According to the Heartland Theory, a government that controls Central Eurasia (much of Russia, some of Eastern Europe, and the Middle East) is likely to eventually dominate much of the world. Mackinder believed that this region was central to interaction between Europe and Asia and to the rest of the world. Most contemporary geographers disagreed with him.

Vatican City is an example of an enclave because it is an independent state that is completely surrounded by the borders of another state, in this case, Italy. Switzerland, although landlocked, is bordered by many countries and is thus not technically an “enclave.”

The geographic term for a country that is completely surrounded by the territory of more than one other country and has no direct access to the sea is “landlocked.” Being landlocked is generally considered to be a major disadvantage for a country because that country must rely on another country for any goods that are transported by sea. Many wars have been started by landlocked countries seeking to carve a path to the ocean through another country's territory.

Italy is the classic example of a perforated state because it completely surrounds two other countries, San Marino and Vatican City. The name given to the region that is surrounded by the perforated state is an “enclave.” So San Marino and Vatican City are both enclaves within the perforated state of Italy.

The Philippines is considered a fragmented state because its territory is physically divided, by the ocean, into several distinct regions that make it harder for a centralized government to wield control. Although the territories of the United Kingdom and the United States are not wholly contiguous they are not usually considered to be fragmented states because the vast majority of their significant territory is contiguous.

An “exclave” is a region of a country that is completely separated from the main body of that country, usually by the borders of another country. One classic example of an exclave is Alaska because it is not part of the contiguous continental United States.

An elongated state is a state that is long and narrow. It stretches a long way in one direction (either north-south or east-west) and a very short way in the other direction. Chile is the classic example of an elongated state because it spans thousands of miles top to bottom, but only a few hundred from side-to-side. The opposite of an elongated state is a compact state.

When a line of latitude or longitude is used to delineate the political barrier between two states we call that boundary a “geometric boundary.” One famous example of a “geometric boundary” is the 49th parallel between the United States of America and Canada.

Alaska is an example of an exclave because it is a region of the United States that is completely separate from the main body of the United States. It can be helpful to think of the prefixes "ex-" and "en-" when considering the meaning of “exclave” and “enclave.” The prefix "ex-" means outside of and the prefix "en-" means inside of.

A compact state is a state that is reasonably small and centralized; it usually somewhat resembles a square. Compact states are usually easier for a centralized government to manage because every outlying region in the country is roughly equidistant from the center. Poland is the classic example of a compact state. The opposite of a compact state is an elongated state.