| A | B |
|---|
| AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent Children): | a government welfare program for families which are too poor to provide proper food, clothing, and other basic needs for their children. |
| asylum: | a refuge or shelter. For example, Haitian refugees, escaping the dictatorial rule and poverty in their homeland between 1992 and mid-1994, sought asylum in the U.S. |
| ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms): | a government agency charged with administering laws which regulate alcohol, tobacco, and firearms. For example, ATF agents forcefully entered the compound of the Branch Davidian cult in Waco, Texas because of reports that the cult had illegally stockpiled guns and other firearms. |
| budget deficit: | the amount by which expenditures exceed revenues. |
| capital gains tax: | tax on profits made from the sale of property or securities. |
| Central Intelligence Agency (CIA): | an agency which gathers information about other countries. Sometimes the CIA uses secret agents to gain this information. |
| command economy: | an economic system in which government, instead of private individuals, make basic economic decisions regarding production and prices. The communist system utilizes a command economy. |
| Contras: | a group of Nicaraguans who attempted to drive the Sandinistas from power in Nicaragua during the 1980s. |
| cult: | a relatively small group of people united by devotion to a leader and his or her teachings, which are often unorthodox religious ideas. |
| deficit spending: | the practice by government of spending more money than it collects in taxes. The government borrows money to make up for the difference. For example, during the 1980s and early 1990s the U.S. government spent, on average, about $200 million more each year than it collected in taxes. Each year this amount had to be borrowed and, as a result, the government fell deeper and deeper in debt. Between 1980 and 1993 the national debt grew from $1 trillion to $4 trillion. |
| divestiture: | a divesting or giving up (selling) of property. |
| emissary: | a person who is sent on a mission. |
| ethnic cleansing: | name given to the practice by Bosnian Serbs during the early 1990s of pressuring Bosnian Muslims to leave Bosnia. This pressure came in the form of intimidation, physical assaults, and murder. The goal of the Bosnian Serbs was to "clean out" Muslims from Bosnia so that it would be ethnically "pure" Serbian. |
| filibuster: | the practice by senators of making endless speeches against a bill, thus preventing the full Senate from voting on it. |
| freedom fighters: | a name used to describe anti-communist rebels. (For example, President Reagan called the Contras in Nicaragua "freedom fighters.") |
| free-market economy: | an economy with limited or no regulation by the government. Sometimes called the free-enterprise system. |
| glasnost: | Russian term for "openness," commonly used to describe Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's willingness to allow greater freedom of speech in the Soviet Union. |
| Green Revolution: | scientific innovations in farming, such as new methods of pest control and fertilization, which make greater crop production possible. |
| Iran-Contra scandal (1986): | the illegal use of money gained from a secret arms sale to Iran to aid the Contras in Nicaragua. |
| liberation front: | a term usually used to describe a communist movement in a country. |
| New Federalism: | a term used to represent both President Nixon's and President Reagan's program of shifting greater responsibility for social programs from the federal level to the state level. |
| non-proliferation: | the idea that every attempt should be made to keep additional nations from developing and stockpiling nuclear weapons. |
| North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA): | an agreement to end tariffs and other restrictions to trade between Canada, the United States, and Mexico. |
| Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO): | an organization whose goal is to liberate (free) land (presently governed by Israel) which was once known as Palestine and to reestablish it as a homeland for Palestinians. |
| perestroika: | Russian term for "restructuring," commonly used to describe Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's goal of altering the Soviet Union's economy and political system. |
| Radio Free Europe: | a U.S.-sponsored radio network which beamed broadcasts to people in Eastern Europe. |
| Reagan Revolution: | term used to describe President Reagan's largely successful efforts to reduce federal taxation and regulation. |
| revenue sharing: | a program initiated by President Nixon which provided federal money to states so that they could assume greater responsibility for certain social programs. |
| Sandinistas: | a political party in Nicaragua (with leftist leanings) that seized power in 1979. |
| Solidarity: | a Polish labor movement founded in 1980 and led by Lech Walesa which, by organizing massive strikes and demonstrations, forced the communist government to hold free elections. Non-communists won almost all seats of the Polish Senate. Later, in 1990, Walesa was elected president. This was the first non-communist government in Poland since the communists took power after World War II. |
| Super Fund: | money set aside to clean up America's most hazardous toxic-waste sites. |
| supply-side economics: | an economic theory that focuses on productivity and the total supply of goods as causes of unemployment and inflation. |
| tele-evangelists: | ministers who preach their messages via television. |
| terrorism: | the use of threats or violence to achieve a goal. |
| tight-money policy: | a policy of making money more difficult to borrow by increasing interest rates or reducing the amount of money available for loans. |
| welfare state: | a country where the government has an obligation to provide basic human services, such as medical care, to persons in need of such services. |
