Political Organization of Space
This term refers to an independent political unit with defined boundaries and a permanent population.
What is a state?
A boundary drawn straight using lines of latitude or longitude.
What is a geometric boundary?
A system where power is held by a central government and limited local authority exists.
What is a unitary state?
When political power breaks down to smaller regions within a state.
What is devolution?
A force that unifies people and increases stability inside a state.
What is a centripetal force?
A group of people with a shared cultural identity who desire self-rule.
What is a nation?
A boundary created before an area is heavily populated or developed.
What is an antecedent boundary?
A system where power is shared between national and regional governments.
What is a federal state?
A primary cause of devolution where different languages, ethnic groups, or religions demand autonomy.
What are cultural forces?
A force that divides a country and increases regional tension.
What is a centrifugal force?
A political unit with multiple national groups living under one government, such as the United Kingdom.
What is a multinational state?
A dispute over ownership of a place, such as India and Pakistan fighting over Kashmir.
What is a territorial dispute?
Redistricting for political gain, often creating oddly shaped districts.
What is gerrymandering?
The process in which a state breaks apart into smaller states, as seen in the Balkans.
What is balkanization/fragmentation?
Shared religion, language, and symbols that bring a population together.
What are cultural centripetal forces?
A nation that does not have a recognized state of its own, like the Kurds or Palestinians.
What is a stateless nation?
This step in the boundary-making process involves physically marking the border on the landscape with signs, fences, walls, or pillars.
What is demarcation?
The type of gerrymandering that concentrates opposition voters into one district to reduce their influence elsewhere.
What is packing?
A challenge to sovereignty where outside organizations heavily influence a country’s economic or political decisions.
What are supranational organizations?
Economic inequality or uneven development between regions, leading to instability.
What is a centrifugal economic force?
When a nation’s homeland spills over into the territory of multiple states
What is a multistate nation?
The UN Convention that sets rules for territorial seas, EEZs, and maritime sovereignty.
What is UNCLOS?
A strategy where gerrymandering spreads opposition voters thinly across many districts.
What is cracking?
!!!DAILY DOUBLE!!! A region wanting complete independence from a state, such as Basque from Spain.
What is a separatist movement/Ethnic Separatism?
The belief that a nation has the right to rule its own territory, which can unify or divide a state.
What is sovereignty?