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.

Autonomous Region: Governorates of As Sulaymaniyah, Dahuk, and Irbil, the Kurdish majority area. In this region--popularly known as Kurdistan--Kurdish has status of official language, and residents enjoy limited autonomy from central government.
Baba Chinese: Descendants of marriages between Chinese men and Malay women, many of whom moved to Singapore from Malacca in the early nineteenth century. Although mixed parentage gradually disappeared through marriage with Chinese immigrants, the Babas usually spoke Malay or English as their first language and identified more closely with Singapore and Malaya than with China. After establishment of Straits Settlements (q.v.) in 1826, their descendants also came to be known as Straits Chinese (q.v.).
Bahasa Indonesia: The Indonesian national language, also known as Indonesian; an Austronesian language reported to be modelled on Riau Malay and 80 percent cognate with Standard Malay.
Bantu: Literally, ""human beings,"" in more than 300 Bantu languages of equatorial and southern Africa. Bantu languages are classified within the central branch of the Niger-Congo language family; characterized by a system of noun classes marked by prefixes, so that each dependent word in a sentence carries a prefix of the same class. Outsiders often simplify by omitting prefix; for example, the amaZulu (people) are known as the Zulu; their language, isiZulu, is also referred to as Zulu. Speakers of seSotho, the BaSotho, are often referred to simply as Sotho peoples. Four major subgroups of Bantu languages--Nguni, Sotho, Tsonga-Shangaan, and Venda--are widely represented in South Africa. They include nine of South Africa’s official languages--isiXhosa, isiZulu, isiNdebele, sePedi, seSotho, seTswana, siSwati, tshiVenda (also luVenda), and xiTsonga. During the apartheid era, the term Bantu was often used in government regulations, official statements, and sometimes in conversation to designate people of black African descent. Because this group was particularly disadvantaged by apartheid, the term Bantu assumed pejorative connotations in many apartheid-era contexts.
barriadas: Squatter settlements or shantytowns that surround Lima and other urban centers. Since the late 1960s, these settlements have been also known as pueblos jóvenes (young towns).
Bengal: Formerly province of British India, now encompasses India’s state of West Bengal and all of Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan- -q.v.) During Mughal period (1526-1858) a province, later governed by a president of the British East India company, and during the British Raj (q.v.), a state.; 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.
Cham: Also known as Chams, as Khmer Islam, and as Cham-Malay; a Muslim minority people.
China Proper: Used broadly to mean China within the Great Wall, with its eighteen historic provinces. Divisible into two major, sharply contrasting regions, north China and south China. The dependencies on the north and west--Manchuria (now usually referred to as northeast China), Mongolia, Xizang (Tibet), and Xinjiang or Chinese Turkestan--were known in the imperial era as Outer China.
Choch'ongryn: Abbreviation for Chae Ilbon Chson In Ch’ong Yonhaphoe, literally General Association of Korean Residents in Japan. Members of this Japan-based association tend to be supportive of North Korea’s foreign policy and have kinship and financial ties to North Korea. Known as Chosen Soren in Japanese.
Colombo Plan: Founded in 1951 and known as the Colombo Plan for Cooperative Economic Development in South and Southeast Asia until it was expanded in 1977 and called the Colombo Plan for Cooperative Economic Development in Asia and the Pacific. It is an arrangement that permits a developing member country to approach a developed member country for assistance on a one-to- one basis. Assistance may be technical or in the form of capital or commodity aid.
Common Market of the South (Mercado Comum do Sul--Mercosul): An organization established on March 26, 1991, when the Treaty of Asunción was signed by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay for the purpose of promoting regional economic cooperation. Chile was conspicuously absent because of its insistence that the other four countries first had to lower their tariffs to the Chilean level before Chile could join. Mercosul became operational on January 1, 1995. Chile became an associate member that month and agreed to join as a full member on June 25, 1996. Bolivia was admitted into Mercosul in March 1997. Mercosul is more commonly known by its Spanish acronym, Mercosur (Common Market of the South--Mercado Común del Sur).; 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.
Communist Party of Malaya (CPM): Known as the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) until the 1960s. Founded in Singapore in 1930 with a predominantly Chinese membership, the party carried out armed resistance to the Japanese during World War II. From 1948 to 1960, its military arm, the Malayan Peoples Liberation Army, practiced guerrilla warfare in the rural areas of peninsular Malaya with the support of underground organizations in Malaya and Singapore. In the late 1980s, an estimated 500 guerrillas and the party leadership maintained themselves in the jungles of the Malaysian-Thai frontier.
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
Cossacks: Originally peasants (primarily Ukrainian and Russian) who fled from bondage to the lower Dnepr and Don river regions to settle in the frontier areas separating fifteenth-century Muscovy, Poland, and the lands occupied by the Tatars. They later organized themselves into military formations to resist Tatar raids. Renowned as horsemen, they were absorbed into the army of the Russian Empire (q.v.) by the late eighteenth century. In the early 1990s, there were attempts to reestablish a Cossack military tradition in Ukraine.; Source: Library of Congress
Cyrenaica: Largest of Libya’s three historic regions, occupying the eastern half of the country. Name derived from the ancient Greek city-state, Cyrene; in Arabic known as Barqu.
d'Hondt method: Also known as the highest-average method of determining the allocation of seats to political parties after an election. It was devised by the Belgian Victor d’Hondt to be used in electoral systems based on proportional representation. In addition to Portugal, the method has been adopted by Austria, Belgium, Finland, and Switzerland. Under this method, voters do not choose a candidate but vote for a party, each of which has published a list of candidates. The party winning the most votes in a constituency is awarded the area’s first seat, which goes to the candidate at the top of the winning party’s list. The total vote of this party is then divided by two, and this amount is compared with the totals of other parties. The party with the greatest number of votes at this point receives the next seat to be awarded. Each time a party wins a seat, its total is divided by the number of seats it has won plus one. This process continues until all the seats in a constituency are awarded. The d’Hondt method slightly favors large parties. Because there is no minimum threshold for winning a seat, however, small parties can also elect representatives.; Source: Library of Congress
Derg: Formed in June 1974 and composed of a substantial body of young military officers, none above the rank of major, drawn from the main units of the army, air force, navy, and police. The Derg’s membership ranged from perhaps 106 to 120 or more. New officers were never admitted, whereas original members were continuously eliminated, especially during the Derg’s early years. Its inner workings were almost never disclosed. Known at first as the Coordinating Committee of the Armed Forces, Police, and Territorial Army, after September 1974 it was known as the Provisional Military Administrative Council (PMAC), or simply as the Derg (Amharic for ""committee"" or ""council""), a term derived from Gi’iz and little used before the 1974 revolution. The Derg lasted officially from June 1974 to September 1987, when the People’s Democratic Republic of Ethiopia came into being.
Diet: The national legislature. From 1890 to 1947, known as the Imperial Diet (in Japanese, Teikoku Gikai) with an appointed House of Peers and elected House of Representatives. Since 1947 has been known as the National Diet, or Diet (in Japanese, Kokkai), with a House of Councillors and House of Representatives, both of which are elected. The word ""diet"" comes from the Latin dies (day), a reference to the period of time for which a court or assembly met. The word has been used as the English name for the Japanese legislature since 1890.
Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC): A United Nations regional economic commission established on February 25, 1948, as the Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLA). More commonly known in Latin America as Comisión Económica para América Latina (CEPAL). In 1984 ECLAC expanded its operations and title to include the Caribbean. Main functions are to initiate and coordinate policies aimed at promoting economic development. In addition to the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, ECLAC’s forty-one members include Britain, Canada, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and the United States. There are an additional five Caribbean associate members.; Source: Library of Congress
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 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
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.
First Indochina War (1946-54): The anticolonial conflict, also known as the Viet Minh War, between France and the Viet Minh, a Vietnamese communist-dominated coalition of Indochinese nationalist elements led by veteran revolutionary Ho Chi Minh. The French defeat at Dien Bien Phu in May 1954 marked the final episode of the war. The conflict was brought to an end officially by the Geneva Conference of July 1954 and its resulting agreements.
ger: Mongol term for the round, felt-covered tent known by its Russian (from the Turkic) name of yurt.
Goyigama, Govi: Highest Sinhalese (cultivator) caste. Traditional ruling caste and leaders of established order, comprising at least half of the Sinhalese population. Agriculturalists, now challenged for status by Karavas (q.v.).
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.
HaHistadrut HaKlalit shel HaOvdim B'Eretz Yisrael (General Federation of Laborers in the Land of Israel): Commonly known as Histadrut. Founded in 1920, this national- level organization was also the nation’s largest single employer after the government. Histadrut performs many economic and welfare services in addition to trade union activities; leadership of Histadrut has generally been drawn from the Labor Party and its predecessors.; Source: Library of Congress
Hare system: Also known as the single transferable vote formula. The Hare system was developed in the nineteenth century by Thomas Hare, a British political reformer, to create constituencies with multiple representatives in electoral systems based on seeking proportional representation. Ballots are used on which a voter may rank his or her choices in order of preference. Any candidate who has received enough first-preference votes to meet a quota wins a seat. Votes above this quota are transferred to the candidates with second- preference votes, and each of those who meet the quota is awarded a seat. The process continues until all seats in a constituency are filled.; 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
Huks, or Huk: Short form of Hukbalahap, itself the abbreviated form of the Tagalog name for the guerrilla force established in 1942, known as the People’s Anti-Japanese Army (Hukbong Bayan Laban sa Hapon). In 1946 renamed the People’s Liberation Army (Hukbong Mapagpalaya ng Bayan).
import substitution: Also known as import-substitution industrialization, an economic development strategy that emphasizes the growth of domestic industries, often by import protection using tariff and nontariff measures. Proponents favor the export of industrial goods over that of primary products.
Indian National Congress: Founded in 1885; before and after 1947, popularly called Congress or the Congress. A major force in the independence movement, the Congress has been dominant in Parliament and formed governments from 1947 to 1977, 1980 to 1985, and 1991 to 1996. In 1969 the Congress split, and the ruling party under Indira Gandhi became known as Congress (R)--R for Requisition--while the faction opposed to her was called Congress (O)--O for Organisation. In 1978 she renamed her party Congress (I)--I for Indira. There also have been Congress (S)--S for Socialist or Secular--and Congress (U)--for Urs, named after its founder Devanaj Urs--splinter groups.
Industrial Free Zone(s): Also known as free trade zones, or free zones, these industrial parks played host to manufacturing firms that benefited from favorable business conditions extended by a given government in an effort to attract foreign investment and to create jobs. In the Dominican Republic, free-zone enterprises paid no duties on goods directly imported into, or exported from, the free zone. These enterprises also enjoyed exemptions from Dominican taxes for up to twenty years, and they were allowed to pay workers less than the established minimum wage.
Inter-American Development Bank (IADB): Also known as Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID). A forty-six-member bank established on December 30, 1959, to promote economic and social development in Latin America.; Source: Library of Congress
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
Ismaili(s): Member(s) of a branch of Shia (q.v.) Islam. Ismailis recognize seven Imams (q.v.) and venerate Ismail as the Seventh; other Shias recognize Musa al Kazim as Seventh Imam. Ismailis are often called Seveners, and other Shias are known as Twelvers.
kebatinan: An amalgam of animist, Hindu-Buddhist, and Islamic (especially Sufi) mystical elements that combine to form Javanese mysticism. As a body of belief, kebatinan is officially recognized in the 1945 constitution and is administered by the Department of Education and Culture rather than by the Department of Religious Affairs. Also known as kejawen, agama Jawa, or Javanism.
Kosovo: A province of the Serbian Republic of Yugoslavia that shares a border with Albania and has a population that is about 90 percent Albanian. Serbian nationalists fiercely resist Albanian control of Kosovo, citing Kosovo’s history as the center of a medieval Serbian Kingdom that ended in a defeat by the Ottoman Turks at the Battle of Kosovo Polje in 1389. Residents of Kosovo are known as Kosovars.; Source: Library of Congress
Lao Patrocitic Front (LPF) (Neo Lao Hak Xat): Sucessor to Neo Lao Issara (q.v.), the political arm of the Pathrt Liberation Army (q.v.)--formerly known as the Pathet Lao (q.v.)--is its milituary arm.
Lao People's Liberation Army (LPLA): Official title of Pathet Lao armed forces, more commonly known as the communist revolutionaries, or guerrilla forces. The LPLA originated with the Latsavong detachment, formed in January 1949 by Kaysone Phomvihan, and steadily increased in number to an estimated 8,000 guerrillas in 1960 and an estimated 48,000 troops between 1962 and 1970.
Lehi: Acronym for Lohamei Herut Yisrael, literally, Fighters for Israel’s Freedom, a former resistance and political organization, created in 1939 and disbanded under pressure in 1948. Commonly known as the Stern Gang. See also Irgun.; Source: Library of Congress
Maghrib (adj. Maghribian): The western Islamic world (northwest Africa); distinguished from the Mashriq or eastern Islamic world (the Middle East). Traditionally includes Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and what is now Libya. Literally, ""the time or place of the sunset--the west."" For its Arab conquerors, the region was the ""island of the west"" (jazirat al maghrib), the land between the ""sea of sand"" (Sahara) and the Mediterranean Sea. Also translated as Maghreb.
Manchuria: The present-day northeast Chinese provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning; homeland of the Manchus, founders of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Known as Manchukuo during the period of Japanese control (1931-45).
Maronites: The largest Christian sect in Lebanon, the Maronite Church is one of a group of Christian churches known as Uniate, which are in full communion with the Holy See in Rome but are separately organized and adhere to an Eastern rite. Maronites settled in the mountains of northern Lebanon in the mid-seventh century; many continue to live there and in East Beirut. Maronites traditionally have looked to the West for cultural inspiration. Maronites tend to be better educated and wealthier than other segments of Lebanese society. By custom, the president of the republic is a Maronite.
mutawwiin: Literally, those who volunteer or obey; sometimes known by popular name of Committees for Public Morality, or more formally, as the Committees for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.
Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact: Agreement signed by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union (q.v.) on August 23, 1939, immediately preceding the German invasion of Poland, which began World War II. A secret protocol divided Poland between the two powers and gave Bessarabia (q.v.), Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and the eastern part of Poland to the Soviet Union. Also known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.; Source: Library of Congress
nibbana: More commonly known in Western literature as nirvana. The goal of the path, the extinction of desire, hate, and the illusion of selfhood. A state of mystical union with the absolute one world soul (brahma), not an individual soul that attains it (as in Hinduism). For the Hindu, a state of liberation or illumination. For the Buddhist, there are no immortal particular souls, only the world soul, in which all beings, both animate and inanimate, are participants. The goal of spiritual practice in all branches of Buddhism. Enlightenment is the realization of the identity of the self with the absolute. The release from the cycle of rebirths and the annihilation of the individual being that occurs on achievement of perfect spiritual understanding.; Source: Library of Congress