Global Politics 3rd Edition - Student Resources_Glossary
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Global Politics
3rd Edition
by Ben Whitham and Andrew Heywood



Glossary

Term Definition
Absolute gains Benefits that accrue to states from a policy or action regardless of its impact on other states.
Absolute poverty A standard of poverty that is based on an income level or access to resources, especially food, clothing, and shelter, that are insufficient to ‘keep body and soul together’.
Acid rain Rain that is contaminated by sulphuric, nitric, and other acids that are released into the atmosphere by the burning of fossil fuels.
Adaptation Changing in the light of new circumstances; in particular, learning to live with climate change.
African nationalism A liberationist, anti-colonial model of nationalist social movement. It stresses ‘pan-Africanist’ ideals of unified ‘African-ness’, and demanded – and created – new nation states, independent from European colonizing powers.
Americanization Either or both the politico-economic dominance of the United States or the spread of American cultural values and practices to other parts of the world.
Anarchy Literally, without rule; the absence of a central government or higher authority, sometimes, but not necessarily, associated with instability and chaos.
Anthropocentrism A belief that human needs and interests are of overriding moral and philosophical importance.
Anthropogenic Generated or caused by human beings.
Anti-Semitism Prejudice or hatred towards Jewish people; Semites are by tradition the descendants of Shem, son of Noah.
Appeasement A foreign policy strategy of making concessions to an aggressor in the hope of modifying its political objectives and, specifically, avoiding war.
Arms control Mechanisms through which the proliferation of arms is constrained by agreements limiting their production, distribution, and use.
Asian values Values that supposedly reflect the history, culture, and religious backgrounds of Asian societies, emphasizing the primacy on the collective (the family, wider society, and state) over the individual.
Assimilation The process through which immigrant communities lose their cultural distinctiveness by adjusting to the values, allegiances, and lifestyles of the host society.
Asymmetrical war War fought between opponents with clearly unequal levels of military, economic, and technological power, in which warfare strategies tend to be adapted to the needs of the weak.
Atomism The tendency for society to be made up of a collection of self-interested and largely self-sufficient individuals, operating as separate atoms.
Autarky Economic self-sufficiency, often associated with expansionism and conquest to ensure the control of economic resources and reduce economic dependency on other states.
Autarky Literally, self-rule; usually associated with economic self-sufficiency brought about by either colonial expansion or a withdrawal from international trade.
Balance To oppose or challenge a stronger or rising power for fear of leaving oneself exposed.
Balance of payments The balance of transactions conducted between a country and other countries, taking account of visible trade (exports and imports), invisible trade (services), and capital flows in the form of investments and loans.
Balance of power A condition in which no one state predominates over others, tending to create general equilibrium and curbing the hegemonic ambitions of all states.
Bandwagon To side with a stronger power in the hope of increasing security and influence; ‘jumping on the bandwagon’.
Beggar-thy-neighbour policies Policies pursued at the expense of other states that are believed to be in their own country’s short-term national interest; most commonly used to describe protectionism.
Behaviouralism A broad approach to the social sciences premised on the view that to explain the social, political, and economic world we must analyse human behaviour, rather than develop abstract theories of ‘human nature’ or analyses of social structures.
Belle époque From the French, literally meaning ‘beautiful era’; a period of peace and prosperity in Europe between the late nineteenth century and the outbreak of the First World War was seen as a ‘golden age’. It was also the peak of European imperialism, the violent appropriations of which in Africa and Asia enabled the prosperity ‘back home’ in Europe.
‘Billiard ball’ model A way of seeing global politics, particularly among ‘realist’ thinkers, as a set of interactions between territorially bounded, discrete states; it is a state-centric model (see p. 171).
Biocentric equality The principle that all organisms and entities in the ecosphere are of equal moral worth, each being part of an interrelated whole.
Blitzkrieg (German) Literally, lightning war; penetration in depth by armoured columns, usually preceded by aerial bombardment to reduce enemy resistance.
Bordering The practice through which borders are socially constructed (see p. 120); in the view of critical theorists, borders are neither natural nor static, but shifting social constructions, which can go beyond simply ‘lines on a map’.
Brand A symbolic construct, typically consisting of a name, logo, or symbol, which conveys the promise, ‘personality’, or image of a product or group of products.
Brezhnev doctrine The doctrine, announced by Leonid Brezhnev in 1968, that Warsaw Pact states only enjoyed ‘limited sovereignty’, justifying possible Soviet intervention.
Brinkmanship A strategy of escalating confrontation even to the point of risking war (going to the brink) aimed at persuading an opponent to back down.
Buffer zone An area, state, or collection of states located between potential (and more powerful) adversaries, reducing the likelihood of land-based attack in particular.
Bush doctrine The doctrine that pre-emptive military action, possibly aimed at achieving regime change, would be taken against states thought to be threatening the United States through the development of WMD and/or by harbouring terrorists.
Business cycle Regular oscillations in the level of business activity over time, sometimes called a ‘trade cycle’.
Capital In a general sense, any ‘asset’, financial or otherwise; Marxists use the term to refer to accumulated wealth embodied in the ‘means of production’.
Capitalism A system of generalized, profit-motivated commodity production in which wealth is owned privately and economic life is organized according to market principles.
Capitalist encirclement The theory, developed during the Russian Civil War (1918–21) that capitalist states were actively engaged in attempts to subvert the Soviet Union to bring down communism.
Carrying capacity The maximum population that an ecosystem can support, given the food, habitat, water, and other necessities available.
Casino capitalism A form of capitalism that is highly volatile and unpredictable because it is susceptible to speculatively orientated lifts in finance capital.
Centralization The concentration of political power or government authority at the centre.
Chauvinism An uncritical and unreasoned dedication to a cause or group, typically based on a belief in its superiority, as in ‘national chauvinism’.
Chauvinism An irrational belief in the superiority or dominance of one’s own group or people; it can be applied to a nation, an ethnic group, a gender, and so on.
Civic nationalism A form of nationalism that emphasizes political allegiance based on a vision of a community of equal citizens, allowing respect for ethnic and cultural diversity that does not challenge core civic values.
Civil liberties Rights and freedoms that define a ‘private’ sphere of existence that belongs to the citizen, not the state; freedoms from government.
Civil rights Rights of participation and access to power, typically voting and political rights and the right to non-discrimination.
Civil war An armed conflict between politically organized groups within a state, usually fought either for control of the state or to establish a new state.
Classical realism A form of realism that explains power politics largely in terms of human selfishness or egoism.
Climate refugees Commonly used by NGOs and campaigners to describe those forced into international migration by climate change, this term is yet to be formally adopted by the UN, since climate change cannot be a cause of refugee status in current international law.
Collateral damage Unintended or incidental injury or damage caused during a military operation (usually used as a euphemism).
Collective action problems A problem that stems from the interdependence of states, meaning that any solution must involve international cooperation rather than action by a single state.
Collective good A general benefit from which individuals cannot be excluded and, as a result, for which beneficiaries have no incentive to pay.
Collective security The idea or practice of common defence, in which a number of states pledge themselves to defend each other, based on the principle of ‘all for one and one for all’ (see p. 556).
Collectivism Where political doctrines such as liberalism and conservatism have tended to be underpinned by ontological (see p. 67) and political individualism, collectivist doctrines including socialism, Marxism, and some strands of anarchism and feminism stress the primacy of the social over the individual.
Collectivized state A state that seeks to abolish private enterprise and sets up a centrally planned, or ‘command’, economy.
Commercial liberalism A form of liberalism that emphasizes the economic and international benefits of free trade, leading to mutual benefit and general prosperity as well as peace amongst states.
Commodification Turning something into a commodity that can be bought and sold, having only an economic value.
Commodity fetishism The process whereby commodities are invested with symbolic and social significance, allowing them to exert sway over human beings.
Common market An area, comprising a number of states, within which there is a free movement of labour and capital, and a high level of economic harmonization; sometimes called a ‘single’ market.
Communitarianism The belief that the self or person is constituted through the community, in the sense that individuals are shaped by the communities to which they belong.
Community A principle or sentiment based on the collective identity of a social group, bonds of comradeship, loyalty, and duty.
Compellance A tactic or strategy designed to force an adversary to make concessions against its will through war or the threat of aggression.
Competition state A state that pursues strategies to ensure long-term competitiveness in the globalized economy.
Conditionality The requirement, usually made by the IMF and the World Bank, that certain conditions about the future direction of economic policy are met before loans are agreed or made.
Confederation A qualified union of states in which each state retains independence, typically guaranteed by unanimous decision-making.
Connectivity An information and communication technology ‘buzzword’ that refers to the links between one device (a computer, smartphone, or domestic appliance, for example) and others, affecting the speed, ease, and extent of information exchanges.
Conscientious objection Objection to conscription into the armed forces on the grounds of conscience, usually based on the belief that it is morally wrong to act as an agent of war.
Consent Assent or permission; a voluntary agreement to be subject to binding obligations or a higher authority.
Constitution A set of rules, written or unwritten, that define the duties, powers, and functions of the various institutions of government, define the relations between them and also the relations between the state and the individual.
Consumer culture A transition from ‘workerist’ socio-economic models, wherein social status is largely accorded by what one produces, to ‘consumerist’ ones, where status is defined by what one consumes. Emerged in the twentieth century.
Consumerism A psychological and cultural phenomenon whereby personal happiness is equated with the consumption of material possessions (see p. 216).
Contagion The tendency of investors, alarmed by a crisis in one part of the world, to remove money from other parts of the world, thereby spreading panic well beyond the scope of the initial problem.
Conventional warfare A form of warfare that is conducted by regular, uniformed, and national military units and uses conventional (not nuclear) military weapons and battlefield tactics.
Corruption A failure to carry out ‘proper’ or public responsibilities because of the pursuit of private gain, usually involving bribery or misappropriation.
Countervailing power The theory that concentrations of power tend to be temporary because they stimulate oppositional forces and the emergence of rival centres of power; often used to explain challenges to corporate power.
Credit crisis A reduction in the general availability of loans (or credit), usually due to an unwillingness of banks to lend to one another.
Crimes against humanity Intentionally committed acts that form part of a widespread, systematic, and repeated attack against a civilian population.
Cultural homogenization The tendency for national and local cultural differences to be lost in the face of (usually US-led corporate) globalization.
Cultural homogenization The erasure or marginalization of the wide range of diverse cultural forms and traditions in the world by a single, dominant or hegemonic culture.
Cultural imperialism The displacement of local cultural traditions and practices by the imposition of foreign beliefs, values, and attitudes, usually associated with consolidating or legitimizing economic and/or political domination.
Cultural nationalism A form of nationalism that is less concerned with political self-determination and more focused on reproducing a defined culture, including traditional language or dialect, art and music, cuisine, dress, and religious practice.
Cultural relativism The view that matters of right or wrong are culturally determined, and that moral orders are particular to the time and place in which they emerge, rather than immutable and universal.
Custom A practice that is so long-established and widely accepted that it has come to have the force of law.
Customs union An arrangement whereby a number of states establish a common external tariff against the rest of the world, usually whilst abolishing internal tariffs.
Cyber warfare The use of internet technologies – from viruses and malware to social media influencing – to achieve strategic goals in a conflict.
Debt crisis A situation in which a country is unable to service its debts because economic surpluses are insufficient to meet interest repayments.
Debt relief Agreements to write off foreign debt or reduce it to ‘sustainable levels’, often linked to conditions about good governance.
Decentralization The expansion of local autonomy through the transfer of powers and responsibilities away from national bodies.
Decentralization The expansion of local autonomy through the transfer of powers and responsibilities away from national bodies.
Decoloniality Coloniality and the process of decolonization did not stop at the withdrawal of European colonial powers from overseas territories, but is rather an ongoing struggle to remove colonial influence from ideas, language, culture, and social institutions.
Deconstruction An approach to critical reasoning that seeks to analyse concepts and beliefs by ‘deconstructing’ the assumptions upon which they stand, revealing their contingency.
Deep ecology A green ideological perspective that rejects anthropocentrism and gives priority to the maintenance of nature; it is associated with values such as bioequality, diversity, and decentralization.
Defensive realism A form of structural realism that views states as ‘security maximizers’, placing the desire to avoid attack above a bid for world power.
Deflation A reduction in the general level of prices, linked to a reduction in the level of economic activity in the economy.
Dehumanization Treatment so violently degrading that it renders impossible behaviours and experiences seen as the unique hallmarks of the human being – the exercise of choice or ‘free will’, and control over one’s own body, for example.
Democratic peace thesis The notion that there is an intrinsic link between peace and democracy, in particular that democratic states do not go to war with one another.
Democratization The transition from authoritarianism to liberal democracy, reflected in the granting of basic freedoms and political rights, the establishment of competitive elections, and the introduction of market reforms.
Détente (French) Literally, loosening; the relaxation of tension between previously antagonistic states, often used to denote a phase in the Cold War.
Deterrence A tactic or strategy designed to prevent aggression by emphasizing the scale of the likely military response (the cost of an attack would be greater than any benefit it may bring).
Deterritorialization The process through which social spaces can no longer be wholly mapped in terms of territorial places, territorial distance, and territorial borders.
Devaluation A reduction in the value of a currency relative to other currencies.
Devaluation The reduction in the official rate at which one currency is exchanged for another.
Development Growth, the act of improving, enlarging, or refining; development is commonly linked to economic growth, but the term is deeply contested.
Devolution The transfer of power from central government to subordinate regional or provincial institutions that have no share in sovereignty; their responsibilities and powers being derived entirely from the centre.
Devolution The transfer of power from central government to subordinate regional institutions that, unlike federal institutions, have no share in sovereignty.
Diaspora (from the Hebrew) Literally, dispersion; implies displacement or dispersal by force, but is also used to refer to the transnational community that arose as a result of such dispersal.
Diplomatic immunity A collection of rights and dispensations that accredited diplomats enjoy in foreign countries, usually including freedom from arrest and trial on criminal charges, and privileged travel and communication arrangements.
Direct action Political action taken outside the constitutional and legal framework; direct action may range from passive resistance to terrorism.
Dirty hands, problem of The problem that it may (arguably) be necessary for politicians to transgress accepted moral codes for the sake of the political community, making it right to do wrong.
Disarmament The reduction of fighting capacity, either through scaling down or eliminating arms or, more likely, categories of weapons.
Discourse A contested concept; for post-structuralists, ‘discourses’ mean something like ‘structured ways of representing the world’ and are a key location of social power.
Distant proximity A phenomenon, rooted in complexity, in which what seems to be remote also seems to be close at hand.
Division of labour The process whereby productive tasks become separated and more specialized to promote economic efficiency.
Dowry system The practice of making payments in cash or goods to a bridegroom’s family, along with the bride.
Drone An unmanned aerial vehicle that may be used for surveillance or attack purposes.
Ecocentrism A theoretical orientation that gives priority to the maintenance of ecological balance rather than the achievement of human ends.
Ecological footprint A measure of ecological capacity based on the hectares of biologically productive land that are needed to supply a given person’s consumption of natural resources and absorb their waste.
Ecologism A political ideology that is based on the belief that nature is an interconnected whole, embracing humans and non-humans, as well as the inanimate world.
Economic individualism The belief that individuals are entitled to autonomy in matters of economic decision-making; economic individualism is sometimes taken to be synonymous with private property and implies laissez-faire (see p. 158).
Economic sovereignty The absolute authority of the state over how economic life is conducted within its borders, involving independent control of fiscal and monetary policies, and trade and capital flows.
Egoism Concern for one’s own interest or well-being, or selfishness; the belief that one’s own interests are morally superior to those of others.
Embedded liberalism A form of liberalism that seeks to reconcile the efficiency of markets with the broader values of social community.
Emigration A process whereby people leave their native country to settle in another.
Emissions trading A mechanism that allows parties to the Kyoto Protocol to buy or sell emissions from or to other parties, while keeping within overall emissions targets.
Empire A structure of domination in which diverse cultures, ethnic groups, or nationalities are subject to a single source of authority.
Empiricism Closely associated with positivism, empiricism is a commitment to the epistemological principle that valid knowledge can only be produced through the observation and recording or measurement of events.
Enlightenment, the A European political and intellectual project of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that challenged traditional beliefs in religion, politics, and learning in general, in the name of reason and progress.
Entropy A tendency towards decay or disintegration, a characteristic exhibited, sooner or later, by all closed systems.
Essentialism An approach to philosophical or social-scientific reasoning that supposes people or things have an unchanging ‘essence’.
Ethnic cleansing A euphemism that refers to the forcible expulsion of an ethnic group or groups in the cause of racial purity, often involving genocidal violence.
Ethnic group A group of people who share a common cultural and historical identity, typically linked to a belief in common descent.
Ethnic nationalism A form of nationalism that emphasizes the organic and usually ethnic unity of the nation and aims to protect or strengthen its national ‘spirit’ and cultural sameness.
Eurocentrism The practice of developing theories that fit white, European social realities, ‘or their ‘settler-colonial’ descendants’ (e.g. the United States), and attributing global validity to them.
Eurozone The area of the EU within which the single currency (the euro) is used (in 2015, encompassing nineteen member states).
Eurozone crisis A combined sovereign debt and banking crisis within the eurozone, underpinned by low growth and declining competitiveness.
Exchange rate The price at which one currency is exchanged for another.
External sovereignty The absolute and unlimited authority of the state as an actor representing a specific territory and population on the world stage.
Externality A cost of an economic activity that has wider impact but does not feature on the balance sheet of a business or form part of the GDP of a country.
Extraordinary rendition The extra-judicial detention and transport of foreign ‘terror suspects’ to third countries for interrogation.
Fair trade Trade that satisfies moral, and not merely economic, criteria, related to alleviating poverty and respecting the interests of sellers and producers in poorer areas.
Federalism A territorial distribution of power based on a sharing of sovereignty between central (national or international) bodies and peripheral ones (see p. 192).
Feudalism A system of agrarian-based production that is characterized by fixed social hierarchies and a rigid pattern of obligations. Tenant farmers and other workers laboured on, or with, aristocratic landowners’ property in exchange for subsistence provisions such as food and shelter for their families, rather than a wage.
Financialization The reconstruction of the finances of businesses, public bodies, and individual citizens to allow them to borrow money and so raise their spending.
First strike A pre-emptive or surprise attack on an adversary; ‘getting one’s retaliation in first’.
Fiscal policies Policies whereby a government uses public spending or taxation in an effort to produce national economic effects, such as increased growth or employment.
Fiscal union The establishment of coordinated tax and spending policies within an area comprising a number of states.
Food dumping The donation of surplus food to poor countries for free or at cheap rates to maintain market shares or prop up global prices.
Foreign (from the Latin foris meaning ‘outside’) Dealing or concerned with another country, area, or people; implies strange or not familiar.
Fossil fuels Fuels that are formed through the decomposition of buried dead organisms, making them rich in carbon; examples include oil, natural gas, and coal.
Free trade A system of trade between states not restricted by tariffs or other forms of protectionism.
Free trade A system of trading between states that is unrestricted by tariffs or other forms of protectionism.
Free trade area An area within which states agree to reduce tariffs and other barriers to trade.
Functionalism The theory that government is primarily responsive to human needs; functionalism is associated with incremental steps towards integration, within specific areas of policy-making, at a pace controlled by constituent states.
Fundamentalism A style of thought in which certain principles are recognized as essential truths that have unchallengeable and overriding authority, often associated with fierce, and sometimes fanatical, commitment.
Gender Inequality Index A measure, used by the UN, of the loss in human development as a result of gender inequality, taking account of three dimensions: reproductive health, empowerment, and the labour market.
Gender mainstreaming The attempt to ‘mainstream’ gender into decision-making processes by requiring that, before decisions are made, an analysis is carried out of their likely effects on women and men, respectively.
Genealogy Like deconstruction, a method of critically analysing particular concepts, beliefs, or discourses by denying their universal, abstract, and timeless status and situating them in real social histories of power.
German problem The structural instability in the European state system caused by the emergence of a powerful and united Germany.
Glasnost (Russian) Literally, ‘openness’; used in the Soviet Union to refer to freedom of expression within the context of a one-party communist state.
Global commons Areas and natural resources that are unowned and so beyond national jurisdiction, examples including the atmosphere, the oceans, and, arguably, Antarctica.
Global imaginary An ‘imaginary’ is a way of seeing or imagining things. A global imaginary is a holistic way of imagining social, political, and economic life, at the level of the whole world rather than the local, national, or even international.
Global warming An increase in the earth’s temperature, widely believed to be due to heat trapped by greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide.
Globalism The belief – most closely associated with liberal thought (see p. 83) – that globalization is an inevitable and benevolent force in the world, modernizing, developing, and ultimately integrating the world’s many societies.
Globality A totally interconnected whole, such as the global economy; the social domain created by globalization.
Globalization The emergence of a complex web of interconnectedness that means that our lives are increasingly shaped by events that occur, and decisions that are made, at a great distance from us.
Gold exchange standard A payments system in which currencies are valued in terms of a currency that is itself on the ‘gold standard’ (its currency can be exchanged for gold).
Good governance Standards for the process of decision-making in society, including (according to the UN) popular participation, respect for the rule of law, transparency, responsiveness, and accountability.
Governance Broadly, the various ways in which social life is coordinated, of which government is merely one (see p. 189).
Green revolution The introduction of pesticides and high-yield crops to boost agricultural productivity.
Green taxes Taxes that penalize individuals or businesses for, for instance, the waste they generate, the pollution they cause, the emissions they generate, or the finite resources they consume.
Greenhouse gases Gases (such as carbon dioxide, water vapour, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone) that trap heat in the earth’s lower atmosphere creating a warming ‘greenhouse effect’.
Gross domestic product The total value of all the goods and services produced in an economy, a measure of national income.
Guerrilla war (Spanish) Literally, ‘little war’; an insurgency, or ‘people’s’ war, fought by irregular troops using tactics that are suited to the terrain and emphasize mobility and surprise rather than superior firepower.
Hard law Law that is enforceable and so establishes legally binding obligations.
Hard power The ability of one actor (usually but not necessarily a state) to influence another through the use of threats or rewards, typically involving military ‘sticks’ or economic ‘carrots’.
Hegemonic war War that is fought to establish dominance of the entire world order by restructuring the global balance of power.
Heteronormativity The prevailing representation in many societies of heterosexual relations between men and women as the most ‘normal’ or acceptable model for sexual and family relationships, marginalizing LGBTQIA+ people and their experiences.
Hierarchy An organization that is based on graded ranks and a clear and usually top-down authority structure.
High politics Issue areas that are of primary importance, usually taken to refer to defence and foreign policy generally, and particularly to matters of state self-preservation.
Historical materialism The philosophy underpinning Marxist social, political, and economic analysis. Marx and Engels developed historical materialism in opposition to the ‘idealism’ of German philosophy at the time. It emphasizes that the material social conditions we live in – especially our mode of production – shape our intellectual, political, and cultural life, whereas idealists (e.g. Hegel) tended to see it the other way around.
Human trafficking The recruitment and transport of persons for the purpose of exploitation, brought about by the threat or use of coercion or force.
Humanitarian Being concerned with the interests of humanity, specifically through a desire to promote the welfare or reduce the suffering of others; altruistic.
Humanitarianism A concern about the well-being of humanity as a whole, typically expressed through acts of compassion, charity, or philanthropy.
Hybrid warfare The use of unconventional tactics (e.g. covert and irregular troops, and cyber warfare) alongside conventional armed force.
Hybridity A condition of social and cultural mixing or fusion, affecting individual and group identities.
Hyperglobalism The view that new, globalized economic and cultural patterns became inevitable as a result of fast-paced information and communication technological (ICT) innovations in the twentieth century, and that globalization makes states obsolete, producing a ‘borderless world’.
Hyperpower A state that is vastly stronger than its potential rivals, and so dominates world affairs.
Immigration A process whereby non-nationals move into a country for the purpose of settlement.
Imperial over-reach A hubristic attempt by an imperialist power to exert control over more territories or peoples than it has the material resources (including financial and military capabilities) to successfully maintain.
Imperial over-reach The tendency for imperial expansion to be unsustainable as wider military responsibilities outstrip the growth of the domestic economy.
Import substitution An economic strategy through which domestic industries are protected from foreign competition, at least during their infancy.
Incrementalism The theory that decisions are made not in the light of clear-cut objectives but through small adjustments dictated by changing circumstances.
Individuality Self-fulfilment achieved though the realization of one’s own distinctive or unique identity or qualities; that which distinguishes one person from all other people.
Industrial Revolution The period between the late eighteenth and late nineteenth centuries, which saw the mechanization of much manufacturing, and great technological innovation, especially in Europe, as European powers reached their imperial apex.
Information society A society in which the most important resource or commodity is knowledge/information, its primary dynamic force being the process of technological development and diffusion.
Institution A body of norms, rules, and practices that shape behaviour and expectations, without necessarily having the physical character of an international organization (see p. 547).
Insurgency An armed uprising, involving irregular soldiers, which aims to overthrow the established regime.
Internal sovereignty The notion of a supreme power/authority within the state, located in a body that makes decisions that are binding on all citizens, groups, and institutions.
Internally displaced person A person forced to flee from his or her habitual residence by the effects of armed conflict, generalized violence, or natural or man-made disaster, without leaving their country.
International humanitarian law A body of international law, often identified as the laws of war, that seeks to protect combatants and non-combatants in conflict situations.
Internationalism The theory or practice of politics based on cooperation or harmony among nations, as opposed to the transcendence of national politics.
Internationalization The growth of relations and movements (for instance, of goods, money, people, messages, and ideas) across borders and between states, creating higher levels of interdependence.
Interpretivism A subjectivist tradition in the philosophy of social science that rejects the idea that human beings can be objective observers of the societies in which we are all embedded. It posits an epistemological relativism where social entities, actors, events, and processes are only significant inasmuch as we imbue them with particular meanings and interpret them in particular ways that are dependent on our social contexts.
Intervention Forcible action taken by one state against another state, often without the latter’s consent.
Intra-firm trade Trade between two affiliates within the same company, or between a parent company and an affiliate.
Islamophobia Defined as both an irrational fear of Muslim religious communities and a form of racism that targets expressions of (perceived) ‘Muslim-ness’.
Jurisprudence The science or philosophy of law, or a system or body of law as it exists in practice.
Jus ad bellum A just recourse to war, reflected in principles that restrict the legitimate use of force.
Jus in bello The just conduct of war, reflected in principles that stipulate how wars should be fought.
Just war A war that, in its purpose and conduct, meets certain ethical standards, and so is (allegedly) morally justified.
Justice Any analysis of global politics reveals differences and inequalities within and between societies, and this leads on to questions of fairness and justice. Alter-globalisation movements (see p. 12), for instance, fight for ‘global social justice’.
Keynesianism A theory (developed by J. M. Keynes [see p. 160]) or policy of economic management, associated with regulating aggregate demand to achieve full employment.
Latinx The gender-neutral way of describing people of Latin American heritage in the United States, where they are often racialized as non-white (though they may not view themselves as such).
LGBTQIA+ An abbreviation representing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (or ‘questioning’), intersex, and asexual (or agender, or ‘allies’, in some renderings) people, along with ‘more’ or ‘other’ marginalized sexualities and genders (‘+’).
Liberal interventionism The theory that liberal values and institutions are universally applicable and (in appropriate circumstances) should be promoted by intervention in the affairs of other states.
Localization A trend that favours the local as the basis for political action, cultural identity, or economic organization, usually associated with the growing importance of subnational governance.
Low politics Issue areas that are seen not to involve a state’s vital national interests, whether in the foreign or the domestic sphere.
Mainstreaming A concept originally popularized by feminists who sought to achieve ‘gender mainstreaming’, which means pushing a marginal group or issue into the centre of political agendas.
Market A system of commercial exchange shaped by the forces of demand and supply and regulated by the price mechanism.
Market fundamentalism An absolute faith in the market, reflected in the belief that the market mechanism offers solutions to all economic and social problems.
Marketization The extension of market relationships, based on commercial exchange and material self-interest, across the economy and, possibly, society.
Masculinism A world view centred on traits and behaviours commonly associated with masculinity and maleness. Masculinity is a social construction that is often represented as being more ‘rational’ and ‘objective’ than femininity but also more aggressive and violent.
Mass societies From the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, societies in which new technologies and industrial transformations led to unprecedented levels of communication, commerce, and connection, and the ‘masses’ gained access to politics.
Matriarchy Literally, rule by the mother (mater being Latin for ‘mother’); a society, whether historical or hypothesized, that is governed by women.
McDonaldization The process by which ever more domains of social life is transformed to fit the model introduced by corporate American fast-food chains.
Mercantilism An economic philosophy, most influential in Europe from the fifteenth century to the late seventeenth century, which emphasizes the state’s role in managing international trade and guaranteeing prosperity.
Mercenaries Hired soldiers in the service of a foreign power.
Meta-juridical That which precedes or sits above the law, as in principles (such as justice) or social practices and arrangements (for instance, in the case of international law, the state and the states system).
#MeToo A transnational movement of women (and some men) highlighting their experiences of sexual and gender-based harassment and violence. The hashtag was coined by Tarana Burke in a 2006 post on MySpace (see p. 210) but first ‘went viral’ in 2017.
Methodological individualism An approach to social science premised on the view that social reality is no more than the sum of the behaviour, decisions, and preferences of human individuals. It rejects the study of ‘social structures’ (see p. 123).
Microcredit Very small loans for business investment, often given to people who cannot access traditional credit.
Migration The movement of a person or group of persons, either across an international border or within a state.
Militarism The achievement of ends by military means; or the spread of military ideas and values throughout civilian society.
Militarism A cultural or ideological phenomenon in which military priorities, ideas, and values come to pervade the larger society.
Military sex work Sex work (historically, but moralizingly, referred to as ‘prostitution’) that caters to, and is sometimes organized by, the military.
Mitigation Moderating or reducing the impact of something; in particular, reducing greenhouse gas emissions to limit climate change.
Mixed-actor model The theory that, while not ignoring the role of states and national governments, international politics is shaped by a much broader range of interests and groups.
Mode of production The way a society materially organizes the production, distribution, and consumption of the social goods necessary to reproduce itself – food and clothing, for example. The examples Marx and Engels refer to most often are the feudal and the capitalist modes of production, which differ greatly in terms of which social classes have ownership or control of which parts of the economy.
Modernization theory The theory that there is a single, linear path to development, reflected in the transformation of Western countries from traditional, pre-industrial, agrarian societies to modern, industrial and mass consumption ones.
Monetary union The establishment of a single currency within an area comprising a number of states.
Moral relativism The belief that there are no absolute values, or a condition in which there is deep and widespread disagreement over moral issues.
Most favoured nation A designation given to a country that is thereby entitled to all and any favourable trading terms which apply to other countries.
Multilateralism A policy of acting in concert with other states or international organizations, or a system of coordinated relations amongst three or more actors (see p. 579).
Multilevel governance A pattern of overlapping and interrelated public authority that stems from the growth, or growing importance, of supranational and subnational bodies.
Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) A condition in which a nuclear attack by either state would only ensure its own destruction, as both possess an invulnerable second-strike capacity.
National interest Foreign policy goals, objectives, or policy preferences that supposedly benefit a society as a whole (the foreign policy equivalent of the ‘public interest’) (see p. 197).
National self-determination The principle that the nation is a sovereign entity; self-determination implies both national independence and democratic rule.
Natural law A moral system to which human laws do, or should, conform; natural law lays down universal standards of conduct derived from nature, reason, or God.
Natural rights Inherent or God-given rights that are fundamental to human beings and are therefore inalienable (they cannot be taken away).
Negative peace Peace defined as a period when war is neither imminent nor actually being fought, although the forces that give rise to war remain in place.
Negative rights Rights that are enjoyed by virtue of the inactivity of others, particularly government; often seen (somewhat misleadingly) as ‘freedoms from’.
Négritude A concept coined by the postcolonial poet, literary theorist, and activist Aimé Césaire to describe a distinctly African or Black ‘way of being’, and embedded in much anti-colonial and postcolonial theory and practice, including African nationalism.
Neofunctionalism A revision of functionalism that recognizes that regional integration in one area generates pressures for further integration in the form of ‘spillover’.
Neoliberal institutionalism An approach to study that emphasizes the role of institutions (both formal and informal) in the realization of liberal principles and goals.
Neoliberal institutionalism A school of thought within liberalism that emphasizes the scope for cooperative behaviour within the international system while not denying its anarchic character.
Neorealism A perspective on international politics that modifies the power politics model by highlighting the structural constraints of the international system; sometimes called ‘new’ or ‘structural’ realism.
Network A means of coordinating social life through loose and informal relationships between people or organizations, usually for the purpose of knowledge dissemination or exchange.
New International Economic Order Proposals for the reform of the world economy to provide better protection for developing countries by, amongst other things, altering the terms of trade, strengthening regulation, and nationalizing foreign enterprises.
New Left A current in leftist thought, ascendant in the 1990s and 2000s, that rejected both orthodox communism and social democracy in favour of a new politics of liberation based on decentralization and participatory democracy.
New politics A style of politics that distrusts representative mechanisms and bureaucratic processes in favour of strategies of popular mobilization and direct action.
New terrorism A form of terrorism that is supposedly more radical and devastating than ‘traditional’ terrorism because of the nature of its organization, political character, motivations, and strategies.
Nihilism Literally, a belief in nothing; the rejection of all conventional moral and political principles.
Non-intervention The principle that states should not interfere in the internal affairs of other states.
Non-tariff barriers Rules, regulations or practices that hinder imports through, for instance, the procurement policies of governments, systematic border delays, or complex health and national standards.
Nuclear proliferation The spread of nuclear weapons, either by their acquisition by more states or other actors (horizontal proliferation) or by their accumulation by established nuclear states (vertical proliferation).
Nuclear umbrella Protection afforded non-nuclear states or minor nuclear powers by guarantees made to them by major nuclear powers; a form of extended deterrent.
Nuclear weapons Weapons that use nuclear fission (atom bombs) or nuclear fusion (hydrogen bombs) to destroy their targets, through the effect of blast, heat, and radiation.
Nuclear winter The theory that the smoke and dust created by nuclear explosions would extinguish the sun’s rays and dramatically lower temperatures on the earth.
Offensive realism A form of structural realism that portrays states as ‘power maximizers’, as there is no limit to their desire to control the international environment.
Opium Wars Two wars waged between Britain and its East India Company, France, and China between 1839 and 1860. The European powers waged war to force Chinese acceptance of their exports, including opium grown by Britain in India. China was comprehensively defeated, signalling the end of its last imperial dynasty, the Qing.
Orientalism Originally the term used by Western scholars working on the ‘Orient’ themselves, since Edward Said’s book ‘Orientalism’ has come to denote the racist practice of majority-white Western societies representing non-Western societies – especially Muslim and far Eastern ones – as ‘backward’, ‘irrational’, ‘barbaric’, and generally less ‘developed’.
Ozone depletion A decline in the total amount of ozone in the earth’s stratosphere, particularly the development of a so-called ‘ozone hole’ over the Antarctic.
Pacifism A commitment to peace and a rejection of war or violence in any circumstances (‘pacific’ derives from the Latin and means ‘peacemaking’).
Pacta sunt servanda (Latin) The principle that treaties are binding on the parties to them and must be executed in good faith.
Pan-Africanism A broad movement to acknowledge and strengthen cultural, political and economic ties between the peoples of Africa and the global African diaspora.
Pan-nationalism A style of nationalism dedicated to unifying a disparate people through either expansionism or political solidarity (‘pan’ means all or every).
Pariah state A state whose behavioural norms place it outside the international community, leading to diplomatic isolation and attracting widespread condemnation.
Patriarchy Literally the ‘rule of the father’, patriarchy is the social dominance of men and masculinist values. Patriarchal societies (which might be liberal democracies, fascist dictatorships, ‘or any other type of regime’) are those that are structured to benefit men over women.
Patriotism Literally, love of one’s ‘fatherland’; a psychological attachment of loyalty to one’s nation or country.
Peace dividend The opportunity afforded by the end of Cold War superpower rivalry to reduce military spending and increase economic and social expenditure, often described as turning ‘guns’ into ‘butter’.
Peace enforcement Coercive measures, including the use of military force, used to restore peace and security in situations where acts of aggression have taken place.
Peacekeeping A technique designed to preserve the peace when fighting has been halted, and to assist in implementing agreements achieved by the peacemakers (see p. 560).
Peak oil The point at which the maximum rate of petroleum extraction is reached.
Perestroika (Russian) Literally, ‘restructuring’; used in the Soviet Union to refer to the introduction of market reforms to a command or planned economy.
Pluralism In world politics, the broad view that many societies of quite different character can and – in the view of many pluralists – should be able to coexist without the necessity for either a singular, hegemonic, and homogenous ‘globalism’ to shape the world in its image, nor a parochial, narrow-minded, conflictual nationalism to assert itself.
Polarity The existence within a system of one or more significant actors, or ‘poles’, which affect the behaviour of other actors and shape the contour of the system itself, determining its structural dynamics.
Policy network A systematic set of relationships between political actors who share a common interest or general orientation in a particular area.
Pooled sovereignty The combined sovereignty of two or more states; ‘pooling’ sovereignty implies gaining access to greater power and influence than state/national sovereignty.
Pooled sovereignty The sharing of decision-making authority by states within a system of international cooperation, in which certain sovereign powers are transferred to central bodies.
Positive freedom Freedom defined in terms of self-realization and the development of human capacities; freedom to be or do something.
Positive law A system of enforceable commands that operates irrespective of their moral content.
Positive peace Peace defined in terms of harmony and wholeness; the absence not just of war but of the causes of war.
Positive rights Rights that can only be enjoyed through positive intervention on the part of government, often linked to the idea of ‘freedom to’.
Positivism The theory that social and indeed all forms of enquiry should conform to the methods of the natural sciences (see p. 68).
Positivism An objectivist tradition in the philosophy of social science that strives to study the social world in a way analogous to the natural sciences, including establishing causal laws and predictions.
Post-industrial society A society based on service industries, rather than on manufacturing industries, and accompanied by a significant growth in the white-collar workforce.
Post-liberal A politics or period following the global dominance of liberal ideology. The ‘liberal world order’ allegedly constructed during the post-Second World War era is said to be threatened by post-liberalism.
Poverty cycle A set of circumstances that tend to make poverty self-perpetuating through its wider impact on health, civic order, political and economic performance, and so on.
Power Can be conceived of in several ways, including the ability to make others do what we want done, the ability to set political agendas and define what is seen to be possible, or as productive ‘empowerment’ – becoming able to speak and act for oneself.
Power politics An approach to politics based on the assumption that the pursuit of power is the principal human goal; the term is sometimes used descriptively.
Power politics Sometimes called by its German name, ‘Realpolitik’, denotes a view that power and its pursuit are the only rules governing world politics.
Praxis The idea, popularized especially by Marxism (which in turn influenced much anti-colonial politics and theory), that social theory and social practice are inextricably linked; we live our theories.
Precariat People mainly dependent upon ‘precarious’ labour; working short, part-time, and fixed-term contracts, often without guaranteed hours or pay, and with little or no economic or social capital to fall back on when such work is lacking.
Precautionary principle The presumption in favour of action in relation to major ecological and other issues over which there is scientific uncertainty, based on the fact that the costs of inaction vastly exceed the cost of (possibly unnecessary) action.
Primordialism The theory that nations are ancient and deep-rooted, fashioned variously out of psychology, culture, and biology.
Privilege A sometimes controversial concept, especially for the political Right, privilege simply means an unearned social advantage, which may be conferred through one’s proximity to majority racial or gender identities, for example.
Protectionism The use of economic measures such as taxes and tariffs on international trade to protect domestic industries from the vicissitudes of global market competition.
Protectionism The use of tariffs, quotas, and other measures to restrict imports, supposedly to protect domestic industries.
Public good A good or service that, by its nature, benefits everyone, meaning that no party can be denied access to it.
Purchasing power parity A calculation of purchasing power that takes account of the relative cost of living and the inflation rates of different countries, sometimes based on the ‘international dollar’.
Qing Dynasty The Qing was the last of China’s imperial dynasties, which reigned from 1644 to 1912, with its monarchs claiming the ‘Mandate of Heaven’ – similar to the medieval European ‘Divine Right of Kings’ – until its overthrow and the establishment of the Republic of China in 1912.
Qualified majority voting A system of voting in which different majorities are needed on different issues, with states’ votes weighted (roughly) according to size.
Racial capitalism The theory that capitalism as a system has always been bound up with colonialism, racialization, and racism (see p. 100) rather than simply class exploitation.
Realpolitik (German) Literally, realistic or practical politics; a form of politics or diplomacy that is guided by practical considerations, rather than by ideals, morals, or principles.
Rebus sic stantibus (Latin) The doctrine that states can terminate their obligations under a treaty if a fundamental change of circumstances has occurred.
Recession A period of general economic decline that is part of the usual business cycle.
Refugee A person compelled to leave his or her country because their life, security, or freedom have been threatened.
Relational power The ability of one actor to influence another actor or actors in a manner not of their choosing.
Relative gains The position of states in relation to one another, reflected in the distribution of benefits and capabilities between and amongst them.
Relative poverty A standard of poverty in which people are deprived of the living conditions and amenities that are customary in the society to which they belong.
Relativism The belief that ideas and values are valid only in relation to particular social, cultural, and historical conditions, implying that there are no universal truths (epistemological relativism) or no universal values (moral or cultural relativism).
Reparations Compensation, usually involving financial payments or the physical requisition of goods, to cover the costs of war and other international human catastrophes, including slavery.
Reprisal An act of retaliation designed either to punish a wrongdoer or redress an injury; reprisal suggests proportionality and usually stops short of war.
Republican liberalism A form of liberalism that highlights the benefits of republican (rather than monarchical) government and, in particular, emphasizes the link between democracy and peace.
Resource curse The tendency for countries and regions with an abundance of natural resources to experience low growth, blocked development, and, sometimes, civil strife.
Resource security Security understood in terms of access to energy and other resources sufficient to meet a state’s economic and military needs.
Resource war A war that is fought to gain or retain control of resources which are important to economic development and political power.
Responsible sovereignty The idea that state sovereignty is conditional upon how a state treats its citizens, based on the belief that the state’s authority arises ultimately from sovereign individuals.
Revolution The inevitable result of the class antagonism at the heart of the capitalist mode of production, proletarian revolution will, in the Marxist view, overthrow the rule of the bourgeoisie and replace it with a radical form of workers’ democracy: communism.
Revolution in military affairs The development in the United States in particular of new military strategies, based on ‘high-tech’ technology and ‘smart’ weapons, aimed at achieving swift and decisive outcomes.
Revolutionary war A type of civil war, or anti-colonial war, which sees a population rise up against its previous rulers. Often characterized by guerrilla tactics.
Rule of law The principle that law should ‘rule’, in the sense that it establishes a framework within which all conduct and behaviour takes place.
Scriptural literalism A belief in the literal truth of sacred texts, which as the revealed word of God have unquestionable authority.
Second strike A retaliatory attack on an adversary in response to a first-strike attack.
Secularism The belief that religion should not intrude into secular (worldly) affairs, often reflected in the demand to separate ‘church and state’.
Secularization thesis The theory that modernization is invariably accompanied by the victory of reason over religion and the displacement of spiritual values by secular ones.
Security In a global political system where states remain among the most important actors, security – the condition states are supposed to be able to provide for citizens – looms large in politics and policy, while insecurity arguably remains a pervasive feature.
Security community A region in which the level of cooperation and integration amongst states makes war or the use of large-scale violence unlikely, if not impossible.
Security dilemma The dilemma that arises from the fact that a build-up of military capacity for defensive reasons by one state is always liable to be interpreted as aggressive by other states.
Security paradox The paradox that a build-up of military capacity designed to strengthen national security may be counterproductive, as it can encourage other states to adopt more threatening and hostile postures.
Segregationism The support for systems of socially separating – from housing to public services – the lives of people of different ‘races’, perhaps most closely associated with the ‘Jim Crow laws’ in the United States and the Apartheid regime in South Africa.
Self-actualization Personal fulfilment brought about by the refinement of sensibilities; self-actualization is usually linked to the transcendence of egoism and materialism.
Self-determination The principle that the state should be a self-governing entity, enjoying sovereign independence and autonomy within the international system.
Self-help A state’s reliance on its own capacities and resources, rather than external support, to ensure security and survival.
Shallow ecology A green ideological perspective that harnesses the lessons of ecology to human needs and ends, and is associated with values such as sustainability and conservation.
Shared sovereignty A constitutional arrangement in which sovereignty is divided between two levels of government, each exercising supreme and autonomous control over a specific range of issues.
Situationism A movement of students, artists, and intellectuals that emerged in 1960s Paris. The vanguard of a social revolution, situationists used subversive street art, and (sometimes violent) protest, to attack traditional social order and nascent consumer capitalism.
Smart power The use of soft power backed up by the possible use of hard power.
Social capital Cultural and moral resources, such as networks, norms, and trust, that help to promote social cohesion, political stability, and prosperity.
Social class Broadly, a group of people who share a similar social and economic position, based either on their relationship to the means of production or on the income and status of their occupational group.
Social Darwinism The eugenicist belief that social existence is characterized by competition or struggle, ‘the survival of the fittest’, implying that international conflict and probably war are inevitable.
Social democracy A moderate or reformist brand of socialism that favours a balance between the market and the state, rather than the abolition of capitalism.
Social ecology The idea that ecological principles can and should be applied to social organization, a term originally used mainly by eco-anarchists.
Social market An economy that is structured by market principles and largely free from government interference, operating in a society in which cohesion is maintained through a comprehensive welfare system and effective welfare services.
Social movements Coalitions of individuals and groups seeking to implement social change. This may be through influencing – or even seizing control of – government or the state and its levers of economic and political power.
Social reflexivity The tendency of individuals and other social actors to reflect, more or less continuously, on the conditions of their own actions, implying higher levels of self-awareness, self-knowledge, and contemplation.
Soft law Law that is not binding and cannot be enforced; quasi-legal instruments that impose only moral obligations.
Soft power The ability to influence other actors by persuading them to follow or agree to norms and aspirations that produce the desired behaviour.
Sovereign debt crisis A structural imbalance in state finances that makes it impossible to repay, or refinance, the national debt without assistance from a third party.
Sovereign equality The principle that, regardless of other differences, states are equal in the rights, entitlements, and protections they enjoy under international law.
Sovereignty The principle of absolute and unlimited power; the absence of a higher authority in either domestic or external affairs (see p. 4).
Space-time ‘The global’ is often described as a scale of space-time. In other words, it has both spatial and temporal dimensions, just like ‘the local’ or ‘the national’, we experience spaces through time, and vice versa.
Spillover The dynamic process whereby integration in one policy area tends to ‘spill over’ into other areas, as new goals and new pressures are generated.
Spillover A process through which the creation and deepening of integration in one economic area creates pressure for further economic integration, and, potentially, for political integration.
State A political institution that successfully claims sovereign jurisdiction within defined territorial borders.
State of nature A society devoid of political authority and of formal (legal) checks on the individual.
State terrorism Terrorism carried out by government bodies such as the police, military or intelligence agencies.
State-building The construction of a functioning state through the establishment of legitimate institutions for the formulation and implementation of policy across key areas of government.
State-centrism An approach to political analysis that takes the state to be the most important actor in the domestic realm and on the world stage.
Statecraft The art of conducting public affairs, or the skills associated with it – statesmanship.
States system A pattern of relationships between and amongst states that establishes a measure of order and predictability (see p. 170).
Structural power The ability to shape the frameworks within which global actors relate to one another, thus affecting ‘how things shall be done’.
Structural violence A form of violence that stems from social structures that perpetuate domination, oppression, or exploitation, as opposed to ‘direct violence’, which stems (supposedly) from individual or group motivations (see p. 291).
Suicide terrorism A form of terrorism in which the perpetrator (or perpetrators) intends to kill himself or herself in the process of carrying out the attack.
Supraterritoriality A condition in which social life transcends territory through the growth of ‘transborder’ and ‘transglobal’ communications and interactions.
Sustainability The capacity of a system to maintain its health and continuing existence over a period of time.
Systems theory An approach to study that focuses on works of ‘systems’, explaining their operation and development in terms of reciprocal interactions amongst component parts.
Technological determinism A theory of history in which technological innovation and development is assumed to be the principal motor of social, economic, or political change.
Temporality Time might seem a simple, everyday thing: a linear way of measuring existence. But critical theories of global politics have increasingly ‘problematized’ time, exploring how politically significant different and competing temporalities (conceptions and representations of time) can be.
Terms of trade The balance between import prices and export prices.
The constitutive theory of the state The theory that the political existence of a state is entirely dependent on its recognition by other states.
Time/space compression The idea that, in a globalized world, time and space are no longer significant barriers to communications and interaction.
Tobin tax A transaction tax on foreign currency dealings, proposed by the US economist James Tobin.
Torture The infliction of intense physical or mental pain or suffering as a means of punishment, or to gain information or a confession.
Total war A war involving all aspects of society, resulting from large-scale conscription, the gearing of the economy to military ends, and the mass destruction of ‘enemy’ targets, including civilians.
Total war A war involving all aspects of society, including large-scale conscription, the gearing of the economy to military ends, and the aim of achieving unconditional surrender through the mass destruction of enemy targets.
Tragic individualization The condition in which the individual, through the failure of science, politics, and other expert systems to manage risk, is forced to cope with the uncertainty of the global world by him or herself.
Transition countries Former Soviet bloc countries that were transitioning from central planning to market capitalism.
Transnationalism Political, social, economic, or other forms of action and interaction that transcend or cut across national borders.
Treaty A formal agreement between two or more states that is considered binding in international law.
Trickle down The theory that the introduction of free-market policies will, in time, benefit the poor and not only the rich through an increase in economic growth and a general rise in living standards.
Underclass A poorly defined and politically controversial term that refers, broadly, to people who suffer from multiple deprivation (unemployment or low pay, poor housing, inadequate education, and so on).
Unilateralism One-sidedness; a policy determined by the interests and objectives of a single state, unconstrained by other states and bodies.
Unipolarity In world order is a structure wherein a single, very powerful state is able to dominate the wider system – also known as ‘global hegemony’. The immediate post-Cold War years are viewed by some as a unipolar moment for the United States.
Universalism The belief that it is possible to uncover certain values and principles that are applicable to all people and all societies, regardless of historical, cultural, and other differences.
Utilitarianism A moral philosophy that equates ‘good’ with pleasure or happiness, and ‘evil’ with pain or unhappiness, and aims to achieve ‘the greatest happiness for the greatest number’ (the principle of general utility).
Volksgeist (German) Literally, the spirit of the people; the organic identity of a people revealed in their culture and particularly their language.
War crime A violation of the laws or customs of war, for which individuals can be held to be criminally responsible.
War rape Rape committed by soldiers, other combatants, or civilians during armed conflict or war.
Warlordism A condition in which locally based militarized bands vie for power in the absence of a sovereign state.
Web 2.0 A play on the version numbering used by software developers, Web ‘2.0’ represents a dramatic shift in use from the early 2000s onward, with ordinary users no longer just ‘browsing’ or downloading content but increasingly creating and uploading it too, via social media posts, blogs, vlogs, and podcasts.
Welfare state A state that takes prime responsibility for the social welfare of its citizens, discharged through a range of social security, health, education, and other services (albeit different in different counties).
White supremacy A social, political, and economic order designed by, and for the benefit of, people racialized as ‘white’, and rooted in the conviction that such people are morally and intellectually superior to all others. White supremacists are advocates of this order and its maintenance or re-establishment.
Whiteness A term used to describe both a form of ‘racialized’ identity (see p. 100) and a set of related, dominant social norms and structures in majority-white societies.
World order The perceived hierarchy of states in the world, which varies according to when, where, and whom the ‘orderer’ is, and tends to relate to perceived economic, political, cultural, and military power.
World order The actual or perceived distribution of power between and amongst states and other key actors, giving rise to a relatively stable pattern of relationships and behaviours.
World Wide Web A hypertext-based system that gives users of the internet access to a collection of online content stored on servers around the world; often simply called WWW or ‘the Web’.
Worlding The process by which different societies construct their imaginaries of the world, including how they envisage its structure and constituent parts, such as which are the key global actors and processes.
Worldism A theory of ‘multiple worlds’ – the differing global visions that have emerged from the different local, national, and regional processes of worlding.
Xenophobia A fear or hatred of foreigners; pathological ethnocentrism.


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