AP Human Geography Vocab: Unit 4 Political processes BOLDED WORDS

The vocab and concepts in Krinhop's class ! This is what will be on the vocab quiz on the 18th !

Annexation

The internationally legal addition of new territory into an existing state.

Apartheid

The physical separation of different races into separate geographic areas. It was instituted by the colonizers in 1948, and was designed to subjugate the black majority.

Autonomous region

A designated area within a country that has a degree of self-governance, allowing it to make certain political, economic, and cultural decisions independently from the central government

Balkanization

The contentious political process by which a state may break up into smaller states.

Buffer state

A state that lies between two much larger and more powerful states

Centrifugal

The factors that push people and regions within a state apart, creating division and potential conflict.

Centripetal

Forces that unit people within a state

City-State

A small sovereign state that is made up of a town or city and the surrounding area

Cold war

The period of time following World War II where the united states and the Soviet Union emerged as superpowers and faced off in an arms race that lasted nearly 50 years.

Colonialism

Control by one power over a dependent area or people

Confederation

A union of sovereign groups or states, often formed for purposed of mutual defense or the promotion of common interests

Conference of Berlin (1884)

A meeting where European powers convened to discuss the partition and colonization of Africa.

Core/Periphery

A central region in an economy, upon which an outlying region depends. The central region also is dependent on the labor of the outlying area.

Decolonization

The process through which colonies gain independence from colonial powers, leading to the establishment of sovereign nations.

Devolution

The transfer of power from a central government to a lower level of government, such as a regional or local government.

Domino theory

The idea that if one land in a region came under the influence of communists, then more would follow.

Enterprise Zones (EEZ)

A maritime zone extending up to 200 nautical miles from a coastal state’s baseline, where the state has exclusive rights to explore and exploit marine resources.

Enclave

The name given to a state that is completely surrounded by another state

Exclave

A region of a country that is completely separated from the main body of that country, usually by the borders of another country.

Ethnic cleansing

Rendering an area ethnically homogeneous by using force or intimidation to remove from a given area persons of another ethnic or religious group.

European Union

A political and economic union of 27 European countries that have chosen to cooperate closely in various areas, including trade, governance, and social policy.

Federal

Governmental authority is shared among a central government and various other smaller regional authorities.

Forward capital

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

Frontier Genocide

The mass killing or displacement of indigenous peoples or minority groups by settlers, colonial forces, or governments during the expansion of frontier territories.

Homogenous

A quality or state of being all the same or similar in nature, which can apply to cultural, social, or physical traits within a defined area.

Gerrymander

The practice of manipulating electoral district boundaries to favor a particular political party or group

Global commons

Natural resources and environments that are not owned or controlled by any single nation or private entity, but are shared and accessible to all of humanity.

Heartland theory

Suggests that whoever owns the heartland of Eastern Europe will control the world

Imperialism

The practice of a country extending its power and influence over other countries, typically through the use of military force, economic coercion, or cultural domination.

Iron curtain

A barrier that divided capitalist and communist nations

Irredentism

A land claim due to its historical significance or connection to an ethnic or national group within the state making a claim.

Landlocked

A country that is completely surrounded by the territory of more than one other country and has no direct access to the sea

Law of the sea

A body of international law that governs the rights and responsibilities of nations regarding the use of the world’s oceans, establishing guidelines for businesses, the environment, and the management of marine natural resources.

Mackinder, Halford J

The geographer who proposed the Heartland theory

Manifest destiny

The American belief that it is the USA’s God given duty to spread west

Median-Line principle

An approach to dividing and creating boundaries at the mid point between two places

Multinational State

A state that is comprised of more than one nationality

Multi-State nation

Ethnic or cultural groups that exist across multiple state boundaries, forming a cohesive identity despite being divided by political borders.

Microstate/Ministate

A country that is both small in population and area

Nation

A group of people bound together by some sense of a common culture, ethnicity, language, shared history, and attachment to a homeland.

National iconography

Figural representations , either individual or symbolic, religious or secular; more broadly, the art of representation by pictures or images.

Nationalism

Identification with and devotion to one’s nation

Nation-state

A sovereign state inhabited by a relatively homogenous group of people who share a feeling of common nationality.

Neo-Colonialism

Refers to the practice of using economic, political, and cultural pressures to control or influence former colonies

Nunavut

An Arctic territory in northern Canada governed solely by the Inuit.

Organic theory

States that nations must continually seek nourishment in the form of gaining land to survive in the same way that a living organism seeks nourishment from food to survive.

Raison d’être

A person’s purpose or reason for living

Reapportionment

The redistribution of seats in the US House of representatives

Rimland theory

Where major power struggles would take place, as it encompasses significant economic and strategic resources

Reunification

The bringing together of parts of one government

Satellite state

A country that is nominally independent but is under the influence and sometimes control of another much larger nation.

Self-Determination

The process by which a country determines its own statehood and forms its own allegiances and governments.

Shatter belt

Regions that are politically fragmented and often subject to external pressures and conflicts, typically located between larger, more powerful nations.

Sovereignty

The political authority of a state to govern itself

State

A political entity that has a defined territory, a permanent population, a government, and the capacity to enter relations with other states

Stateless ethnic groups

An ethnic group with no sovereign state

Stateless nation

A group of people who share a common identity, culture, language, or history but do not possess their own sovereign state.

Suffrage

The right to vote

Supranationalism

The process of nation states organizing politically and economically into one organization or alliance

Theocracy

A form of government in which religious leaders control the government, and religious laws are used to govern the states.

Treaty ports

A city ceded to a foreign power, usually for the purpose of exerting political and economic influence by a foreign power.

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

An international treaty that describes how sea-going vessels should interact with each other and with marine resources in regional waters and high seas.

Unitary state

A system of political organization in which most or all of the governing power resides in a centralized government, in contrast to a federal state.