| A | B |
|---|
| Foreign Policy: | Policy that involves decisions in relations with the rest of the world. |
| United Nations: | Created in 1945 and currently including 192 member nations, with a central peacekeeping mission and programs in areas including economic development and health, education, and welfare. |
| North Atlantic Treaty Organization: | A regional organization that was created in 1949 by nations including the United States, Canada, and most European nations for mutual defense and has subsequently been expanded |
| European Union: | A transitional government composed of most European nations that coordinate monetary, trade, immigration, and labor policies, making its members one economic unit. |
| Secretary of State: | The head of the Department of State and traditionally the key advisor to the president on foreign policy. |
| Secretary of Defense: | The head of the Department of Defense and the president’s key advisor on military policy and, as such, a key foreign policy actor. |
| Joint Chiefs of Staff: | A group that consists of the commanding officers of each of the armed services, a chairperson, a vice chairperson, and advises the president on military policy. |
| Central Intelligence Agency (CIA): | An agency of the bureaucracy created to coordinate American intelligence activities abroad and to collect, analyze, and evaluate intelligence. |
| Isolationism: | a government policy based on the belief that national interests are best served by avoiding economic and political alliances with other countries |
| Containment Doctrine: | Foreign policy that called for the U.S. to isolate the Soviet Union, “contain” its advances outside of the satellite nations, and resist its encroachments by peaceful means if possible but by force if necessary |
| Cold War: | From the end of WWII to the late 1980s/early 1990s when the Soviet Union fell. Tensions between the Soviet Union and the US and their allies resulted in many proxy wars such as the Korean War and Vietnam Wars. |
| Arms race: | competition between countries for superiority in the number and power of weapons held |
| Détente: | a relaxation of tension or hostility between nations |
| Interdependency: | unable to exist or survive without each other |
| Tariff: | a duty levied by a government on imported or exported goods |
| Balance of Trade: | the difference between the value of the total imports and total exports of a country as assessed over a fixed period |
| Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries: | An economic organization consisting primarily of Middle Eastern nations that seeks to control the amount of oil its members produce and sell to other nations and hence the price of oil. |
| Security Council: | the permanent committee of the United Nations that oversees its peacekeeping operations throughout the world. The Security Council has five permanent members, Great Britain, China, France, Russia, and the United States, and ten other members chosen in rotation from among the other member states. |
| Multinational Corporations: | a large company that operates or has investments in several different countries |
| Nongovernmental Organizations: | an independent organization that is not run or controlled by a government |
| National Security Council (NSC): | a council consisting of the president, the secretary of state, the national security adviser, and top military and intelligence officers that decides on policies and measures to maintain national security |
| Monroe Doctrine: | 1823, that Europe should no longer involve itself in the American continent by exerting influence. The policy was part of the U.S. recognition of the independence of several Latin American countries. |
| Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD): | the enormous reciprocal damage that the superpowers and their allies would inflict on each other in the event of a nuclear war |
| Terrorism: | violence or the threat of violence, especially bombing, kidnapping, and assassination, carried out for political purposes |
| International Monetary Fund (IMF): | a specialized agency of the United Nations that seeks to promote international monetary cooperation and the stabilization of national currencies and help nations resolve balance of payment problems |
| North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA): | a free trade agreement signed between the United States and Canada in 1989, and extended to include Mexico in 1994. |
| General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT): | lowered barriers to trade |
| Deficit: | the amount by which expenditures exceed income or budget |
