Political Entities
A sovereign state whose cultural borders match its political boundaries.
What is a nation-state?
A term generally used to describe a person's attachment to a particular nation.
Lakes, mountains, and deserts are all examples of this type of natural boundary.
What are antecedent boundaries?
Examples of this type of devolution include the Holocaust and Tigray War in Ethiopia.
What is ethnic cleansing?
A form of government in which most power is held by the central state and laws are upheld by subnational regions.
What is a unitary state?
The Korean peninsula and Irish isle, both separated into two different nations, are examples of this type of nation.
What is a multistate nation?
A state's authority to determine its own policies and govern territories without interference from outside actors.
What is sovereignty?
The 49th parallel between the United States and Canada is an example of this boundary.
What is a geometric boundary?
This form of devolution can be domestic or international and involves the use of force or violence to spread fear to create change.
What is terrorism?
The process of redrawing electoral boundaries in ways that favor one political party over another.
What is gerrymandering?
The proposed state of Kurdistan, a nation that would unite the minority ethnic Kurdish people, is formally known as this.
What is a stateless nation?
The concept that a distinct group of people, usually an ethnic group, has the right to self-governance.
What is self-determination?
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) established these types of boundaries in 1982.
What are maritime boundaries?
This type of devolution occurs when members of a particular ethnic or religious group identify more as members of that group than as citizens of the country where they live.
What is ethnic separatism?
A narrow passage, such as a bridge, valley, or strait, that restricts travel.
What is a choke point?
Montenegrins only comprise about 45% of Montenegro, making the nation this type of state.
What is a multinational state?
A people's attachment to an area of land and its culture.
These boundaries are based on people's ethnic and cultural differences in areas such as religion.
What are consequent boundaries?
This devolution occurs when an ethic majority in one country seeks reunification with a minority population in a neighboring country.
What is irredentism?
A state that has some degree of control over its internal affairs but is geographically distinct from a state that exerts control over it.
What is an autonomous region?
A region that is partially controlled by another state but has limited control over its internal affairs.
What is a semiautonomous region?
A region caught between stronger, colliding external cultural and political forces. As a result, it is under persistent stress and, at times, fragmented by aggressive rivals.
What is a shatterbelt region?
The creation of physical markers, like walls or signs, to indicate the location of political boundaries.
What is demarcation?
The Soviet Union experienced disintegration of states in the early 1990s, also known as this type of devolution named after another region of Europe.
What is Balkanization?
The Arab League is one of the oldest of these multinational bodies that work together to promote common goals, while also sacrificing some loss of autonomy.
What are supranational organizations?