8.8: Key Terms

Armed Conflict
Sustained and organized use of violence between states or non-state groups to achieve political, territorial, or ideological objectives.

Autonomous Weapons Systems
Weapons that use artificial intelligence to select and engage targets without direct human control, raising ethical and legal questions about accountability.

Buen Vivir
An Indigenous philosophy, rooted in Latin America, that emphasizes collective wellbeing, ecological balance, and harmonious relationships between humans and nature.

Care Ethics
An ethical framework that prioritizes relationships, interdependence, and responsibility for others, particularly in addressing vulnerability and inequality.

Cosmopolitan Ethics
The belief that all human beings belong to a single moral community, with shared obligations that extend beyond national borders.

Cybersecurity
The protection of digital systems, networks, and data from unauthorized access, attack, or disruption, increasingly central to national and global security.

Digital Humanitarianism
The use of digital tools, data, and technology such as social media, satellite imagery, and crowdsourcing to support crisis response and humanitarian aid.

Eco-Peacebuilding
An approach to conflict prevention and resolution that uses environmental cooperation, resource management, and sustainability initiatives to promote peace.

Ethnic Cleansing
The deliberate and systematic removal or extermination of an ethnic or religious group from a particular territory through violence, displacement, or coercion.

Fragile State
A country with weak governance structures and limited capacity to provide security, services, or legitimacy, making it vulnerable to conflict and instability.

Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC)
The right of Indigenous peoples to give or withhold consent to projects affecting their lands, based on full information and without coercion.

Gender-Based Violence (GBV)
Violence directed at individuals based on their gender, including physical, sexual, and psychological harm, often intensified during conflict and displacement.

Global Hotspot
A region where political, environmental, economic, and social pressures converge to produce instability, conflict, or humanitarian crisis.

Human Security
A framework that prioritizes the protection of individuals from threats such as violence, poverty, disease, and environmental harm, rather than focusing solely on state security.

Hybrid Warfare
A form of conflict that combines conventional military operations with cyberattacks, disinformation, economic pressure, and irregular tactics.

Information Warfare
The strategic use of information, propaganda, and disinformation to influence public perception, political outcomes, and the behavior of adversaries.

Interdependence
The condition in which states, economies, and societies are mutually reliant on one another, particularly through global trade, technology, and environmental systems.

Internally Displaced Person (IDP)
An individual who is forced to flee their home due to conflict, violence, or disaster but remains within their country’s borders.

Multilateralism
Cooperation among multiple countries to address shared challenges through international institutions, agreements, and coordinated policies.

Multipolarity
A global system in which power is distributed among multiple states or regions, rather than dominated by a single superpower.

Peacebuilding
Long-term efforts to address the root causes of conflict through reconciliation, governance reform, development, and social cohesion.

Planetary Security
An expanded concept of security that integrates human wellbeing with the health and stability of ecological systems on a global scale.

Refugee
A person who crosses an international border to escape persecution, conflict, or violence and is entitled to protection under international law.

Relational Sovereignty
A model of governance that emphasizes interconnected relationships among people, communities, and ecosystems rather than absolute state control.

Resource Curse
A phenomenon in which countries rich in natural resources experience economic instability, corruption, and conflict instead of sustainable development.

Responsibility to Protect (R2P)
An international principle stating that states must protect populations from mass atrocities and that the global community may intervene if they fail to do so.

Sanctions
Economic or political penalties imposed by states or international organizations to influence the behavior of governments or actors.

Sovereignty
The authority of a state to govern itself and control its territory without external interference.

Statelessness
The condition of not being recognized as a citizen by any state, resulting in limited access to rights, services, and legal protection.

Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK)
Knowledge developed by Indigenous communities through long-term interaction with the environment, emphasizing sustainability and ecological balance.

Transitional Justice
Processes and institutions that address past human rights violations in post-conflict or post-authoritarian societies, including trials, truth commissions, and reparations.

UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP, 2007)
An international framework affirming the rights of Indigenous peoples, including self-determination, cultural preservation, and control over traditional lands.