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Chapter 8 Vocab- AP Human Geography- Political Geography

Terms in this set (17)

political geography
a subdivision of human geography focused on the nature and implications of the evolving spatial organization of political governance and formal political practice on the Earth's surface
state
a politically organized territory with a permanent population, a defined territory, and a government. To be a state, an entity must be recognized by such by other states.
territoriality
"the attempt by an individual or group to affect, influence, or control people, phenomena, and relationships, by delimiting and asserting control over a geographic area." - Robert Sack
soveriegnty
having the last say over a territory - legally
nation
a culturally defined group of people with a shared past and a common future who relate to a territory and have political goals
nation-state
a politically organized area in which nation and state occupy the same space
multinational state
a politically organized area in which nation and state occupy the same space
multistate nation
A nation with more than one state
stateless nation
a nation without a state
centripetal
forces that trend to unify a country- such as widespread commitment to a national culture, shared ideological objectives, and a common faith
centrifugal
forces that tend to divide a country- such as internal, religious, linguistic, ethnic, or ideological differences
geometric boundary
based on grid systems
physical-political boundary
follow an agreed-upon feature in the physical geographic landscape.
heartland theory
A geopolitical hypothesis, proposed by British geographer Halford Mackinder during the first two decades of the twentieth century, that any political power based in the heart of Eurasia could gain sufficient strength to dominate the world. Mackinder further proposed that since Eastern Europe controlled access to the Eurasian interior, its ruler would command the vast "heartland" to the east.
critical geopolitics
The idea that intellectuals of statecraft construct ideas about places, these ideas influence and reinforce their political behaviors and policy choices, and these ideas affect how we, the people, process our own notions of places and politics
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