Chapter 8: Political Geography

Question 1

state

Answer 1

an area organized into a political unit and ruled by an established government

Question 2

sovereignty

Answer 2

independence from control of its internal affairs by other states

Question 3

microstates

Answer 3

states with very small land areas

Question 4

colonialism

Answer 4

effort by one country to establish settlements and to impose its political, economic and cultural principles on such territory. Taking control of previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited land.

Question 5

imperialism

Answer 5

control of territory already occupied and organized by an indigenous society.

Question 6

boundary

Answer 6

invisible line marking the extent of a state’s territory

Question 7

compact state

Answer 7

the distance from the center to any boundary does not vary significantly
ex. Poland

Question 8

prorupted state

Answer 8

an otherwise compact state with a large projecting extension. ex. Thailand

Question 9

elongated state

Answer 9

state with a long and narrow shape

ex. Chile

Question 10

fragmented state

Answer 10

several discontinuous pieces of territory

ex. Indonesia

Question 11

perforated state

Answer 11

a state that completely surrounds another one

ex. South Africa

Question 12

landlocked state

Answer 12

lacks a direct outlet to sea because it is surrounded by other countries

Question 13

frontier

Answer 13

a zone where no state exercizes complete political control

Question 14

unitary state

Answer 14

places most power in the hands of central government officials

Question 15

federal state

Answer 15

allocates strong power to unites of local government within the country

Question 16

gerrymandering

Answer 16

redrawing legislative boundaries for the purpose of benefiting the party in power

Question 17

balance of power

Answer 17

a condition of roughly equal strength between opposing alliances

Question 18

city-state

Answer 18

a sovereign state that comprises a town and the surrounding countryside

Question 19

colony

Answer 19

a territory that is legally tied to a sovereign state rather than being completely independent

Question 20

The Heartland Theory

Answer 20

In 1904, Sir Halford Mackinder published the Heartland theory. The theory proposed that whoever controls Eastern Europe controls the Heartland. It also supported the concept of world dominance.

Question 21

The Rimland Theory

Answer 21

Definition - In 1942, Nichols Spyman created a theory which countered the Heartland theory. Spyman stated that Eurasia’s rimland, the coastal areas, is the key to controlling the World Island.

Question 22

The Domino Theory

Answer 22

The domino theory speculated that if one land succumbed to communism, then the surrounding would follow in domino effect. The effect suggests that some change, relatively small in itself, will cause a similar change nearby, which then will cause another similar change, and so on.

Question 23

Mahan’s Sea Power Theory

Answer 23

Alfred Thayer Mahan believed that domination and power was associated with the sea, with its usage for trade and its control in war. He soon published his theory in his book, The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, which discussed the factors needed to support and achieve sea power.

Question 24

Wallerstein’s World Systems Theory

Answer 24

The basic World-systems approach is a view of the recent five countries of world history, as well as ideas by several theorists, to studying international relations, world history, and sociology.