GRG 305 Study Guide - Final Guide: Geopolitics, Trade Bloc, Centrifugal Force
Document Summary
State: a centralized authority that enforces a single political, economic, and legal system within its territorial boundaries. The fundamental political-geographical fact is that earth is divided into roughly 200 independent countries or states, creating a diverse mosaic of functional regions. Importantly, in the modern international system, states recognize each other"s sovereignty. Sovereignty: the right of individual states to control political and economic affairs within their territorial boundaries without external interference. The modern states is a tangible geographical expression of one of the most common human tendencies: the need to belong to a larger group that controls its own piece of earth, its own territory. Territoriality: a learned cultural response, rooted in european history that produced the external bonding and internal territorial organization characteristic of modern states. The modern territorial states emerged rather recently in 16th century europe and diffused around the globe through. Colonialism: the building and maintaining of colonies in one territory by people based elsewhere.
