Chapter 8 Political Vocab Flashcards
Ability of a state to govern its territory free from control of its internal affairs by other states
Sovereignty
An area organized into a political unit and ruled by an established government that has control over its internal and foreign affairs
State
A state that encompasses a very small land area
Microstate
The most important global organization created after WWII that provides a forum for the discussion of international problems
United Nations
A sovereign state comprising a city and its immediately surrounding countryside
City- state
A group of people united by common decent, history, culture, or language in a particular country or territory
Nation
A state whose territory corresponds to that occupied by a particular ethnicity that has been transformed into a nationality
Nation- state
A group of people that is not the majority population in a nation- state
Stateless nation
The concept that ethnicities have the right to govern themselves
Self- determination
A state that consists of more than one ethnicity
Multiethnic state
A state that contains two or more ethnic groups with traditions of self- determination that agree to coexist peacefully by recognizing each other as distinct nationalities
Multinational state
A territory that is legally tied to a sovereign state rather than completely independent
Colony
An attempt by one country to establish settlements and to impose its political, economic, and cultural principles in another territory
Colonialism
Control of a territory already occupied by an indigenous population
Imperialism
An invisible line that marks the extent of a state’s territory
Boundary
A zone separating two states in which neither state exercises political control
Frontier
Coinsides with significant features of the natural landscape
Physical boundry
Follows the distribution of cultural characteristics
Cultural boundaries
A straight line boundry
Geometric boundary
A state in which the distance from the center to any boundary does not vary significantly
Compact state
A state with a long, narrow shape
Elongated state
An otherwise compact state with a large projecting extension
Prorupted state
A state that completely surrounds another one
Perforated state
A state that includes several discontinuous pieces of territory
Fragmented state
A state that does not have a direct outlet to the sea
Landlocked state
A country in which citizens elect leaders and can run for office
Democracy
A country that is run according to the interests of the ruler rather than the people
Autocracy
A country that is not fully democratic or fully autocratic; but rather displays a mix of the two types
Anocracy
An internal organization of a state that places most power in the hands of the central government officials
Unitary state
An internal organization of a state that allocates most powers to units of local government
Federal state
The process of redrawing legislative boundaries for the purpose of benefiting the party in power
Gerrymandering
A condition of roughly equal strength between opposing countries or alliances of countries
Balance of power
The systematic use of violence by a group in order to intimidate a population or coerce a government into granting its demands
Terrorism
The system of government in which priests rule in the name of God or a god
Theocracy
A state of government with a royal family as the rulers
Monarchy
A series of antigovernment uprisings affecting Arab countries of North Africa and the Middle East beginning in 2010
Arab Spring
