| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Balance of power | condition of roughly equal strength between opposing alliances |
| Boundary | an invisible line marking the extent of a state's territory |
| City-state | a sovereign state that comprises a town and the surrounding countryside |
| Colonialism | the effort by one country to establish settlements and to impose its political, economic, and cultural principles on such territory |
| Colony | a territory that is legally tied to a sovereign state rather than being completely independent |
| Compact state | the distance from the center to any boundary does not vary significantly |
| Elongated states | states with a long and narrow shape |
| Federal state | allocates strong power to units of local government within the country |
| Fragmented state | includes several discontinuous pieces of territory |
| Frontier | a zone where no state exercises complete political control |
| Gerrymandering | process of redrawing legislative boundaries for the purpose of befitting the party in power |
| Imperialism | control of territory already occupied and organized by an indigenous society |
| Landlocked state | lacks a direct outlet to the sea because it is completely surrounded by several other countries |
| Microstate | a state with very small land areas |
| Perforated state | state that completely surrounds another one |
| Prorupted state | an otherwise compact state with a large projecting extension |
| Sovereignty | independence from control of its internal affairs by other states |
| State | an area organized into a political unit and ruled by an established government that has control over its internal and foreign affairs |
| Unitary state | internal organization of a state that places most power in the hands of central government officials |
Combine with other sets
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