Terms : Hide Images
| 25055971 | antecedent boundaries | a boundary line established before an area is populated | |
| 25055972 | balkanization | the contentious political process by which a state may break up into smaller countries | |
| 25055973 | buffer state | a relatively small country sandwhiched between two larger powers | |
| 25055974 | centrifugal forces | forces that tend to divide a country | |
| 25055975 | centripetal forces | forces that tend to unite or bind a country together | |
| 25055976 | colonialism | the expansion and perpetuation of an empire | |
| 25055977 | common wealth of independent states | confederacy of independent states of the former Soviet Union that have united becuase of their economic and administrative needs | |
| 25055978 | compact state | a state that possesses a roughly circular, oval, or rectangular territoryin which the distance from the geometric center is relatively equal in all direction | |
| 25055979 | confederation | a form of an international organization that brings several autonomous states together for a common purpose | |
| 25055980 | domino theory | the idea that political destabalization in one country can lead to collapse of political stability in neighboring countries, starting a chain of reaction collapse | |
| 25055981 | east/west divide | geographic seperation between the largely democratic and freemarket countries of Western Europe and the Americas from the communist and socialist countries of Eastern Europe and Asia | |
| 25055982 | electoral college | a certain number of electors from each state proportional to and seemingly representative of that state's population | |
| 25055983 | electoral vote | the decision of a particular state elector represents the dominant views of that elector's state | |
| 25055984 | elongated state | a state whose terrritory is long and narrow in shape | |
| 25055985 | enclaves | any small and relatively homogenous group or region surrounded by another larger and different group or region | |
| 25055986 | european union | international organizaiton compramised of Western European countries to promote free trade among members | |
| 25055987 | exclave | a bounded territory that is part of a particular state but is seperated from it by the territory of a different state | |
| 25055988 | federalism | a system of government in which power is distributed among certain geographical terrritories rather than concentrated within a central government | |
| 25056596 | fragmented state | a state that is not a contiguous whole but rather seperated parts | |
| 25056597 | frontier | an area where borders are shifting and weak and where people of different cultures or nationalities meet and lay to claim the land | |
| 25056598 | geometric boundary | political boundaries that are defined and delimited by straight lines | |
| 25056599 | geopolitics | the study of the interplay between political relations and the territorial context in which they occur | |
| 25056600 | gerrymandering | the designation of voting districts so as to favor a particular political party or candidate | |
| 25056601 | heartland theory | hypothesis proposed by Halford Mackinder that held any political power based in the heart of Eurasia could gain enough strength to domnate the world | |
| 25056602 | imperialism | the perpetuation of a colonial empire even after it is no longer politically sovereign | |
| 25056603 | international organization | an alliance of two or more countries seeking cooperation with each other without giving up either's autonomy or self-determination | |
| 25056604 | landlocked state | a state that is completely surrrounded by the land of other states, which gives it a disadvantage in terms of accessibility to and from international trade routes | |
| 25056605 | law of the sea | law establishing states' rights and responsibilities concerning the ownership and use of earth's seas and oceans and their recources | |
| 25056606 | lebensraum | Hitler's expansionist theory based on a drive to aquire "living space" for the German people | |
| 25056607 | microstate | a state or territory that is small in both population and area | |
| 25056608 | nation | tightly knit group of individuals sharing a common language, ethnicity, religion, and other cultural attributes | |
| 25056609 | nationalism | a sense of national pride to such an extent of exalting one nation above all others | |
| 25056610 | nation-state | a country whose population posssesses a substantial degree of cultural homogeneity and unity | |
| 25056611 | North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) | agreement signed on January 1, 1994, that allows the opening of borders between the US, Mexico, and Canada | |
| 25056612 | north/south divide | the economic divide between the wealthy countries of Europe and N America, Japan, and Austrailia and the generally poorer countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America | |
| 25056613 | organic theory | the view that states resemble biological organisms with life cycles that include stages of youth, maturity, and old age | |
| 25056614 | Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries | an international economic organization whose member countries all produce and export oil | |
| 25056615 | perforated state | a state whose territory completely surrounds that of another state | |
| 25056616 | physical boundary | political boundaries that correspond with prominent physical features such as mountain ranges or rivers | |
| 25056617 | political geography | the spatial analysis of political phenomena and processes | |
| 25056618 | popular vote | the tally of each individual's vot within a given geographic area | |
| 25056619 | prorupted state | a state that exhibits a narrow, elongated land extension leading away from the main territory | |
| 25056620 | reapportionment | the process of a reallocation of electoral seates to defined terrritories | |
| 25056621 | rectangular state | a state whose territory is rectangular in shape | |
| 25056622 | redistricting | the drawing of new electoral district boundary lines in response to population changes | |
| 25056623 | relic boundaries | old political boundaries that no longer exist as international borders, but that have left an enduring mark on the local cultural or enviromental geography | |
| 25056624 | rimland theory | Nicholas Spykman's theory that the denomination of the coastal fringes of Eurasia would provide the base for world conquest | |
| 25056625 | self-determination | the right of a nation to govern itself autonomously | |
| 25056626 | soveriegnty | supreme or independent political power | |
| 25056627 | state | a politically organized territory that is administered by a soveriegn government and is recognized by the international community | |
| 25056628 | states' rights | rights and powers believed to be in the authority of the stae rather than the federal government | |
| 25056629 | subsequent boundaries | boundary line established after an area has been settled that considers the social and cultural characterisitics of the area | |
| 25056630 | superimposed boundaries | boundary line drawn in an area ignoring the existing cultural pattern | |
| 25056631 | supranational organization | organization of three or more states to promote shared objectives | |
| 25056632 | territorial dispute | any dispute over land ownership | |
| 25056633 | territorial organization | political organization that distributes political power in more easily goverened units of land | |
| 25056634 | theocracy | a state whose government is either believed to be divinely guided or a state under the control of a group of religious leaders | |
| 25056635 | unitary state | a state governed constitutionally as a unit, without internal divisions or federalist delegation of powers | |
| 25056636 | United Nations (UN) | a global supranational organization established at the end of WWII to foster international security and cooperation |
