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Autonomous Region
An area of a country that has degree of autonomy, or has freedom from an external authority.
Ethnicity
A group of people (often of the same race) who have a shared culture; the cultural component of race.
Failed State
A country where the government has become so weak it has lost control and can no longer provide basic government functions.
Irredentism
A movement to reclaim land by a group who feels they have a claim on that land.
Multinational state
A country that has substantial amounts of more than one ethnicity.
Multistate nation
A nation that controls at least one country but that a substantial portion of that group lives on an adjacent country.
Nation
A very cohesive ethnicity - the distinction between the two is not clear
Nation-state
A country where the vast majority of the people are of the same ethnicity.
Semiautonomus region
An area inside of a country that has some power to control itself more than other areas in the country.
Sovereignty
The ability of a country to govern itself without outside influence.
State
A country that has sovereignty (Not like U.S. states)
Stateless Nation
A nationality that does not have a country and isn’t the majority in any country which implies that they “should” have a country.
Territoriality
The perceived connection of people, their culture, and their economic systems to the land.
Federal
A country where the national government is strong and the regional governments are also strong so they share power.
Unitary State
A country where the national government is strong and the regional governments are weak.
Balkanization
when competing forces (or countries) come to a level where no single one is strong enough to dominate others
Centrifugal Forces
A cultural trait that divides people within a country
Centripetal Forces
A cultural trait that adds to the unity of a country
Devolution
A national government allowing a regional government to more power to self govern.
Ethnic Cleansing
A powerful ethnic group pushing side a weaker one to create an area with only their ethnicity, can lead to genocide.
Ethnonationalism
The desire of an ethnic community to have absolute authority over its own political, economic, and social affairs.
Terrorism
using violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.
Supranationalism
three or more countries joining together for a common purpose such as economics or defense.
Antecedent Boundary
A border that has divided people since before history was written.
Boundary
A border that separates administrative units such as countries or provinces.
Consequent Boundary
A type of subsequent boundary that tries to divide the existing groups of people between two countries.
Geometric Boundary
A border that is a straight line and drawn without taking into account the physical and cultural features of the land.
Relic Boundary
A former border between counties that can still be detected on the cultural landscape.
Subsequent Boundary
A border drawn after an area is settled.
Superimposed Boundary
A boundary that is imposed on the cultural landscape which ignores pre-existing cultural patterns.
Maritime Boundary
The extensions of a country’s territory that extend into the oceans around them.
Electoral College
The system used in American presidential elections assigns a number of votes to states by population. It encourages candidates to not only focus on populated areas.
Gerrymandering
Redrawing voting district boundaries to benefit one political party over another.
Redistricting
In the United States, after each census redrawing voting districts due to population changes.
Reapportionment
Process in which U.S. House of Representatives seats are re-allocated to different states, based off of population change.
Colonialism
When a more powerful country acquires full or partial political control over another country, occupying it with setters, and exploiting it economically.
Imperialism
When one country dominates colonies far from their home county and often imposes their culture on them.
Independence movement
People that are trying to gain political independence for some area that they think should be is own country.
Self determination
The idea that nations should rule themselves instead of being controlled by others.
Chokepoint
A strategic narrow route providing passage through or to another region
Neocolonialism
Gaining indirect control of another country through economic or cultural pressures (as opposed to colonialism which generally used military power.) ex: China neocolonializing Kenya through debt of a railway.
Shatterbelt
a region caught between stronger colliding external forces, under persistent stress, often fragmented by aggressive rivals.
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