Definitions

Question 1

absolute advantage

Answer 1

when a country is more efficient at producing a single good than another country

Question 2

absolute gains

Answer 2

the total effect of a decision or situation on an actor

Question 3

advisory group

Answer 3

the set of individuals from whom leaders seek decision-making assistance

Question 4

African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights

Answer 4

the treaty by the Organization for African Unity (later the African Union) that went into force in 1986 and listed individual rights and the responsibilities of individuals in a communal context. It also created the African Commission of Human and Peoples’ Rights and the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights.

Question 5

African Union (AU)

Answer 5

organization in Africa devoted to representing the interests of African states.

Question 6

agent-centered approach

Answer 6

understanding and explaining international relations by focusing on the individuals and groups who make decisions within the stat

Question 7

aid sanction

Answer 7

cutting off aid to a country in order to get it to change its behavior

Question 8

American Convention on Human Rights

Answer 8

the Organization of American States treaty that went into force in 1978. It created an Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and an Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

Question 9

anarchy

Answer 9

the absence of central government in world politics.

Question 10

arable land

Answer 10

land capable of sustaining agriculture

Question 11

arms embargo

Answer 11

not selling weapons to a country

Question 12

arms control

Answer 12

regulation of the amount, type, positioning, or use of weapons

Question 13

arms races

Answer 13

peacetime competition in armaments by two or more states driven by conflict interests, fear, and suspicion.

Question 14

asymmetric war

Answer 14

armed conflict between two or more groups of very different military size or power.

Question 15

austerity program

Answer 15

program of severely restricted government spending, often on welfare programs, imposed when the country must balance its accounts.

Question 16

authoritarian systems

Answer 16

nondemocratic governments with leaders who rule via force, whose basis of power is the ability to coerce others or a submissive citizenry.

Question 17

autonomy

Answer 17

state of independence from another country, the ability to act by onesel

Question 18

balance of power politics

Answer 18

patterns of shifting alliances, force, and counterforce among states as they seek power, counter the efforts of rivals, and confront security threats.

Question 19

balance-of-payments

Answer 19

a country’s balance between exports, imports, and debt. If exports are too low and cannot support the country’s debt, there is an economic crisis.

Question 20

balancing

Answer 20

(in alliances) forming coalitions to counter the rising power and threat of a state.

Question 21

bandwagoning

Answer 21

(in alliances) siding with a rising power to gain benefits.

Question 22

Baruch Plan

Answer 22

a nuclear disarmament proposal authored by U.S. statesman Bernard Baruch after World War II to place nuclear weapons and energy activities under the control and authority of the United Nations.

Question 23

beggar-thy-neighbor

Answer 23

an economic policy that stresses trade protectionism and causes other countries to bear the costs of efforts at securing prosperity at home.

Question 24

Big Mac Index

Answer 24

a measure created by The Economist magazine that compares the value of currencies by comparing the cost of a Big Mac hamburger in different countries. The United States is used as the baseline cost for the index.

Question 25

bilateral

Answer 25

relations between two states. For example, a bilateral summit is a high-level conference between two states.

Question 26

bipolar

Answer 26

a distribution of power in the international system in which there are two great powers

Question 27

boomerang model

Answer 27

internal groups repressed by their own states can turn to TANs to put pressure on other states and those states then put pressure on the repressive state from the outside. In short, repression against internal groups can boomerang back and cause new external pressure on the repressive state.

Question 28

bounded rationality

Answer 28

the idea that leaders want to make rational or logical decisions but are limited by their lack of knowledge or other human factors

Question 29

brinkmanship

Answer 29

the strategy of escalating conflicts or crises to nuclear threats in order to force the other side to back down.

Question 30

capitalism

Answer 30

an economic system in which workers sell their labor for wages, there is no central authority over the economy, and market forces determine what is purchased and what is sold.

Question 31

capitalist class

Answer 31

the owners of businesses, factories, etc., that make profits from the work of laborers but do not work themselves.

Question 32

centrally planned (or command) economy

Answer 32

an economy that is run by the government rather than private citizens. Examples include the Soviet Union and North Korea

Question 33

Chinese Communist Party

Answer 33

the only legal political party in the People’s Republic of China. It controls all aspects of the government.

Question 34

civil society groups

Answer 34

NGOs that promote democracy and human rights on a global basis.

Question 35

civil society organizations

Answer 35

NGOs that voluntarily work together to serve the greater social and political good within a society; they build the voluntary relationships that bind society and its members together

Question 36

civil war

Answer 36

armed conflict between competing factions within a country, or between a government and a competing group within that country over control of territory and/or the government.

Question 37

coercive diplomacy

Answer 37

a strategy that combines threats and the selective use of force with negotiation in a bargaining strategy to persuade an adversary to comply with one’s demand.

Question 38

Cold War

Answer 38

a period of intense rivalry and competition from 1947–1989 between the United States and its allies on the one hand, and the Soviet Union and its allies on the other.

Question 39

collective action problem

Answer 39

a condition in which the uncoordinated actions of individuals lead to less than optimal outcomes because, although many individuals would benefit from some cooperative action or actions, few incentives lead any particular individuals to assume the costs of such actions.

Question 40

collective goods

Answer 40

things that benefit all concerned—whether they participate in their protection and maintenance—and are not owned by any one state actor.

Question 41

collective security

Answer 41

states join together into a community, ban the use of force by members, and commit themselves to joining together to respond to any attack by one member on any other member.

Question 42

colonialism

Answer 42

the situation where one country takes over another country and administers it with a local bureaucracy.

Question 43

Colonies

Answer 43

territories that are legally owned and controlled by another country, typically called the imperial power.

Question 44

commitment problem

Answer 44

countries have a hard time committing to cooperative courses of action that assure their partners that they will keep their end of the deal for mutual benefit and forego the possibility of their own short-term gains.

Question 45

communism

Answer 45

the anti-capitalist economic philosophy created by Karl Marx that promoted centralized control of a country and its economy for the equal redistribution of resources to the country’s citizens.

Question 46

comparative advantage

Answer 46

being more efficient at producing a good or service relative to another good or service. Even if one country has an absolute advantage over another in all products, both countries benefit by specializing in the products they each produce most efficiently (their comparative advantage) and trading for the others.

Question 47

compellence

Answer 47

the use of military force to stop a foe from doing something it was already doing, or force it to start doing something it was not yet doing.

Question 48

complexity

Answer 48

the multidimensional issues, actors, and connections that characterize international relations.

Question 49

compulsory jurisdiction

Answer 49

in international law, the condition in which parties to a dispute must submit the case to a court.

Question 50

Concert of Europe

Answer 50

a nineteenth century multilateral organization composed of Great Britain, Russia, Austria, Prussia, and France to promote stability, cooperation, and multilateral diplomacy

Question 51

conference diplomacy

Answer 51

large diplomatic meetings of many officials from states, international organizations, nongovernmental organizations, academia, and other non-state actors.

Question 52

consociational democracy

Answer 52

a form of government that guarantees representation to the different ethnic or religious groups within the country.

Question 53

constructivism

Answer 53

a major theoretical approach to international relations emphasizing the importance of ideas, collective identities, and the social construction of reality.
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emphasizes the social construction of identity and the ways that social interactions define ethnicity for groups of people.

Question 54

consulates

Answer 54

offices other than embassies where diplomatic officials facilitate commerce, travel, and cultural exchanges.

Question 55

Convention on Genocide

Answer 55

a 1948 UN treaty that both defined genocide and made it a crime whether it occurred in peacetime or in wartime.

Question 56

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)

Answer 56

the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, approved by the UN General Assembly in 1979

Question 57

Conventional war

Answer 57

armed conflict between two or more states in which military forces of each side are used against each other, and in which weapons of mass destruction such as nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons are not used.

Question 58

core

Answer 58

the economic zone composed of wealthy countries producing high-end products.

Question 59

counter-force

Answer 59

targeting an adversary’s nuclear arsenals and other war-fighting abilities for nuclear strikes.

Question 60

counter-value

Answer 60

targeting an adversary’s cities and industrial centers for nuclear strikes

Question 61

coup d’état

Answer 61

literally translated as a “strike against the state”; when there is a forceful change in government that overthrows the current leadership.

Question 62

crimes against humanity

Answer 62

acts of war against a civilian population; these can include, among others, the crimes of murder; enslavement; deportation or forcible transfer; imprisonment; torture; rape, sexual slavery or any other form of enforced sexual violence; persecution on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious, gender, or other such grounds; enforced disappearance; apartheid; and other inhumane acts that create great suffering or serious mental or physical injury.

Question 63

cultural exchange

Answer 63

programs involving the exchange of citizens—students, teachers, scientists, artists, and others—between countries to foster cultural understanding and cooperation.

Question 64

cultural relativism

Answer 64

the idea that human rights are not truly universal and that different cultures have different systems of rights. This term particularly comes into play when non-Western societies argue that international human rights standards have a Western bias and do not reflect non-Western values.

Question 65

custom

Answer 65

the general practice of states accepted as law; a source of international law.

Question 66

cyclical theories of war

Answer 66

conflict based on the rise and relative decline of leading powers in the international system in which stability occurs as the victors in major wars assert themselves, and war occurs as a function of the subsequent and inevitable rise of challengers to those dominant powers.