Unit 4 Vocab: Political Geography Flashcards
(53 cards)
Political geography
Study of the ways inn which the world is organized as a eflecion of the powder that different groups hold over territory.
Ex. China doesn’t recognize Taiwan as an independent state.
States
Created by humans to organize and manage themselves. Politically organized independent terrritory with:
Government
Defined borders
Permanent population
Ex. Sweden
Sovereignty
Right of a government to control and defend its territory and determine what happens within its borders.
Ex. Canada is sovereign and controls own laws and territory.
Nations
Cultural entities and are. Made of individual who have forged a common identity through shared language, religion, ethnicity or heritage.
Ex. Hawaiians are united by history, culture, and language
Nation-State
Territory occupied by a group who views themselves as nation is the same as the politically recognized boundaries of the state they call their own.
Ex. Estonia share a common identity because of ethnicity and language.
Multistate Nation
Consistes of people who share a cultural or ethnic background but live in more than one country.
Ex. Ethnic Russians are considered this becase many live outside Russia.
Irredentism
Attempting to acquire territories I in neighboring states inhabited by people of the same nation.
Ex. Russia claiming Ukraine bc of they beleive they share a culture.
Multinational State
Country with various ethnicities and cultures living inside its borders.
Ex. Iraq has Sunni, Shia, and Kurdish populations, leading to internal conflict.
Autonomous and Semiautonomous
Regions given some authority to govern their own territories independently from the national government.
Ex. Hong Kong uses different currency and government than the rest of China.
Stateless Nations
People unified by culture, language, history, and tradition, but no possessing a state.
Ex. Tribal nations share those things but don’t have independent state.
Choke Point
narrow, strategic passageway to another place through which it is difficult to pass.
Ex. Strait of Malacca
Shatterbelt
States joint, form break up bc of ongoing, sometimes violent, conflicts among parties and because they are caught between interests of more powerful outside state.
Ex. Balkan Peninsula, society Union couldn’t control Balkan Peninsula, so conflict occurred. Yugoslavia is now independent states.
Neocolonialism
Use of economic, political, cultural, or other pressures to control or influence other countries, especially former dependencies.
Ex. Kenya paid china to build a railroad, but is now in great debt and china controls when the railroad is built
Territoriality
Attempt by an individual or group to affect, influence, or control people, phenomena, and relationships by delimiting and asserting control over a geographic area.
Ex. Mexico-USA border
Self-Determination
The right of aol people to choose thier own political status
Ex. Yugoslavia din’t respect people’s national identities, so the nations broke up and formed 7 states
Defining Border
Countries explicitly state in legally binding documentation, like treaties, where bordered are, using reference points like natural features and lat/long
Ex. Canada and USA
Deliminating Borders
Drawn on maps in accordance to legal agreeements.
Ex. US w/ Mexico in 1848 treaty
Demarcating Borders
Made with physical objects (sones walls, fences, etc). Ex. US-Mexico wall on border
Devolution
When central power in a state is broken up among regional authorities within its borders
Ex. Soviet Union into 15 independent states.
Ex. England gives some of its powers to Scotland, Northern Ireland, and wales
Demilitarized Zone (DMZ)
War 1950-53 with no vicator. Demilitarized zone is 2.5 miles wide. Troops can’t cross the line
Subsequent boundaries
Drawn in areas that have been settled by people where cultural landscapes already exists or are in the process of being established
Ex. France - Germany
Consequent boundary
Type of subsequent boundary. Takes into account differences that exist within a cultural land space, separating groups that have sitinct languages, religions, ethnicities, or other traits.
Ex. New countries after Yugoslavia, like Croatia where 90% are Croatian
Superimposed boundaries
Drawn over existing accepted borders by an outside or conquering force
Ex. Europeans splitting up Africa at Berlin conference
Antecedent Boundaries
Established before many people settle into an area
Ex. USA - Canada border established before many people moved to Northern states
