Political Geography Nations, States, and Autonomy

Definitions for Topics 4.1-4.10 Term Definition a large aggregate of people united by common descent, history, culture, or nation language, inhabiting a particular country or territory. A state whose territory corresponds to that occupied by a particular ethnicity that nation-state has been transformed into a nationality stateless nation A nationality that is not represented by a state. an area of a country that has a degree of autonomy, or has freedom from an autonomous region external authority area where a group has some type of political autonomy. Semi-autonomous semi-autonomous region 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 An area organized into a political unit and ruled by an established government state with control over its internal and foreign affairs. A country State that contains two or more ethnic groups with traditions of selfmulti-national state determination that agree to coexist peacefully by recognizing each other as distinct nationalities. multi-state nation a nation or cultural group that is divided across two or more state borders Ability of a state to govern its territory free from control of its internal affairs by sovereignty other states. self-determination Concept that ethnicities have the right to govern themselves The process whereby regions within a state demand and gain political strength devolution and growing autonomy at the expense of the central government. political boundaries lines that define the border of a country or state the defense of a bounded physical space against encroachment by other territoriality individuals power used to determine who will hold government office and how the political power government will behave control by a powerful country of its former colonies (or other less developed neo-colonialism countries) by economic pressures shatterbelt an area of instability between regions with opposing political and cultural values chokepoint a strategic, narrow waterway between two larger bodies of water a former boundary line that is still discernible and marked by some cultural relict boundary landscape features a boundary that is imposed on the cultural landscape which ignores pre-existing superimposed boundary cultural patterns (typically a colonial boundary) a boundary line that is established after the area in question has been settled and subsequent boundary that considers the cultural characteristics of the bounded area a boundary that existed before the cultural landscape emerged and stayed in place antecedent boundary while people moved in to occupy the surrounding area geometric boundary Political boundaries that are defined and delimited by straight lines. a boundary line that coincides with some cultural divide, such as religion or consequent boundary language International boundary delineates the space between sovereign space boundaries that do not indicate sovereignty, but are used to break space into Internal boundary manageable units of administration Delimited boundary a boundary line drawn on a map to show the limits of a space a boundary identified by physical objects placed on the landscape; can be a sign, Demarcated boundary fence, wall, etc. a boundary estazblished by a legal document such as a treaty that divides one Defined boundary entity from another Militarized boundary a boundary that is heavily guarded and discourages crossing and movement Maritime boundary boundaries in the water; based on UNCLOS and various rights to the waters UN Convention on the Law of Governs how land waters will be divided; includes Territorial Seas, Contiguous the Sea (UNCLOS) Zones, Eclusive Economic Zones, and High Seas Voting district voting boundaries created; based on the Census redrawing of district boudnaries so that each district contains roughly the same Redistricting number of people; based on the Census drawing the boundaries of political districts by the party or group in power to Gerrymandering extent or cement their advantage authority shared between the central government and provincial, state, and local Federal state governments; multiple levels of power authority held primarily by central government with very little power given to Unitary state local governments occurs when ethnic groups and minorities are concentrated in specific regions, Ethnic separatism leading to independence movemnts forced removal of ethnic, religious, racial, or cultural groups from an area, usually Ethnic cleansing in an effort to make that area more ethnically homogenous organized violence aimed at government and civilian targets that is intended to Terrorism create fear in the furtherance of political aims a movement to unite by people who share a language or other cultural elements, Irredentism but are divided by a national boundary people whose primary allegiance is not to their state, but to a traditional group or Subnationalism ethnicity State disintegration the breaking down of a state Democratization the transition toward more democratic governments companies that conduct business on a global scale; have weakened state Transnational corporations sovereignty and are able to move jobs from country to country the cost advantages of conducting economic activity on a large scale, like at the Economies of scale transnational level occurs when multiple states form an organization to collectively achieve greater Supranationalism benefits for all members organization of 193 countries; created to address global issues such as worldwide United Nations (UN) peace and human rights organization created as a defensive alliance to help the United States in the Cold North Atlantic Treaty War; includes states such as United States, Canada, Iceland, Western and Central Organization (NATO) European states, Turkey organization of mostly Western and Central European states; created to ensure European Union (EU) political and economic cooperation organization of 8 states that each claim territory in the Arctic; promotes Arctic Council cooperation on Arctic issues, including indigenous people, sustainability, and environmental protection organization of 55 African states; promotes unity and encourages economic African Union integration Association of Southeast Asian organization of 10 Southeast Asian states; promotes cooperation on a number of Nations (ASEAN) issues, including politics and economics political body that has disintegrated to the point that it is no longer a sovereign or Failed State functioning political entity support for the political interests of a particular ethnic group, especially its Ethnonationalism national independence or self-determination the fragmentation of a state or region into smaller, often hostile units along ethnoBalkanization linguistic lines; usually applied specifically to the Balkan states in Europe changing the number of representattives granted so it reflects the population; Reapportionment done based on the Census Organization of the Petroleum organization that focuses on the production or petroleum, as well as working to Exporting Countries (OPEC) stabilize oil markets; includes states such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Indonexia, Venezuela, Nigeria, and Iran