AP Human Unit 4 Vocab

Administer

to manage the way borders are maintained and how goods and people cross them

Antecedent boundary

a border established before an area becomes heavily settled

Autonomous

The authority to self-govern without governmental control

Choke point

a narrow, strategic passageway to another place through which it is difficult to pass

Colonialism

the practice of claiming and dominating overseas territories often by settling in it.

Concurrent

Happening at the same time.

Consequent boundary

A boundary drawn to conform to different cultures.

Define

to explicitly state in legally binding documentation such as using latitude and longitude

Delimit

Establish the boundaries of something on a map

Demarcate

Setting the boundary physically often with lines or rocks on the ground

Devolution

Transfer of power from central government to local regions

Economies of scale

Cost savings that occur when production increases, reducing the cost per unit.

Electoral college

a set of people, called electors, who are chosen to elect the president and vice president of the United States

Ethnic cleansing

the process by which a state attacks an ethnic group and tries to eliminate it through expulsion, imprisonment, or killing

Ethnic nationalism

A movement where people identify strongly with a common ethnicity, language, or culture, often seeking to promote their group's interests or independence.

Ethnic separatism

the process by which people of a particular ethnicity in a multinational state identify more strongly as members of their ethnic group than as citizens of the state

Ethnonationalism

the process by which the people of a country identify as having one common ethnicity, religious belief, and language, creating a sense of pride and identity that is tied to the territory; also called ethnic nationalism

Exclusive economic zone (EEZ)

an area that extends 200 nautical miles from a state’s coast; a state has sole access to resources found within the waters or beneath the sea floor of its EEZ

Federal state

Power is shared with the central governments and local/regional governments

Geometric boundary

a mathematically drawn boundary that typically follows lines of latitude and longitude or is a straight-line arc between two points

Gerrymandering

the drawing of legislative boundaries to give one political party an advantage in elections

Imperialism

the push to create an empire by exercising force or influence to control other nations or people

Irredentism

A political movement or belief that a country should seek to reclaim and annex territories that it considers to be part of its historical or ethnic homeland, often due to cultural, ethnic, or historical ties.

Majority-minority district

an electoral district in which the majority of voters are members of an ethnic or racial minority

Multinational state

a country with various ethnicities and cultures living inside its borders

Multistate nation

people who share a cultural or ethnic background but live in more than one country

Nation

a cultural entity made up of people who have forged a common identity through a shared language, religion, heritage, or ethnicity—often all four of these

Nation-state

a politically organized and recognized territory composed of a group of people who consider themselves to be a nation

Neocolonialism

Form of indirect control in where a more powerful country controls a less powerful one by controlling their poltical and economic factors.

Political geography

The study of how geography and space influence politics, including borders, territories, and the distribution of power.

Reapportionment

the redistribution of representative seats among states based on shifts in population

Redistricting

the redrawing of internal territorial and political boundaries usually to ensure equality and changes in population

Relic

a former boundary that no longer has an official function

Self-determination

the right of all people to choose their own political status

Semiautonomous

describing a region that is given partial authority to govern its territories independently from the national government

Shatterbelt

a region where states form, join, and break up because of ongoing, sometimes violent, conflicts among parties and because they are caught between the interests of more powerful outside states

Sovereignty

the right of a government to control and defend its territory and determine what happens within its borders

State

a politically organized independent territory with a government, defined borders, and a permanent population; a country

Stateless nation

a people united by culture, language, history, and tradition but not possessing a state

Subsequent boundary

a border drawn in an area that has been settled and where cultural landscapes exist or are in the process of being established

Superimposed boundary

A boundary that is imposed on an area by an external power, often disregarding existing cultural, ethnic, or historical divisions.

Supranational organization

an alliance of three or more states that work together in pursuit of common goals or to address an issue or challenge

Territoriality

the attempt to influence or control people and events by delimiting and asserting control over a geographic area; the connection of people, their culture, and their economic systems to the land

Unitary state

an organization of a state in which power is concentrated in a central government (regional and local governments have little - no power)

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)

the international agreement that established the structure of maritime boundaries

EEZ

Part of the UNCLOS where a coastal state has rights to manage resources 200 nautical miles from its coast.

Balkanization

The process by which a state or region fractures into smaller, often hostile political entities, typically due to ethnic, linguistic, or religious divisions.

Confederation

A confederation is a loose alliance of independent states that work together for certain shared purposes but each state remains mostly autonomous. The central government has only the powers that the states agree to give it.

Democratization

Transitioning from a non-democratic government to a democratic one

Domino Theory

if one country falls to communism, neighboring countries will also fall one after another, like a line of falling dominoes

East/West Divide

e division between the Eastern Bloc (led by the Soviet Union and communist countries) and the Western Bloc (led by the United States and democratic, capitalist countries) during the Cold War.

Electoral College

A system used to elect the President and Vice President of the United States.

Enclave

A territory or region that is completely surrounded by the territory of another country.

European Union

A political and economic union of 27 European countries that work together on trade, laws, and policies.

Exclave

A territory or region that is part of a country but is physically separated from its main part and is surrounded by other countries.

Frontier

A border or boundary that is not clearly defined or controlled, often a disputed or unsettled area.

Heartland Theory

the central part of Eurasia (the Heartland) is the key to world power.

Lebensraum

A Nazi ideology meaning "living space," referring to the idea that Germany needed more land, particularly in Eastern Europe, for its people to expand and thrive.

Microstate

A very small country with a limited land area and usually a small population.

North American Free Trade Agreement

A trade agreement between Canada, the United States, and Mexico that aimed to eliminate trade barriers and encourage economic cooperation among the three countries.

North/South Divide

A global inequality that divides the world into the developed, industrialized countries (mostly in the North) and the less developed countries (mostly in the South).

OPEC

A group of oil-producing countries that work together to coordinate and regulate oil production and prices globally.

Organic Theory

countries are like living organisms that need to grow and expand to survive, similar to how organisms need food and space.

Popular Vote

The total number of votes cast by citizens in an election, regardless of the electoral system or how those votes translate into seats or positions.

Proprupted State

A country that has a long, narrow extension of territory that is separated from the main part of the state.

Rimland Theory

A geopolitical theory proposed by Nicholas Spykman that suggests the coastal areas of Eurasia are the key to controlling the world because they have the most strategic resources and populations.

Territorial Organization

The way a state divides its territory into different administrative units to manage and govern more effectively

Theocracy

A form of government in which religious leaders control the government, and the laws are based on religious principles.