AP Human Geography Unit 4

Balkanization

  • Process by which a state breaks down through conflicts among its ethnicities.

Binational or Multinational State

  • State that contains more than one nation.

Boundary

  • Invisible line that marks the extent of a state's territory.

Centripetal Force

  • Unifies people and enhances support for a state.

Centrifugal Force

  • Divides people and countries.

Cold War

  • Conflict between the US and the Soviet Union with no direct confrontation.

Colonies

  • Settlement subject to or connected with the parent nation.

Compact States

  • State where the distance from the center to any boundary does not vary significantly.

Core Area

  • The portion of a country that contains its economic, political, intellectual, and cultural focus.

Core-Periphery

  • Model where underdeveloped countries depend on a developed core region.

Cultural Boundary

  • Invisible boundary made by cultural beliefs and traits.

Democratization

  • Spread of representative government.

Locational Disputes

  • Conflict over location, usually associated with physical boundaries.

Territorial Disputes

  • Disagreement over the control of land between two or more states.

Allocation Disputes

  • Disagreements over the control or use of shared resources.

Operational Disputes

  • Disagreements over policies applied to a common border.

Electoral Geography

  • Study of the geographical elements of elections.

Elongated States

  • State with a long narrow shape.

Enclave

  • A distinct region enclosed within a larger territory.

Exclave

  • Part of a country separated from the rest and surrounded by foreign territory.

Ethnic Force

  • Sense of belonging to the same culture within an ethnic group.

European Union

  • International organization to reduce trade barriers and increase cooperation.

Federal Systems

  • Government systems dividing powers between national and state governments.

Fragmentation

  • Adherence to regional and local political authority and divisions.

Fragmented States

  • State that includes several discontinuous pieces of territory.

Frontier

  • Zone separating two states in which neither exercises political control.

Geometric Boundary

  • Political boundaries defined by straight lines.

Gerrymandering

  • Redrawing legislative boundaries to benefit the party in power.

Geopolitics

  • Interest in land for its strategic location or products.

Government

  • System by which a community or political unit is governed.

Heartland Theory

  • Political power in Eurasia could dominate the world.

Imperialism

  • Strong nation dominating other countries politically, socially, and economically.

Internal Boundaries

  • Boundaries dividing the interiors of a country into sections.

Landlocked States

  • State surrounded by land with no direct outlet to the sea.

Median-Line Principle

  • Lines to distribute waterways when states are within 200 miles of each other.

Microstate

  • Small state in size and population.

Minority Districting

  • Rearranging districts to allow a minority representative to be elected.

Majority Districting

  • Area where the majority are racial or ethnic minorities, used to sway electoral votes.

Nationalism

  • Pride in and devotion to one's country.

Nation-State

  • Country whose population shares a common identity.

Perforated States

  • State that completely surrounds another.

Physical Boundary

  • Boundary defined by a physical landmark.

Friedrich Ratzel

  • Father of modern political geography, created the Organic Theory.

Rimland Theory

  • Domination of coastal fringes of Eurasia would provide the base for world conquest.

Security Council

  • Five permanent members with veto power in the UN.

Sovereignty

  • Ability of a state to govern its territory free from external control.

Stateless Nation

  • Nationality not represented by a state.

State

  • Politically organized territory with a sovereign government.

Supranational Organization

  • Organization of states to promote shared objectives.

Territoriality

  • Country's sense of attachment toward its territory.

Unitary State

  • State with most political power at the national level.

Organic Theory

  • States resemble biological organisms with life cycles.

Sea Power Theory

  • Control of the sea lanes leads to national strength.

Fortified Boundary

  • Boundary created by building a physical structure.

Irredentism

  • State wishing to incorporate territory with ethnic/linguistic links.

Terrorism

  • Use of violence for political aims.

Subnational

  • Derivatives of the federal system, designated portions of a country.