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agenda setting
the ability to influence which issues receive attention from governments and international organizations by giving them publicity.
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arbitrage
the selling of one currency (or product) and purchase of another to make a profit on the changing exchange rates; traders (arbitragers) help to keep states currencies in balance through their speculative efforts to buy large quantities of devalued currencies and sell them in countries where they are valued more highly.
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digital divide
the division between those states that have a high proportion of Internet users and hosts, and those that do not .
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global village
a popular image used to describe the growth of awareness that all people share a common fate, stemming from a view that the world is an integrated and interdependent whole.
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globalization
a set of processes that are widening, deepening, and accelerating the interconnectedness among societies.
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globalization of finance
the increasing transnationalization of national markets through the worldwide integration of capital flows.
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nontariff barrier
governmental restrictions not involving a tax or duty that increase the cost of importing goods into a country.
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strategic corporate alliances
cooperation between MNCs and foreign companies in the same industry, driven by the movement of MNC manufacturing overseas.
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tariff
a tax imposed by governments on imported goods.
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trade integration
economic globalization measured by the extent to which world trade volume grows faster than the worlds combined gross domestic product.
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antidumping
duties tariffs imposed to offset another states alleged selling of a product at below the cost to produce it.
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balance of payments
a calculation summarizing a countrys financial transactions with the external world, determined by the level of credits (export earnings, profits from foreign investment, receipts of foreign aid) minus the countrys total international debts (imports, interest payments on international debts, foreign direct investments, and the like).
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balance of trade
a calculation based on the value of merchandise goods and services imported and exported. A deficit occurs when a country buys more from abroad than it sells.
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beggar-thy-neighbor
policies the attempt to promote trade surpluses through policies that cause other states to suffer trade deficits.
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collective goods
goods from which everyone benefits regardless of their individual contributions.
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commercial liberalism
an economic theory advocating free markets and the removal of barriers to the flow of trade and capital.
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comparative advantage
the concept in liberal economic theory that a state will benefit if it specializes in those goods it can produce comparatively cheaply and acquires through trade goods that it can only produce at a higher cost.
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countervailing
duties tariffs imposed by a government to offset suspected subsidies provided by foreign governments to their producers.
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exchange rate
the rate at which one states currency is exchanged for another states currency in the global marketplace.
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export quotas
barriers to commerce agreed to by two trading states to protect their domestic producers.
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fixed exchange rates
a system under which states establish the parity of their currencies and commit to keeping fluctuations in their exchange rates within narrow limits.
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floating exchange rates
an unmanaged process whereby market forces rather than governments influence the relative rate of exchange for currencies between countries.
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free riders
those who enjoy the benefits of collective goods but pay little or nothing for them.
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Group of Five (G-5)
a group of advanced industrialized democracies composed of the United States, Britain, France, Japan, and Germany.
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Group of Seven
(G-7)/Group of Eight (G-8) the G-5 plus Canada and Italy; since 1997, known as the G-8 with the addition of Russia.
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hegemonic stability theory
a school of thought that argues free trade and economic order depend on the existence of an overwhelmingly powerful state willing and able to use its strength to open and organize world markets.
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import quota
limits on the quantity of particular products that can be imported.
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infant industry
a newly established industry that is not yet strong enough to compete effectively in the global marketplace.
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international liquidity
reserve assets used to settle international accounts.
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international monetary system
the financial procedures governing the exchange and conversion of national currencies so that they can be bought and sold for one another to calculate the value of currencies and credits when capital is transferred across borders through trade, investment, and loans.
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international political economy
the study of the intersection of politics and economics that illuminates the reasons why changes occur in the distribution of states wealth and power.
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laissez-faire
economics from a French phrase (meaning literally let do) that Adam Smith and other commercial liberals in the eighteenth century used to describe the advantages of freewheeling capitalism without government interference in economic affairs.
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Liberal International Economic Order (LIEO)
the set of regimes created after World War II, designed to promote monetary stability and reduce barriers to the free flow of trade and capital.
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mercantilism
the seventeenth-century theory preaching that trading states should increase their wealth and power by expanding exports and protecting their domestic economy from imports.
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money supply
the total amount of currency in circulation in a state, calculated to include demand depositssuch as checking accountsin commercial banks and time depositssuch as savings accounts and bondsin savings banks.
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most-favored-nation
principle unconditional nondiscriminatory treatment in trade between contracting parties guaranteed by GATT; in 1997, U.S. senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan introduced legislation to replace the term with normal trade relations (NTR) to better reflect its true meaning.
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neomercantilism
a contemporary version of classical mercantilism which advocates promoting domestic production and a balance-of-payment surplus by subsidizing exports and using tariffs and nontarriff barriers to re
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nondiscrimination
a principle for trade that proclaims that goods produced at home and abroad are to be treated the same for import and export agreements.
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orderly market arrangements (OMAs)
voluntary export restrictions that involve a governmentto- government agreement and often specific rules of management.
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protectionism
a policy of creating barriers to foreign trade, such as tariffs and quotas, that protect local industries from competition.
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voluntary export restrictions (VERs)
a protectionist measure popular in the 1980s and early 1990s, in which exporting countries agree to restrict shipments of a particular product to a country to deter it from imposing an even more onerous import quota.
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regional currency
regional currency union the pooling of sovereignty to create a common currency (such as the EUs euro) and single monetary system for members in a region, regulated by a regional central bank within the currency bloc to reduce the likelihood of large-scale liquidity crises.
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asymmetric warfare
armed conflict between belligerents of vastly unequal military strength, in which the weaker side is often a nonstate actor that relies on unconventional tactics.
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civil war
armed conflict within a country between the central government and one or more insurgent groups, sometimes referred to as internal war.
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crosscutting cleavages
a situation where politically relevant divisions between international actors are contradictory, with their interests pulling them together on some issues and separating them on others.
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failing states
states in danger of political collapse due to overwhelming internal strife.
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information warfare
attacks on an adversarys telecommunications and computer networks to degrade the technological systems vital to its defense and economic well-being.
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internationalized civil war
an armed conflict between the central government of a country and insurgents with outside intervention by at least one other state in support of the insurgents.
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interstate war
sustained armed conflict between two or more sovereign states.
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overlapping cleavages
a situation where politically relevant divisions between international actors are complementary; interests pulling them apart on one issue are reinforced by interests that also separate them on other issues.
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power cycle theory
the contention that armed conflict is probable when a state passes through certain critical points along a generalized curve of relative power, and wars of enormous magnitude are likely when several great powers pass through critical points at approximately the same time.
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power transition theory
the contention that war is likely when a dominant great power is threatened by the rapid growth of a rivals capabilities, which reduces the difference in their relative power.
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relative deprivation
peoples perception that they are unfairly deprived of wealth and status in comparison to others who are advantaged but not more deserving.
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socialization
the processes by which people learn the beliefs, values, and behaviors that are acceptable in a given society.
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state-sponsored terrorism
formal assistance, training, and arming of foreign terrorists by a state in order to achieve foreign policy goals.
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terrorism
the premeditated use or threat of violence perpetrated against noncombatants, usually intended to induce fear in a wider audience.
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xenophobia
a fear of foreigners.
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