Glossary
- Page ID
- 178553
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\(\newcommand{\avec}{\mathbf a}\) \(\newcommand{\bvec}{\mathbf b}\) \(\newcommand{\cvec}{\mathbf c}\) \(\newcommand{\dvec}{\mathbf d}\) \(\newcommand{\dtil}{\widetilde{\mathbf d}}\) \(\newcommand{\evec}{\mathbf e}\) \(\newcommand{\fvec}{\mathbf f}\) \(\newcommand{\nvec}{\mathbf n}\) \(\newcommand{\pvec}{\mathbf p}\) \(\newcommand{\qvec}{\mathbf q}\) \(\newcommand{\svec}{\mathbf s}\) \(\newcommand{\tvec}{\mathbf t}\) \(\newcommand{\uvec}{\mathbf u}\) \(\newcommand{\vvec}{\mathbf v}\) \(\newcommand{\wvec}{\mathbf w}\) \(\newcommand{\xvec}{\mathbf x}\) \(\newcommand{\yvec}{\mathbf y}\) \(\newcommand{\zvec}{\mathbf z}\) \(\newcommand{\rvec}{\mathbf r}\) \(\newcommand{\mvec}{\mathbf m}\) \(\newcommand{\zerovec}{\mathbf 0}\) \(\newcommand{\onevec}{\mathbf 1}\) \(\newcommand{\real}{\mathbb R}\) \(\newcommand{\twovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\ctwovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\threevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cthreevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\mattwo}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{rr}#1 \amp #2 \\ #3 \amp #4 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\laspan}[1]{\text{Span}\{#1\}}\) \(\newcommand{\bcal}{\cal B}\) \(\newcommand{\ccal}{\cal C}\) \(\newcommand{\scal}{\cal S}\) \(\newcommand{\wcal}{\cal W}\) \(\newcommand{\ecal}{\cal E}\) \(\newcommand{\coords}[2]{\left\{#1\right\}_{#2}}\) \(\newcommand{\gray}[1]{\color{gray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\lgray}[1]{\color{lightgray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\rank}{\operatorname{rank}}\) \(\newcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\col}{\text{Col}}\) \(\renewcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\nul}{\text{Nul}}\) \(\newcommand{\var}{\text{Var}}\) \(\newcommand{\corr}{\text{corr}}\) \(\newcommand{\len}[1]{\left|#1\right|}\) \(\newcommand{\bbar}{\overline{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bhat}{\widehat{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bperp}{\bvec^\perp}\) \(\newcommand{\xhat}{\widehat{\xvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\vhat}{\widehat{\vvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\uhat}{\widehat{\uvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\what}{\widehat{\wvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\Sighat}{\widehat{\Sigma}}\) \(\newcommand{\lt}{<}\) \(\newcommand{\gt}{>}\) \(\newcommand{\amp}{&}\) \(\definecolor{fillinmathshade}{gray}{0.9}\)- Acid rain: toxic rain that consists of nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide, and volatile organic compounds, which is generally derived from burning coal.
- Agri-food system: the complex networks through which food flows from both small-holding and corporate farms across the world into the hands of those who need it.
- Alter-globalization: refers to diverse social movements advocating for global cooperation and interaction to counteract the adverse social, political, economic, and environmental effects of modern neoliberal globalization.
- Americanization: the process by which American culture, values, and norms exert influence and become integrated into other societies and cultures, often through media, technology, and economic interactions.
- Anthropocene: a geological theory that suggests human activities have had a profound and lasting impact on the Earth's geology and ecosystems.
- Anti-globalization: traditionally defined as a movement opposed to neoliberal or market-led globalization.
- Area studies: similar to International Studies, though it is a more traditional method where the comparison of countries is organized geographically.
- Artifact: an object or item created or modified by humans, often with cultural, historical, or archeological significance, that provides insight into the practices and beliefs of a particular group of people.
- Austerity: a wide range of economic reforms, centered on major reductions in government social spending, aimed to balance a country's budget or meet certain debt ratios.
- Balance-of-power system: where a state of equilibrium develops among powerful countries. In this system, no country is permitted to become so powerful that it can threaten the security of another major power.
- Balancing: denotes the act of forming alliances with other states as a strategic measure to counterbalance the influence or dominance of more powerful states.
- Biodegradable: materials or substances capable of being broken down naturally by biological processes into harmless components, often by microorganisms.
- Biodiversity: the variety of life on Earth.
- Bipolar Order: where the world is organized based on two centers of power or influence.
- Bretton Woods Agreement: an agreement that set the stage for economic policies that would allow for more trade and exchange between and among the participants.
- Brexit: term combines "British” and “exit" in reference to the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union.
- Capital: assets which are used to generate money or wealth.
- Capitalism: a profit driven economic system based on market competition in which the means of production are owned by private actors.
- Centrifugal forces: Socio-economic, cultural, and or political factors that divide a population and pose threats to a common sense of identity.
- Centripetal forces: Socio-economic, cultural, and or political factors that promote a commonsense of identity among a population, or that bring different populations together
- City-States: urban areas and their hinterlands that exhibit their own sovereign systems of government, exchange, and identity.
- Civil society: The political space comprising organizations engaged in advocacy and collective action.
- Civilization: a complex society based on settlements in which inhabitants function via a collective sense of community.
- Climate justice: approach to climate change mitigation which seeks to ensure that the concerns and needs of disproportionately impacted, under-resourced groups are addressed in a just way, especially since these groups contributed the least to climate change.
- Cold War: a time of political and military tension between United States and its allies on one side, and the Soviet Union and its allies on the other, lasting from the end of the Second World War (WWII) to the 1990s.
- Collective action problem: a theory in which a group of individuals, despite having a shared interest or goal, may not take action to achieve that goal because individuals have the incentive to free-ride.
- Collective Security: an arrangement where an act of aggression against any individual state is regarded as aggression against all other states. In response, these states collaborate to collectively thwart and repel the aggressor.
- Columbian Exchange: the interaction between Old and New World populations following European entrance into the Americas, characterized by the exchange of people, disease, food, plants and animals across the Atlantic.
- Commodity: Anything which can be bought and sold in a market.
- Common-pool resource: A shared resource, such as a fishery or pasture, where individuals or groups have access, and use may affect others, posing challenges for sustainable management.
- Commons: refers to shared resources or areas that are accessible to the public (e.g., land, water, air, and other natural assets), rooted in the idea that certain resources are held collectively rather than privately owned.
- Comparative advantage: Specializing in those goods and/or services which can be produced at lower relative cost.
- Connectivity: the characteristic, condition, or capacity of being linked or interconnected.
- Conservation ethic: a perspective emphasizing the responsible use and sustainable management of natural resources to preserve biodiversity, ecosystems, and environmental quality.
- Contagious Diffusion: a type of cultural diffusion where a cultural element spreads throughout a population via direct contact with practicing individuals.
- Cosmopolitan governance: where individuals embrace the concept of holding multiple citizenships, signifying their affiliation with various political entities that hold substantial influence over them.
- Cost-Benefit Analysis: a systematic approach for evaluating the pros and cons of a decision, policy, or project by comparing the costs incurred with the benefits gained.
- Counterurbanization: a demographic process whereby populations migrate from cities to rural areas.
- Cultural diffusion: the spread of cultural elements from one group or society to another, often facilitated by communication, trade, migration, or political domination.
- Cultural Globalization: the worldwide diffusion and integration of cultural elements, including values, behaviors, and cultural products, resulting from increased interconnectedness and communication among groups and or societies, resulting in mutually shared cultural elements.
- Cultural hearth: a place or region where a particular cultural element is believed to have originated.
- Cultural regions: refer to groups of individuals united by shared language, religion, and heritage within a specific geographic zone.
- Decoupling: defined as “the process of weakening interdependence between two nations or bloc of nations.”
- Defensive realism: where states seek to maximize power to ensure their own security and contend that wars with other states are unlikely to be beneficial.
- Defensive strategy: where states implement a program of containment, which is designed to limit or hinder an opponent's ability to exercise power.
- Deforestation: the large-scale removal or clearing of forests, primarily for agricultural, logging, or urban development purposes, leading to the loss of forested areas.
- De-globalization: simply the reverse of globalization. It represents the process of weakening interdependence among nations.
- The Degrowth Movement: advocates for a deliberate reduction in economic production and consumption to achieve ecological sustainability, social equity, and overall well-being, challenging the traditional pursuit of continuous economic growth.
- Deterritorialization: the weakening of ties among economic, political, or cultural practices and/or entities and the places where they originate and/or operate.
- Digitization: the process of converting information into a digital format.
- Division of labor: the separation of tasks among different parts of a workforce, typically focused on enhancing specialization and efficiency in production.
- D-L-P formula The combined policies of deregulation, liberalization, and privatization
- Economic globalization: When economic activities become global in scope, for example the global circulation of goods and services or global migration of labor.
- Economic inequality: the unequal distribution of income and opportunities among various groups within society.
- Economies of scale: the cost advantages that result from increasing the scale of production or operation, often leading to lower per-unit costs as production quantities increase.
- Energy security: whether a country has access to uninterrupted and affordable energy.
- Energy transition: the movement away from one primary energy source to another, which often entails the development of relevant technologies and markets for the newer energy source.
- Entitlement approach: the standards by which people become eligible to claim a share of available food
- Entrepreneur: Someone who takes risks and establishes new enterprises, explores new markets, and breaks new frontiers.
- European colonialism: the process of European states obtaining full or partial political control over another territory, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting its people and resources for the benefit of the colonizer.
- European Union (EU): a supra-national arrangement of member states who have formed a political and economic union to pursue common interests.
- Expatriate: someone who formally lives outside of their country's borders.
- Famine: an acute crisis caused by a lack of access to food.
- Folk culture: the traditional and locally specific customs, beliefs, practices, and material culture of a particular group or community, often rooted in rural or isolated areas.
- Food power a practice of some states to use the donation or withholding of food as leverage to secure foreign policy goals.
- Foodways: the cultural, social, and economic practices related to food production and consumption.
- Fossil fuel: a natural energy source such as coal, gas, and oil, which formed over millions of years ago from organic matter. Fossil fuels are non-renewable energy sources.
- Fracking: hydraulic fracturing involves forcing a slurry of water, sand, and chemicals through fissures in shale rock formations to release oil or natural gas deposits.
- Fragmentation (global trade fragmentation): occurs when new trade patterns emerge, eventually leading to the reconfiguration and breakup of global supply chains.
- Free rider: an individual or entity that benefits from a collective good or resource without contributing its fair share to its creation or maintenance.
- Free trade: Minimizing barriers to the movement of goods and services, often over international borders.
- Geopolitics: the ways in which geographical features – including endowments of minerals and resources – shapes the power of countries and other influential actors in global affairs.
- Global: denotes a broader and a more comprehensive perspective of the world
- Globalism: the world is characterized as being in a state of interdependence that crosses continents, fueled by linkages that emerge from the flow of goods, services, money, ideas, and information.
- Globality: when a global society exists marked by intricate worldwide economic, political, cultural, and environmental interrelations and movements, rendering many of the existing borders and limits largely inconsequential.
- Global capitalism: an economic system characterized by private ownership, free markets, and the pursuit of profit on a global scale, often facilitated by multinational and or transnational corporations and global trade.
- Global citizenship: the belief that individuals possess an obligation to individuals beyond their own nation due to their common humanity.
- Global city: a major urban center that plays a significant role in the global economy and serves as a hub for international business, finance, culture, and politics.
- Global civil society: nongovernmental organizations, associations, and groups which are global in scope and pressure key decision-makers to adopt their preferred policies.
- Global consciousness: A global mindset where the welfare of individuals far away should garner the same attention from ordinary individuals as the welfare of their immediate neighbors.
- Global Happiness Index: a measure of subjective well-being and happiness among countries around the world and is based on survey data.
- Global Health: An area for study, research, and practice that places a priority of improving health and achieving health equity for all people worldwide that transcends borders; the study, research, and practice addresses possible health issues that could undermine the global population beyond territorial boundaries.
- Global hospitality management: includes overseeing the operations of travel accommodations, such as hotels, resorts, and restaurants in more than one country.
- Global inequality: the disproportionate distribution of resources, opportunities, and power that shape well-being among people across the globe.
- Global insecurity: occurs when the security of any individual nation threatens the security of all nations.
- Globality: when a global society exists marked by intricate worldwide economic, political, cultural, and environmental interrelations and movements, rendering many of the existing borders and limits largely inconsequential.
- Globalization: the acceleration and intensification of global interconnectivity, interdependence, and integration processes.
- Global North: countries that are highly economically developed, primarily located in the Norther Hemisphere, once referred to as “First World.”
- Global Pandemic: a health crisis that can lead to illness and the possible death of individuals across the world.
- Global security: type of security grounded in the principle that the security of any individual nation is inseparable from the security of all nations.
- Global South: countries that are less economically developed, primarily located in the Southern Hemisphere, once referred to as "Third World" or "developing world.”
- Global strategic communications: an industry which requires people who can communicate effectively across cultures and geographic boundaries.
- Global Studies: a comprehensive research area aimed at fostering a deep understanding of the effects of globalization on societies, cultures, and environments worldwide.
- Glocalization: the adaptation of global products, services, or ideas to suit local contexts, resulting in a fusion of global and local elements.
- Greenhouse gases: gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane, that trap heat in the Earth's atmosphere, contributing to the greenhouse effect and influencing global climate patterns.
- Greenwashing: the deceptive or misleading marketing practices by organizations, where they present a false or exaggerated environmental image to portray themselves as environmentally friendly, often to mask unsustainable practices or products.
- Gross National Income (GNI): a measure of the average income earned by individuals in a country in a given year.
- Hellenism: the spread of ancient Greek culture, and influence, beginning in the Fourth Century BCE.
- Hierarchical Diffusion: a type of cultural diffusion where an idea, innovation, or cultural trait spreads in a structured, top-down manner, typically from a central source to other locations, or via political dominance.
- Hinterlands: the area surrounding a city, typically practicing agriculture.
- Human Development Index (HDI): a metric which provides a summary of the average achievement in essential aspects of human development: longevity and health, knowledge, and a decent standard of living.
- Human security: type of security that centers on the physical safety of an individual regardless of where they live.
- Hyper-standardization: the extreme standardization of products, services, or cultural elements to the point where they become uniform and lack diversity.
- Import compliance officers: ensure adherence to relevant laws, standards, regulations, and policies regarding product safety across all categories.
- Income: the measurement of one's earnings from a job, self-employment/business, savings, investments, social programs.
- Industrial Revolution: a process of technological innovation and mechanization beginning in Eighteenth-Century Britain and subsequently spreading throughout the world.
- Inheritance tax: defined as the tax someone pays on assets inherited from a deceased person, such as a relative.
- Integration: to shape, synchronize, or merge into a functional or cohesive entirety.
- Intelligence: defined as information collected and synthesized to help policymakers address threats against their country, its citizens, property, or interests.
- Interdependence: a condition where two or more entities, individuals, or systems rely on each other.
- Interdisciplinary (approach): aligns connections across disciplines to create a unified and cohesive field of study.
- Intergovernmental organization (IGO): An international organization comprising governments as members
- International migration: Movement of people across international borders, forced or voluntary
- International Relations: the study of political engagements among countries, centered on diplomacy and foreign policy considerations.
- International security: refers to the actions taken by nations to secure the well-being and defense of their citizens, boundaries, and strategic concerns through cooperation amongst states.
- International Studies: the examinations of the interactions between two or more states, as well as comparing and identifying commonalities among these states.
- International trade: Movement of goods and services over international borders
- Intersectionality: how various systems of inequality can converge to create distinct and intertwined outcomes.
- Irregular migrants: people who travel to a country outside regular rules or norms, or without permission of the host government.
- Justice globalism: a different perspective on globalization founded on the egalitarian principles of global solidarity and distributive justice.
- Less Developed Countries (LDCs): States characterized by lower income levels, lower industrialization, and lower Human Development Index (HDI) scores compared to more developed countries.
- Levels of analysis approach: an analytical framework positing that occurrences in international relations can be elucidated by examining individuals, states, or the global system, and that causative factors at each level can be distinguished from those at other levels.
- Liberal democracy: A political system of representative government in which there is broad enfranchisement of the population and robust liberal institutions such as the rule of law and independent civil society.
- Liberal internationalism: an International Relations theory that focuses on cooperation
- Liberal International Order: a set of institutions, norms, and rules, largely established after the Second World War, with the goal of organizing international relations around liberal democracies and cooperative security.
- Lingua franca: a common language adopted to allow communication among people whose native languages are different.
- Living wage: the wages a full-time worker must earn to cover the cost of their family's essential basic needs.
- Local functional specialization: an economic strategy by which regions develop specialized functions and roles within larger economic systems.
- Low birth weight: a consequence of malnutrition and defined as less than 2500 grams (approximately 5.5 pounds).
- Malnutrition: lack of proper nutrition, caused by not having enough to eat, not eating enough of the right things, or being unable to use the food that one does eat.
- Malthusian catastrophe: famine resulting from excessive population growth, which grows beyond the ability of the environment to provide food.
- Market-based economy: A system in which buyers and sellers meet in marketplaces, real or virtual, and exchange goods and services. That exchange may be voluntary or coerced. Prices for goods and services rise and fall in response to demand and supply.
- Mass migration: the movement of substantial populations from one geographical region to another.
- McDonaldization: a term coined by sociologist George Ritzer to describe the process of rationalization and standardization in modern society, often exemplified by fast-food restaurant chains like McDonald's.
- Mentifact: an element of culture that encompasses non-material aspects such as beliefs, values, customs, rituals, and ideologies.
- Mercantilism: an economic theory commonly put in to practice by European colonial empires that promoted regulation of the economy to augment state power, often at the expense of competitors.
- Multidisciplinary (approach): incorporates multiple perspectives, concepts, frameworks, and methodological approaches to study complex global phenomena.
- Multinational corporation (MNC): Also known as transnational corporations (TNCs), these are privately-owned entities engaged in economic activities in more than one country.
- Multipolar Order: a world with multiple centers of power or influence.
- Nation: A group of people with a shared sense of identity, often deriving from a common language, history, faith traditions, foodways, and cultural practices, among other factors.
- National populism: combines right-wing politics and populist rhetoric and themes. Their leaders often scapegoat immigrant groups, who they blame for many of society’s ills.
- National security: type of security defined as a state's capacity to safeguard its interests, confidential information, and populace against both external and internal perils that have the potential to jeopardize its existence.
- Negative externalities: unintended and adverse side effects or impacts of an economic activity that affect third parties who did not choose to be involved in that activity.
- Neoliberal governance: a form of governance and economic policy that emphasizes free-market capitalism, deregulation, privatization, and limited government intervention in the economy.
- Neoliberal institutionalism: a branch of liberalism that stresses the importance of international institutions and international law in shaping behavior as a better way to ensure the survival of the state.
- Neoliberalism: An ideology which draws on classical liberal ideas regarding the value of individual freedoms and extends these globally, with a supportive suite of international institutions and domestic policies.
- Neolithic Revolution: the transition from a lifestyle of hunting and gathering to one of agriculture and settlement.
- New famines: famines associated with a lack of access to food, rather than a lack of food itself.
- Non-aligned movement: also known as the Third World. These countries were not interested in coming under the control of, or under the policy decisions, of either the U.S. or Soviet Union.
- Nonprofits: organizations that offer accessible services for meaningful causes, providing millions of jobs to Americans and contributing significantly to the United States GDP.
- North-South divide: a global socio-economic disparity, often referring to the economic and developmental differences between the more affluent Northern Hemisphere and the less affluent Southern Hemisphere.
- Offensive realism: also known as aggressive realism, where states seek to maximize power to achieve dominance. This is often accomplished by increasing their offensive capabilities.
- Offensive strategy: where states considered it better to fight terrorists abroad rather than at home.
- Out-cropping: the potential for GMO grain to germinate and cross-pollinate with local crops.
- Outsourcing: when manufacturing has largely been moved to other countries for cost savings.
- Overweight: a common consequence of stunting early in life, overweight may also be a consequence of malnutrition and/or a lack of access to fresh and healthful foods
- Pandemic: A highly contagious disease that can quickly move across wide-spread geographic locations that could lead to large populations being effects through illness and/or death.
- Political economy: a subfield of political science that considers various economic theories (like capitalism or socialism), effect the practices and outcomes either within a state, or among and between states in the global system.
- Popular culture: the cultural products, practices, and trends that are widely consumed, shared, and appreciated by a large, mainstream audience within a society or across societies.
- Populism: pertains to a spectrum of political positions that accentuate the notion of “the people,” frequently contrasting this collective with “the elite”.
- Poverty: a condition characterized by a lack of material possessions or basic human needs, such as food, shelter, clothing, and access to education and healthcare.
- Primary energy source: energy in its raw fuel form. Common primary energy sources include fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gas. Renewable energy sources such as sunlight, wind, moving water, and geothermal energy are also primary energy sources.
- Private ownership: Aspect of an economic system in which individuals or privately-held firms own key economic inputs.
- Promethean Theory: an environmentalist theory that views technology and human ingenuity as solutions to the environmental problems associated with the Anthropocene, rather than the cause.
- Protectionism: Promoting policies which reduce the access of international actors to a domestic market, for example raising tariffs (taxes) on imported goods in order to give an advantage to domestic producers.
- Public Health: Health of a population within a specific community or country.
- Race to the bottom: A competitive situation in which working conditions and environmental stewardship are of secondary importance to maximizing profits.
- Realism: an International Relations theory that focuses on competition between actors.
- Regionalization: broadly defined as a restricted group of states connected by a geographical relationship and a level of mutual interdependence.
- Regional trade agreement (RTA): Treaty signed by countries to promote the free flow of goods, services, capital, and/or currency across international borders.
- Religious globalism: an alternative perspective on globalization where faith leaders strive to rally a religious community envisioned on a global scale to protect and uphold shared religious values and beliefs.
- Relocation diffusion: the spread of an idea, innovation, or cultural trait through the physical movement of people from one place to another.
- Renewable energy: energy derived from naturally replenishing sources, such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat, which are considered sustainable and have lower environmental impacts.
- Rent seeking behavior: an attempt to gain economic advantage via the manipulation of the social or political environment rather than through trade and production of goods and services.
- Resource curse: the theory that some countries with natural resource wealth, especially in minerals such as oil, have poor governance and development outcomes. This may stem from concentration in control of the natural resources and over-reliance on export revenues.
- Romanization: the process by which non-Roman people were incorporated into the Roman Empire and assimilated into Roman culture.
- Secondary energy source: An energy source that is generated from primary energy sources. Electricity is a common secondary energy source
- Security: the condition of being exempt from peril or threat.
- Security dilemma: occurs when a state is driven by its security and seeks to acquire more power than its enemies. This leads to insecurity in other countries, which prompts these countries to acquire more power, which in turn drives the original country to seek more power. This spiral can continue unabated.
- Severe food insecurity: having such limited or inconsistent access to food supplies that people must go without any food for a day or more.
- Silk Road: a network of trade routes in the ancient world that facilitated economic and cultural exchange through Eurasia, connecting East and West.
- Site factor: physical attributes of a location that influence its potential use in terms of human activity.
- Situation factor: relative location of a place in relation to other places in terms of potential accessibility and ability to connect.
- Slowbalization: prolonged slowdown in the pace of trade reform and weakening political support for open trade amid rising geopolitical tensions.
- Social barriers: obstacles or restrictions within a society that hinder or limit the interaction, integration, or participation of certain groups or individuals based on social factors such as nationality, religion, race, gender, class, or ethnicity.
- Social movements: involve a substantial group of individuals collaborating to achieve a common goal, such as environmentalism or consumer protection.
- Sociofact: an element of culture that encompasses accepted behaviors and social practices of a group.
- Sovereign debt: the accumulated amount of money that a country's government has borrowed and has yet to pay back.
- Soviet Bloc: Also known as the Eastern Bloc, Communist Bloc or Socialist Bloc, this group of Eurasian countries was led by socialist or communist parties and rejected capitalist institutions. Beginning in 1989, these countries experienced a series of revolutions and have since integrated with the international market-based economy.
- Speenhamland scale: an attempt to prevent low wages from endangering the British working class and extended the promise that the state would intervene to make up the difference between earnings and the cost of bread.
- State: Internationally recognized entity possessing political authority – or sovereign rights – over a territory and its population.
- Sticky (Culturally): refers to cultural elements or practices that are compatible with a new culture, to which they are introduced, and are thus incorporated into said culture.
- Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs): comprehensive economic programs that major international lenders, such as the IMF and the World Bank, required of developing countries as a condition for granting loans.
- Stunting: consequence of malnutrition and defined as being too short for one’s age.
- Subsidies: a form of financial aid provided by a government so that the cost of production is offset, resulting in the competitive price for the goods/services produced by the subsidized producer.
- Supply chain: the interconnected network of organizations, processes, and activities involved in the production, distribution, and delivery of goods and services from raw materials to end consumers.
- Supra-nationalism: a process whereby states join together in political union, giving up some degree of sovereignty in exchange for collective benefits.
- Sustainable development paradigm: a set of principles that guide the integration of economic and environmental concerns with social considerations in development processes.
- Technology transfer: the process of transferring results from scientific and technological research to the marketplace and broader society, including the related skills and procedures.
- Time-space compression: the concept that advancements in technology, especially in transportation and communication have reduced the perceived time and distance between people and places, leading to a sense of the world becoming smaller and more interconnected.
- Transdisciplinary (approach): embeds a perspective, concept, framework, or methodological approach from one discipline into another.
- Transnational Studies: focused on the movement of people, ideas and goods across national boundaries and cultural regions.
- Undernourishment: the condition by which a person doesn’t have access, on a regular basis, to the amount of food that is sufficient to provide the energy required for conducting a normal, healthy and active life, given his or her own dietary energy requirements, the full name is the Prevalence of Undernourishment (PoU) indicator
- Unipolar order: the post-Cold War geopolitical scenario in which the United States emerged as the world's only superpower.
- Urbanization: the process of increasing population concentration in urban areas, accompanied by the growth and expansion of cities, often associated with industrialization and economic development.
- U.S. intelligence community (IC): consists of 18 civilian and defense/military organizations, headed by a Director of National Intelligence (DNI).
- Value-added Products: goods that have been improved or enhanced by way of labor, resulting in increased market value.
- Vector: living organisms that transmit disease.
- Washington Consensus: a set of ten economic policy proscriptions considered to constitute the standard financial reform package.
- Wasting: a health condition that prevents the body from being able to absorb nutrients, leading to extremely thin limbs and making one vulnerable to myriad illnesses.
- Wealth: the value of accumulated assets of an individual or a family over a certain time period.
- World federalism: a movement with the objective of establishing a federal world government.
- World government: the concept of a unified global human community governed by a shared common political authority.