International Relations Goldstein

acid rain

Caused by air pollution, it damages trees and often crosses borders. Limiting acid rain (via limiting nitrogen oxide emissions) has been the subject of several regional agreements. (p. 498)

airspace

The space above a state that is considered its territory, in contrast to outer space, which is considered international territory. (p. 210)

alliance cohesion

The ease with which the members hold together an alliance; it tends to be high when national interests converge and when cooperation among allies becomes institutionalized. (p. 98)

Amnesty International

An influential nongovernmental organization that operates globally to monitor and try to rectify glaring abuses of political (not economic or social) human rights. (p. 341)

anarchy

In IR theory, the term implies not complete chaos but the lack of a central government that can enforce rules. (p. 81)

Antarctic Treaty (1959)

One of the first multilateral treaties concerning the environment, it forbids military activity in Antarctica as well as the presence of nuclear weapons or the dumping of nuclear waste there, sets aside territorial claims on the continent for future resolution, and establishes a regime for the conduct of scientific research. (p. 498)

Antiballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty (1972)

It prohibited either the United States or the Soviet Union from using a ballistic missile defense as a shield, which would have undermined mutually assured destruction and the basis of deterrence. (p. 287) See also mutually assured destruction (MAD) and Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI).

arms race

A reciprocal process in which two (or more) states build up military capabilities in response to each other. (p. 75)

autarky (self-reliance)

A policy of avoiding or minimizing trade and trying to produce everything one needs (or the most vital things) by oneself. (p. 364)

authoritarian (government)

A government that rules without the need to stand for free elections, respect civil and political rights, allow freedom of the press, and so forth. (p. 190)

balance of payments

A summary of all the flows of money in and out of a country. It includes three types of international transactions: the current account (including the merchandise trade balance), flows of capital, and changes in reserves. (p. 408)

balance of power

The general concept of one or more states' power being used to balance that of another state or group of states. The term can refer to (1) any ratio of power capabilities between states or alliances, (2) a relatively equal ratio, or (3) the process by which counterbalancing coalitions have repeatedly formed to prevent one state from conquering an entire region. (p. 85)

balance of trade

The value of a state's exports relative to its imports. (p. 360)

ballistic missiles

The major strategic delivery vehicles for nuclear weapons; they carry a warhead along a trajectory (typically rising at least 50 miles high) and let it drop on the target. (p. 272) See also intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).

bargaining

Tacit or direct communication that is used in an attempt to reach agreement on an exchange of value. (p. 67)

basic human needs

The fundamental needs of people for adequate food, shelter, health care, sanitation, and education. Meeting such needs may be thought of as both a moral imperative and a form of investment in "human capital" essential for economic growth. (p. 552)

bilateral aid

Government assistance that goes directly to the third world governments as state-to-state aid. (p. 615)

biodiversity

The tremendous diversity of plant and animal species making up the earth's (global, regional, and local) ecosystems. (p. 490)

Biological Weapons Convention (1972)

It prohibits the development, production, and possession of biological weapons, but makes no provision for inspections. (p. 277)

blue helmets

The UN peacekeeping forces, so called because they wear helmets or berets in the UN color, blue, with UN insignia. (p. 311)

bourgeoisie

In Marxist terminology, the class of owners of capital-people who make money from their investments rather than from their labor. (p. 536) See also proletariat.

brain drain

Poor countries' loss of skilled workers to rich countries. (p. 604)

Bretton Woods system

A post-World War II arrangement for managing the world economy, established at a meeting in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, in 1944. Its main institutional components are the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). (p. 404)

burden sharing

The distribution of the costs of an alliance among members; the term also refers to the conflicts that may arise over such distribution. (p. 98)

capital accumulation

The creation of standing wealth (capital) such as buildings, roads, factories, and so forth; such accumulation depends on investment and the creation of an economic surplus. (p. 531)

capitalism

An economic system based on private ownership of capital and the means of production (standing wealth and other forms of property). (p. 533) See also socialism.

carrying capacity

The limits of the planetary ecosystem's ability to absorb continual growth of population, industry, energy use, and extraction of natural resources. (p. 482)

cartel

An association of producers or consumers (or both) of a certain product, formed for the purpose of manipulating its price on the world market. (p. 386)

cash crops

Agricultural goods produced as commodities for export to world markets. (p. 558)

central bank

An institution common in industrialized countries whose major tasks are to maintain the value of the state's currency and to control inflation. (p. 403)

centrally planned (command) economy

An economy in which political authorities set prices and decide on quotas for production and consumption of each commodity according to a long-term plan. (p. 356)

chain of command

A hierarchy of officials (often civilian as well as military) through which states control military forces. (p. 252)

Chemical Weapons Convention (1992)

It bans the production and possession of chemical weapons, and includes strict verification provisions and the threat of sanctions against violators and against nonparticipants in the treaty. (p. 277)

Chernobyl

A city in Ukraine that was the site of a 1986 meltdown at a Soviet nuclear power plant. (p. 499)

civil war

A war between factions within a state trying to create, or prevent, a new government for the entire state or some territorial part of it. (p. 235)

class struggle

The process in which the more powerful classes oppress and exploit the less powerful by denying them their fair share of the surplus they create. The oppressed classes try to gain power, to rebel, and to organize in order to seize more of the wealth for themselves. (p. 536)

Cold War

The hostile relations-punctuated by occasional periods of improvement, or dètente-between the two superpowers, the U.S. and the U.S.S.R., from 1945 to 1990. (p. 43)

collective goods problem

A collective good is a tangible or intangible good, created by the members of a group, that is available to all group members regardless of their individual contributions; participants can gain by lowering their own contribution to the collective good, yet if too many participants do so, the good cannot be provided. (p. 114) See also free riders.

collective security

The formation of a broad alliance of most major actors in an international system for the purpose of jointly opposing aggression by any actor; sometimes seen as presupposing the existence of a universal organization (such as the United Nations) to which both the aggressor and its opponents belong. (p. 119) See also League of Nations.

Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)

A European Union policy based on the principle that a subsidy extended to farmers in any member country should be extended to farmers in all member countries. (p. 446)

common market

A zone in which labor and capital (as well as goods) flow freely across borders. (p. 446)

Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)

The loose coordinating structure linking the former republics of the Soviet Union (except the Baltic states) since 1991. (p. 47)

comparative advantage

The principle that says states should specialize in trading those goods which they produce with the greatest relative efficiency and at the lowest relative cost (relative, that is, to other goods produced by the same state). (p. 353)

compellence

The use of force to make another actor take some action (rather than, as in deterrence, refrain from taking an action). (p. 74)

Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (1996)

It bans all nuclear weapons testing, thereby broadening the ban on atmospheric testing negotiated in 1963. (p. 287)

conditionality

See IMF conditionality.

conflict

A difference in preferred outcomes in a bargaining situation. (p. 197)

conflict and cooperation

The types of actions that states take towards each other through time. (p. 5)

conflict resolution

The development and implementation of peaceful strategies for settling conflicts. (p. 147)

constructivism

A movement in IR theory that examines how changing international norms help shape the content of state interests and the character of international institutions. (p. 144)

consumption goods

Goods whose consumption does not contribute directly to production of other goods and services, unlike some forms of investment. (p. 533)

containment

A policy adopted in the late 1940s by which the United States sought to halt the global expansion of Soviet influence on several levels—military, political, ideological, and economic. (p. 43)

Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty (1990)

A U.S.-Soviet agreement that provided for asymmetrical reductions in Soviet forces in Europe and limited those of both sides. (p. 288)

convertible (currency)

The guarantee that the holder of a particular currency can exchange it for another currency. Some states’ currencies are nonconvertible. (p. 395) See also hard currency.

core

The manufacturing regions of the world-system. (p. 540)

cost-benefit analysis

A calculation of the costs incurred by a possible action and the benefits it is likely to bring. (p. 76)

Council of Ministers

A European Union institution in which the relevant ministers (foreign, economic, agriculture, finance, etc.) of each member state meet to enact legislation and reconcile national interests. When the meeting takes place among the state leaders it is called the "European Council." (p. 448) See also European Commission

counterinsurgency

An effort to combat guerrilla armies, often including programs to "win the hearts and minds" of rural populations so that they stop sheltering guerrillas. (p. 235)

coup d’état

French for "blow against the state," it refers to the seizure of political power by domestic military forces—that is, a change of political power outside the state’s constitutional order. (p. 255)

crimes against humanity

A category of legal offenses created at the Nuremberg trials after World War II to encompass genocide and other acts committed by the political and military leaders of the Third Reich (Nazi Germany). (p. 340) See also dehumanization and genocide.

cruise missile

A small winged missile that can navigate across thousands of miles of previously mapped terrain to reach a particular target; it can carry either a nuclear or a conventional warhead. (p. 275)

Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)

A superpower crisis, sparked by the Soviet Union’s installation of medium-range nuclear missiles in Cuba, that marks the moment when the United States and the Soviet Union came closest to nuclear war. (p. 44)

cultural imperialism

A critical term for U.S. dominance of the emerging global culture. (p. 469)

customs union

A common external tariff adopted by members of a free-trade area; that is, participating states adopt a unified set of tariffs with regard to goods coming in from outside. (p. 445) See also free-trade area.

cycle theories

An effort to explain tendencies toward war in the international system as cyclical; for example, by linking wars with long waves in the world economy (Kondratieff cycles). (Ch. 5)

debt renegotiation

A reworking of the terms on which a loan will be repaid; frequently negotiated by third world debtor governments in order to avoid default. (p. 607)

debt service

An obligation to make regular interest payments and repay the principal of a loan according to its terms, which is a drain on many third world economies. (p. 607)

default

The failure to make scheduled debt payments. (p. 607)

dehumanization

Stigmatization of enemies as subhuman or nonhuman, leading frequently to widespread massacres or, in the worst cases, destruction of entire populations. (p. 221) See also crimes against humanity and genocide.

democracy

A government of "the people," usually through elected representatives, and usually with a respect for individual rights in society (especially rights to hold political ideas differing from those of the government). (p. 190)

democratic peace

The proposition, strongly supported by empirical evidence, that democracies almost never fight wars against each other (although they do fight against authoritarian states). (p. 191)

demographic transition

The pattern of falling death rates, followed by falling birthrates, that generally accompanies industrialization and economic development. (p. 513)

dependency theory

A Marxist-oriented theory that explains the lack of capital accumulation in the third world as a result of the interplay between domestic class relations and the forces of foreign capital. (p. 549) See also enclave economy.

deterrence

The threat to punish another actor if it takes a certain negative action (especially attacking one's own state or one's allies). The term has a somewhat more specific meaning in the context of the nuclear balance between the superpowers during the Cold War. (p. 74) See also mutually assured destruction (MAD).

devaluation

A unilateral move to reduce the value of a currency by changing a fixed or official exchange rate. (p. 402) See also exchange rate.

developing countries

States in the global South, the poorest regions of the world–also called third world countries, less-developed countries, and undeveloped countries. (p. 527)

Development Assistance Committee (DAC)

A committee whose members–consisting of states from Western Europe, North America, and Japan/Pacific–provide 95 percent of official development assistance to countries of the global South. (p. 615) See also foreign assistance.

diplomatic immunity

Refers to diplomats' activity being outside the jurisdiction of the host country's national courts. (p. 332)

diplomatic recognition

The process by which the status of embassies and that of an ambassador as an official state representative are explicitly defined. (p. 332)

direct foreign investment

See foreign direct investment.

disaster relief

The provision of short-term relief in the form of food, water, shelter, clothing, and other essentials to people facing natural disasters. (p. 619)

discount rate

The interest rate charged by governments when they lend money to private banks. The discount rate is set by countries' central banks. (p. 403)

dumping

The sale of products in foreign markets at prices below the minimum level necessary to make a profit (or below cost). (p. 367)

economic base

A society's mode of production, such as slavery, feudalism, or capitalism. (p. 537)

economic class

A categorization of individuals based on economic status. (p. 536)

economic conversion

The use of former military facilities and industries for new civilian production. (p. 246)

economic development

The combined processes of capital accumulation, rising per capita incomes (with consequent falling birthrates), the increasing of skills in the population, the adoption of new technological styles, and other related social and economic changes. (p. 577)

economic surplus

Made by investing money in productive capital rather than using it for consumption. (p. 531)

electronic warfare

The use of the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves, radar, infrared, etc.) in war, such as employing electromagnetic signals for one's own benefit while denying their use to an enemy. (p. 267)

empowerment

In the development context, it refers to the grass-roots efforts of poor people to gain power over their situation and meet their basic needs. (p. 624)

enclave economy

An historically important form of dependency in which foreign capital is invested in a third world country to extract a particular raw material in a particular place–usually a mine, oil well, or plantation. (p. 549) See also dependency theory.

enclosure (of the commons)

The splitting of a common area or good into privately owned pieces, giving individual owners an incentive to manage resources responsibly. (p. 480)

epistemic communities

Transnational communities of experts who help structure the way states manage environmental and other issues. (p. 481)

ethnic cleansing

Forced displacement of an ethnic group or groups from a particular territory, accompanied by massacres and other human rights violations; it has occurred after the breakup of multinational states, notably in the former Yugoslavia. (p. 207)

ethnic groups

Large groups of people who share ancestral, language, cultural, or religious ties and a common identity. (p. 218)

ethnocentrism (in-group bias)

The tendency to see one's own group (in-group) in favorable terms and an out-group in unfavorable terms. (p. 220)

Euratom

Created in the Treaty of Rome in 1957 to coordinate nuclear power development by pooling research, investment, and management. (p. 445)

euro

Also called the ECU (European currency unit), the euro is a single European currency being developed by the European Union (EU). (p. 452)

European Commission

A European Union body whose members, while appointed by states, are supposed to represent EU interests. Supported by a multinational civil service in Brussels, the Commission's role is to identify problems and propose solutions to the Council of Ministers. (p. 447) See also Council of Ministers.

European Court of Justice

A judicial arm of the European Union, based in Luxembourg. The Court has actively established its jurisdiction and its right to overrule national law when it conflicts with EU law. (p. 449)