Chapter 8 Flashcards
State
An area organized into a political unit and ruled by an established government that has control over its internal and foreign affairs. (aka country)
Microstate
States with very small land areas.
Sovereignty
Independence from control of its internal affairs by other states.
Nation-state
A state whose territory corresponds to that occupied by a particular ethnicity.
City-state
A sovereign state that comprises a town and the surrounding countryside.
Self-determination
The concept that ethnicities have the right to govern themselves.
Multiethnic state
A state that contains more than one ethnicity.
Multinational state
A state that contains more than one ethnicity with traditions of self-determination and self-government.
Colony
A territory that is legally tied to a sovereign state rather than being completely independent.
Colonialism
An effort by one country to establish settlements in a territory and to impose its political, economic, and cultural principles on that territory.
Boundary
An invisible line that marks the extent of a state’s territory.
Frontier
A zone where no state exercises complete political control.
Territorial waters
Up to 12 nautical miles from shore, a state may set laws regulating passage by ships registered in other states.
Contiguous zone
Between 12 and 24 nautical miles from shore, a state may enforce laws concerning pollution, taxation, customs, and immigration.
Exclusive economic zone
Between 24 and 200 nautical miles, a state has the sole right to fish and other marine life.
Compact state
The distance from the center to any boundary does not vary significantly.
Example: Uganda
Elongated state
Has a long and narrow shape.
Example: Chile
Prorupted state
An otherwise compact state with a large projecting extension.
Example: Namibia
Perforated state
A state that completely surrounds another one.
Example: South Africa
Fragmented state
Includes several discontinuous pieces of territory.
Example: Tanzania
Landlocked state
Lacks a direct outlet to a sea because it is completely surrounded by several other countries (or only one country, in the case of Lesotho).
Democracy
A country in which citizens elect leaders and can run for office.
Autocracy
A country that is run according to the interests of the ruler rather than the people.
Anocracy
A country that is not fully democratic or autocratic but displays a mix of the two types.
Unitary state
Places most power in the hands of central government officials.
Federal state
Allocates strong power to units of local government within the country.
Gerrymandering
Redrawing legislative boundaries to benefit the party in power.
Balance of power
A condition of roughly equal strength between opposing alliances.
Terrorism
The systematic use of violence by a group calculated to create an atmosphere of fear and alarm among a population or to coerce a government into actions it would not otherwise undertake or refrain from actions it wants to take.
