Chapter 8 Vocabulary Political Geography

  1. balance of power: condition of roughly equal strength between opposing countries or alliances of countries
  2. boundary: invisible line that marks the extent of a state’s territory
  3. city-state: a sovereign state comprising a city and its immediate hinterland
  4. colonialism: attempt by one country to establish settlements and to impose its political, economic, and cultural principles in another territory
  5. colony: a territory that is legally tied to a sovereign state rather than completely independent
  6. compact state: a state in which the distance from the center to any boundary does not vary significantly
  7. elongated state: a state with a long, narrow shape
  8. federal state: an internal organization of a state that allocates most powers to units of local government
  9. fragmented state: a state that includes several discontinuous pieces of territory
  10. frontier: a zone separating two states in which neither state exercises political control
  11. gerrymandering: process of redrawing legislative boundaries for the purpose of benefiting the party in power
  12. imperialism: control of territory already occupied and organized by an indigenous society
  13. landlocked state: a state that does not have a direct outlet to the sea
  14. microstate: a state that encompasses a very small land area
  15. perforated state: a state that completely surrounds another one
  16. prorupted state: an otherwise compact state with a large projecting extension
  17. sovereignty: ability of a state to govern its territory free from control of its internal affairs by other states
  18. state: an area organized into a political unit and ruled by an established government with control over its internal and foreign affairs
  19. unitary state: an internal organization of a state that places most power in the hands of central government officials
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