vocab

Question 1

Antony Blinken

Answer 1

U.S. Secretary of State since 2021

Question 2

AUKUS

Answer 2

Security relationship between Australia, the UK, and the U.S.

Question 3

Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)

Answer 3

Global infrastructure development strategy adopted by the Chinese government in 2013

Question 4

Chips and Science Act

Answer 4

U.S. federal statute providing funding to boost domestic research and manufacturing of semiconductors

Question 5

Monroe Doctrine

Answer 5

U.S. federal statute providing funding to boost domestic research and manufacturing of semiconductors

Question 6

Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

Answer 6

Former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. First female Speaker of the House. She has a reputation for being a “China Hawk”

Question 7

QUAD

Answer 7

Security relationship between India, Japan, Australia, and the U.S

Question 8

Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)

Answer 8

Free trade agreement involving 15 Asia-Pacific nations

Question 9

South China Sea

Answer 9

Sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It has tremendous economic and geostrategic importance

Question 10

Sphere of influence

Answer 10

Zones that constitute a military buffer for the big powers.

Question 11

Taiwan Strait

Answer 11

180-kilometer strait separating the island of Taiwan from continental Asia.

Question 12

Tiananmen Square protests

Answer 12

Anti-government protests in Beijing in 1989 that resulted in a massacre of several hundred to several thousand people

Question 13

Wang Yi

Answer 13

Foreign Minister of the People’s Republic of China

Question 14

Warsaw Pact

Answer 14

Collective defense treaty between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist republics. It was dissolved in 1991

Question 15

Xi Jinping

Answer 15

President of the People’s Republic of China since 2013

Question 16

Arabs

Answer 16

People from Western Asia and Northern Africa who speak Arabic and share an Arab ethnic and cultural identity.

Question 17

Ayatollah

Answer 17

A title of respect for a high-ranking Shiite religious leader in Iran

Question 18

Hardliners

Answer 18

Members of a political group who adhere strictly to a set of beliefs; refers to conservative supporters of the Supreme Leader and the Iranian Revolution in the context of Iran

Question 19

Hijab

Answer 19

A head scarf worn in public by some Muslim women

Question 20

Littoral

Answer 20

Lying along the shore (of the Persian Gulf, in this case)

Question 21

Persians

Answer 21

The predominant ethnic group in Iran who identify culturally as Persians and speak Persian (Farsi)

Question 22

Secular

Answer 22

Not religious

Question 23

Shah

Answer 23

The royal title used by the head of Iranian monarchies

Question 24

Shia

Answer 24

Muslims who believe Muhammad’s successor should have been his cousin and son-in-law, Ali; a minority sect among Muslims worldwide but the predominant sect in Iran and Iraq

Question 25

Sunni

Answer 25

The majority sect of Islam; believers hold that Muhammad’s father-in-law Abu Bakr was rightfully chosen as his successor

Question 26

Theocracy

Answer 26

A form of government run according to religious doctrine or where religious leaders rule

Question 27

Ulama

Answer 27

The interpreters of Islamic religious doctrine and law

Question 28

Famine

Answer 28

Broadly considered as extreme events in which a large number of people in a given population or geographic area suffer inadequate access to food

Question 29

Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC)

Answer 29

This tool, developed by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s Food Security Analysis Unit (FSAU), establishes a standardized tool to identify the severity of food insecurity and set strategic responses

Question 30

International Humanitarian Law (IHL)

Answer 30

Established by the Hague Conventions (1899, 1907) and Geneva Conventions (1864–1949), these are laws aimed to limit the effects of armed conflict on civilians.
Amongst these regulations is the classification of using food and hunger as a weapon as a war crime.

Question 31

“New” famines

Answer 31

Researcher Stephen Devereux’s term to classify recent famines as those triggered by political crisis in contrast to “old” famines that resulted from environmental factors

Question 32

Phase 5

Answer 32

Declared when at least 20% of households lack food that leads to starvation and death, it is the most severe level within the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC). It has become the default definition of “famine.”

Question 33

Autarky

Answer 33

Economic independence

Question 34

Covert

Answer 34

Not openly engaged in

Question 35

Decoupling

Answer 35

When financial assets, markets, or economies that once grew in sync with each other begin to move in opposite directions or grow apart – e.g., financial tensions between the U.S. and China could lead to decoupling

Question 36

Deglobalization

Answer 36

The process of decreasing economic interdependence among nation-states

Question 37

Economic Sanctions

Answer 37

Commercial or financial penalties imposed by one state against a targeted state, group, or individual to achieve specific political, social, or military goals

Question 38

Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM)

Answer 38

An anti-coup campaign led by Myanmar’s civil servants leading protests and boycotts in opposition to military rule

Question 39

Kinetic Attacks

Answer 39

Actions that involve the use of conventional military force or warfare

Question 40

Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT)

Answer 40

A cooperative serving as a network through which financial transactions between banks are carried out worldwide.

Question 41

Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN)

Answer 41

Individuals, organizations, and companies the U.S. targets for economic sanctions or embargo for posing a threat to U.S. economic policy or national security; the SDN list is maintained by the U.S.Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)