unit 5 Flashcards
nation
group of people with shared culture, desire to govern themselves
nation example
french nation is made up of people who speak french, share french history and culture, and identify as french
state
countries, must have permanent population, defined boundaries, sovereignty
state example
the US, the UK
nation state
homogeneous language, culture, religion, made up of primarily one nation, same borders as a state
nation state example
republic of india, majority speaks hindi and is represented as the indian nation
multinational state
at least 2 or more national groups coexisting as 1 state
multinational state example
russian federation consits of multiple ethnicities and nationalities, have own language and culture
multistate nation
nation stretches across multiple states
multistate region example
korean people, dispersed across north and south korea
stateless region
does not have recognized state, no political boundaries or government with sovereign rule
stateless region example
the kurds, dispersed across several countries in the middle east, no sovereign state of their own
autonomous region
region inside state, can govern itself with limited interference from national government
semi-autonomous region
region inside state, has moderate ability to self-govern, national government can interfere
semi-autonomous region example
hong kong within china, kurdistan region within iraq
centripetal forces
helps unify a state, like a strong national identity
unifying institutions
educational places and schools, military, churches, great infrastructure
centrifugal forces
pull apart and disperse
ethno-regionalism
minority group concentrated in a particular area
irredentist movements
seek to recover “lost” land
international boundaries
recognized lines that separate one state from another
borderland
area that surrounds the boundary
de jure
expressed by law
de facto
action or what is practiced
natural boundaries
when natural features divide countries
geometric boundaries
lines drawn on a map without much interest in what is on the landscape
antecedent boundaries
boundaries created before an area is known or populated
subsequent boundaries
created after recognized settlement and often separate existing cultural groups
international boundaries’ functions
disrupt traffic (good, people, information), separate governments and economic systems
neocolonialism
more developed country uses political and economic influence over less developed countries
choke points
small geographic areas where large amounts of goods or people pass through
shatterbelts
2 or more regions next to each other competing and fighting to influence
cultural shatterbelts
region where different cultures come into contact and conflict with each other
geopolitics
attempts to explain why some countries have power and others do not
unitary states
most power resides in central government, no hierarchy of powers, few cultural differences or minorities
positives of unitary states
centripetal forces, stanndardized laws, greater efficiency
negatives of unitary states
centrifugal forces, reduced local communities, can be more inefficient to local needs
federal states
power is shared between sub units/regions, multiple levels of power, mostly found in multi-ethnic and geographically large countries or countries with high minority populations
devolution
transfer of power or authority from a central government to a sub unit or lower administrative level
devolution factors
division of groups by physical geography, ethnic separatism, ethnic cleansing, terrorism, economic/social problems, irredentism
ethnic separatism
mainly religion, language, or ethnicity related differences
ethnic cleansing
mass explusion or killing of members of an “unwanted” ethnic or religious group in a society
terrorism
violence against civilians for political reasons
economic and social problems
strife that can lead to the devolution and altering of states
irredentism
when a state wants to annex (attach) a territory whose population is ethnically similar
voting districts
geographic areas established to control who votes where (districts, wars, precincts, etc)
redistricting
to redraw voting districts across a county to take into account changes over time
gerrymandering
dividng or arranging election districts in a way that gives someone an advatnage
self-determination
concept that ethnicities have the right to govern themselves
frontier
forms edge of settled part of two countries, neither state has political control
supranational organization
member states joined together to create foreign and security policies, mutual rights, and combined politics and economies
supranational organization example
the european union (eu)
