پایگاه تخصصی سیاست بین الملل (  INPO  )‌

a prohibition or restriction that results from tradition or custom.

a surcharge placed on imported goods and services. The purpose of a tariff is to protect domestic products from foreign competition.

a compulsory payment levied by a government on its citizens to finance its expenditure. It can either be levied on income or as a surcharge on prices (sales tax). Income tax is a direct tax (everyone who earns a certain amount has to pay it); a sales tax is indirect tax (affects only those who buy the taxed goods.)

waters over which the jurisdiction of the adjacent state is extended. including seas, bays, rivers, and lakes.

the pursuit of a political aim by means of violence and intimidation. Modern terrorism emerged in 1968 with the hijacking of an Israeli El Al plane by Palestinians in Algeria. Terrorism has since become one of the most frequent and powerful means of waging war. In the 1980s, there was a total of almost 4,000 incidents worldwide, which was up by one-third from the 1970s. The number of deaths from terrorism doubled in that period. In the 1990s there has been a decrease in terrorist incidents worldwide. But also in that period, the danger from terrorism in the U.S. has increased, including the bombing of the World Trade Center, New York, in 1993. In 1995, the U.S. suffered the worst terrorist attack in its history, when 167 people were killed by a bomb placed by terrorists outside a federal building in Oklahoma City. Two anti-government Americans were convicted of the crime. In 1998, international terrorism flared up again, with bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, incidents which were quickly followed by U.S. attacks on terrorist targets in Sudan and Afghanistan.

a person who advocates or takes part in terrorist acts. However, the definition is not as simple as it looks. One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter, and yesterday's terrorists have a habit of becoming today's statesmen. Robert Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe, led a terrorist campaign to establish black majority rule in what was then white-ruled Rhodesia in the 1970s. Menachem Begin, prime minster of Israel from 1977 to 1983, had been a terrorist seeking to expel the British from Palestine in the late 1940s. Yasir Arafat, who was behind numerous acts of terrorism committed by the Palestinian Liberation Organization in the 1970s and 1980s, is now the recipient of a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in reaching a peace agreement with Israel.

a state or government which is run by priests or clergy. A recent example of a theocracy is Iran immediately after the overthrow of the Shah in 1979, when the Ayotollah Khomeini gained power. Theocracies are becoming more common as Islamic fundamentalism grows in strength.

can refer either to a minor party, such as the Socialist Party or the Libertarian Party, whose support is so small that it has no significant effect on a national election, or to a party that presents a viable alternative to the Republicans or Democrats. During the late eighteenth and nineteenth century, there were a number of powerful third parties in American politics. The Greenback Party, the Union Labor Party, and the Peoples' Party, for example, forced the major parties to pass significant antimonopoly and labor legislation. In 1912, Theodore Roosevelt's Progressive Party split the Republican vote and helped the Democrats win back the White House. In 1996, Ross Perot's Reform Party won 7 percent of the vote in the presidential election. However, in modern times third parties have had no success in breaking the two-party system, and often complain that restrictive ballot access requirements in many states are designed by the major parties to keep them off the ballot.

the impoverished or developing countries of the world, made up mostly of of Asian, African, and South American countries.

the deliberate infliction of extreme physical pain. For much of Western history, torture has been an accepted way of eliciting information, or compelling a confession or simply as punishment. It was used in ancient Greece and Rome, and in European societies up to the eighteenth century. In the U.S., torture was banned in the constitutional rejection of cruel and unusual punishment; and in the nineteenth century European nations decisively rejected the use of torture as a legal procedure. However, in the twentieth century torture has been used by totalitarian and authoritarian regimes around the globe, and it has not, even today, been eradicated.

a war that threatens the very existence of a nation, and in which every available weapon is used. Also means a war in which all the economic resources of the nation are mobilized as part of the war effort. This concept was developed in the nineteenth century; it applies to both world wars of this century. Total war, in the sense of using all available weapons, has been virtually unthinkable in the nuclear age, as it would result in the destruction of both sides.

a sytem of government where the ruling authority extends its power over all aspects of society, and regulates every aspect of life. Totalitarian states maintain their existence by a combination of methods, including secret police, the banning of opposition, and control of the media. Everything in society is shaped to serve the ends of the totalitarian state. Education, for example is rigidly controlled, so as to socialize youth into the desired political attitudes. Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union were the classic examples of totalitarian states.

waste matter produced in industrial or technological processes that is harmful to humans and the environment.

an organization of workers who do similar jobs. A trade union exists to take collective action on behalf of its members in negotiations with employers over wages, working conditions, etc. Trade unions are usually composed of skilled or semiskilled workers who have learned a craft.

betrayal of one's country. In the U.S. constitution treason is defined as making war against the U.S. (by a U.S. citizen) or by giving aid and comfort to the enemies of the U.S.

a formal, binding international agreement that may cover issues including the regulation of trade, the making of peace, or the forming of military alliances. In the U.S., all treaties proposed by the executive branch and negotiated with a foreign country must be approved by a two-thirds majority in the Senate. The treaty is then ratified by the President.

a court or other body that is empowered to hand down decisions.

a temporary or short-term cessation of hostilities.

a policy enunciated in March, 1947, by President Harry Truman, when he pledged U.S. support for "free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures." If America failed to do this, said Truman, world peace would be endangered. The speech referred in particular to U.S. aid to Greece and Turkey.

a commission by the United Nations to a country to administer a region, which is known as the trust territory. The trust territory is not a colony-the idea is that it should be developed so that it can eventually assume complete independence. For example, the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, administered by the U.S.

despotism; unjust, oppressive rule. James Madison (1751-1836) defined the recipe for tyranny as the accumulation of all power and authority, including executive, legislative and judiciary, in the same hands. The U.S. constitution contains checks and balances to ensure that the conditions for the creation of a tyrrany cannot appear.