8.9: Key Terms

Glossary

• 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.