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- burden sharing
- the distribution among group members of the costs a group incurs
- civil society
- organizations working for the common good outside the control of government or business interests
- collective goods
- goods available to all, regardless of individual contribution
- collective security
- a broad alliance of states for the purpose of jointly opposing outside aggression
- Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
- the organ of the United Nations responsible for forming and coordinating state policies on economic and social issues
- European Union (EU)
- a treaty-backed organization of European states that promotes policy coordination, trade, and peaceful relations
- functionalism
- a theory of political integration based on the assumption that interstate cooperation on technical issues builds a foundation for cooperation and unification on larger, more complex issues
- General Assembly
- the main deliberative body of the United Nations; each member country has one vote
- genocide
- an intentional and systematic attempt to destroy a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group, in whole or in part
- global governance
- the bringing together of state and non-state actors to coordinate collective action for the purpose of providing global public goods such as peace and security, economic prosperity, conflict mediation, human rights, and environmental protection
- intergovernmental organizations (IGOs)
- organizations whose members are state governments
- International Court of Justice (ICJ)
- the judicial body of the United Nations that hears cases between states; also called the World Court
- International Criminal Court (ICC)
- a permanent court established to try individuals accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity
- international law
- the rules, drawn from treaties and customs, that govern the way states interact with each other
- League of Nations
- a global intergovernmental organization established after World War I; predecessor to the United Nations
- multinational corporations (MNCs)
- companies based in one state but with operations in other states
- national identity groups
- groups that share a common language, ancestry, and culture and that seek political independence
- nongovernmental organization (NGO)
- a transnational group or entity whose members are private citizens working together on a common interest
- North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
- a US-led military alliance with Western European states, originally formed in 1949 to deter Soviet military aggression
- Permanent 5 (P5)
- the five states that have permanent membership on the United Nations Security Council: the United States, United Kingdom, Russia, China, and France
- regional economic organization (REO)
- an intergovernmental organization with a mission to improve economic coordination, trade, and development in a region
- religious non-state actors (RNAs)
- transnational organizations or entities that promote a certain religion and engage in international politics on behalf of or in accordance with that religion’s views
- responsibility to protect (R2P)
- a principle that states have a responsibility to protect all people, whether they are citizens of their own state or of other states, from genocide and crimes against humanity
- Secretariat
- the administrative and bureaucratic organ of the United Nations, headed by the Secretary-General
- Secretary-General
- chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the Secretariat
- Security Council
- the organ of the United Nations responsible for peace and security, with 5 permanent members and 10 rotating members
- sustainable development
- development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs
- terrorism
- the use of violence by non-state actors against civilians in order to achieve a political goal
- terrorist organizations
- non-state organizations that use terrorism to achieve political goals
- tragedy of the commons
- the depletion of common resources when the incentives for states to act selfishly are greater than the incentives to cooperate to achieve a collective good
- transnational
- interactions across state boundaries
- transnational organized crime (TOC)
- groups that employ violence and corruption in for-profit criminal activity that crosses state boundaries
- UN peacekeepers
- international troops operating under the auspices of the United Nations that can be deployed into conflict zones to help create conditions that favor lasting peace
- United Nations (UN)
- a global intergovernmental organization established after World War II and comprised of nearly every state in the world
- weak states
- states that have difficulty fulfilling basic tasks such as managing the economy and enforcing laws
