Power and Borders Flashcards
Independence
a situation in which the people of a country exercise self-government and sovereignty over their state territory having gained political freedom from outside control.
Secession
Transfer of part of a state’s area and population to another state.
Territory
Extent of land under the jurisdiction of a sovereign state.
International border
Geographical boundary of a sovereign state, defined and recognised by international law, and identified on the political map of the world.
State
Area of land, of an independent country, with well-defined boundaries, within which there is a politically organised body of people under a single government.
Sovereignty
The absolute authority that independent states exercise in the government of the land and peoples in their territory.
Self-determination
Right of a group with a distinctive territorial identity to freely determine its political status and freely pursue its economic, social and cultural development.
State apparatus
Set of state institutions and organisations through which state power is exercised; these include legal mechanisms, administrative organisations, police and armed forces, and health, education and welfare services.
Resilience
The degree to which an area can recover from the impacts of a hazard. The level of vulnerability affects a community’s resilience.
Nation
Large group of people with strong bonds of identity, united by shared descent, history, traditions, culture and language.
Nation-state
A nation which has its own independent state; the boundaries of the state coincide with the area inhabited by the nation.
Nation building
Processes by which a state government promotes nationality, for example through its education system or the media.
Territorial integrity
Principle that the defined territory of a state, over which it has exclusive and legitimate control, is inv
Norms
Moral principles, customs and ways of living that are universally accepted as standard behaviour.
Intervention
Actions of a state, group of states or international organisations in a foreign territory to end gross violations of human rights. This includes military force, economic sanctions and the assistance of NGOs
Geopolitics
Term used in the early twentieth century in the ‘Heartland’ work of Sir Halford Mackinder, referring to ways in which geographical factors were central in shaping international politics.
Advanced countries (ACs)
Countries that share a number of important economic characteristics, including well-developed financial markets, high degrees of financial intermediation and diversified economic structures with rapidly growing service sectors.
Emerging and developing countries
Countries that do not share all the economic development characteristics required to be advanced, and also are not eligible for the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust, identified by the IMF.
Low-income developing countries
Countries that are eligible for financial support from the IMF through the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust.
International community
All countries whose identity and sovereignty are recognised under the auspices of the UN, plus other international organisations that choose to participate in global discussions and decision-making and which act collectively to resolve humanitarian issues.
Global governance
Intervention by the global community, attempting to regulate issues, such as human rights, sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Westphalian model
The Peace of Westphalia (1648) marked the formal recognition of states as sovereign and independent political entities. It established the principle of sovereign equality of states, forming the basis of international law that governs the global political system today.
Separatism
Claims for, or practice of, separation of a group of people from a larger state on the basis of their ethnicity or unified national culture, traditions, religion and language.
Transnational Corporation
Very large company with factories and offices in more than one country, which markets products and services worldwide.
