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.

Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS): Created on December 8, 1991, with the signing of the Minsk Agreement by Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. The Alma-Ata Declaration, signed by eleven heads of state on December 21, 1991, expanded membership in the CIS to all other former Soviet republics except Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The CIS is a confederation of former Soviet republics in which ""coordinating bodies"" oversee common interests in the economies, foreign policy, and defense of its members.; Source: Library of Congress
Commonwealth of Nations: Often referred to as the British Commonwealth, the Commonwealth is formally an association of forty-nine sovereign, independent states that acknowledge the British monarch as symbolic head of the association. Commonwealth membership is expressed in cooperation, consultation, mutual assistance, and periodic conferences of national leaders.
Czech and Slovak Federative Republic (CSFR): official name of the former Czechoslovakia, adopted in December 1990 to recognize the two ethnic components of that country. (Czechoslovakia was still used as the short form designation after that date.) In January 1993, divided into two independent states, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, which retained some economic and security ties.
French Equatorial Africa (Afrique Equatoriale Française--AEF): The former colonial federation of areas that later became the independent states of Chad, Gabon, Central African Republic, and Congo. A history of French rule and missionary involvement forged organizational ties connecting these areas. The AEF was dissolved in 1958, but upon gaining independence in 1960, Chad joined former AEF members in a multilateral military assistance agreement with France.
near abroad (blizhneye zarubezh'ye): Collective Russian term for the other fourteen newly independent states of the former Soviet Union. Frequently used in policy discussions about Russia’s continued domination of certain of those states, especially in Central Asia and the Caucasus.
oblast: A major territorial and administrative subdivision in the newly independent states. Russia has forty-nine such divisions, which approximate provinces.
ruble zone: Name given the group of newly independent states that continued to use the Soviet, then Russian, ruble as the primary currency for financial transactions after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The ruble zone existed from December 1991 until July 1993, when the Russian Central Bank withdrew all ruble notes issued before January 1993.