Glossary — A

Glossary terms beginning with A.

Adae: Akan sacred day. According to the traditional lunar calendar, an Adae day occurs every fortnight.
adelantado: In the sixteenth century, the Spanish crown awarded the office of adelantado to selected individuals who, at their own expense, undertook the discovery and conquest of new overseas territories. Adelantados served as executive officers to govern a region, to act as head of military forces at distant frontier posts, or to command a military expedition.; Source: Library of Congress
Age Structure: Age Structure is the distribution of the population according to age. The age structure of a population affects a nation’s key socioeconomic issues. Countries with young populations (high percentage under age 15) need to invest more in schools, while countries with older populations (high percentage ages 65 and over) need to invest more in the health sector. The age structure can also be used to help predict potential political issues. For example, the rapid growth of a young adult population unable to find employment can lead to unrest.
agora (pl., agorot): An Israeli coin. One hundred agorot equal one new Israeli shekel--NIS (q.v.).; Source: Library of Congress
Al Saud: Literally, the House of Saud; the patrilineal descendants of Muhammad ibn Saud.
aliyah (pl., aliyot): Literally, going up. The immigration of Jews to Eretz Yisrael, or the Land of Israel. Historians have classified five major periods of immigration to Israel, as follows: First Aliyah (1882- 1903); Second Aliyah (1904-14); Third Aliyah (1919-23); Fourth Aliyah (1924-31); and Fifth Aliyah (1932-39).; Source: Library of Congress
Alliance for Progress: Established in 1961 at a hemispheric meeting in Punta del Este, Uruguay, under the leadership of President John F. Kennedy as a long-range program to help develop and modernize Latin American states through multisector reforms, particularly in health and education. Involved various forms of foreign aid, including development loans offered at very low or zero interest rates, from the United States to all states of Latin America and the Caribbean, except Cuba.; Source: Library of Congress
amir: Literally, commander. In many of the Arab states of the gulf, amir often means ruler or prince.; Source: Library of Congress
amirate: Political entity under the rule of an amir. Analogous to a shaykhdom and, if an independent state, to a kingdom.; Source: Library of Congress
Andean Group: An economic group, the Andean Common Market, created in 1969 by Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela as a subregional market to improve its members’ bargaining power within the Latin American Free Trade Association (LAFTA) and to encourage increased trade and more rapid development. LAFTA, which dated from 1960, was replaced in 1980 by the Latin American Integration Association (Asociación Latinoamericana de Integración--ALADI), which advocated a regional tariff preference for goods originating in member states. Chile left the Andean Group in 1976. The threat that Peru might withdraw from the pact had receded by August 1992.; Source: Library of Congress
Andean Initiative (or Andean Strategy): At the February 1990 Cartagena (Colombia) Drug Summit, the presidents of Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, and the United States agreed to mount a regional attack on the drug trade. Their governments thereby qualified for United States counternarcotics assistance. After taking office in July 1990, President Alberto K. Fujimori proposed a comprehensive counternarcotics effort, to include narcotic law enforcement, demand reduction, public diplomacy, and economic development. However, progress in organizing this strategy was hindered by police/military rivalries and corruption. Furthermore, in late September 1990 Fujimori turned down US$35.9 million in authorized FY1990 United States military assistance after the United States failed to meet his concerns about the military focus of its antidrug strategy in Peru. After extensive talks, Fujimori signed the Peru-United States umbrella agreement on drug control and economic assistance on May 14, 1991, establishing a political understanding at the highest level and serving as a framework for a coordinated, comprehensive program to dismantle the drug trade in Peru with assistance with the United States, other developed countries, and international organizations. It addresses the role of the police and military in counternarcotics activities, alternative econmic assistance, crop substitution, and access to establishing legitimate economies versus the cultivation and illicit processing of coca leaf into cocaine products.
Andean Pact: An economic group, the Andean Common Market, created in 1969 by Bolivia, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, and Peru as a subregional market to improve its members’ bargaining power within the Latin American Free Trade Association (LAFTA) and to encourage increased trade and more rapid development. LAFTA, which dated from 1960, was replaced in 1980 by the Latin American Integration Association (Asociación Latinoamericana de Integración--ALADI), which advocated a regional tariff preference for goods originating in member states. Chile left the Pact in 1976. The threat that Peru might withdraw from the Pact had receded by August 1992.
Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM Treaty): A 1972 agreement limiting deployment of United States and Soviet anti-ballistic missile (ABM) systems. A protocol signed in 1974 limited each party to a single ABM system deployment area. In 1996 the United States and Russia negotiated to modify the terms of the treaty in order to permit testing of technology against non-intercontinental delivery systems.
Aouzou Strip: A rectangle of territory in northern Chad 100 kilometers wide and 1000 kilometers long, paralleling Libya’s southern border. Libya first occupied the strip in 1973 and annexed it in 1976. It is said to contain valuable minerals, including uranium.
apartheid: ""Separateness,"" (Afrikaans, Dutch); policy implemented by National Party government (1948-94) to maintain separate development of government-demarcated racial groups; also referred to as ""separate development,"" and later ""multinational development""; abolished by Constitution of the Republic of South Africa of 1993.
apparatchik: Russian colloquial word for someone who has been engaged full time in the work of the CPSU (q.v.) and/or the republic communist parties. Sometimes used in a derogatory sense.; Source: Library of Congress
Arab Socialist Union: ASU. The mass organization created in 1971 to provide a framework for popular participation and representation within the political system. Reorganized in 1975 to include the local-level Basic Popular Congresses (BPCs) and the intermediates-level Municipal Popular Congresses, (MPCs) both of which send delegated to the national General People’s Congress (GPC--q.v.); organization was disbanded in January 1976. Not to be confused with the Egyptian political organization of the same name.
Asafo: Traditional Akan men’s association and originally fighting companies.
Asante/Ashanti/Ashantee: Akan group, geographically located to the central part of the country. Founders of the Asante Empire, and speakers of Asante-Twi language.
Asantehene: King of Asante.
Asefat Hanivharim (Constituent Assembly): The Yishuv’s parliamentary body and the Knesset’s predecessor.; Source: Library of Congress
Ashkenazim (sing., Ashkenazi): Jews of European origin.; Source: Library of Congress
Asian Development Bank: Established in 1967, the bank assists in economic development and promotes growth and cooperation in developing member countries. The bank is owned by its forty-seven member governments, which include both developed and developing countries in Asia and developed countries in the West.
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN): Founded in 1967 for the purpose of promoting regional stability, economic development, and cultural exchange. ASEAN’s membership includes Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. India is a ""dialogue partner"" along with Austria, Canada, China, Japan, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea (South Korea), Russia, and the United States.
audiencia: Literally audience or court; a subdivision of a viceroyalty under Spanish colonial administration. As well as being the name of the administrative unit, the audiencia, composed of five men, was the highest governmental authority in the territory. During most of the colonial period, the president of the audiencia held the additional titles of governor and captain general; hence the alternative name for the audiencia was captaincy general. Although technically subordinate to the viceroyalty, the governor, or captain general, was appointed by the Spanish monarch and was responsible only to him or her. In practice, the governor frequently ignored orders from Spain and acted independently. For this reason, the Audiencia of Guatemala was frequently referred to in colonial times as the Kingdom of Guatemala.
August coup d'état: On August 19, 1991, high-ranking officials of the CPSU (q.v.) and the government of the Soviet Union (q.v.) announced that they had formed the State Committee for the State of Emergency and had removed Mikhail S. Gorbachev as the head of state. Leaders of most of the Soviet republics and many foreign leaders denounced the coup. Some key military commanders refused to deploy their forces in support of the coup leaders, and by August 22 the coup had collapsed. As a consequence of the failed coup, the CPSU and the Soviet central government were severely discredited, Gorbachev resigned, ten of the fifteen Soviet republics declared or reaffirmed their independence (including Belarus and Moldova), and the Congress of People’s Deputies (q.v.) dissolved the Soviet Union and itself after transferring state power to a transitional government.; Source: Library of Congress
autonomous entities (entes autónomos): Autonomous government agencies or state enterprises performing various industrial, commercial, or social services. The constitution stipulated that these bodies were to have a degree of autonomy or decentralization as established by laws enacted with the approval of an absolute majority of the full membership of each chamber of the General Assembly. They were administered by five- to seven-member boards of directors or directors general. Members were either elected by the Senate or appointed by the president with the consent of the Senate. The degree of autonomy or decentralization varied. For example, the constitution stipulated that postal, customs, port authority, and public health services were not to be fully decentralized, but rather granted only as much autonomy as was compatible with control by the executive.
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.
ayllu: A self-governing and land-owning peasant community in the Andean highlands. May refer to either a village, a kinship group, or a class-like organization, usually based on collective agriculture. Although a pre-Columbian term, ayllu has been used as a synonym for contemporary highland Peasant Communities.
aymag: Provincial-level or second-level unit of administration in Mongolia since 1921. Aymags are divided into somon (q.v.). Traditionally, an aymag was a tribe.
ayurveda: System of healing based on homeopathy and naturapthy, with an extensive use of herbs. There are ayurvedic doctors, hospitals, and colleges, all recognized by the government.