Unit 4 : political geography Flashcards
Sovereignty
principle of international relations that holds that final authority over social, economic, and political matters should rest with the legitimate rulers of independent states
Nation
tightly knit group of people possessing bonds of language, ethnicity, religion, and other shared cultural attributes (only in very few states)
Nation-state
recognized member of the modern state system possessing formal sovereignty and occupied by a people who see themselves as a single, united nation
ex: japan, slovenia, iceland
Multinational state
state with more than one nation within its borders
ex: canada, russia, usa, belgium
Multistate nation
nation that stretches across borders and across states
ex: koreans in north and south korea
Stateless nation
nation that does not have a state
ex: kurds, palestinians
Colonialism
physical process whereby the colonizer takes over another place, putting its own government in charge and either moving its own people into the place or bringing in indentured outsiders to gain control of the people and the land
Core
processes that incorporate higher levels of education, higher salaries, and more technology, generate more wealth than periphery processes in world-economy
ex: usa, uk, japan, s korea
Periphery
processes that incorporate lower levels of education, lower salaries, and less technology, generate less wealth than core processes in world-economy
ex: honduras, bolivia, s. saharan africa
Semi-Periphery
places where core and periphery processes are both occurring, places that are exploited by the core but in turn exploit the periphery
ex: india, vietnam, thailand
Capitalism
economic model wherein people, corporations, and states produce goods and exchange them on the world market, with the goal of achieving profit
Berlin Conference (1881-1885)
meeting between European nations to create rules on how to peacefully divide Africa for colonization
compact state
distance from geometric center is similar, easy transportation/communication, high nationality
ex: poland, germany, hungary
fragmented state
2 or more separate pieces, no center, lots of nations
ex: philippines, indonesia
elongated state
stretch out, no cohesion, separation between endpoints (different nations)
ex: chile, vietnam
prorupted state
has area that extends from a more compact core , the prorupted part might have access to a good resource, but could have different nation
ex: namibia, with access to water
perforated state
surrounds another state(called landlocked), parts around landlocked state could have another nation, limited trade and transportation
ex: south africa perforated around lesotho
italy perforated around vatican city
core-periphery model4
- core sells high profit goods to periphery and semipheriphery
- core financially exploits semi periphery
- core exploits periphery for labor, raw materials, resources
- semi periphery exploits periphery for manufacture, cheap labor
Centripetal force
forces that tend to unify a country
ex: national sports teams, common culture (religion, language), economic success
Centrifugal force
forces that tend to divide a country
ex: civil war, politics, different religion /language
Unitary government
nation-state that has a centralized government and administration that exercises power equally over all parts of the state
Federal system
political-territorial system where a central government represents the various entities within a nation-state where they have common interest, but allows the entities to have their own laws, politics, and customs
Devolution
process when regions within a state demand and gain political strength and growing autonomy at expense of the central government
Reapportionment
process where representative districts are switched according to population shifts, so that each district encompasses approximately the same number of people
Majority-minority district
process where a majority of the population is from the minority
Gerrymandering
redistricting for advantage or dividing areas into electoral districts to give one political party an electoral majority while concentrating the voting strength of the opposition as few as possible
Geometric boundaries
political boundaries defined as a straight line or arc
ex: boundary between arizona and new mexico
Physical-political boundaries
political boundary defined, delimited and occasionally demarcated by a prominent physical feature in the natural landscape (river)
ex: boundary between chile and argentina (mountains)