Unit 4~Political Organization of Space

Annexation

Legally adding land area to a city in the United States.

Antarctica

It is the largest land mass in the world not part of a sovereign state.

Apartheid

South Africa, a policy of racial segregation and discrimination against non-European groups.

Balkanization

Division of a region or state into smaller units, usually along ethnic lines.

Border Landscape

There are two types, exclusionary and inclusionary.

Definitional Boundary Dispute

Conflict over the language of the border agreement in a treaty or boundary contract.

Locational Boundary Dispute

Conflict over the location or place of a boundary.

Operational Boundary Dispute

Disputes that arise from two abuting or adjacent countries disagreeing about a major functionality of the border.

EX:when the United States and Mexico disagree over the use of illegal immigration into the United States.

Allocational Boundary Dispute

Conflict over resources that may not be divided by the border, such as natural gas reserves beneath the soil.

Antecedent Boundary

Boundary that existed before the human culture grew into current form.

Subsequent Boundary

Boundary that grows after significant settlement has occurred

Superimposed Boundary

Boundary forcibly put on a landscape by outsiders.

Relic Boundary

A former political border that no longer functions as a boundary.

Natural/Physical Boundary

A political border that follows some feature of the natural environment, such as a river or mountain ridge.

Ethnographic/cultural boundary

A political boundary that follows some cultural border, such as linguistic or religious border.

Geometric Boundary

A political border drawn in a regular, geometric manner, often a straight line,

Buffer state

An independent but small and weak country lying between two powerful countries.

Capital

Principle city in a state or country.

Centrifugal Force

Any factor that disrupts the internal order of a country.

Centripetal Force

Any factor that supports the internal unity of a country.

City-state

Political space compromising a central city and surrounding farmland.

Colonialism

The forceful appropriation of a territory by a distant state,

Confederation

Association of sovereign states by a treaty or agreement.

Conference of Berlin (1884)

Regulated trade and colonization in Africa.

Core/periphery

A concept based on the tendency of both formal and functional culture regions to consist of a core or node.

Decolonization

The action of changing from colonial to independent status.

Devolution

Process of transferring some power from the central government to regional governments.

Domino Theory

Notion that democratic allies must protect lands from falling to the communists because one such communist.

Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)

According to the UNCLOS (UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION ON THE LAW OF THE SEA),

Electoral regions

Different voting districts that make up local, state, and national regions.

Enclave

A piece of territory surrounded by, but not part of a country.

Exclave

A piece of national territory separated from the main body of a country by the territory of another country.

Ethnic conflict

A war between ethnic groups often as a result of ethnic nationalism or fight over natural resources.

European Union

Supranational organization of nearly 25 member-states in Europe that have integrated for improved economic and political cooperation.

Federal State

An independent country that gives considerable powers and even autonomy to its constituent parts.

Forward capital

Capital city built by a state to achieve a national goal.

Frontier

Region where boundaries are very thinly or weakly developed; zone where territorial systems.

Geopolitics

The influence of the habitat on political entities.

Gerrymander

The drawing of electoral district boundaries in an awkward pattern to enhance the voting impact of one constituency at the expense of another.

Global commons

Those parts of our environment available to everyone but for which no single individual has responsibility--the atmosphere, fresh water, forests, wildlife, and ocean fisheries.

Heartland/rimland

The interior of a sizeable landmass, removed from maritime connections; in particular, the interior of the Eurasian continent.

Immigrant states

A type of receiving state which is the target of many immigrants.

International organization

An alliance of two or more countries seeking cooperation with each other without giving up either's autonomy or self-determination.