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autonomous region
an area of a country that has degree of autonomy, or has freedom from an external authority.
ethnicity
a group of people (often of the same race) who have a shared culture; the cultural component of race
failed state
a country where the government has become so weak it has lost control and can no longer provide basic government functions
irredentism
a movement to reclaim land by a group who feels they have a claim on that land
multinational state
a country that has substantial amounts of more than one ethnicity
multistate nation
a nation that controls at least one country but that a substantial portion of that group lives in an adjacent country
nation
a very cohesive ethnicity - the distinction between the two is not clear
nation-state
a country where the vast majority of the people are of the same ethnicity (nationality)
semiautonomous region
an area inside of a country that has some power to control itself more than other areas in the country
separatist movement
a group advocating for independence for a nation inside a state
sovereignty
the ability of a country to govern itself without outside influence
state
a country that has sovereignty (not what we think of in the United States!)
stateless nation
a nationality that does not have a country and isn't the majority in any country which implies that they "should" have a country
territoriality
the perceived connection of people, their culture, and their economic systems to the land
colonialism
when a more powerful country acquires full or partial political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically
imperialism
when one country dominates colonies far from their home country and often imposes their culture on them
independence movement
people that are trying to gain political independence for some area that they think should be its own country
self determination
the idea that nations should rule themselves instead of being controlled by others
chokepoint
a strategic narrow route providing passage through or to another region
neocolonialism
gaining indirect control of another country through economic or cultural pressures
shatterbelt
a region caught between stronger colliding external forces, under persistent stress, often fragment by aggressive rivals
antecedent boundary
a border that has divided people since before history was written
boundary
a border that separates administrative units such as countries or provinces
consequent boundary
a type of subsequent boundary that tries to divide the existing groups of people between two countries
geometric boundary
a border that is a straight line and drawn without taking into account the physical and cultural features of the land
relic boundary
a former border between countries that can still be detected on the cultural landscape
subsequent boundary
a border drawn after an area is settled
superimposed boundary
a boundary that is imposed on the cultural landscape which ignores pre-existing cultural patterns
maritime boundary
the extensions of a country’s territory that extend into the oceans around them
electoral college
the system used in American presidential elections that assigns a number of votes to states by population. It encourages candidates to not only focus on populated areas
gerrymandering
redrawing voting district boundaries to benefit one political party over another
redistricting
in the United States, after each census redrawing voting district due to population changes
reapportionment
process in which U.S. House of Representatives seats are re-allocated to different states, based off of population change
federalism
a country where the national government is strong and the regional governments are also strong so they share power
unitary state
a country where the national government is strong and the regional governments are weak
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