APHUG: Unit 4 Chapter 11 - Vocabulary (Political Challenges and Changes)

Maritime Boundary

legal delineations that establish the limits of a state's jurisdiction over its adjacent sea areas, impacting issues such as resource allocation and navigation rights

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

the international agreement that established the structure of maritime boundaries

International Waters

the areas of the ocean that are beyond any national jurisdiction, typically beyond 12 nautical miles from a coastal state's baseline

Territorial Sea

a maritime zone extending up to 12 nautical miles from a coastal state's baseline, where the state has sovereignty over the water, its resources, and the airspace above it

Exclusive Economic Zone

an area that extends 200 nautical miles from a state’s coast; a state has sole access to resources found within the waters or beneath the sea floor of its EEZ

Voting District

specific geographic areas defined for the purpose of electing representatives to government bodies

Redistricting

the redrawing of internal territorial and political boundaries

Gerrymandering

the dividing of legislative boundaries to give one political party an advantage in elections

Unitary State

an organization of a state in which power is concentrated in a central government

Federal State

the organization of a state in which power is shared between the federal government and internal regional units

Ethnic Separatism

the process by which people of a particular ethnicity in a multinational state identify more strongly as members of their ethnic group than as citizens of the state

Ethnic Cleansing

the process by which a state attacks an ethnic group and tries to eliminate it through expulsion, imprisonment, or killing

Terrorism

the use of violence or threats to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes

Irredentism

attempts by a state to acquire territories in neighboring states inhabited by people of the same nation

Supranationalism

a form of governance or organization that transcends national boundaries, where countries work together to achieve shared objectives, often ceding some degree of sovereignty to a higher authority

Democratization

the process through which a government moves from an authoritarian system to a more democratic one