Glossary — I

Glossary terms beginning with I.

Ibadi: From Abu Allah ibn Ibad (ca. 660-ca. 715), a moderate Kharijite who spent considerable time in Basra, Iraq. The Kharijites were members of the earliest sect in Islam that left the followers of Ali or Shia (q.v.) because of Shia willingness to allow human arbitration of Ali’s dispute with the caliph, Uthman, rather than divine judgment.; Source: Library of Congress
ibn: Literally, ""son of""; used before or as part of proper name to indicate patrilineal descent. Also seen as bin or ben.
ikhwan: Professed members of a religious order resident in a zawiya (q.v.). Usually translated as ""brothers.""
ilustrados: Literally, enlightened ones, the Philippine elite during the Spanish colonial period.
imam: In general use, means the leader of congregational prayers, implying no ordination or special spiritual powers beyond sufficient education to carry out this function. The word is also used figuratively by many Sunni Muslims to mean the leader of the Islamic community. Among Shia Muslims, it indicates the particular descendant of the House of Ali who is believed to have been God’s designated repository of the spiritual authority inherent in that line. The identity of this individual and the means of ascertaining his identity have been the major issues causing divisions among the Shias (q.v.).; Source: Library of Congress
IMF (International Monetary Fund): Established along with the World Bank (q.v.) in 1945, the IMF is a specialized agency affiliated with the United Nations that takes responsibility for stabilizing international exchange rates and payments. The main business of the IMF is the provision of loans to its members when they experience balance of payments difficulties. These loans often carry conditions that require substantial internal economic adjustments by the recipients.
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.
import-substitution industrialization: An economic development strategy and a form of protectionism that emphasizes the growth of domestic industries by restricting the importation of specific manufactured goods, often by using tariff (q.v.) and nontariff measures, such as import quotas. Theoretically, capital would thus be generated through savings of foreign-exchange earnings. Proponents favor the export of industrial goods over primary products and foreign-exchange considerations. In the post-World War II period, import-substitution industrialization was most prevalent in Latin America. Its chief ideological proponents were the Argentine economist Raúl Prebisch and the Economic Commission for Latin America (q.v.). Main weaknesses in Latin America: the domestic markets in the region were generally too small; goods manufactured domestically were too costly and noncompetitive in the world market; most states in the region had an insufficient variety of resources to build a domestic industry; and most were also too dependent on foreign technology.; Source: Library of Congress
indÃgena(s): An African or mestiço (q.v.) without assimilado (q.v.) status. In Portuguese terms, it means unassimilated or uncivilized. Before the abolition of the status (and the distinction between it and that of assimilado) in 1961, roughly 99 percent of all Africans were indígenas.; Source: Library of Congress
indexation: Automatic adjustment of remuneration in accordance with changes in a specific price index.; Source: Library of Congress
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.
Indian Tamils: Tamils whose forebears were brought from India in the late nineteenth century to work the tea and rubber plantations. The Indian Tamils were disenfranchised in Sri Lanka by legislation passed in 1948. See also Tamils.
indigènat: Refers to denizenship and rights of natives. In colonial French West Africa, the colonial system of discipline characterized by arbitrary and summary judgments accorded Africans living in rural areas. The indigènat was abolished in 1945.
Indochina Federation: A political concept, never fully realized, joining the three Indochinese states into a confederation, first proposed at the Indochinese Communist Party Central Committee meeting in October 1930. The government of France resurrected the term in 1946 to describe a limited internal self-government granted to the states of Vietnam (including Cochinchina), Laos, and Cambodia. In the 1980s, the term was used disparagingly by some observers and analysts to categorize Vietnam’s military presence in, and influence over, Laos and Cambodia.
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.
infitah: Literally open door; refers to Anwar as Sadat’s policy after the October 1973 War of relaxing government controls on the economy so as to encourage the private sector and stimulate the inflow of foreign funds.
informal economy: Unofficial or underground sector of economic activity beyond government regulation and taxation, to include street vendors, some domestic servants, and unskilled workers in urban areas.; Source: Library of Congress
informal sector: Unofficial sector of underground economic activity. In Bolivia, consisted principally of coca cultivation, cocaine trafficking, and contraband, employing two-thirds of the work force.; Source: Library of Congress
Inner Mongolia: The southern part of traditional Mongolia; during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), comprised the provinces of Suiyuan, Qahar, and Rehol; the present-day Nei Monggol Autonomous Region of China (Outer Mongolia, q.v.).
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
Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance of 1947: see Rio Treaty.
Inter-Governmental Group on Indonesia (IGGI): An international group of lenders established in 1967 by the Netherlands to coordinate multilateral aid to Indonesia. The other members included the Asian Development Bank, International Monetary Fund (q.v.), United Nations Development Programme, World Bank (q.v.), Australia, Belgium, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the United States. In March 1992, Indonesia announced that it was rejecting further IGGI aid as long as the Netherlands chaired the organization. IGGI was replaced by the Consultative Group on Indonesia (q.v.).
intermediate goods: Goods purchased for resale or for use in producing final goods for consumers, or inventories consisting of raw materials, semifinished goods, and finished goods not yet sold to the final consumer. The gross national product (q.v.) does not include sales of intermediate goods or services.; Source: Library of Congress
Intermediate-Range Nuclear Force Treaty (INF Treaty): A bilateral treaty signed in Washington in December 1987, eliminating United States and Soviet land-based missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers. Most of the Soviet missiles were deployed inside the Soviet Union; all of the United States missiles were in Belgium, Italy, the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany), and Britain.
internal passport (propiska): Government-issued document presented to officials on demand, identifying citizens and their authorized residence. Used in both the Russian Empire (q.v.) and the Soviet Union to restrict the movement of people. More limited use continued in some parts of Russia in the 1990s.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA): Specialized agency of the United Nations established in 1957 to assist member nations with the development and application of atomic energy for peaceful uses and to foster and monitor a universal standard of nuclear safeguards. Through on-site inspections and monitoring, the IAEA ensures that fissile and related nuclear material, equipment, information, and services are not used to produce nuclear weapons as provided for in bilateral nuclear safeguard agreements between the IAEA and individual member nations of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), formally the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD): Formal name for the World Bank Group (q.v.) which was conceived at the Bretton Woods Conference on July 22, 1944, and began operations in June 1946. Its primary purpose is to provide technical assistance and loans at market-related rates of interest to developing countries at more advanced stages of development.; Source: Library of Congress
International Development Association (IDA): See World Bank.
International Finance Corporation (IFC): See World Bank.
International Monetary Fund (IMF): Established on December 27, 1945, the IMF began operating on March 1, 1947. The IMF is a specialized agency affiliated with the United Nations that takes responsibility for stabilizing international exchange rates and payments. The IMF’s main business is the provision of loans to its members when they experience balance of payments difficulties. These loans often carry conditions that require substantial internal economic adjustments by the recipients. The IMF’s capital resources comprise Special Drawing Rights and currencies that the members pay under quotas calculated for them when they join. These resources are supplemented by borrowing. In 1993 the IMF had 167 members.
international reserves: Some reserves, in the form of gold, currencies of other countries, and Special Drawing Rights, that every country holds to serve as ""international money"" when a nation faces balance of payments (q.v.) difficulties.; Source: Library of Congress
International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (Intelsat): Created in 1964 under a multilateral agreement, Intelsat is a nonprofit cooperative of 134 countries that jointly own and operate a global communications satellite system.; Source: Library of Congress
Iranian: Linguistically, a subgroup of the Indo-Iranian branch of Indo-European languages, which in modern times includes Persian (q.v.)--the most widely used--Pushtu, Kurdish (q.v.) dialects, and Ossetic. In the Middle Iranian stage of the group’s development (third century B.C. to tenth century A.D.), the chief languages were Parthian, Pahlavi (middle Persian), and Soghdian.
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
iron rice bowl: A Chinese idiom referring to the system of guaranteed lifetime employment in state enterprises, in which the tenure and level of wages are not related to job performance.
Islamic clergy: The religious leaders of Shia (q.v.) Islam, which group includes numerous mullahs (q.v.), who in general possess only rudimentary religious education; mujtahids, a relatively small body of religious scholars, the majority of whom are accorded the title of hojjatoleslam; and a small number of the most learned and pious of the mujtahids, who are given the title of ayatollah.
Ismaili Shia Islam: A subsect of Shia Islam that takes its name from Imam Muhammad ibn Ismail, the Seventh Imam. Ismaili Shia doctrine closely resembled Twelver Shia Islam with regard to observance of the sharia but also included a system of philosophy and science coordinated with religion that proved the divine origin of the Imamate and the rights of the Fatimids to it. Ubaid Allah, al Mahdi, the founder of the Fatimid Dynasty, came to North Africa in the early tenth century and actively promoted the Ismaili faith. See also Shia.
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.
Israeli pound: see new Israeli shekel.; Source: Library of Congress