unit 4(political geography)

• African Union


  organization formed in 2002 to promote unity among African states and to foster development and end poverty
• Annexation


  Legally adding land area to a city in the United States
• Antecedent Boundary


  a boundary line established before the area in question is well populated
• Apartheid


  Laws (no longer in effect) in South Africa that physically separated different races into different geographic areas.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


  Association of Southeast Asian Nations
• Arctic Council


  : A multilateral organization composed of representatives

  from the eight circumpolar states and six indigenous organizations.
• Autocracy


  a system of government by one person with absolute power.
• Autonomous region


  a political unit with limited self-government
• Balance of power


  Condition of roughly equal strength between opposing countries or alliances of countries.
• Balkanization


  Process by which a state breaks down through conflicts among its ethnicities
• Border Landscape


  There are two types, exclusionary and inclusionary. Exclusionary is meant to keep people out, such as the border between the U.S. and Mexico. Inclusionary is meant to facilitate trade and movement, such as the U.S.-Canada border
• Boundary


  invisible line that marks the extent of a state's territory
• Boundary Disputes


  Conflicts over the location, size, and extent of borders between nations. There is conflict over where exactly the border is between the U.S. and Mexico, especially along the Rio Grande because the river has changed course and moved, and it is the traditional border.
• Buffer state


  a small neutral state between two rival powers
• centrifugal force


  a force that divides people and countries
• centripetal force


  An attitude that tends to unify people and enhance support for a state
• Choke point


  a strategic, narrow waterway between two larger bodies of water
• City state


  a city that with its surrounding territory forms an independent state.
• Civil Divisions


  Governmental divisions that divide citizens
• Cold War


  A conflict that was between the US and the Soviet Union. The nations never directly confronted each other on the battlefield but deadly threats went on for years.
• Colonialism


  Attempt by one country to establish settlements and to impose its political, economic, and cultural principles in another territory.
• Commonwealth


  A self-governing territory associated with another country
• Confederation


  A joining of several groups for a common purpose.
• Conference of Berlin


  Regulated trade and colonization in Africa. It formalized the scramble to gain colonies in Africa and set up boundaries for each country's colonies.
• Consequent Boundary


  a boundary line that coincides with some cultural divide, such as religion or language
• Decolonization


  The collapse of colonial empires. Between 1947 and 1962, practically all former colonies in Asia and Africa gained independence.
• Delimitation


  the translation of the written terms of a boundary treaty (the definition) into an official cartographic representation.
• Demarcation


  the marking of boundaries or categories
• Democracy


  A political system in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who can elect people to represent them
• Democrazation


  the process of creating a government elected by the people
• Devolution


  the transfer of powers and responsibilities from the federal government to the states
• Domino theory


  A theory that if one nation comes under Communist control, then neighboring nations will also come under Communist control.

  
• EEZ


  Under the law of the sea, an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is a seazone over which a state has special rights over the exploration and use of marine resources.
• Electoral region


  The different voting districts that make up local, state, and national regions.
• Enclave


  a distinct region or community enclosed within a larger territory
• Ethnic cleansing


  Process in which more powerful ethnic group forcibly removes a less powerful one in order to create an ethnically homogeneous region
• Ethnic conflict


  different ethnic groups struggle to achieve certain political or economic goals at each other's expense
• Ethnicity


  Identity with a group of people that share distinct physical and mental traits as a product of common heredity and cultural traditions.
• Ethnocentrism


  Belief in the superiority of one's nation or ethnic group.
• Ethnonationalism


  The identification and loyalty a person may feel for his or her nation.