4.1 Political Organization

Types of Political Entities

• State - defined territory with borders.
  • Primary building blocks of world political map
  • Characteristics of a state - Permanent population, government, sovereignty, and recognition from other states
  • Sovereignty - Right of a government to control and defend its territory
  • Ex. of sovereignty - Ms. Garcia has sovereignty over her classroom
• Nation - a group of people with a common identity through shared cultural traits such as language, religion, ethnicity, and heritage
  • 1 example of nations - The Maasai in East Africa live in South Kenya and North Tanzania
• Nation State - When the borders of the nation match the borders of the state
  • Not melting pots
  • Ideally only one nation within in (no state has only one nation)
  • 3 examples of nation states - Japan, Denmark, Iceland
• Stateless nation - Nations of people without a state to occupt
  • 3 examples of stateless nation - Kurds (Kurdistan), Palestenians, The Basque
• Multistate nation - Nation of people that live in more than 1 state
  • Example of multistate nation - After the USSR fell, ethnic Russians live in former Soviet territories
  • 3 former Soviet territories - Estonia, Latvia, Ukraine
• Multinational State - country with various ethnicities and cultures within its borders
  • 3 examples of multinational states - USA, Russia, Africa
• Autonomous or semi-auto region - Location w/ a state that is given authority to govern independently from the national government
  • 2 examples of semi-auto - Hong Kong, Tibet
  • Because China wants to control them still
  • 2 examples of autonomous regions - Native American reservations, Tribal lands
  • Why be auto or semi-auto? (2 reasons) - Geographically distant or preservation of cultural identity