Unit 4 - Vocab Quiz 2

• Political Geography


  The spatial analysis of political phenomena and processes
• Administered Boundary


  Enforcement of a boundary by government or people (final phase of boundary creation).
• Antecedent Boundary


  A boundary line established before an area is populated.
• Choke Point


  A geographical land feature such as a valley or waterway which can greatly decrease combat for an armed force trying to reach its objective.
• Consequent Boundary


  A boundary line that coincides with some cultural divide, such as religion or language.
• Demilitarized Zone

  An area in which treaties or agreements between nations, military powers or contending groups forbid military installations, activities, or personnel.
• Failed State

  A state within which the government has lost the ability to provide the most basic of public services.
• Maritime Boundaries


  A conceptual means of division of the water surface of the planet into maritime areas that are defined through surrounding physical geography or by human geography.
• Relic Boundary


  A boundary that has ceased to function but can still be detected on the cultural landscape.
• Subsequent Boundaries


  Boundary line established after an area has been settled that considers the social and cultural characteristics of an area.
• Superimposed Boundaries

  Boundary line drawn in an area ignoring the existing cultural patterns.
• East/West Divide


  Geographic separation between the largely Democratic and Free-market countries of Western Europe and the Americas from the Communist and Socialist countries of Eastern Europe and Asia; largely defunct, but old issues are preventing the East from catching up to the West.
• North/South Divide


  The economic division between the wealthy countries of Europe, North America and Japan and the generally poorer countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America.
• African Union


  An organization of African States aiming to encourage economic development and political stability through increased cooperation between its members.
• Arctic Council


  An organization consisting of 8 Arctic States that addresses issues faced by the Arctic governments and the indigenous people of the Arctic.
• Shatterbelt


  An area of instability between regions with opposing political and/or cultural values.
• Confederation

  A form of an international organization that brings several autonomous states together for a common purpose.
• International Organization

  An alliance of two or more countries seeking cooperation with each other without giving up either's autonomy or self-determination.
• Irredentism

  The doctrine that a region should be controlled by the country to which they are ethnically or historically related.
• Supranational Organization


  Voluntary association of three or more states to promote shared goals.
• Commonwealth of Independent States


  Confederacy of independent states of the former Soviet Union that have united because of their common economic and administrative needs.
• European Union


  International organization comprised of European countries promoting free trade amongst its members; recent (and controversial) members include Turkey, Former Soviet states.
• North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)


  Agreement between the USA, Canada and Mexico, promoting the goals of free trade amongst the member countries - The USMCA (United States- Mexico- Canada Agreement).
• North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)


  International organization created to form a military alliance between the western, democratic countries during the Cold War, includes USA and Western Europe.
• Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)


  An international economic organization whose members all produce and export oil.
• United Nations


  A Global Supranational Organization established at the end of World War II to foster international security and cooperation.
• Democratization


  Trending toward democracy.
• Domino Theory


  The idea that political destabilization in one country can lead to collapse of political stability in neighboring countries, starting a chain reaction of collapse (mostly used in reference to Communism spreading from the USSR in the 1950s-1980s).
• Enclave


  A country that is entirely surrounded by the territory of another country (i.e. South Africa).
• Exclave


  A bounded territory that is part of a particular state, but is separated from it by the territory of a different state (i.e. Russia has an exclave on the Baltic Sea).
• Exclusive Economic Zones


  An area of coastal water and seabed within a certain distance of a country's coastline, to which the country claims exclusive rights for fishing, drilling, and other economic activities.
• Geopolitics


  The study of the interplay between political relations and the territorial context in which they occur.
• Law of the Sea

  Laws establishing states' rights and responsibilities concerning the ownership and use of the earth's seas, oceans and their resources.
• Lebenstraum


  Hitler's expansionist theory, the desire to acquire 'living space' for the Germans in WWII.
• Military Alliances


  International agreement concerning national security in which the contracting parties agree to mutual protection and support in case of a crisis that has not been identified in advance.
• Territoriality


  An attempt to affect, influence, or control actions, interactions, or access by asserting/attempting to enforce control over a specific geographic area.
• Territorial Dispute


  Any dispute over land ownership.
• Territorial Organization


  Political organization that distributes political power in more easily governed units of land.
• Electoral College


  A certain number of electors from each state proportional to and seemingly representative of that state's population. Each elector chooses a candidate believing they are representing their constituency's choice. The candidate who receives a higher proportion of electoral votes within a state receives all the electoral votes from that state.
• Electoral Vote


  The decision of a particular state elector that represents the dominant views of that elector's state.