Understanding global security - Peter Hough

GLOSSARY
Fourth World the least developed of the Less Developed Countries once referred
to as the Third World.
global North the world’s developed and most wealthy states (which are principally
in the northern hemisphere).
global South the Less Developed Countries (which are principally in the southern
hemisphere).
Grotian a liberal, internationalist world view espousing the importance of a rigorous
and moral-based system of international law. Named after the seventeenthcentury
lawyer Hugo Grotius.
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) the sum total from all economic activity in a
given country.
gun boat diplomacy the provocative display of military force (typically naval)
intended to influence a target state without the resort to war.
Hegelian dialectic historical process, associated with the writings of the philosopher
Hegel, whereby an opposing thesis and counter-thesis (such as
ideologies) clash until a new synthesized thesis emerges.
hegemony the exercise, usually by a single state, of international dominance and
leadership, particularly in economic relations.
herbicides chemicals used to kill pest plants.
holistic a systemic approach favoured on the basis that ‘the whole is greater
than the sum of its parts’, making the understanding of the sub-units of a system
insufficient.
Idealist term applied to statesmen and academics of the 1920s and 1930s who
advocated greater levels of international cooperation, epitomized by the creation
of the League of Nations.
integration the process whereby states merge some of their economic and political
responsibilities into a wider political unit.
interdependence the condition of inter-connectedness between actors in
international politics which makes them reliant on and vulnerable to each other.
inter-governmental organization (IGO) an international organization comprising
government representatives.
international non-governmental organization (INGO) international organization
comprising private individuals rather than government representatives.
international regime system of rules and policy-making procedures, either formal
or informal, which influence the behaviour of actors in a particular international
issue.
Iron Curtain term applied to the tight border established by the USSR during the
Cold War to isolate its allies in Eastern Europe from Western Europe.
liquidity monetary reserves.
multilateral involving more than two states.
multipolar a political system with more than two dominant focuses of power.
neo-imperialism the economic domination of a state by another without there
being formal imperial control.
New Right a strand of conservative political thought favouring reduced state
involvement in economic affairs. Rose to prominence in the 1980s in the Reagan
and Thatcher administrations in the USA and UK, though its origins lie in
Classical Liberalism of the nineteenth century.
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