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70 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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hegemonic war |
war for control of the entire world order |
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total war |
warfare by one state waged to conquer and occupy another |
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limited war |
military actions that seek objectives short of the surrender and occupation of the enemy |
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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 |
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guerilla war |
warfare without front lines and with irregular forces operating in the midst of, and often hidden or protected by, civilian populations |
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truth commissions |
governmental bodies established in several countries after internal wars to hear honest testimony and bring to light what really happened during these wars |
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conflict |
a difference in preferred outcomes in a bargaining situation |
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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 |
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nationalism |
identification with and devotion to the interests of one's nation. |
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ethnic groups |
large groups of people who share ancestral, language, cultural, or religious ties and a common identity |
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ethnocentrism |
the tendency to see one's own group in favorable terms and an out-group in unfavorable terms |
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dehumanization |
stigmatization of enemies as subhuman or nonhuman, leading frequently to widespread violence. |
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genocide |
an intentional and systematic attempt to destroy a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group, in whole or in part. |
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secular |
created apart from religious establishments and in which there is a high degree of separation between religious and political organizations |
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islam |
a broad and diverse world religion whose divergent populations include sunni muslims, shi'ite muslims, and smaller branches |
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muslims |
practice islam |
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Islamist |
describing a political ideology based on instituting Islamic principles and laws in government |
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irredentism |
a form of nationalism whose goal is to regain territory lost to another state; it can lead directly to violent interstate conflict |
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ethnic cleansing |
Euphemism for forced displacement of an ethnic group or groups from a territory, accompanied by massacres and other human rights violations; it had occurred after the break up of multinational states, notably in the former Yugoslavia |
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territorial waters |
the waters near states shores generally treated as part of national territory. The UN convention on the Law of the Sea provides for a 12-mile territorial sea and a 200 miles exclusive economic zone |
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airspace |
the space above a state that is considered its territory in contrast to outer space, which is considered international territory |
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infantry |
foot soldiers who use assault rifles and other light weapons |
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counterinsurgency |
an effort to combat guerilla armies, often including programs to "win the hearts and minds" of rural populations so that they stop sheltering guerillas |
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landmines |
concealed explosive devices, often left behind by irregular armies, that kill or maim civilians after wars end. |
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power projection |
the ability to use military force in areas far from a country's region or sphere of influence |
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electronic warfare |
use of the electromagnetic spectrum in war, such as employing electromagnetic signals for one's own benefit while denying their use to an enemy |
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stealth technology |
the use of special radar-absorbent materials and unusual shapes in the design of aircraft, missiles and ships to scatter enemy radar. |
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state-sponsored terrorism |
the use of terrorist groups by states, usually under control of a state's intelligence agency to achieve political aims |
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weapons of mass destruction |
nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, all distinguished from conventional weapons by their enormous potential lethality and their relative lack of discrimination in whom they kill |
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fissionable material |
the elements uranium-235 and plutonium, whose atoms split apart and release energy via a chain reaction when an atomic bomb explodes |
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ballistic missiles |
the major strategic delivery vehicle for nuclear weapons; it carries a warhead along a trajectory and lets it drop on the target |
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intercontinental ballistic missiles |
the longest range ballistic missiles able to travel 5,000 miles |
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cruise missile |
a small winged missile that can navigate thousands of miles of previously mapped terrain to reach a particular target, can carry either a nuclear or conventional war head |
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missile technology control regime |
a set of agreements through which industrialized states try to limit the flow of missile relevant technology to third world states |
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chemical weapons convention |
an agreement that bans the production and possession of chemical weapons and includes strict verification provisions and the threat of sanctions against violators and nonparticipants in the treaty |
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biological weapons convention |
an agreement that prohibits the development, production, and possession of biological weapons but makes no provision for inspections |
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proliferation |
the spread of weapons of mass destruction (nuclear, chemical, biological) into the hands of more actors |
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Non-proliferation Treaty |
a treaty that created a framework for controlling the spread of nuclear materials and expertise, including the International Atomic Energy Agency, a UN agency based in Vienna that is charged with inspecting the nuclear power industry in NPT member states to prevent secret military diversions of nuclear materials |
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Mutually Assured Destruction |
the possession of second strike nuclear capabilities, which ensures that neither of two adversaries could prevent the other from destroying it in an all out war |
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Strategic Defense Initiative |
a U.S. effort, also known as Star Wars, to develop defenses that could shoot down incoming ballistic missiles, spurred by President Ronald Reagan in 1983 |
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Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (1972) |
A treaty that 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 |
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Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty |
a treaty that bans all nuclear weapons testing, thereby broadening the ban on atmospheric testing negotiate in 1963 |
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chain of command |
a hierarchy of officials through which states control military forces |
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civil-military relations |
the relations between a state's civilian leaders and the military leadership. In most countries the military takes orders from civilian leaders. In extreme cases, poor civil-military relations can lead to military coups |
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coup d'etat |
French for blow against the state; a term that refers to the seizure of political power by domestic military forces- that is, a change of political power outside the state's constitutional order |
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military governments |
states in which military forces control the government; they are most common in third world countries, where the military may be the only large modern institution |
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international norms |
the expectations held by participants about normal relations among states |
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international organizations |
intergovernmental organizations such as the UN and nongovernmental organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross |
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UN Charter |
the founding document of the United Nations; it is based on the principles that states are equal, have sovereignty over their own affairs, enjoy interdependence and territorial integrity, and must fulfill international obligations. |
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UN General Assembly |
A body composed of representatives of all states that allocates UN funds, passes non-binding resolutions and coordinates third world development programs and various autonomous agencies through the Economic and Social Council |
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UN security council |
a body of five great powers and ten rotating member states that makes decisions about international peace and security, including the dispatch of UN peacekeeping forces |
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UN secretariat |
The UN's executive branch, led by the secretary general |
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peace building |
the use of military peacekeepers, civilian administrators, police trainers, and similar efforts to sustain peace agreements and build stable, democratic governments in societies recovering from civil wars. |
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UN Conference on Trade and Development |
a structure established in 1964 to promote third world development through various trade proposals |
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World Health Organization |
an organization based in Geneva that provides technical assistance to improve health conditions in the third world and conducts major immunization campaigns |
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world court |
also called the international court of justice. the judicial arm of the UN; located in the Hague, it hears only cases between states |
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International Court of Justice |
old name of world court |
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immigration law |
national laws that establish the conditions under which foreigners may travel and visit within a state's territory, work within the state, and sometimes become citizens of the state |
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diplomatic recognition |
the process by which the status of embassies and that of an ambassador as an official state representative are explicitly defined |
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diplomatic immunity |
a privilege under which diplomats' activities fall outside the jurisdiction of the host country's national courts |
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just wars |
a category in international law and political theory that defines when wars can be justly started and how they can be justly fought |
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human rights |
the rights of all people to be free from abuses such as torture or imprisonment |
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Universal Declaration of Human Rights |
The core UN document on human rights; although it lacks the force of international law, it sets forth international norms regarding behavior by governments toward their own citizens and foreigners alike |
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Amnesty International |
an influential nongovernmental organization that operates globally to monitor and try to rectify glaring abuses of political human rights |
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responsibility to protect |
principle adopted by world leaders in2005 holding governments responsible for protecting civilians from genocide and crimes against humanity perpetrated within a sovereign state |
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War crimes |
violations of the law governing the conduct of warfare, such as mistreatment of prisoners of war or the unnecessary targeting of civilians |
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crimes against humanity |
a category of legal offenses created at the Nuremberg rials after WWII to encompass genocide and other acts committed |
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International Criminal court |
a permanent tribunal for war crimes and crimes against humanity |
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prisoners of war |
soldiers who have surrendered and who thereby receive special status under the laws of war |
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International Committee of the Red Cross |
a nongovernmental organization that provides practical support, such as medical care, food, and letters from home, to civilians caught in wars and to prisoners of war |
