AP Human Geography: Political Geography

Political Geography

A subdivision of human geography focused on the nature and implications of the evolving spatial organization of political governance and formal political practice on the Earth's surface. It is concerned with why political spaces emerge in the places that they do and with how the character of those spaces affects social, political, economic, and environmental understandings and practices.

Territory

Area of land controlled by a nation.

Territoriality

Connection of people, their culture and their economic systems to where they live. Process by which a set of political units with fixed distinct boundaries are created, expanded, annexed or defended

Sovereignty

A principle of international relations that holds that final authority over social, economic, and political matters should rest with the legitimate rulers of independent states, and is recognized by other states.

Nation

Legally, a term encompassing all the citizens of a state. Most definitions now tend to refer to a tightly knit group of people possessing bonds of language, ethnicity, religion, and other shared cultural attributes. Such homogeneity actually prevails within very few states.

Nation-state

Theoretically, a recognized member of the modern state system possessing formal sovereignty and occupied by a people who see themselves as a single, united nation. Most nations and states aspire to this form, but it is realized almost nowhere. Nonetheless, in common parlance, nation-state is used as a synonym for country or state.

Democracy

A government in which power is held by the people, who exercise power directly or through elected representatives.

Multinational State

state with more than one nation within its borders

Multistate Nation

nation that stretches across borders and across states

Stateless Nation

nation that does not have a state

Colonialism

rule by an autonomous power over a subordinate and alien people and place. Although often established and maintained through political structures, colonialism also creates unequal cultural and economic relations. Because of the magnitude and impact of the European colonial project of the last centuries, the term is generally understood to refer to that particular colonial endeavor.

Centripetal

An attitude that tends to unify people and enhance support for a state

Centrifrugal

things that cause disunity in the state (ex: political, religious, or economic conflict)

Unitary

A nation-state that has a centralized government and administration that exercises power equally over all parts of the state

Federal

a political-territorial system wherein a central government represents the various entities within a nation-state where they have common interest- defense, foreign affairs, and the like- yet allows these various entities to retain their own identities and to have their own laws, policies, and customs in certain spheres.

Devolution

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

Reapportionment

Process by which representative districts are switched according to population shifts, so that each district encompasses approximately the same number of people

Boundary

vertical plane between states that cuts through the rocks below, and the airspace above the surface

state

A country that has a sovereign government, defined borders, and is recognized by other states.

autonomous region

A formal region within a state that enjoys limited sovereignty; Similar to devolution.

supranational organization

An organization that operates across multiple states for political, economic, or military cooperation; States transfer some sovereignty to the union by joining.

UN

United Nations, a supranational organization.

EU

European Union, a supranational organization.

ASEAN

Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a supranational organization.

NAFTA

North American Free Trade Agreement, a supranational organization.

OPEC

Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, a supranational organization.

NATO

North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a supranational organization.

Brexit

A portmanteau of "British" + "exit"; 2016 referendum in the United Kingdom in which British voters voted to leave the EU because of perceived cost vs. benefit and loss of sovereignty.

imperialism

A policy in which a strong nation seeks to dominate other countries politically, socially, and economically.

nationalism

Identifying with, becoming attached to, and pledging loyalty to one's nation.

colony

A territory that is legally tied to a sovereign state rather than completely independent.

electoral district

a formal region in which citizens vote for an elected representative.

redistricting

Changing of the borders of an electoral district to meet population changes, i.e. migration.

gerrymandering

Redistricting for the benefit of one political party or group.

geometric boundary

A political boundary defined and delimited as a straight line or an arc based on a grid system.

physical boundary

A.K.A. natural border; A political boundary defined and delimited by a prominent physical feature in the natural landscape, such as a river or the crest ridges of a mountain range.

enclave

A state that is surrounded by another state or states.

exclave

When a part of a state's territory is geographically separated by another country.

high seas

places were no government has sovereignty over the ocean

Relict boundary

a boundary that ceases to function, but as a reminder of what was; consider old divisions between nations like West and East Germany and North and South Vietnam

superimposed boundary

forcibly created by an outside force, like a treaty or invader; it may not reflect cultural or physical landscape

antecedent boundary

created before an area is known or populated; usually based on a physical boundary

subsequent boundary

created after recognized settlement; meant to separate existing cultural groups and may signify an attempt to align the boundaries that exist between nations

irredentist movements

political or popular movement to reclaim or reoccupy a territory considered lost or unredeemed

defined boundary

written, legal description of a boundary

delimited boundary

translation of a written boundary into an official cartographic representation

demarcated boundary

actual placing of a political boundary on the physical landscape by means of fences, barriers, signs, etc.