International Security, Arms Control, and Global Economics: Key Concepts and Agreements

arms race

The buildup of weapons and armed forces by two or more states that threaten each other, with the competition driven by the conviction that gaining a lead is necessary for security.

disarmament

Agreements to reduce or destroy weapons or other means of attack.

arms control

Multilateral or bilateral agreements to contain arms races by setting limits on the number and types of weapons states are permitted.

bilateral agreements

Exchanges between two states, such as arms control agreements negotiated cooperatively to set ceilings on military force levels.

multilateral agreements

Cooperative compacts among three or more states to ensure that a concerted policy is implemented toward alleviating a common problem, such as levels of future weapons capabilities.

Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT)

Two sets of agreements reached during the 1970s between the United States and the Soviet Union that established limits on strategic nuclear delivery systems.

Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty

The U.S.-Russian agreement to eliminate an entire class of nuclear weapons by removing all intermediate and short-range ground based missiles and launchers with ranges between 300 and 3500 miles from Europe.

Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty (SORT)

The U.S.-Russian agreement to reduce the number of strategic warheads to between 1700 and 2200 for each country by 2012.

spiral model

A metaphor used to describe the tendency of efforts to enhance defense to result in escalating arms races.

antipersonnel landmines (APLs)

Weapons buried below the surface of the soil that explode on contact when any person—soldier or citizen—steps on them.

peacekeeping

The efforts by third parties such as the United Nations to intervene in civil wars and/or interstate wars or to prevent hostilities between potential belligerents from escalating, so that by acting as a buffer, a negotiated settlement of the dispute can be reached.

preventive diplomacy

Diplomatic actions taken in advance of a predictable crisis to prevent or limit violence.

peacemaking

The process of diplomacy, mediation, negotiation, or other forms of peaceful settlement that arranges an end to a dispute and resolves the issues that led to conflict.

peace building

Post-conflict actions, predominantly diplomatic and economic, that strengthen and rebuild governmental infrastructure and institutions in order to avoid renewed recourse to armed conflict.

peace operations

A general category encompassing both peacekeeping and peace enforcement operations, undertaken to establish and maintain peace between disputants.

peace enforcement

The application of military force to warring parties, or the threat of its use, normally pursuant to international authorization, to compel compliance with resolutions or with sanctions designed to maintain or restore peace and order.

sovereign equality

The principle that states are legally equal in protection under international law.

neutrality

The legal doctrine that provides rights for states to remain nonaligned with adversaries waging war against each other.

crimes against humanity

A category of activities, made illegal at the Nuremberg war crime trials, condemning states that abuse human rights.

positivist legal theory

A theory that stresses states' customs and habitual ways of behaving as the most important source of law.

International Court of Justice (ICJ)

The primary court established by the United Nations for resolving legal disputes between states and providing advisory opinions to international agencies and the UN General Assembly.

war crimes

Acts performed during war that the international community defines as crimes against humanity, including atrocities committed against an enemy's prisoners of war, civilians, or the state's own minority population.

international criminal tribunals

Special tribunals established by the United Nations to prosecute those responsible for wartime atrocities and genocide, bring justice to victims, and deter such crimes in the future.

International Criminal Court (ICC)

A court established by international treaty for indicting and administering justice to people committing war crimes.

morals Principles

Clarifying the difference between good and evil and the situations in which they are opposed.

ethics

Criteria for evaluating right and wrong behavior and the motives of individuals and groups.

just war doctrine

The moral criteria identifying when a just war may be undertaken and how it should be fought once it begins.

Jus ad bellum

Component of just war doctrine that establishes criteria under which a just war may be initiated.

jus in bello

A component of just war doctrine that sets limits on the acceptable use of force.

military necessity

The legal principle that violation of the rules of warfare may be excused for defensive purposes during periods of extreme emergency.

crisis

A situation in which the threat of escalation to warfare is high and the time available for making decisions and reaching compromised solutions in negotiations is compressed.

negotiation

Diplomatic dialogue and discussion between two or more parties with the goal of resolving, through give-and take bargaining, perceived differences of interests and the conflicts they cause.

***-for-tat strategy

A bargaining approach that consistently reciprocates in kind the offers or threats made by the other party in a negotiation, with equivalent rewards returned and equivalent punishing communications returned in retaliation.

globalization

The integration of states through increasing contact, communication, and trade, as well as increased global awareness of such integration.

international monetary system

The financial procedures used to calculate the value of currencies and credits when capital is transferred across borders through trade, investment, foreign aid, and loans.

globalization of finance

The increasing transnationalization of national markets through the worldwide integration of capital flows.

arbitrage

The selling of one currency (or product) and purchase of another to make a profit on changing exchange rates.

gross domestic product (GDP)

Total value of all goods and services produced in a country within a year.

illicit financial flows

Money that is either illegally earned, used or moved across borders.

money laundering

Financial and legal processing designed to hide the criminal origins of money.

monetary policy

The decisions made by states' central banks to change the country's money supply to manage the national economy and control inflation, such as changing the amount of money in circulation and raising or lowering interest rates.

exchange rate

The rate at which one state's currency is exchanged for another state's currency in the global marketplace.

money supply

The total amount of currency in circulation, calculated to include demand deposits, such as checking accounts in commercial banks, and time deposits, such as savings accounts and bonds.

embedded liberalism

Dominant economic approach during the Bretton Woods system, which combined open international markets with domestic state intervention to attain such goals as full employment and social welfare.

Liberal International Economic Order (LIEO)

The set of regimes created after World War II, designed to promote monetary stability and reduce barriers to the free flow of trade and capital.

speculative attacks

Massive sales of a country's currency, caused by the anticipation of a future decline in its value.

fixed exchange rates

A system in which a government sets the value of its currency in relation to another country's currency at a fixed rate of exchange and does not allow it to fluctuate in the global money market.

international liquidity

Reserve assets used to settle international accounts.

dollar overhang

The condition that precipitated the end of the Bretton Woods era, in which total holdings of dollars outside of the U.S. central bank exceeded the amount of dollars actually backed by gold.

floating exchange rates

An unmanaged process in which governments neither establish an official rate for their currencies nor intervene to affect the value of their currencies and instead allow market forces and private investors to influence the relative rate of exchange for currencies between countries.

shadow banks

Financial entities outside of the formal banking structure that engage in lending and credit-issuing activities.

reserve currency

Currency held in large amounts by governments for the purpose of settling international debts and supporting the value of their national currency.

trade integration

The difference between growth rates in trade and gross domestic product (GDP).

globalization of production

Transnationalization of the production process, in which finished goods rely on inputs from multiple countries outside of their final market.

intra-firm trade

Cross-national trade of intermediate goods and services within the same firm.

globalization of labor

Integration of labor markets, predicated by the global nature of production as well as the increased size and mobility of the global labor force.

outsourcing

Transfer of jobs by a corporation usually headquartered in a Global North country to a Global South country able to supply trained workers at lower wages.

near-sourcing

Locating production or services closer to where the goods or services are sold, in order to increase efficiency.

reciprocity

Mutual or reciprocal lowering of trade barriers.

nondiscrimination

Principle that goods produced by all member states should receive equal treatment, as embodied in the ideas of most favored nation (MFN) and national treatment.

most-favored nation (MFN) principle

WTO rule requiring any advantage given by one WTO member also be extended to all other WTO members, thus disallowing 'favored nations.'

transparency

With regard to free trade, the principle that barriers to trade must be visible and thus easy to target.

absolute advantage

The liberal economic concept that a state should specialize in the production of goods in which their costs of production are lowest compared with those of other countries.

comparative advantage

The concept in liberal economics that every state will benefit if it specializes in the production of goods that it can produce at a lower opportunity cost relative to other goods.

public good

Collective goods, such as clean air or sunlight, whose use is nonexclusive and nonrival in nature; thus, if anyone can use the good, it is available to all.

collective action dilemma

Paradox regarding the provision of collective goods in which, if there is no accountability for paying the costs of maintaining or providing the good, it may cease to exist.

economic sanctions

Punitive economic actions, such as the cessation of trade or financial ties, by one global actor against another to retaliate for objectionable behavior.

protectionism

Barriers to foreign trade, such as tariffs and quotas, which protect local industries from foreign competition.

tariffs

Tax assessed on goods imported into a country.

import quotas

Numerical limit on the quantity of particular products that can be imported.

export quotas

Barriers to free trade agreed to by two trading states to protect their domestic producers.

orderly market arrangements (OMAs)

Voluntary export restrictions through government to-government agreements to follow specific trading rules.

voluntary export restrictions (VERs)

Protectionist measure in which exporting countries agree to restrict shipments of a particular product to a country to deter it from imposing an even more burdensome import quota.

nontariff barriers (NTBs)

Measures other than tariffs that discriminate against imports.

countervailing duties

Government tariffs to offset suspected subsidies provided by foreign governments to their producers.

antidumping duties

Taxes placed on another exporting state's alleged selling of a product at a price below the cost to produce it.

subsidies

Government directed financial support for a firm, usually intended to encourage increased exports and/or decreased imports.

infant industry

Newly established industries ('infants') that are not yet strong enough to compete against mature foreign producers in the global environment.

strategic trade policy

Government support for particular domestic industries to help them gain competitive advantages over foreign producers.

murky protectionism

Nontariff barriers to trade that may be 'hidden' in government policies not directly related to trade, such as environmental initiatives and government spending.

state-owned enterprise (SOE)

A business directly owned or partially owned by the government.

regional trade agreements (RTAs)

Treaties that integrate the economies of members through the reduction of trade barriers.

plurilateral agreements

Treaties between a subset of WTO members that apply only to a specific issue.

demography

The study of population changes, their sources, and their impact.

global village

A popular cosmopolitan perspective describing the growth of awareness that all people share a common fate because the world is becoming an integrated and interdependent whole.

replacement level fertility

One couple replacing themselves on average with two children so that a country's population will remain stable if this rate prevails.

fertility rate

The average number of children born to a woman (or group of women) during her lifetime

xenophobia

Antipathy for members of a foreign nationality, ethnic, or linguistic group

refugees

People who flee for safety to another country because of a well-founded fear of political persecution, environmental degradation, or famine

internally displaced persons (IDPs)

People who have been forced to flee their homes, but remain within their country of origin.

ethnic cleansing

The extermination of an ethnic minority group by a state.

atrocities

Brutal and savage acts against targeted citizen groups or prisoners of war, defined as illegal under international law

sanctuary

A place of refuge and protection.

asylum

The provision of sanctuary to safeguard refugees escaping from the threat of persecution in the country where they hold citizenship.

population density

The number of people within each country, region, or city, measuring the geographical concentration of the population as a ratio of the average space available for each resident.

turbo urbanization

Extremely rapid and unregulated urban growth.

megacities

Metropolitan areas in which the population is more than 10 million people

fragile cities

Cities in a state of violent crisis, with the municipal government incapable or unwilling to govern and provide public services.

population implosion

A rapid reduction of population that reverses a previous trend toward progressively larger populations; a severe reduction in the world's population.

acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)

An often fatal condition that can result from infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)