| Term | Definition |
|---|
| mercantilism | in a general sense, associated with the promotion of commercialism and trade |
| nation | a tightly knit group of people processing bonds of language, ethnicity, religion, and other shared cultural attributes |
| nation-state | a recognized member of the modern state system possessing formal sovereignty and occupied by a people who see themselves as a single, united nation |
| democracy | government based on the principle that the people are in the ultimate sovereign and have the final say over what happens within the state |
| multinational state | state with more than one nation |
| multistate nation | nation with more than one state |
| colonialism | Rule by an autonomous power over a subordinateand alien people and place; creates unequal cultural and economic relations |
| capitalism | economic model wherein people, corporations, and states produce goods and exchange them on the world market, with the goal of acheiving profit. |
| commodification | the process through which something is given monetary value |
| core | processes that incorporate higher levels of education, higher salaries, and more technology; generally more wealth than periphery processes in the world economy |
| periphery | processes that incorporate lower levels of education, lower salaries, and less technology |
| ability | the capacity of a state to influence otehr states or acheive its goals through diplomatic, economic, and militaristic means |
| centripetal | forces that tend to unify a country- such as widespread commitment to a national culture, shared idealogical objectives, and a common faith |
| centrifugal | forces that tend to divide a country |
| federal | 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 identites and to have their own laws, policies, and customs in certain spheres. |
| devolution | the process whereby regions within a state demand and gain political strength and growing autonomy at the expense of the central government |
| majority-minority districts | in the context of determining representative districts, the process by which a majority of the population is from the minority |
| gerrymandering | redistricting for advantage, or the practice of dividing areas into electoral districts to give one political party and electoral majority |
| boundary | vertical plane between states that cuts through the rocks below, and the airspace above the surface |
| geometric boundaries | political boundary defined and delimited as a straight line or an arc |
| physical-political boundaries | political boundary defined and delimited by a prominent physical feature in the natural landscape |
| critical geopolitics | process by which geopoliticians deconstruct and focus on explaining the underlying spatial assumptions and territorial perspectives of politicians |
Combine with other sets
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