Human Geo Chapter 8 Vocab

Question 1

State

Answer 1

An area organized into a political unit and ruled by an established government that has control over its internal and foreign affairs. It contains a permanent population. State doesn’t refer to the 50 states in the US, which are subdivisions within the US state. As recently as 1940, the world had 50 countries, compared to approximately 200 today.

Question 2

Microstates

Answer 2

A state that encompasses a VERY small land area. The Vatican is the world’s smallest microstate at 0.17 miles. The 2nd-smallest microstate (and smallest that is a UN Member) is Monaco, 0.8 square miles. Nauru is smallest Island state (8.1 miles).
-Many more UN member states are less than 400 square miles. Many of them are islands, which explains their small size and sovereignty.

Question 3

Sovereignty

Answer 3

Ability of a state to govern its territory free from control of its internal affairs by other states. It’s an example of a formal/uniform region because it is managed by its national government, laws, army, & leaders. There is disagreement over the # of sovereign states, tied to the history & geography of the places involved & their neighbors.

Question 4

City-state

Answer 4

A sovereign state comprising a city and its immediately surrounding countryside. The first states to evolve in Mesopotamia were city-states. Singapore is a present-day one. In ancient times, walls clearly delineated the boundaries of the city, and it controlled the land outside of the wall to make food for residents. The countryside also gave the city an outer line of defense against attacks.

Question 5

Nation

Answer 5

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

Question 6

Nation-state

Answer 6

A state whose territory corresponds to that occupied by a particular nation. Nations have pushed to create nation-states because desire for self-rule is a very important shared attitude for many of them.

Question 7

Self-determination

Answer 7

The concept that ethnicities/nations have the right to govern themselves. To preserve/enhance cultural characteristics, nations seek to govern themselves without interference.

Question 8

Multinational State

Answer 8

A state that contains two or more cultural groups with traditions of self-determination that agree to coexist peacefully by recognizing each other as distinct nationalities. Ex: The US has many cultural groups who consider themselves as belonging to a single US nationality. In other states, one cultural group may try to dominate others.

Question 9

Colony

Answer 9

A territory that is legally tied to a sovereign state rather than completely independent. In some cases, a sovereign state runs only the colony’s military and foreign policy, but sometimes controls internal affairs.

Question 10

Colonialism

Answer 10

An attempt by one country to establish settlements and to impose its political economic, & cultural principles in another territory. Historically, European states established colonies for 3 basic reasons:
1. To promote Christianity
2. To extract useful resources to serve as captive markets for products
3. To establish relative power through the number of colonies claimed.

Question 11

Balance of Power

Answer 11

Condition of roughly equal strength between opposing countries or alliances of countries. Before the Cold War, the world contained multiple superpowers. Before WWI, there were 8. When many states ranked as equal strength, no single state could dominate, but major powers joined together to form temporary alliances.

Question 12

Democracy

Answer 12

A country in which citizens elect leaders and can run for office. They select leaders through voting, have much citizen participation, and checks and Balances. The world has become more democratic since the 1970s, because of the replacement of increasingly irrelevant & out-of-touch monarchies with elected gov’ts, the widening of participation in policymaking to all citizens through rights, and the diffusion of democratic gov’t structures created in Europe & the USA.

Question 13

Autocracy

Answer 13

A country that is run according to the interests of the ruler rather than the people. Leaders are selected according to clearly defined (often hereditary) rules of succession. Citizens’ participation is sharply restricted/suppressed. Leaders exercise power with no checks/balances.

Question 14

Anocracy

Answer 14

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

Question 15

Unitary State

Answer 15

An international organization of a state that places most power into the hands of central government officials. It works best in a compact nation-state characterized by few internal differences & a strong sense of national unity. They are common in Europe. Ex: France has a long tradition of unitary gov’t & a strong national government.

Question 16

Federal State

Answer 16

An internal organization of a state that allocates most powers to units of local government. It is suitable for large states in case the capital is too remote (Russia, Canada, US, India). The federal state principle is in the 10th US amendment. Recently, there has been a strong federal gov’t global trend, & Unitary systems have been curtailed. Ethnicities demand self-determination, so states have restructured their gov’t to give local gov’t units power.

Question 17

Weapon of Mass Destruction

Answer 17

A nuclear, biological, chemical, or other weapon that can kill and bring significant harm to a large number of humans or cause great damage to human-made structures, natural structures, or the biosphere.

Question 18

Terrorism

Answer 18

The threatened or actual use of illegal force and violence by a non state actor to attain a political, economic, religious, or social goal thru fear, coercion, or intimidation. Because it can be difficult to identify, organizations have developed criteria that must be met for terrorism:
1. Incident must be intentional (conscious, by perpetrator)
2. Incident must entail violence/threat of violence
3. Conducted by one state against another don’t count.
4. Aimed at attaining political, economic, religious goal.
5. Intention to convery message to large audience
6. Outside precepts of international humanitarian law.

Question 19

Boundary

Answer 19

An invisible line that marks the extent of a state’s territory. They completely surround an individual state. They interest geographers because the process of selecting their location is frequently difficult.

Question 20

Frontier

Answer 20

A zone separating 2 states in which neither state exercises political control. It is a tangible geographic area. They were either sparsely settled or uninhabited, and frontiers between states have been replaced by boundaries (modern communications let them monitor/guard borders).

Question 21

Compact State

Answer 21

A state in which the distance from the center to any boundary doesn’t vary significantly. An ideal compact state would be circular, with a capital at the center and the shortest possible borders to defend. Examples in sub-Saharan Africa: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda.
It can be a strong centripetal force in smaller states because of good communications. Compactness doesn’t always mean peacefulness though.

Question 22

Prorupted State

Answer 22

An otherwise compact state with a large projecting extension. They’re made for 2 reasons, both found in sub-Saharan Africa:
1. To provide a state with access to a resource (DRC has a proruption to the west along the Congo River. Proruption created by the Belgians).
2. To separate 2 states that would share a boundary.

Question 23

Perforated State

Answer 23

A state that completely surrounds another one. The surrounded state may face problems of dependence on or interference from the other state. Example: South Africa completely surrounds Lesotho, a compact state, that depends entirely on South Africa. That dependency became difficult when South Africa’s white controlled gov’t discriminated against the black population.

Question 24

Elongated State

Answer 24

A state with a long, narrow shape. They may suffer from poor internal communications/isolation. 2 examples:
1. The Gambia: 300 miles east-west, but 15 miles north-south. The shape was determined in the late 19th.
2. Malawi: 530 miles north-south but 60 miles east-west. In 1891, the British declared it a Protectorate to deter Portuguese on the west side of Malawi from staking claim.

Question 25

Fragmented state:

Answer 25

A state that includes several discontinuous pieces of territory. It is significant for some states that face problems/costs related to communications & maintaining national unity. There are 2 kinds of fragmented states:
1. Fragmented by other states: Angola, divided in 2 by the DRC. Movement to make the smaller part independent.
2. Fragmented by water: Tanzania (1964) union of island of Zanzibar with the mainland territory of Tanganyika. Though home to 2 different ethnic groups, the 2 entities joined because they shared common goals/priorities.

Question 26

Landlocked State

Answer 26

A state that doesn’t have a direct outlet to the sea. Direct ocean access is critical because it helps international trade, so a landlocked state must use another country’s seaport to send/get goods.

Question 27

Gerrymandering

Answer 27

The process of redrawing legislative boundaries to benefit the party in power. Named for Elbridge Gerry (1744-1814), MA governor and US vice president who redistricted MA to benefit him. Someone called it a “salamander,” then a “gerrymander.”