Unit 4 Vocabulary Political Processes and Patterns

Independent political unit with centralized authority claiming sole legal, political, and economic jurisdiction over a region with defined boundaries.

State with very small land areas.

Power of a political unit or government to rule over its own affairs.

Community of people bound to a homeland and possessing a common identity based on shared cultural traits such as language, ethnicity, and religion.

A sovereign state whose citizens or subjects are relatively homogeneous in factors such as language or common descent.

Country that contains more than one nation.

Defined area within a state that has a high degree of self-government and freedom from its parent state.

State that has a degree of, but not complete, self-rule.

A cultural or ethnic group that has no independent political entity.

Ethnic groups territorially divided by one or more international boundaries.