Political Geography

• Balkanization


  the process of fragmentation or division of a region or state into smaller regions or states that are often hostile or uncooperative with one another. An example of balkanization is Yugoslavia. 5

  
• Apartheid


  Definition: Laws (no longer in effect) in South Africa that physically separated different races into different geographic areas.

  Example: There were apartheid laws in South Africa between around 1950 to 1994.

  Application: These laws significantly added to the amount of racial discrimination in South Africa
• World Trade Organization (WTO)

  works to negotiate rules of trade among the member states
• Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)


  An international economic organization whose member countries all produce and export oil
• Colonialism


  the policy or practice of acquiring full or partial political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically. The Berlin Conference encouraged colonialism in Africa. 5

  
• Allocational/resource boundary dispute


  Dispute over location and resources
• Antecedent boundary


  a boundary that existed before the cultural landscape emerged and stayed in place while people moved in to occupy the surrounding area...
• Buffer state


  a small neutral state between two rival powers
• Capital


  Principle city in a state or country. The best place to locate a capital is at the center of a country, so it is a somewhat equal distance from all parts of the country.
• City-state


  a city with political and economic control over the surrounding countryside
• Compact state


  a state that possesses a roughly circular, oval, or rectangular territory in which the distance from the geometric center is relatively equal in all directions
• Confederation


  the act of forming an alliance or confederation
• Berlin Conference (1884-1885)


  Regulated trade and colonization in Africa. It formalized the scramble to gain colonies in Africa and set up boundaries for each country's colonies.
• Cultural/ethnographic political boundary


  boundaries that mark breaks in the human landscape based on differences in ethnicity
• Definitional boundary dispute


  Conflict over the language of the border agreement in a treaty or boundary contract
• Delimitation phase in boundary creation


  in which the exact location of a boundary is legally described and negotiated
• Demarcation phase in boundary process


  Phase in which the boundary is visibly marked on the landscape by a fence, line, sign, wall or other means
• Domino theory


  the political theory that if one nation comes under Communist control then neighboring nations will also come under Communist control
• Electoral geography


  The study of the interactions among space, place and region and the conduct and results of elections.
• Elongated state


  A state whose territory is long and narrow in shape.
• Ethnic conflict


  type of conflict that occurs when different tribes/nations are lumped together to form a country
• European Union


  an international organization of European countries formed after World War II to reduce trade barriers and increase cooperation among its members
• Forward capital


  capital city positioned in actually or potentially contested territory usually near an international border, it confirms the states determination to maintain its presence in the region in contention.
• Fragmented state


  A state that is not contiguous whole but rather separated parts.
• Frontier


  an undeveloped field of study
• Geopolitics


  the study of the effects of economic geography on the powers of the state
• Iron Curtain


  a political barrier that isolated the peoples of Eatern Europe after WWII, restricting their ability to travel outside the region
• Irredentism


  a movement to unite by people who share a language or other cultural elements, but are divided by a national boundary
• Landlocked


  surrounded entirely or almost entirely by land
• Locational /positional boundary dispute


  territorial dispute along the edge of two neighboring land owners
• Manifest destiny


  a policy of imperialism rationalized as inevitable (as if granted by God)

  Ex: The 19th-century doctrine or belief that the expansion of the US throughout the American continents was both justified and inevitable.
• Micro-state


  A state or territory that is small in both size and population.
• Operational/functional boundary dispute


  Boundaries that move according to operations or functions
• Perforated state


  A state whose territory completely surrounds that of another state.
• Physical/natural political boundary


  natural boundary might be something like a river, mountain range or an ocean. These are generally considered to be obstructions which prevent crossing without additional equipment or assistance, such as a boat or horses to carry what you need to cross a mountain range., political boundary would be a real or imagined line in the sand that defines the boundary of a nation or state
• Relic boundary


  they no longer exist as international boundaries.
• Rimland Theory


  Nicholas Spykman's theory that the domination of the coastal fringes of Eurasia would provided the base for world conquest.
• Satellite state


  A political term that refers to a country which is formally independent, but under heavy influence or control by another country.
• Self-determination


  the ability of a government to determine their own course of their own free will
• Shatterbelt


  a region caught between stronger colliding external cultural-political forces, under persistent stress, and often fragmented by aggressive rivals (e.g., Israel or Kashmir today; Eastern Europe during the Cold War,...).