International Relations, Law, Governance, and Trade

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering international law, human rights, the European Union, the United Nations, and international trade regimes.

Treaties

Written international agreements that sovereign states voluntarily consent to and are bound by under international law.

Custom (International Law)

A primary source of international law defined as consistent state practice accepted as legally binding.

General Principles of Law

Fundamental legal concepts recognized across domestic legal systems, including good faith, equality, and proportionality.

Diplomacy

The most developed area of international law and a core tool of statecraft, involving actions like formal complaints, recalling an ambassador, or expelling foreign diplomats.

International Court of Justice (ICJ)

The principal judicial organ of the United Nations consisting of a panel of $15$ judges elected to $9$-year terms, where only states can sue or be sued.

Optional Clause (ICJ)

A mechanism by which each state decides in advance whether to accept the compulsory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice, preserving state sovereignty.

Jus ad Bellum

The branch of international law and Just War doctrine determining when it is legally and morally justified to resort to armed force.

Jus in Bello

The laws governing the conduct of warfare, defining how military operations must be fought regarding civilian protection, proportionality, and humane treatment.

Jus Post Bellum

The branch of international law governing post-war justice, fair terms of peace, avoiding revenge, and establishing individual accountability.

Discrimination (Laws of War)

The jus in bello principle requiring belligerents to spare civilian populations and solely target combatants.

Nuremberg Tribunal

The $1945\text{–}1946$ post-World War II military tribunal that tried Nazi leaders and established that individuals can be held criminally responsible for war crimes.

International Criminal Court (ICC)

A permanent court created by the Rome Statute ($1998$) in force since $2002$ that prosecutes individuals for genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and aggression as a court of last resort.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)

A foundational document adopted by the UN General Assembly on December $10$, $1948$, comprising $30$ articles covering civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights.

Negative Rights

Civil and political liberties that prohibit state interference in personal freedom, including rights to life, liberty, speech, religion, and fair trials.

Positive Rights

Economic, social, and cultural rights that mandate the state to actively provide resources and services, such as education, healthcare, work, and social security.

International Bill of Human Rights

The collective body of international agreements consisting of the UDHR, the ICCPR, and the ICESCR.

Statelessness

The legal condition of an individual who is denied nationality under any country's laws, depriving them of documentation, schooling, healthcare, employment, and mobility.

International Integration

The process whereby states develop deep cooperation across economic, political, social, and legal domains, transferring functions to international institutions.

Neo-functionalism

A regional integration theory holding that integration in one economic sector creates spillover pressures to integrate adjacent sectors, driven forward by supranational bodies and interest groups.

Schuman Plan

A $1950$ proposal by Jean Monnet and Robert Schuman to pool French and German coal and steel industries, resulting in the $1951$ Treaty of Paris.

Treaty of Rome (1957)

The agreement signed by France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg establishing the European Economic Community (EEC) and Euratom.

Single European Act

The first major revision to the Treaty of Rome that accelerated European integration and set out concrete steps to complete a single market by $1992$.

Maastricht Treaty (1992)

The foundational treaty signed in the Netherlands that created the European Union based on three pillars, integrated justice and home affairs, and created the framework for monetary union.

Treaty of Lisbon (2007)

The most recent EU treaty, which salvaged core institutional reforms from the failed $2004$ European Constitution and expanded competencies into environment, solidarity, and anti-terrorism asset freezing.

Eurocrats

Non-elected technical problem-solvers and administrators organized under the European Commission who represent the collective interests of the EU as a whole.

Democratic Deficit

The critique that key decision-making powers within the European Union are concentrated in unelected bodies like the European Commission, detaching them from direct citizen accountability.

Copenhagen Criteria (1993)

The rules governing European Union enlargement, requiring candidates to be a European state with stable institutions guaranteeing democracy, rule of law, human rights, and minority protections.

Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs)

International institutions whose formal members are sovereign nation-states.

Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs)

Independent, non-profit entities whose members are individuals or private civic groups rather than states.

United Nations General Assembly (UNGA)

The principal deliberative organ of the UN where all $193$ member states hold equal voting power, responsible for controlling budgets and passing advisory resolutions.

United Nations Security Council (UNSC)

The UN body charged with maintaining international peace and security, consisting of $5$ permanent members with veto power and $10$ non-permanent members elected for $2$-year terms.

Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)

A principal UN organ that coordinates economic, social, environmental, and cultural work across UN bodies and $5$ regional commissions.

UN Secretary-General

The chief administrative official of the United Nations who oversees operations, brings security issues to the Security Council, and serves a $5$-year term.

UN Specialized Agencies

Autonomous international bodies (such as WHO, UNESCO, and ILO) linked to the UN by agreement but governed by their own independent memberships and budgets.

UN Programs and Funds

Entities created directly by the UN General Assembly (such as UNICEF, UNHCR, and UNDP) funded through General Assembly appropriations and voluntary contributions.

Peacekeeping

The deployment of neutral UN military and civilian forces operating under three core principles: consent of the parties, impartiality, and non-use of force except in self-defense and mandate defense.

Peace Enforcement

The use of coercive measures, including military force, authorized explicitly by the UN Security Council to restore international peace in response to threats, breaches, or aggression.

Responsibility to Protect (R2P)

The international norm asserting that states are obligated to protect their populations from genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing, triggering international action if they fail.

Invisible Hand

Adam Smith's concept that market competition naturally channels self-interested behavior into socially useful outcomes, generating low prices and incentives for high product quality.

Comparative Advantage

David Ricardo's trade principle stating that economies benefit by specializing in producing goods with the lowest relative opportunity cost and trading with other specializing economies.

Autarky

An economic policy of complete national self-sufficiency that rejects trade, resulting in inefficiency, severe opportunity costs, lower income, and higher consumer prices.

Creative Destruction

The continuous economic process in market systems where obsolete industries and methods are eliminated as superior, innovative technologies arise.

Protectionism

Government policies that shield domestic producers from foreign competition through trade barriers like tariffs, subsidies, import quotas, and stringent regulations.

Tariff

A customs tax levied directly on foreign goods entering a country.

Subsidy

Government financial aid granted to domestic firms to lower production costs and provide a competitive advantage over foreign producers.

Bretton Woods (1944)

The conference establishing the post-WWII economic framework, which designed the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, Gold Standard, and the proposed International Trade Organization (ITO).

World Trade Organization (WTO)

The multilateral organization governing international commerce, consisting of $166$ member states and covering $98\%$ of global trade.

Most-Favored-Nation (MFN)

The core WTO reciprocity rule mandating that any trade concession or privilege granted to one member nation must be granted equally to all WTO members.

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)

Cross-border financial investment made by a company or individual to establish tangible business operations or physical manufacturing assets in a foreign country.

Export Processing Zones (EPZs)

Designated domestic trade enclaves offering tax breaks and reduced regulations to multinational corporations to incentivize manufacturing for export.