The United States)

• Governmental powers split between national and local levels

• Germany, Brazil, India, US

• Large states where communication is difficult

• Local governments empower ethnicities

Supranational Organizations

includes the membership of two or more states that relinquish some degree of sovereignty for the benefits of an alliance with other states. (Ex. European Union.)

Warsaw Pact

a treaty of mutual defense and military aid signed at Warsaw on May 14, 1955( after WW11), by communist states of Europe under Soviets influence.

Balance of Power

when a large number of states were of roughly equal strength, no single state could dominate.

Terrorism

is the systematic use of violence by a group in order to intimidate a population or coerce a government into granting its demands.

Boundary

an invisible line that completely surrounds a state, marks the outer limits of its territorial control and gives it distinct shape. (Ex. Antarctica is divided up and claimed by countries.)

Compact state

states that are roughly circular in shape and the distance from the edges to the center are minimal. (Ex. Poland, Zimbabwe, and Uruguay.)

Fragmented state

a state that is divided into several discontinuous pieces of territories.(Ex. Philippines and Indonesia.)

Prorupted state

compact states with a large projecting extension.(Ex. Thailand.)

Perforated state

states completely surrounded by other states.(Ex. Italy, South Africa.)

Elongated state

states that suffer from poor internal communications because they are so long and thin.(Ex. Chile and The Gambia.)

Landlocked

states that lack access to the ocean or sea. (Ex.Lesotho)

Territoriality

In political geography, a country's or more local community's sense of property and attachment toward its territory, as expressed by its determination to keep it inviolable and strongly defended.

Types of physical boundaries

Desert, Mountain, Water (be sure to know the problems and benefits of using these as boundaries)

territorial waters

up to 12 nautical miles from shore, a state may set laws regulating passage by ships registered in other states

Contiguous Zone

Between 12 and 24 nautical miles from shore, a state may enforce laws concerning pollution, taxation, customs, and immigration

Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)

between 24 and 200 nautical miles, a state has the sole right to the fish and other marine life

international waters

the areas of the sea that are not under the jurisdiction of any state's control

wasted vote gerrymandering

opposition supporters are spread across many districts but in the minority

excess vote gerrymandering

opposition supporters are concentrated into a few districts

stacked vote gerrymandering

distant areas of like-minded voters are linked through oddly shaped boundaries

The Warsaw pact

An alliance between the Soviet Union and other Communist Eastern European states. Disbanded in 1991

European Union (EU)

the world's largest common market, composed of 28 European nations. The main task is to promote development within member states through economic and political cooperation currently the United Kingdom is in the process of leaving the EU, known as "Brexit"

Balkanization

• Refers to the breakup of a region or state into smaller, often hostile units along ethnic, religious, or cultural lines

• The Balkans in the southeastern Europe serve as a historical example, where the term originated due to the complex ethnic and religious diversity leading to conflicts and the eventual breakup of Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia was a multi-ethnic state in southeastern Europe that disintegrated in the 1990s due to ethnic tensions, leading to a series of violent conflicts and the emergence of several independent nations such as Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, etc.

Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

• Rooted in competing claims to the land of historic Palestine, this conflict involves Israelis (mostly Jews) and Palestinian (mostly Arabs)

• Key issues include borders, settlements, the state of Jerusalem, Palestinian statehood, and the rights of refugees

• Various wars and uprisings, such as the Arab-Israeli Wars, Intifadas, and conflicts in Gaza, have marked this protracted conflict 

Treaty of Versailles and Creation of Israel

• The Treaty of Versailles, which ended World War 1, redrew the map of Europe and the Middle East, leading to the breakup of empires and the creation of new states based on ethnic and national identities 

• The creation of Israel in 1948 resulted from Zionist aspirations for a Jewish homeland and led to ongoing conflicts with Palestinian Arabs over territory and national rights

Rwandan Genocide

• In 1994, ethnic Hutu extremists targeted ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus in Rwanda, resulting in the mass slaughter of approximately 800,000 people.

• Historical tensions, exacerbated by colonial legacies and political manipulation, culminated in one of the most devastating genocides in modern history.

Berlin Conference

• The Berlin Conference of 1884-1885 was a meeting among European powers to partition Africa and establish colonial boundaries

• This conference ignored ethnic and cultural realities, leading to arbitrary borders that divided indigenous ethnic groups and contributed to conflicts and instability in post-colonial Africa

Cracking

Spreading minority votes over many districts as possible

• Advantageous for the majority

Packing

Concentrating majority votes few districts as possible

• Advantageous for the minority

Constitutional Government

Organization, responsibilities, and powers of a government are codified in a document

Colony

Territory legally tied to a sovereign state and not completely independent

Historic reasons for acquiring colonies

• To increase relative power European powers

• To extract useful resources and to serve as captive markets

• To promote Christianity

What defines a state?

• Defined boundaries

• A permanent resident population

• An organized economy and circulation system

• Political sovereignty

Ancient States

• City states

• Concept of citizenship

Medieval States

• Centralized government

• States grow very large in size, mostly through conquest

Modern States

• Constitutional government

• Nation-states

Armenia

A genocide occurred at the hands of the Turks during WW1 in this country

Azerbaijan

The region of Nakhichevan is exclave to this country

Moldova

Ethnic Romanians make up the majority of the population in this country

Ukraine

The Crimea was formerly part of this country

Georgia

Abkhazia and Ossetia are disputed regions of this country

1824

Most of the Americas had gained their independence

1884

European powers conquered Asia and Africa

1936

Colonial Japan controlled Korea, Manchuria, Indonesia

1968

Most colonies in Africa and Asia had gained independence

How many states are there in the world today?

200

Census

The process that counts where people (both citizens and non citizens) live in the U.S.

Reapportionment

The process of determining how many Congressional Districts each state should have.

• Controlled by US Federal/National congress

Redistricting

 The process of determining the boundaries of each Congressional District.

• controlled by individual us state legislatures

Supernationalism

The process of states organizing politically and economically into one organization

Relic boundary

A nonfunctional boundary that still exists

Suspect state

A state that is secretly developing a nuclear weapon

Aspect of Cold War

• A war fought with words, ideas, and threats

• A bi-polar world of conflict between communists and democratic states

• Mutually assured destruction used as a deterrent

What percentage of Hispanics make up US?

18%