IR Q3 vocab

civil war

A war in which the main participants are within the same state, such as the government and a rebel group.

terrorism

The use or threatened use of violence against noncombatant targets by individuals or nonstate groups for political ends.

asymmetrical warfare

Armed conflict between actors with highly unequal military capabilities, such as when rebel groups or terrorists fight strong states.

separatist

An actor that seeks to create an independent state on territory carved from an existing state.

irredentist

An actor that seeks to detach a region from one country and attach it to another, usually because of shared ethnic or religious ties.

proxy wars

Conflicts in which two opposing states “fight” by supporting opposite sides in a war, such as the government and rebels in a third state.

insurgency

A military strategy in which small, often lightly armed units engage in hit-and-run attacks against military, government, and civilian targets.

extremists

Actors whose interests are not widely shared by others; individuals or groups that are politically weak relative to the demands they make.

coercion

A strategy of imposing or threatening to impose costs on other actors in order to induce a change in their behavior.

provocation

A strategy of terrorist attacks intended to provoke the target government into making a disproportionate response that alienates moderates in the terrorists’ home society or in other sympathetic audiences.

spoiling

A strategy of terrorist attacks intended to sabotage a prospective peace between the target and moderate leadership from the terrorists’ home society.

outbidding

A strategy of terrorist attacks designed to demonstrate superior capability and commitment relative to other groups devoted to the same cause.

global climate change

Human-induced change in the environment, especially from the emissions of greenhouse gases, leading to higher temperatures around the globe.

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

An international agreement enacted in 1992, and entered into force in 1994, that provides an overall framework for intergovernmental efforts on climate change.

Paris Agreement

An agreement negotiated under the UNFCCC in 2015, signed by 195 countries, and entered into force in 2016. It was the first agreement to require commitments to control greenhouse gas emissions from all signatories.

tragedy of the commons

A problem that occurs when a resource is open to all, without limit. No one has an incentive to conserve, because others would use the resource in the meantime, so the resource suffers degradation.

public goods

Products that are nonexcludable and nonrival in consumption, such as national defense or clean air or water.

common-pool resources

Goods that are available to everyone, but such that one user’s consumption of the good reduces the amount available for others. rival but nonexcludable.

nonexcludable goods

Goods that, if available to be consumed by one actor, cannot be prevented from being consumed by other actors as well.

nonrival goods

Goods for which consumption by one actor does not diminish the quantity available for others.

Kyoto Protocol

An amendment to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, adopted in 1997 and entered into force in 2005, that established specific targets for reducing emissions of carbon and five other greenhouse gases through 2020.

Montreal Protocol

An international treaty, signed in 1989, that is designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the production of a number of CFCs and other chemical compounds.

cap-and-trade system

sets an overall limit on emissions, which is then lowered over time to reduce pollutants released into the atmosphere. Firms can sell “credits” when they emit less than their allocation or must buy from others when they emit more than their allocation.

nationally determined contribution (NDC)

The commitment each party to the Paris Agreement makes as to how it will contribute to reducing the threat of global warming.

externalities

Costs or benefits resulting from an actor’s decision that affect stakeholders other than that actor.

the decision maker does not bear all the costs or reap all the gains from the action.

Vienna Convention on the Protection of the Ozone Layer

A framework convention adopted in 1985 to regulate activities, especially emissions of CFCs, that damage the ozone layer.