Unit Four: Political Patterns and Processes Flashcards

1
Q

Anocracy

A

A country that is not fully democratic or fully autocratic, but rather displays a mix of the two types.

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2
Q

Autocracy

A

A country that is run according to the interests of the ruler rather than the people

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3
Q

Balkanization

A

Process by which a state breaks down through conflicts among its ethnicities

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4
Q

Balance of Power

A

Condition of roughly equal strength between opposing countries or alliances of countries.

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5
Q

Boundary

A

An invisible line that marks the extent of a state’s territory

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6
Q

City-State

A

A sovereign state comprising a city and its immediate hinterland.

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7
Q

Colonialism

A

An attempt by one country to establish settlements and to impose its political, economic, and cultural principles in another territory.

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8
Q

Colony

A

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

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9
Q

Compact State

A

A state in which the distance from the center to any boundary does not vary significantly.

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10
Q

Democracy

A

A political system in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who can elect people to represent them

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11
Q

Federal State

A

An internal organization of a state that allocates most powers to units of local government.

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12
Q

Gerrymandering

A

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

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13
Q

Landlocked State

A

A state that is completely surrounded by the land of other states, which gives it a disadvantage in terms of accessibility to and from international trade routes

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14
Q

Microstate

A

A state that encompasses a very small land area.

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15
Q

Multinational 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.

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16
Q

Nation-State

A

A state whose territory corresponds to that occupied by a particular ethnicity that has been transformed into a nationality

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17
Q

Self-Determination

A

Concept that ethnicities have the right to govern themselves

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18
Q

Sovereignty

A

Ability of a state to govern its territory free from control of its internal affairs by other states.

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19
Q

State

A

An area organized into a political unit and ruled by an established government with control over its internal and foreign affairs.

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20
Q

Terrorism

A

The systematic use of violence by a group in order to intimidate a population or coerce a government into granting its demands.

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21
Q

Unitary State

A

An internal organization of a state that places most power in the hands of central government officials

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22
Q

Enclave

A

an enclosed territory that is culturally distinct from the foreign territory that surrounds it

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23
Q

Exclave

A

A bounded territory that is part of a particular state but is separated from it by the territory of a different state.

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24
Q

Nation

A

a large group of people who are united by common cultural characteristics, such as language and ethnicity, or by shared history.

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25
Q

Autonomous Region

A

self ruled region within another country - examples: Hong Kong in China, Northern Ireland in the UK

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26
Q

Semi-autonomous region

A

area where a group has some type of political autonomy. Semi-autonomous regions, like Kurdistan, has a degree of power and self-determination, but not fully like the autonomous regions of Russia in the North Caucasus region

27
Q

Political Entities

A

Organized public units such as a town, city, village, neighborhood, or province

28
Q

Independent State

A

People who are politically organized into a sovereign state with a definite territory.

29
Q

Imperialism

A

A policy of extending a country’s power and influence through diplomacy or military force.

30
Q

Devolution

A

Transferring responsibility for policies from the federal government to state and local governments.

31
Q

Political boundaries

A

Lines that define the border of a country or state

32
Q

Territoriality

A

In political geography, a country’s or more local community’s sense of property and attachment toward its territory, as expressed by its determination to keep it inviolable and strongly defended.

33
Q

Shatterbelt

A

A region that suffers instability because it’s located between two very different regions.

34
Q

choke point

A

a strategic, narrow waterway between two larger bodies of water

35
Q

Relic Boundary

A

A boundary no longer observed but that still affects the present-day area (e.g. border between West and East Germany in Berlin)

36
Q

superimposed boundary

A

a boundary that is imposed on the cultural landscape which ignores pre-existing cultural patterns (typically a colonial boundary)…

37
Q

geometric boundary

A

Political boundaries that are defined and delimited by straight lines.

38
Q

Demarcated Boundary

A

A boundary demarcated (marked) by some visible means on the ground. Ex. wall posts, fences, etc.

39
Q

maritime boundary

A

An international boundary that lies in the ocean. Like all boundaries, it is a vertical plane, extending from the seafloor to the upper limit of the air space in the atmosphere above the water.

40
Q

demiliterized zone

A

a buffer zone that serves as a barrier separating two countries such as North and South Korea.

41
Q

United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)

A

a code of maritime law approved by the United Nations in 1982 that authorizes, among other provisions, territorial waters extending 12 nautical miles from shore and 200-nautical-mile-wide exclusive economic zones

42
Q

Exclusive Economic Zone

A

area in which resources found up to 200 nautical miles offshore belong exclusively to the geographically bordering country

43
Q

Irredentism

A

The policy of a state wishing to incorporate within itself territory inhabited by people who have ethnic or linguistic links with the country but that lies within a neighboring state.

44
Q

Ethnonationalism

A

Nations are defined by a shared heritage, which usually includes a common language, a common faith, and a common ethnic ancestry

45
Q

Apartheid

A

A social policy or racial segregation involving political and economic and legal discrimination against non-whites in South Africa

46
Q

Supranationalism

A

Three or more countries agree to give up a degree of autonomy in order to pursue common goals. (ex. European Union)

47
Q

Kurds

A

Ethnic group that lives in parts of Iraq and Turkey. They are a stateless nation. They often suffer persecution in both countries and are currently under the protection of the United Nations in Iraq. Dependent on these countries to prosper economically because they are landlocked.

48
Q

Scramble for Africa

A

powers in the 1880s and 1890s. Britain obtained most of eastern Africa, France most of northwestern Africa. Other countries (Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Italy, and Spain) acquired lesser amounts.

49
Q

Berlin Conference

A

A meeting from 1884-1885 at which representatives of European nations agreed on rules colonization of Africa.

50
Q

Russia

A

What country is an ethnically diverse region with many subnational units?

51
Q

Quebecois Separatist Movement

A

This devolutionary movement was motivated by cultural differences such as religion and language, it has not been successful.

52
Q

Catalonia, Spain

A

This devolutionary movement was motivated by economic aspects because nationalists believed that this area sent too much money to poorer areas of the state.

53
Q

Ireland, Germany, Vietnam, Korea

A

Examples of states that have been divided into two political entities.

54
Q

Stateless Nation

A

a group of people with a common political identity who do not have a territorially defined, sovereign country of their own

55
Q

Subsequent Boundary

A

A boundary line that is established after the area in question has been settled and that considers the cultural characteristics of the bounded area

56
Q

Consequent Boundary

A

A type of subsequent boundary that is drawn to accommodate existing linguistic, cultural, or religious boundaries

57
Q

Redistricting

A

The redrawing of congressional and other legislative district lines following the census, to accommodate population shifts and keep districts as equal as possible in population. This occurs every 10 years.

58
Q

Federal System of Government

A

A government that divides the powers of government between the national government and state or provincial governments. Usually large land areas and multiple ethnic groups.

59
Q

Neo-colonialism

A

Control by a powerful country of its former colonies (or other less developed countries) by indirect means, economic, political or cultural.

60
Q

Centripetal Force

A

An attitude that tends to unify people and enhance support for a state

61
Q

centrifugal force

A

A force that divides people and countries

62
Q

Devolution

A

Transferring responsibility for policies from the federal government to state and local governments.

63
Q

County

A

Smallest unit in the hierarchy of political-administrative units.

64
Q

Empire

A

Largest unit in the hierarchy of political-administrative units.