Political Geography Terms

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State

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An area organized into a political unit and ruled by an established government that has control over its internal and foreign affairs. States may be broken into subnational units, such as the states in the United States or the provinces in Canada.

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Nation

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A community of people bound to a homeland, sharing a cultural heritage, and possessing a common identity, beliefs, and values based on shared cultural traits such as language, ethnicity, and religion.

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Nation-State

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A state whose territory corresponds to that occupied by a particular ethnicity that has been transformed into a nationality.

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Multinational State

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A state that contains two or more ethnic groups with traditions of self-determination that agree to coexist peacefully by recognizing each other as distinct nationalities.

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Multi-State Nation

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Occurs when a nation has a state of its own but stretches across the borders of other states. For example, the Korean nation is divided primarily between two states: North Korea and South Korea.

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Autonomous Region

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A defined area within a state that has a high degree of self-government and freedom from its parent state, including ethnic, geographic, or cultural distinct areas. An example is Åland, which is technically part of Finland but is largely self-governing.

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Stateless Nation

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A nation that does not have a state of its own, although they often have a political organization but no independent political entities or boundaries. Examples include the Palestinians and the Basque.

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Federal States

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An internal organization of a state that allocates most powers to units of local government.

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Unitary States

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An internal organization of a state that places most power in the hands of central government officials. Examples include Germany and France.

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Sovereignty

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The ability of a state to govern its territory free from control of its internal affairs by other states.