ap human geography unit 4

Apartheid

A South African policy of complete legal separation of the races, including the banning of all social contacts between blacks and whites.

Significance- pushed the native South Africans to reclaim their independence

apartheid significance

Balance of power

Condition of roughly equal strength between opposing countries or alliances of countries.

Ex. U.S. and China

balance of power example

Balkanization

Process by which a state breaks down into smaller states due to conflicts among its ethnicities

Ex. Fall of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia

balkanization example

Boundary disputes

disagreements regarding borders between different territories

Boundary demarcation(delimitation)

The process of defining borders in order to create a state

Boundary type (natural/physical, ethnographic/cultural, geometric)

The different types of borders used to define political regions all over the world

Capital

Principle city in a state or country

Centrifugal Forces

Forces that tend to force states apart. To fragment.

City-state

A sovereign state comprising a city and its immediate hinterland.

Colonialism

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

Colony

A settlement ruled by another country.

Compact state

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

Confederation

A system of government that spreads power among many sub-units(states), and has a weaker central government. Emphasizing state sovereignty.

Core/periphery

_____ countries have high levels of development, a capacity at innovation and a convergence of trade flows. _______ countries usually have less development and are poorer countries.

Decolonization

The collapse of colonial empires.

Ex. Fall of the British Empire

decolonization example

Devolution

A process in which political power is ''sent down'' from central governments to local sub-units of state and government.

European Union

A family of democratic countries committed to working together for peace and prosperity in Europe

Significance- Helped Europe back to its feet after WWII

european union example

Elongated state

A state whose territory is long and narrow in shape.

Enclaves

countries surrounded or almost surrounded by another country.

exclave

a bounded territory that is part of a particular state but lies separated from it by the territory of another state.

Ex. Hawaii

exclave example

Forward capital

a symbolically relocated capital city usually because of either economic or strategic reasons

Federal

A system in which power is divided between the national and state governments. Central units and sub-units.

Ex. The United States government

federal example

Fragmented state

A state that includes several discontinuous pieces of territory

Ex. Indonesia

fragmented state example

frontier

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

Ex. Korea's DMZ

frontier example

Geopolitics

the study of the spatial and territorial dimensions of power relationships within the global political and territorial order.

Gerrymander

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

Ex. Odd shapes of Senate districts in Southern California

gerrymander example

Heartland

A theory that suggests that whoever owns Eastern Europe and Western Asia has the political power and capital to rule the world

rimland

Nicholas Spykman's theory argued that the domination of the coastal fringes of Eurasia would provide the base for world conquest

Significance- Influenced many people to try to take over these places

signification of rimland

Imperialism

The European colonization of Africa and Asia. A policy in which the stronger nation seeks to dominate other countries politically, socially, and economically.

*Ex. The British Empire"

imperialism example

Israel/Palestinian Conflict

Ongoing conflict over control of parts of Palestine

Significance- Is causing lots of conflict and tension between the two nations

israel/Palestine significance

Landlocked

A nation that has no coastline

Ex. Mongolia

lanlocked example

Mackinder, Halford J.

Geographer who created the heartland theory.

Significance- One of the founding fathers of geopolitics

Mackinder, Halford J. significance

Manifest destiny

A notion held by a nineteenth-century Americans that the United States was destined to rule the continent, from the Atlantic the Pacific.

Significance- Expanded the U.S. to what it is today

manifest destiny significance

Median-line principle

an approach to dividing and creating boundaries at the mid-point between two places. Often involving borders out to sea

Microstate

A state or territory that is small in both size and population.

Ex. Vatican City

microstate example

Ministate

A state with very small population as well as area.

Ex. Monaco

ministate example

Multicore state

a state that has more than one dominant region in terms of economics or politics

*Ex. Nigeria"

multicore state example

Multinational state

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

Ex. USSR

multinational state example

Nationalism

A sense of unity with fellow citizens and loyalty to the state to promote its culture and interests over those of other nations

Nation-state

A state whose territory corresponds to that occupied by a particular ethnicity that has been transformed into a nationality

Ex. Japan

nation-state example

Perforated state

a state that completely surrounds another one

Ex. South Africa

perforated state example

Prorupted state

A state that exhibits a narrow, elongated land extension leading away from the main territory

Ex. Thailand

prorupted state

Ratzel, Friedrich theory of government

theorized that a state compares to a biological organism with a life cycle from birth to death, with a predictable rise and fall of power

Significance- a huge principle in geopolitics

Ratzel, Friedrich theory of government significance

Reapportionment

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

Ex. The House of Representatives does this occasionally

Reapportionment example

Regionalism

a foreign policy that defines the international interests of a country in terms of particular geographic areas

Ex. Quebec keeps French heritage

Regionalism example

Self-determination

The ability of a government to determine their own course of their own free will

Ex. The beginnings of the U.S.

self determination example

Sovereignty

the ability to carry out actions and policies within a territory independent of external actors and internal rivals

State

A body of people living in a defined territory who have a government with the power to make and enforce law without the consent of any higher authority

Ex. France

state example

Stateless nation

A nationality that is not represented by a state

Palestine* and the "Kurds"

Stateless nation example

Suffrage

the right to vote in political elections

Supranationalism

A venture involving 3 or more national states political economic or cultural cooperation to promote shared objectives

Ex. United Nations

Supranationalism example

Territorial integrity

the right of a state to defend sovereign territory against incursion from other states

Significance- defends a state with military actions protecting the citizens

Territorial integrity significance

Territorial morphology (compact, fragmented, elongated, prorupt, perforated)

A term that describes a state's geographical shape. This can affect its spatial cohesion and political viability

Territoriality

Efforts to control pieces of the earth's surface for political or social ends.

Unitary

A government that concentrates all policy-making powers in once central geographic place

Ex. Vietnam

unitary example

USSR collapse

breakup of Soviet Union in 1991, ended communism in much of the world and created 15 republics

Significance- For the most part stopped the spread of communism

USSR collapse significance

Political Geography

the study of the political organization of the planet, a constantly changing collage of countries that were once kingdoms or parts of empires

shatter belts

zones of great cultural complexity containing many small cultural groups who find refuge in the isolation created by rough terrain

Government

the leadership and institutions that make policy decisions for a country

Institutions

stable, long lasting organizations that help to turn political ideas into policy

Centripetal Forces

Forces that tend to unite or bind a country together. To pull them together. "nationalism"

seperatist movement

a situation in which nationalities within a country demand independence

Ethnonationalism

the tendency for an ethnic group to see itself as a distinct nation with a right to autonomy or independence. A fundamental centrifugal force.

3rd wave of democratization

end of cold war- rise of capitalism. The defeat of dictatorial rulers around the globe. Further development of democracy. Still a need for transition in Africa.