AP Human Geo Unit 4

Anocracy

A country that is not fully democratic or fully autocratic but rather displays a mix of the two types.

Autocracy

A country that is run according to the interests of the ruler rather than the people.

City-state

A sovereign state comprising a city and its immediate hinterland.

Colonialism

An attempt by one country to establish settlements and to impose its political, economic, and cultural principles in another territory.

Colony

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

Compact state

A state in which the distance from the center to any boundary does not vary significantly.

Democracy

A country in which citizens elect leaders and can run for office.

Elongated state

A state with a long, narrow shape.

Federal state

An internal organization of a state that allocates most powers to units of local government.

Fragmented state

A state that includes several discontinuous pieces of territory.

Frontier

A zone separating two states in which neither state exercises political control.

Gerrymandering

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

Landlocked state

A state that does not have a direct outlet to the sea.

Microstate

A state that encompasses a very small land area.

Multiethnic state

A state that contains more than one ethnicity.

Multinational state

A state that contains two or more ethnic groups with traditions of self-determination that agree to coexist peacefully by recognizing each other as distinct nationalities.

Nation-state

A state whose territory corresponds to that occupied by a particular ethnicity.

Perforated state

A state that completely surrounds another one.

Prorupted state

An otherwise compact state with a large projecting extension.

Self-determination

The concept that ethnicities have the right to govern themselves.

Sovereignty

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

State

An area organized into a political unit and ruled by an established government that has control over its internal and foreign affairs.

Terrorism

The systematic use of violence by a group calculated to create an atmosphere of fear and alarm among a population or to coerce a government into actions it would not otherwise under-take or refrain from actions it wants to take.

Unitary state

An internal organization of a state that places most power in the hands of central government officials.