Definition
A specialization of Organization and of LegalAgent and of GeographicalAgent; instances of this collection control GeographicalRegions. Each instance of GeopoliticalEntity includes a governing body, but is more than just that governing body.
Important subcollections include Country, IndependentCountry, State_Geopolitical, City, and Province. Instances include CityOfTokyoJapan, BronxNY_Borough, Alaska_State, Rwanda, Singapore,
#$InnerMongolia, Somerset_CountyEngland, and Taiwan_RepublicOfChina.
A central feature of this collection is that geopolitical-entities (indeed, all GeographicalAgents) are viewed in two significantly different ways with respect to two different types of geography-related microtheories. In a "physical" geography microtheory (i.e. PhysicalGeographyMt and its submicrotheories), geopolitical-entities are clearly distinguished from the regions they control. (TerritoryFn
GEO-POL) is used in these contexts to denote the land mass (a GeopoliticalRegion) of a given geopolitical-entity
GEO-POL. In a "dualist" geography microtheory (i.e. DualistGeopoliticalMt and its submicrotheories), on the other hand, geopolitical-entities are viewed as being
both agents
and land masses (i.e. GeographicalRegions). Thus, there is little need for TerritoryFn in the latter sort of context. (Despite their somewhat paradoxical flavor, dualist microtheories arguably allow Cyc to mimic commonsense reasoning about geopolitical entities and regions more closely than do the stricter physicalist microtheories.) There are also some "generic" geography microtheories (e.g. WorldGeographyMt and UnitedStatesGeographyMt) which are neutral with respect to the physical and dualist views.
Also see the shared-note for this constant.
