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What is a sovereign state?
A self-governing sovereign political entity with well-defined, and usually agreed-upon, territorial boundaries; inmost usage synonymous with independent country
What is a nation?
A group of people sharing a common culture (based on language, religion, ethnicity, and so on) and an attachment to a particular territory.
What is geopolitik?
What is geopolitics?
1. The study of states as organisms that choose to expand in territory in order to fulfill their “destinies” as nation-states
-how geography influences politics and international relations
2. The study of state power over space (or territory) and the ability to shape international political relations.
What is secession?
The act of a group (nation) formally withdrawing from a federation or political state.
What is fascism?
What is anarchism?
1. A political philosophy that places nationality (and often race) above the rights of the individual and that supports a centralized (often autocratic) government headed by a dictatorial leader.
2. A political philosophy that rejects the state and argues that social order is possible without a state.
What is sovereignty?
The supreme authority or right of individual states (countries) to control political, economic, and social affairs within its territorial boundaries without external interference.
what is a state?
A political entity with a defined territory, a permanent population, a government which makes decisions about internal affairs and is (usually) recognized by other states.
What is an Oligarchy?
Rule by an elite group of people, typically the wealthy
Think “Russian oligarchs”
What is a monarchy?
The institution of rule over a state by the hereditary head of a family; monarchists are those who favour this system.
Eg British Monarchy
What is capitalism?
A social and economic system for the production of goods and services based on private enterprise.
What is nationalism?
The expression of belonging to and self-identifying with a nation (a cultural group); goes along with a belief that a nation has the right to determine its own affairs; the belief that a nation and a state should be congruent.
what is a nation-state?
A political unit (state) that contains one principal cultural group (nation) that gives it its identity.
What is the Heartland Theory?
A geopolitical theory of world power based on the assumption that the state controlling the Eurasian heartland held the key to world domination.
What is devolution?
A process of transferring power from central to regional or local levels of government
What is socialism?
A social and economic system that involves a shared (common) ownership of the means of production and the delivery of services.
What is Irredentism?
The view and assertion by one country that a minority population living outside its formal borders (usually in an adjacent country) rightfully belongs to it culturally.
Eg China & Taiwan, Russia & Ukraine, Ethiopia & Eritea
What is a multinational state?
A political unit (state) that consists of two or more cultural groups (nations)
Define core-periphery
The idea that states and regions are often unequally divided between powerful cores and dependent peripheries
What is a dictatorship?
An authoritarian, oppressive, and antidemocratic form of government in which the leader is often backed by the military.
Eritrea
What is democracy?
A form of government involving free and fair elections, openness and accountability, civil and political rights, and the rule of law.
What is federalism?
A form of government in which power and authority are divided between central and regional governments
Define centrifugal forces and give an example
Factors that make it difficult to bind an area together as an effective state, such as cultural divisions within the state.
Define centripetal forces and give an example
Factors that pull an area together into a single unit to create a relatively stable state.
What is gerrymandering?
The realignment of electoral boundaries with the specific intent to benefit a particular political party.
What is malapportionment?
A form of gerrymandering, involving the creation of electoral districts of differing population sizes to the benefit of a particular political party