Glossary — E

Glossary terms beginning with E.

East Bank: The area east of the Jordan River, the Dead Sea, and the series of wadis from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba. Roughly the former Amirate of Transjordan.
East Bengal: Eastern part or East Wing of Pakistan from August 15, 1947, to December 16, 1971. Another name for East Pakistan (q.v.).; Source: Library of Congress
East Pakistan: From August 15, 1947, to December 16, 1971, the eastern part, or East Wing, of united Pakistan. Seceded in 1971 to become Bangladesh.; Source: Library of Congress
East Slavs: A subdivision of Slavic peoples including Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians.
East Wing: See East Pakistan.; Source: Library of Congress
Ecclesiastical Base Communities (Comunidades Eclesiais de Base--CEBs): Grassroots groups consisting of mostly poor Christian lay people through which advocates of liberation theology (q.v.) mainly work. Members of CEBs meet in small groups to reflect on scripture and discuss its meaning in their lives. They are introduced to a radical interpretation of the Bible, one employing Marxist terminology to analyze and condemn the wide disparities between the wealthy elite and the impoverished masses in most underdeveloped countries. This reflection often leads members to organize and improve their living standards through cooperatives and civic-improvement projects.; Source: Library of Congress
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
Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO): Established in 1985, an economic union of Islamic countries to promote regional cooperation in trade, transportation, communications, culture, and overall economic development. Members in 1996 were Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, the ""Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus,"" Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
economies of scale: Decreases in the unit cost of production associated with increasing output.
EDSA Revolution: The February 1986 uprising, also called People’s Power(q.v.) , that ousted President Ferdinard E. Marcos. EDSA stands for Epifanio de los Santos, a ring road around Manila that was the site of confrontation between pro-Marcos and anti- Marcos forces.
Eelam: Tamil name for Sri Lanka.
effective protection: The percentage increase in value added, compared with what it could have been at international prices, as a result of the higher domestic prices permitted by protection.
ejido: A landholding peasant community or the land owned collectively by the members of such a community. An ejido, according to Mexican legislation, is a legal entity of the ""social interest sector,"" and its jurisdiction is in the hands of Mexican-born peasants. Its holdings consist of the ejidal plots, i.e., individual farming plots, the school plots, the ejidal urban zones, the houses and annexes to each plot, and any water resources and forest areas associated with the community. Two basic kinds of ejidos exist: the ""individual"" ejido, in which land tenure and ownership are legally vested in a community but cropland is allocated by plots (parcelas) on a semipermanent basis among the individual ejidatarios (ejido members); and the ""collective"" ejido, in which land resources are pooled for collectively organized production. A majority of ejidos are of the individual kind.
elasticity: Usually refers to price elasticity, the ratio of the responsiveness of quantity demanded, or supplied, to a change in price.; Source: Library of Congress
Emergency: The 1948-60 communist insurgency in peninsular Malaya and Singapore; most active between 1948 and 1951.
encomenderos: Colonial grantees, usually large landowners, to rights over native American labor and tribute in exchange for assuming responsibility to protect and Christianize these native subjects.
encomienda: A fiduciary grant of tribute collection rights over Indians conferred by the Spanish crown on individual colonists, who in turn undertook to maintain order and propagate Christianity.
encomienda(s): A system or legal arrangement adopted in 1503 whereby the Spanish crown assigned rights over native American labor and tribute in the Spanish American colonies to individual colonists (encomenderos) in return for protecting and Christianizing their subjects. However, most native Americans ended up as virtual slaves with no recognized rights. Not to be confused with the landed estate (latifundio--q.v.), the system was not ended until late in the eighteenth century.
Encomiendas: A Spanish, colonial system of land grants to Conquistadors that included rights to the use of Indian labor.
Enlightenment: Philosophical and spiritual movement in Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, concerned with the relationship of God, nature, reason, and man, often challenging the tenets of conventional Christianity.
entail system: Form of inheritance by which land passed to the owner’s male descendents or, if he had no male heir, to the crown. Entail checked Hungary’s economic development because it prevented the nobles from selling their land or using it as collateral to obtain credit.
enterprise: A production establishment, such as a plant or a factory, in the communist (q.v.) era; not to be confused with a privately owned, Western-style business.; Source: Library of Congress
Enterprise for the Americas Initiative (EAI): A plan announced by President George H.W. Bush on June 27, 1990, calling for the United States to negotiate agreements with selected Latin American countries to reduce their official debt to the United States and make funds available through this restructuring for environmental programs; to stimulate private investment; and to take steps to promote extensive trade liberalization with the goal of establishing free trade throughout the Western Hemisphere.
eparchy: An administrative district of the Orthodox and Uniate (q.v.) churches, usually headed by a bishop. Equivalent to a diocese in the Roman Catholic Church. A group of eparchies constitute a metropolitan see.
escudo: See Chilean peso.
etatism: Often considered as state socialism. In Turkish use, it involves state control of some industries and public services.
Ethiopian calendar year: The Ethiopian year consists of 365 days, divided into twelve months of thirty days each plus one additional month of five days (six in leap years). Ethiopian New Year’s falls on September 11 and ends the following September 10, according to the Gregorian (Western) calendar. From September 11 to December 31, the Ethiopian year runs seven years behind the Gregorian year; thereafter, the difference is eight years. Hence, the Ethiopian year 1983 began on September 11, 1990, according to the Gregorian calendar, and ended on September 10, 1991. This discrepancy results from differences between the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church as to the date of the creation of the world.
Ethiopian fiscal year (EFY): Based on the Ethiopian calendar year (q.v.). Corresponds to July 8 to July 7, seven years behind the Gregorian (Western) calendar through December 31, and eight years behind thereafter.
ethnic Belorussian/Belarusian: Person whose ethnic heritage is East Slavic and whose native language is Belorussian/Belarusian.
ethnic Bulgarian: Person whose ethnic heritage is South Slavic and whose native language is Bulgarian.
ethnic Pole: Person whose ethnic heritage is West Slavic and whose native language is Polish.
ethnic Romanian: Person whose ethnic heritage is Latin and whose native language is Romanian.
ethnic Russian: Person whose ethnic heritage is East Slavic and whose native language is Russian.
ethnic Ukrainian: Person whose ethnic heritage is East Slavic and whose native language is Ukrainian.
Eurocurrency: A country’s currency on deposit outside the country. Most Eurocurrency claims are Eurodollars, which are dollar claims on banks located outside the United States. The Eurocurrency market is a wholesale market.
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD): A bank founded under sponsorship of the European Community (q.v.) in 1990, to provide loans to East European countries (Bulgaria, the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, the Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia) to establish independent, market-driven economies and democratic political institutions. Some fifty-eight countries were shareholders in 1992.
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 Council: A body formed when the heads of state or government of European Union (EU--q.v.) member states meet. Held at least twice a year, these meetings determine the major guidelines for the EU’s future development.
European Currency Unit (ECU): Instituted in 1979, the ECU is the unit of account of the EC (q.v.). The value of the ECU is determined by the value of a basket that includes the currencies of all EC member states. In establishing the value of the basket, each member’s currency receives a share that reflects the relative strength and importance of the member’s economy. In 1987 one ECU was equivalent to about one United States dollar.; Source: Library of Congress
European Economic Area (EEA): An economic area encompassing all the members of the European Union (EU--q.v.) and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA--q.v.), with the exception of Switzerland. Created in May 1992, the EEA went into effect on January 1, 1994. The EEA is a single market for the free movement of labor, services, capital (with some restrictions on investments), and most products. EFTA members have agreed to accept EU regulations in many areas, including company law, education, environmental protection, mergers, and social policy.; Source: Library of Congress
European Economic Community (EEC): The ""Common Market"" of primarily West European countries, organized to promote coordinated development of economic activities, expansion, stability, and closer relations among member states. Methods included elimination of customs duties and import regulations among member states, a common tariff and commercial policy towards outside countries, and a common agricultural and transport policy. A significant further reduction of intraorganizational barriers was planned in 1992.; Source: Library of Congress
European Free Trade Association (EFTA): Founded in 1960, EFTA aims at supporting free trade among its members and increasing the liberalization of trade on a global basis, particularly within Western Europe. In 1993 the organization’s member states were Austria, Finland, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland.; Source: Library of Congress
European Monetary System (EMS): Established in 1979 by the European Economic Community (EEC--q.v.), the EMS was created to stabilize currency values because the Bretton Woods system (q.v.) proved not fully satisfactory. All European Union (EU--q.v.) countries are EMS members. The EMS is to be succeeded by the European Monetary Union (EMU--q.v.).
European Monetary Union (EMU): The EMU is a plan for a single European central bank and for a single European currency to replace national banks and currencies for those European states that qualify. The EMU is the planned follow-on of the European Monetary System (EMS--q.v.).
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
Evangelicals: Term used in Chile to refer to all non-Catholic Christian churches with the exception of the Orthodox (Greek, Persian, Serbian, Armenian) and the Mormons. Most Evangelicals are Pentecostal. Some would say ""Protestant"" refers to non-Pentecostal churches of the Reformation, but they themselves (i.e., the Methodists and Presbyterians) also identify with the term ""Evangelical."" The 1992 census used both ""Protestant"" and ""Evangelical"" to ask about religion, but the difference is meaningless. Pastors of all denominations urged people to say they were ""Evangelicals.""
exarchate: An independent church within the Orthodox Church. The exarch, head of the exarchate, is an Eastern rite bishop who ranks below a patriarch and above a metropolitan.; Source: Library of Congress
exchange rate mechanism (ERM): Mechanism established in 1979 to regulate currency exchange rates in the European Monetary System (EMS--q.v.). Member currencies are permitted to fluctuate in value only within a narrow margin (the so-called snake).; Source: Library of Congress
exclusionism: Chosn Dynasty (1392-1910) foreign policy of isolation adopted after the Japanese invasions in the 1590s.
exclusive economic zone (EEZ): A wide belt of sea and seabed adjacent to the national boundaries where the state claims preferential fishing rights and control over the exploitation of mineral and other natural resources. Madagascar claims a 150-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone. Mauritius, Comoros, Seychelles, and Maldives all claim 200 nautical miles. Boundary situations with neighboring states sometimes prevent the extension of the exclusive economic zones to the full limits claimed.