Unit 4 vocab: AP Human Geo

A subdivision of human geography focused on the nature and implications of the evolving spatial organization of political governance and formal political practices on the Earth’s surface. It is concerned with why political spaces emerge in the places that they do and with how the character of those spaces affects social, political, economic, and environmental understanding and practice.

A politically organized territory that is administered by a sovereign government and is recognized by a significant portion of the international community. A state has a defined territory, a permanent population, a government, and is recognized by other states.

A system of political units came into being with fixed, distinct boundaries and at least a quasi-independent government.

In political geography, a country’s or more local community’s sense of property and attachment toward its territory, as expressed by its determination to keep it inviolable and strongly defended.

A principle of international relations that holds that final authority over social, economic, and political matters should rest with the legitimate rulers of independent states (the states have the last say over their respective territories).

The right of state to defend sovereign territory against incursion (invasion, attack) from other states.

In a general sense, associated with the promotion of commercialism and trade. More specifically, a protectionist policy of European states during the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries that promoted a state’s economic position in the contest with other countries. The acquisition of gold and silver and the maintenance of a favorable trade balance (more exports than imports) were central to the policy.

Peace negotiated in 1648 to end the Thirty Years’ war, Europe’s most destructive internal struggle over religion. The treaties contained new language recognizing statehood and nationhood, clearly defined borders, and guarantees of security.

Legally, a term encompassing all the citizens of a state. Most definitions now tend to refer to a tightly knit group of people possessing bonds of language, ethnicity, religion, and other shared cultural attributes. Such homogeneity actually prevails within very few states.

-identified by its own membership 

-not always defined by borders 

-one nation can include different groups of people

Theoretically, a recognized member of the modern state system possessing formal sovereignty and occupied by a people who see themselves as a single, united nation. Most nations and states aspire to this form, but it is realized almost nowhere. Nonetheless, in common parlance, nation-state is used as a synonym for country or state.

Government based on the principle that the people are the ultimate sovereign and have the final say over what happens within the state.

State with more than one nation within its borders. Ex. former Yugoslavia.

Nation that stretches across borders and cross states. Ex. Transylvanian.

Nation that does not have a state. Ex. Kurds.

-may form foundations of future state

Physical process whereby the colonizer takes over another place, putting its own government in charge and either moving its own people into the place or bringing in indentured outsiders to gain control of the people and the land.

Theory originated by Immanuel Wallerstein and illuminated by his three-tier structure, proposing that social change in the developing world is inextricably (strongly / directly) linked to the economic activities of the developed world.

Economic model wherein people, corporations, and states produce goods and exchange them on the world market, to achieve profit.

The process through which something is given monetary value. Commodification occurs when a good or idea that previously was not regarded as an object to be bought and sold is turned into something that has a particular price and that can be traded in a market economy.

Processes that incorporate higher levels of education, higher salaries, and more technology; generate more wealth than periphery processes in the world-economy.

Processes that incorporate lower levels of education, lower salaries, and less technology; and generate less wealth than core processes in the world economy.

Places where core and periphery processes are both occurring, places that are exploited by the core but in turn exploit the periphery.

Forces that tend to unify a country—such as international religious, linguistic, ethnic, or ideological differences.

Forces that tend to divide a country—such as internal religious, linguistic, ethnic, or ideological differences.

A nation-state that has a centralized government and administration that exercises power equally over all parts of the state.

A political-territorial system wherein a central government represents the various entities within a nation-state where they have common interests—defense, foreign affairs, and the like—yet allows these various entities to retain their own identities and to have their own laws, policies, and customs in certain spheres.

The process whereby regions within a state demand and gain political strength and growing autonomy at the expense of the central government.

System wherein each representative is elected from a territorially defined district.

Process by which representative districts are switched according to population shifts, so that each district encompasses approximately the same number of people.

In the context of determining representative districts, the process by which a majority of the population is from the minority.

Redistricting for advantage, or the practice of dividing areas into electoral districts to give one political party an electoral majority in a large number of districts to give one political party an electoral majority in a large number of districts while concentrating the voting strength of the opposition in as few districts as possible.

Vertical plane between states that cuts through the rocks must be transferred from one carrier to another. In a port, the cargoes of oceangoing ships are unloaded and put on trains, trucks, or perhaps smaller riverboats for inland distribution.

A geopolitical hypothesis, proposed by British geographer Halford Mackinder during the first two decades of the twentieth century, that any political power based in the heart of Eurasia could gain sufficient strength to eventually dominate the world. Mackinder further proposed that since Eastern Europe controlled access to the Eurasian interior, its ruler would command the vast “heartland” to the east.

Process by which geopoliticians deconstruct and focus on explaining the underlying spatial assumptions and territorial perspectives of politicians.

World order in which one state is in a position of dominance with allies following rather than joining the political decision making process.

A venture involving three or more nation-states involving formal political, economic, and / or cultural cooperation to promote shared objectives. Ex. The European Union

The movement of economic, social, and cultural processes out of the hands of states.

-due to globalization, networked communities, increasing mobility

With respect to popular culture, when people within a place start to produce an aspect of popular culture themselves, doing so in the context of their culture and making it their own.