AMSCO Unit 4 Vocab Flashcards
Sovereignty
the power of a political unit, or government, to rule over its own affairs
State
the largest political unit, the formal term for a country
Four criteria
-defined boundary
-contains a permanent pop.
-maintains sovereignty
-recognized by other states
Nation
a group of people who have certain things in common
-common cultural heritage
-set of beliefs that unify them
-traditional claim to a particular space as their homeland
-a desire to establish their own state or express self-rule
Nation-state
a nation of people who fulfill the qualifications of a state
Ex. japan, France, Egypt
Multinational state
a country that contains more than one nation
Ex. US, Canada
Autonomous region
a defined area within a state that has a high degree of self-government and freedom from its parent state
Ex. Aland
Semiautonomous region
a state that has a degree of, but not complete self-rule
Stateless nation
a cultural group that has no independent political entity
Ex. Kurds
Multistate nation
when a nation has a state of its own but stretches across borders of other states
Nationalism
the strong feeling of patriotism and loyalty one feels toward one’s country promotes a sense of belonging, been if a country’s population is an ethnically diverse one
Self-determination
the right to choose their own sovereign government without external influence
Decolonization
the undoing of colonization, in which indigenous people reclaim sovereignty over their territory
Satellite states
a state dominated by another politically and economically
Devolution
The process in which one or more regions are given increased autonomy by the central political unit
Territoriality
a willingness by a person or a group to defend a space they claim
Neocolonialism
When economic, political, or even cultural control is exerted over developing countries
Chokepoint
a place of physical congestion between wider regions of movement and interaction
Physical geographic boundaries
natural barriers between areas such as oceans, deserts, and mountains
Cultural boundaries
divide people according to some cultural division, such as language, religion, or ethnicity
Antecedent boundary
borders that are established before there has been major settlement by people in an area
Ex. Andes Mountain
Subsequent boundary
borders that have been drawn in areas that have been settled by people, typically due to changes that have occurred over time
Ex. boundaries in Europe
Superimposed boundary
borders that are drawn over existing and accepted borders by an outside force.
Ex. Berlin Conference
Consequent boundary
Type of subsequent boundary - takes into account the existing cultural distribution of the people living in the territory and
redevelops boundary lines to more closely align with cultural boundaries.
Ex. Nunavut in Canada
Geometric boundary
Borders are established on straight lines of latitude and longitude instead of physical or cultural boundaries.
Ex. 49th parallel
Relic boundary
border that no longer exists, but has left some imprint on the local cultural or environmental geography.
Ex. Berlin Wall
Open boundary
unguarded and people can cross it easily, with little or no political intervention
Militarized boundary
one that is heavily guarded and discourages crossing
Defined boundary
established by a legal document, such as a treaty, that divides one entity from another
Delimited boundary
drawn on a map by a cartographer to show the limits of a space
Demarcated boundary
one identified by physical objects placed on the landscape
Administered boundary
Legal management of the border
through laws, immigration regulation, documentation, and prosecution.
Definitional boundary dispute
when two or more parties disagree over how to interpret the legal documents or maps that identify the boundary
Locational (territorial) boundary dispute
boundary disputes that center on where a boundary should be, how it is delimited, or demarcated
Irredentism
a type of expansionism when one country seeks to annex territory where it has cultural ties to part of the population or historical claim to the land.
Operational (functional) boundary dispute
centers not on where a boundary is but how it functions
Allocational (resource) boundary dispute
when a boundary separates natural resources that may be used by both countries
Controlled boundary
boundaries that have checkpoints where a passport or visa is required to enter the country
Exclaves
territories that are part of a state, yet geographically separated from the main stage by one or more countries
Political enclaves
are states, territories or parts of a state or territory that are completely surrounded by the territory of another state
Ex. Lesotho, Vatican City, San Marino
Shatterbelt
a place located between two very different and contentious regions
Territorial Sea
area that extends up to 12 nautical miles of sovereignty where commercial vessels may pass, but noncommercial vessels may be challenged
Contiguous Zone
costal states have limited sovereignty for up to 24 nautical miles where they can enforce laws on customs, immigration, and sanitation
Exclusive economic zone (EEZ)
Coastal states can explore, extract minerals and manage natural resources up to 200 nautical miles
High Seas
water beyond any country’s EEZ that is open to all states
Internal boundaries
used at the subnational scale to divide countries into smaller units
Voting districts
internal boundaries that divide a country’s electorate into subnational regions
Census
a count of the population, every 10 years, to ensure the national congressional districts have approximately the same number of people
Reapportionment
changing the number of representatives granted to each state so it reflects the state’s population
Redistricting
when state legislatures or state committees then redraw district boundaries so that each district contains roughly the same number of people
Gerrymandering
the drawing of boundaries for political districts by the party in power to protect or increase its power
Cracking
dispersing a group into several districts to prevent a majority
Packing
combing like-minded voters into one district to prevent them from affecting elections in other districts
Stacking
diluting a minority-populated district with majority populations
Hijacking
redrawing two districts in order to force two elected representatives of the same party to run against each other
Kidnapping
moving an area where an elected representative has support to an area where he or she does not have support
Federal state
unites separates political entities into an overarching system that allows each entity to maintain some degree of sovereignty
Unitary State
most or all of the governing power is held by the national government
Annexation
the process of legal adding territory to a city
Ethnic Separatism
the advocacy of full political separating from the larger group along cultural, ethnic, tribal, or government lines
Ethnic cleansing
a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent or terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic or regions group from certain geographic areas
Terrorism
organized violence aimed at government and civilian targets to create fear for the advancement of political goals. Most commonly used by NGOs (non-governmental organizations)
Subnationalism
described people who have a primary allegiance to a traditional group or ethnicity
Balkanization
the fragmentation of a state or region into smaller, often hostile, units along ethnolinguistic lines
Globalization
the integration of markets, states, communication, and trade on a worldwide scale
Supranationalism
the practice of multiple countries forming an organization for the benefit of all members
Transnational corporations
companies that conduct business on a global scale, have dramatically weekend state sovereignty.
Ex. Telsa, Apple, McDonalds
Democratization
the transition from autocratic to more representative forms of politics
Simple:
the transition from other forms of government to a more democratic one
Time-space compression
the social and psychological effects of faster movement of info over space in shorter period of time
Regionalism
when loyalty to a district portion of a country is more important than loyalty to the entire country
Ethnonationalism
a type of nationalism wherein the nation and nationality are defined in terms of ethnicity
