Glossary

Definitions of terms used throughout CountryReports.

This glossary contains 1,144 terms used throughout CountryReports — political, economic, cultural, historical, and geographic terminology referenced in country profiles and articles. Terms are drawn from authoritative sources including the Library of Congress.

Ashkenazim (sing., Ashkenazi): Jews of European origin.; Source: Library of Congress
Bangla: Official language of Bangladesh; often referred to as Bengali before 1971. An Indo-European language.; Source: Library of Congress
barrels per day: Production of crude oil and petroleum products is frequently measured in barrels per day, often abbreviated bpd or bd. A barrel is a volume measure of forty-two United States gallons. Conversion of barrels to metric tons depends on the density of a specific product. About 7.3 barrels of average crude oil, or about 7 barrels of heavy crude oil, weigh 1 metric ton. Light products, such as gasoline and kerosene, average close to eight barrels per metric ton.
barrels per day (bpd): Production of crude oil and petroleum products is frequently measured in barrels per day. A barrel is a volume measure of forty- two United States gallons. Conversion of barrels to metric tons depends on the density of the special product. About 7.3 barrels of average crude oil weigh one metric ton. Heavy products would be about seven barrels per metric ton. Light products, such as gasoline and kerosene, would average eight barrels per metric ton.; Source: Library of Congress
Byzantine: Medieval Christian civilization that combined European and Asian cultures on an ancient Greco-Roman foundation. Centered at Byzantium (known as Constantinople 330-1930, and later called Istanbul), the Byzantine Empire occupied western Turkey and the Balkans and, as the center of Orthodox Christianity, exerted strong influence on many of the Slavic peoples of Eastern Europe.
Cao Dai: Indigenous Vietnamese religion centered in Tay Ninh Province, southern Vietnam. It was founded and initially propagated by Ngo Van Chieu, a minor official who, in 1919, claimed to have had a series of revelations. The faith grew under the leadership of Le Van Trung, its first ""pope"" or Supreme Chief, chosen in 1925. Doctrinally, the religion is a syncretic blend of Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism, Confuciancism and Western nineteenth-century romanticism. Before the fall of Saigon, the Cao Dai had about 1 to 2 million adherents.
CoCom (Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls): Loose arrangement of Western governments formed in 1949 to prevent the transfer of military-useful (dual-use) technology from the West to the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe; the group (whose membership was almost identical to that of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, q.v.) operated on the basis of informal agreements covering items having military or nuclear applications.
Comecon (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance): A multilateral economic alliance headquartered in Moscow. Albania was effectively expelled from Comecon in 1962 after the rift in relations between Moscow and Tiranë. Members in 1989 were Bulgaria, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), Hungary, Mongolia, Poland, Romania, the Soviet Union, and Vietnam. Comecon was created in 1949, ostensibly to promote economic development of member states through cooperation and specialization, but actually to enforce Soviet economic domination of Eastern Europe and to provide a counterweight to the Marshall Plan. Also referred to as CEMA or CMEA.; Source: Library of Congress
Common Agricultural Policy (CAP): First established in 1962, the CAP aims at ensuring the free trade of farm products within the European Union (EU--q.v.), guaranteeing the prices of these products, and maintaining protective tariffs against farm products from outside the EU.
Communist International: Also called the Comintern or Third International, it was founded in Moscow in 1919 to coordinate the world communist movement. Officially disbanded in 1943, the Comintern was replaced from 1947 to 1954 by the Cominform (Communist Information Bureau), in which only the Soviet and the ruling East European communist parties (except for Yugoslavia, which was expelled in 1948) and the French and the Italian communist parties were represented. The Cominform was dissolved in 1956.
comprador: Vietnamese communist term (used originally in China to mean purchasing agent) applied disparagingly to the middleman who extracts a profit without engaging in economic production, that is, a ""comprador capitalist."" The term is also applied to an entrepreneur in Cholon, Ho Chi Minh City’s predominantly Chinese sister city.
Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE): Furthers European security through diplomacy, based on respect for human rights, and a wide variety of policies and commitments of its more than fifty Atlantic, European, and Asian member countries. Founded in August 1975, in Helsinki, when thirty-five nations signed the Final Act, a politically binding declaratory understanding of the democratic principles governing relations among nations, which is better known as the Helsinki Accords (q.v.).; Source: Library of Congress
Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty: An agreement signed in 1990 by members of the Warsaw Pact and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO--q.v.) to establish parity in conventional weapons between the two organizations from the Atlantic to the Urals. Included a strict system of inspections and information exchange. In 1995 Russia requested exemptions for forces stationed in the Caucasus region, and substantial changes were negotiated by the thirty signatory nations in 1997.
Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon): Also abbreviated CEMA and CMEA, the organization was established in 1949 to promote economic cooperation among socialist bloc countries and is headquartered in Moscow. Its members as of 1989 included the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, German Democratic Republic (East Germany), Hungary, Poland, Mongolia, Romania, and Vietnam. Mongolia, the first non-European member, joined Comecon in 1962 and has traditionally been a supplier of raw materials to the Soviet Union.
Council of Europe: Founded in 1949, the Council of Europe is an organization overseeing intergovernmental cooperation in designated areas such as environmental planning, finance, sports, crime, migration, and legal matters. In 1995 the council had thirty-five members.
Creole: In Belize a term used for an English-speaking person of African or mixed African and European ancestry.; Source: Library of Congress
deutsche mark (DM): The national currency unit, consisting of 100 pfennigs. The value of the deutsche mark has fluctuated with international monetary developments--generally upward since its introduction in the currency reform of 1948. The number of deutsche marks per US$1 averaged 4.20 in 1950, 4.20 in 1960, 4.00 in 1965, 3.65 in 1970, 2.62 in 1975, 1.96 in 1980, 2.94 in 1985, 1.62 in 1990, 1.56 in 1992, 1.65 in 1993, 1.64 in 1994, and 1.43 in 1995.
downstream: The oil industry views the production, processing, transportation, and sale of petroleum products as a flow process starting at the wellhead. Downstream includes any stage between the point of reference and the sale of products to the consumer. Upstream (q.v.) is the converse.; Source: Library of Congress
Enlightenment: Philosophical and spiritual movement in Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, concerned with the relationship of God, nature, reason, and man, often challenging the tenets of conventional Christianity.
Eurocurrency: A country’s currency on deposit outside the country. Most Eurocurrency claims are Eurodollars, which are dollar claims on banks located outside the United States. The Eurocurrency market is a wholesale market.
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD): A bank founded under sponsorship of the European Community (q.v.) in 1990, to provide loans to East European countries (Bulgaria, the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, the Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia) to establish independent, market-driven economies and democratic political institutions. Some fifty-eight countries were shareholders in 1992.
European Community (EC): The EC comprises three communities: the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Economic Community (EEC, also known as the Common Market), and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom). Each community is a legally distinct body, but since 1967 they have shared common governing institutions. The EC forms more than a framework for free trade and economic cooperation: the signatories to the treaties governing the communities have agreed in principle to integrate their economies and ultimately to form a political union. Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and the Federal Republic of Germany (then West Germany) are charter members of the EC. Britain, Denmark, and Ireland joined on January 1, 1973; Greece became a member on january 1, 1981; and Portugal and Spain entered on January 1, 1986. In late 1991, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland applied for membership.; Source: Library of Congress
European Council: A body formed when the heads of state or government of European Union (EU--q.v.) member states meet. Held at least twice a year, these meetings determine the major guidelines for the EU’s future development.
European Currency Unit (ECU): Instituted in 1979, the ECU is the unit of account of the EC (q.v.). The value of the ECU is determined by the value of a basket that includes the currencies of all EC member states. In establishing the value of the basket, each member’s currency receives a share that reflects the relative strength and importance of the member’s economy. In 1987 one ECU was equivalent to about one United States dollar.; Source: Library of Congress
European Economic Area (EEA): An economic area encompassing all the members of the European Union (EU--q.v.) and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA--q.v.), with the exception of Switzerland. Created in May 1992, the EEA went into effect on January 1, 1994. The EEA is a single market for the free movement of labor, services, capital (with some restrictions on investments), and most products. EFTA members have agreed to accept EU regulations in many areas, including company law, education, environmental protection, mergers, and social policy.; Source: Library of Congress
European Economic Community (EEC): The ""Common Market"" of primarily West European countries, organized to promote coordinated development of economic activities, expansion, stability, and closer relations among member states. Methods included elimination of customs duties and import regulations among member states, a common tariff and commercial policy towards outside countries, and a common agricultural and transport policy. A significant further reduction of intraorganizational barriers was planned in 1992.; Source: Library of Congress
European Free Trade Association (EFTA): Founded in 1960, EFTA aims at supporting free trade among its members and increasing the liberalization of trade on a global basis, particularly within Western Europe. In 1993 the organization’s member states were Austria, Finland, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland.; Source: Library of Congress
European Monetary System (EMS): Established in 1979 by the European Economic Community (EEC--q.v.), the EMS was created to stabilize currency values because the Bretton Woods system (q.v.) proved not fully satisfactory. All European Union (EU--q.v.) countries are EMS members. The EMS is to be succeeded by the European Monetary Union (EMU--q.v.).
European Monetary Union (EMU): The EMU is a plan for a single European central bank and for a single European currency to replace national banks and currencies for those European states that qualify. The EMU is the planned follow-on of the European Monetary System (EMS--q.v.).
European Union (EU): Until November 1993, the EU was known as the European Community (EC). The EU comprises three communities: the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Economic Community (EEC), and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom). Each community is a legally distinct body, but since 1967 they have shared common governing institutions. The EU forms more than a framework for free trade and economic cooperation: the signatories to the treaties governing the communities have agreed in principle to integrate their economies and ultimately to form a political union. Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) were charter members of the EU; Britain, Denmark, and Ireland joined on January 1, 1973; Greece became a member on January 1, 1981; and Portugal and Spain entered on January 1, 1986.; Source: Library of Congress
exchange rate mechanism (ERM): Mechanism established in 1979 to regulate currency exchange rates in the European Monetary System (EMS--q.v.). Member currencies are permitted to fluctuate in value only within a narrow margin (the so-called snake).; Source: Library of Congress
expert: Term usually juxtaposed with ""red"" (q.v.). Denotes special knowledge or skills, or both, relating to economic management, science, and technology. Cadres are required to be both red and expert, the emphasis on one or the other depending on the current political milieu.
Factor markets: Producer goods markets in which factors of production--inputs such as land, labor, capital, entrepreneurship, and other material instruments used in production of goods and services--are procured.
factors of production: Land (or natural resources), labor, capital goods, sometimes entrepreneurship, and other resources used in the production of goods and services.; Source: Library of Congress
guaraná (G): The national currency. From 1960 to 1982 the guaraní remained pegged to the United States dollar at G126=US$1. Responding to the completion of construction of the Itaipú hydroelectric plant and lower commodity prices for soybeans and cotton, in July 1982 the Central Bank established a multitiered exchange rate system. The most favorable rate was reserved for the imports of certain state-owned enterprises and for external debt-service payments. Three other controlled rated were applied to imports of petroleum and petroleum derivatives; distribursements of loans to the public sector; and agricultural imports and most exports. Commercial banks set a fifth, free-market rate that governed most of the private sector’s nonoil imports. In early 1988, these five rated were G240=US$1, G320=US$1, G400=US$1, G550=US$1, and approcimately G900=US$1, respectively. The multitiered system constituted a massive subsidy to state-owned enterpreses. Central Bank losses in controlled exchange rate transactions accounted for nearly half of public-sector deficit in 1986. In July 1988, the Central Bank eliminated the two most favorable exchange rates; set G400=US$1 as the rate for imports of state-owned enterprises; external debt-service payments, and petroleum imports; and established G550=$US1 as the rate for disbursements for loans to the public sector, agricultural imports, and most exports. In January 1989, the Central Bank further devalued the guaraní by setting the controlled rates at G600=US$1 and G750=US$1 and also required petroleum imports to be paid at the higher rate. In early 1989, the free-market rate exceeded G1,000=US$1.
Habsburg Empire: Also known as the House of Austria, one of the principal European dynasties between the fifteenth and twentieth centuries. Controlled a variety of separate monarchies, reaching its most powerful stage in the sixteenth century under Emperor Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire (q.v.). After 1867 what remained of the empire was commonly known as Austria-Hungary.
Haganah: Literally, defense. Abbreviation for Irgun HaHaganah, the Jewish defense organization formed in 1919-20 by volunteers in early Jewish communities as home guards for protection against hostile bands. It became the military arm of the Jewish Agency (q.v.) and went underground during the British Palestine Mandate period (1922-48) when it was declared illegal. Along with the Jewish Brigade, which fought with the Allied forces in World War II, it formed the nucleus of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) established in 1948.; Source: Library of Congress
Hasid (pl., Hasidim): Member of a religious movement, known as Hasidism, founded in the eighteenth century by Israel Ben-Eliezer Baal Shem Tov in Eastern Europe. The movement, still active in the 1980s, stresses the importance of serving God in ecstasy and has strong mystical elements.; Source: Library of Congress
Helsinki Accords: Signed in August by all the countries of Europe (except Albania) plus Canada and the United States at the conclusion of the first meeting of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Helsinki Accords endorsed general principles of international behavior and measures to enhance security and addressed selected economic, environmental, and humanitarian issues. In essence, the Helsinki Accords confirmed existing, post-World War II national boundaries and obligated signatories to respect basic principles of human rights. Helsinki Watch groups were formed in 1976 to monitor compliance. The term Helsinki Accords is the short form for the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe and is also known as the Final Act.; Source: Library of Congress
hijra: Literally, to migrate, to sever relations, to leave one’s tribe. Throughout the Muslim world, hijra refers to the migration of the Prophet Muhammad and his followers to Medina. In this sense, the word has come into European languages as hegira. The year of Muhammad’s hijra constitutes the beginning of the Islamic calendar.; Source: Library of Congress
Iranian: Linguistically, a subgroup of the Indo-Iranian branch of Indo-European languages, which in modern times includes Persian (q.v.)--the most widely used--Pushtu, Kurdish (q.v.) dialects, and Ossetic. In the Middle Iranian stage of the group’s development (third century B.C. to tenth century A.D.), the chief languages were Parthian, Pahlavi (middle Persian), and Soghdian.
Irgun: An abbreviation for Irgun Zvai Leumi (National Military Organization). Established in 1937 as an underground Jewish extremist organization, also known as Etzel, derived from the pronounced initials of its Hebrew name. A more extreme group, known as the Stern Gang (q.v.), broke away from it in 1939. Both groups were especially active during and after World War II against the British authorities in Palestine. Both maintained several thousand armed men until all Israeli forces were integrated in June 1948.; Source: Library of Congress
Kardecian spiritualism: Allen Kardec (a pseudonym) founded Kardecism, a spiritualist religion, in mid-nineteenth-century France. Imported into Brazil at the end of the nineteenth century, the religion was adopted by members of Brazil’s upper classes eager to identify with French culture. It centers on séances in which the dead return through mediums and give the living advice.; Source: Library of Congress
kroon (EKR): Estonia’s prewar currency (1928-40), reintroduced in June 1992 after Estonia became the first former Soviet republic to leave the Russian ruble zone. The kroon was officially pegged to the deutsche mark (DM) within 3 percent of EKR8 = DM1. In March 1996, the exchange rate was EKR11.83 = US$1.
Kurdish: Term referring to a mainly Muslim people speaking an Indo-European language similar to Persian. Kurds constitute significant minorities in Iran, Iraq, and Turkey, with smaller groups in Armenia and Syria. Despite international proposals in response to minority persecution, never united in a single state.
Kurds: A mainly Muslim people speaking an Indo-European language similar to Persian. Kurds constitute significant minorities in Iran, Iraq, and Turkey, with smaller groups in Armenia and Syria. Despite international proposals in response to minority persecution, never united in a single state.
Lao Theung: Literally, Laotian of the mountain slopes; group--including Kammu, Loven, and Lamet--that traditionally lives in medium altitudes, practices swidden, or slash-and-burn-agriculture, and speaks Mon-Khmer languages and dialects. According to the 1985 census, approximately 24 percent of the population. Regarded as original inhabitants of Laos, formally referred to by ethnic Lao as kha, or slave.
leu (pl., lei): The monetary unit of Moldova, introduced in November 1993. The exchange rate was 4.27 lei per US$1 at the beginning of 1995. The leu is convertible.; Source: Library of Congress
Lomé Convention: An agreement between the European Community (EC) and the African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states whose provisions call for the EC to extend economic assistance to ACP countries. Much of the aid is for project development or rehabilitation, but a large portion is set aside for the Stabilization of Export Earnings (STABEX) system, designed to help developing countries withstand fluctuations in the prices of their agricultural exports.; Source: Library of Congress
Maastricht Treaty: See Treaty on European Union.