Glossary — N

Glossary terms beginning with N.

naira (N): Nigeria’s basic currency unit. It is subdivided into 100 kobo (k). The naira was introduced on January 1, 1973, replacing the Nigerian pound (q.v.) at the rate of two naira for one pound. At that time N1 equaled US$1.52. The naira subsequently lost value against the dollar; average exchange rate in 1990: N8.04 per US$1.00.
Nanyang: Chinese term meaning southern ocean and used to refer to Southeast Asia.
National Assembly: The highest organ of government in Vietnam, according to the 1980 Constitution. The National Assembly is empowered with both constitutional and legislative authority. It can, theoretically at least, elect and remove members of upper-echelon government bodies, such as the Council of State and Council of Ministers; it may also pass laws, raise taxes, approve the state budget, and amend the constitution.
National dish: A national dish is the official food of the country.
national income: The total value of a nation’s material production, depreciation, achieved in one year.
National People's Congress: Highest organ of the state, elected in accordance with the principles of democratic centralism (q.v.). As of 1987, six congresses had been held, the first (1954), second (1959), third (1965), fourth (1975), fifth (1978), and sixth (1982), the seventh was scheduled for 1988; annual sessions were held most years except during the Cultural Revolution (q.v.). The Standing Committee is the permanent organ of the National People’s Congress and functions between annual sessions.
National Security Council (NSC--Mili Güvenlik Kurulu): Under both the 1961 and the 1982 constitutions, the NSC comprised military and civilian personnel and was charged with reviewing national security policy. The generals who took control of Turkey’s government in 1980 also constituted themselves as a National Security Council (Milli Güvenlik Konseyi); this body was abolished following the reestablishment of civilian government after the 1983 election. The former members of the 1980-83 NSC, except for President Evren, subsequently formed the Presidential Council, whose function was to advise the president. The Presidential Council was dissolved in 1989.
national solipsism: Term indicating North Korea’s isolationism and its sense that it is the center of the world’s attentions.
Nativity: Jesus’ Birth; also, a display or scene to commemorate his birth; Source: Celebrate Christmas by Joanne Mattern
Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact: Agreement signed by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union (q.v.) on August 23, 1939, immediately preceding the German invasion of Poland, which began World War II. A secret protocol divided Poland between the two powers and gave Bessarabia (q.v.), Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and the eastern part of Poland to the Soviet Union. Also known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.; Source: Library of Congress
naziriyah: Formerly, among nomadic and seminomadic Arab groups, an administrative and local court under a nazir, comprising several umudiyat (q.v.). A naziriyah included either an entire tribe or a section of a large tribe.
NCWD.: National Council on Women and Development.
near abroad (blizhneye zarubezh'ye): Collective Russian term for the other fourteen newly independent states of the former Soviet Union. Frequently used in policy discussions about Russia’s continued domination of certain of those states, especially in Central Asia and the Caucasus.
negdel: Mongol term for a herding collective. Comprises agricultural stations and herding camps in the somon (q.v.) and is subordinate to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry. Contrast with state farm, which produces crops.
neighborhood: Term in general use in China for the urban administrative unit usually found immediately below the district level, although an intermediate, subdistrict level exists in some cities. Also called streets (administrative terminology varies from city to city). Neighborhoods encompass 2,000 to 10,000 families. Within neighborhoods, families are grouped into smaller residential units of 100 to 600 families and supervised by a residents’ committee; these are subdivided into residents’ small groups of fifteen to forty families.
Neo Lao Issara: Free Laos Front--organization established by former Lao Issara (Free Laos) (q.v.) to continue anti-French resistance movement with the Viet Minh (q.v.); succeeded by Neo Lao Hak Xat (Lao Patriotic Front--LPF) (q.v.) in 1956.
net domestic product/net national product (NDP/NNP): Gross national product (q.v.) or gross domestic product (q.v.) less capital consumption allowance and indirect taxes or subsidies.
net material product (NMP): In countries having centrally planned economies, the official measure of the value of goods and services produced within the country. Roughly equivalent to the Western gross national product (q.v.), NMP was based on constant prices and did not account for depreciation.
new córdoba (C$n): Nicaraguan monetary unit from 1988 to 1991. Replaced the former currency, the córdoba (q.v.), in an attempt to control inflation; the value of the new córdoba dropped to US$1 = C$n3.2 million in less than three years. Replaced by the gold córdoba (q.v.) in 1990 at a rate of 5 million new córdobas to 1 gold córdoba.
New Culture Movement: Refers to the period between 1917 and 1923, which was marked by student and intellectual ferment and protests against the warlord government. Culminated in the May Fourth Movement of 1919.
New Economic and Financial Mechanism: Economic reforms introduced in March 1978, the first of numerous efforts to improve economic management and planning by increasing the decision-making powers of individual enterprises and centrale (q.v.). The reforms were implemented only half-heartedly.
New Economic Policy (NEP; Novaya ekonomicheskaya politika in Russian): Instituted in 1921, it let peasants sell produce on an open market and permitted small enterprises (q.v.) to be privately owned and operated. The NEP declined with forced collectivization (q.v.) of farms and was officially ended by Stalin in December 1929.; Source: Library of Congress
new economic zones: Population resettlement scheme undertaken in southern Vietnam after 1975 to increase food production and alleviate population pressure in congested urban areas, especially Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). The sites selected for resettlement previously had been undeveloped or had been abandoned in the turbulence of war.
new Israeli shekel (NIS): In September 1985, the new Israeli shekel (NIS) went into circulation, replacing the Israeli shekel that had existed since 1980. (Before 1980 the Israeli currency was called the Israeli pound or lira.) The NIS is equivalent to 1,000 old Israeli shekels and is divided into 100 agorot. The requirement for the NIS stemmed from the very rapid inflation rate of the preceding years, which also resulted in dramatic devaluation of the old shekel against foreign currencies; for example, from 1980 to 1985 the old shekel lost value against the United States dollar by 25,000 percent. As of August 1986, the NIS was no longer pegged to the United States dollar but rather to a trade-weighted basket of foreign currencies: 60 percent United States dollar, 20 percent West German deutschmark, 10 percent British pound, 5 percent French franc, and 5 percent Japanese yen. The currency notes in circulation are 5, 10, 50, and 100 NIS.; Source: Library of Congress
new peso (NMex$): Mexican monetary unit divided into 100 centavos. The new peso replaced the peso (q.v.) on January 1, 1993, at the rate of 1 new peso = 1,000 pesos. At that time, US$1 = NMex$3.1. In April 1997, US$1 = NMex$7.9.
newly industrializing economics (NIEs): A category of cconomies of nations or other political entities that experienced rapid industrial expansion and concomitant growth in their per capita GNP in the 1981s.
ngultrum: Bhutan’s unit of currency adopted in 1974. In November 1990, the official exchange rate was US$1 equals ngultrum (Nu) 17.95 and at par with the Indian rupee (Nu1 = Rs1). There are 100 chetrum (Ch) in one ngultrum. There are 5, 10, 25, and 50 chetrum cupro- nickel coins and a 1 ngultrum bronze coin, and 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 ngultrum notes. Large ngultrum amounts are counted using the Sanskrit terms lakh (100,000) and crore (10 million); thus Nu1 lakh = Nu 100,000 and Nu 1 crore = Nu10 million). The term is derived from the Dzongkha ngul, meaning silver, and trum, probably a Hindi word, meaning money. Before 1957 Indian and Bhutanese coins circulated in nondecimal paisa and rupee denominations (1 rupee = 64 paisa); after the decimal system was adopted in 1957, paisa, rupee, and sertum circulated (1 sertum = 100 rupees; 1 rupee = 100 paisa).; Source: Library of Congress
nibbana: More commonly known in Western literature as nirvana. The goal of the path, the extinction of desire, hate, and the illusion of selfhood. A state of mystical union with the absolute one world soul (brahma), not an individual soul that attains it (as in Hinduism). For the Hindu, a state of liberation or illumination. For the Buddhist, there are no immortal particular souls, only the world soul, in which all beings, both animate and inanimate, are participants. The goal of spiritual practice in all branches of Buddhism. Enlightenment is the realization of the identity of the self with the absolute. The release from the cycle of rebirths and the annihilation of the individual being that occurs on achievement of perfect spiritual understanding.; Source: Library of Congress
Nigerian pound (N£): Basic currency unit until January 1, 1973, when it was replaced by the naira (q.v.). N£1 was valued at US$2.80 until December 1971; thereafter N£1 equaled US$3.04.
Nihon (or Nippon): Japanese term for Japan, based on the two Chinese ideographs (riben in pinyin romanization), meaning source of the sun. The official pronunciation, as designated by the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science, is Nippon (or in full, Nippon Koku--Nippon country). The common pronunciation in everyday usage, however, is Nihon (Nihon Koku). The use of the term ""Nihon"" antedates Prince Shotoku’s seventh-century reference to himself as the Son of Heaven of the Land of the Rising Sun and possibly dates from the establishment of the Nihon-fu (Japan Office) in the Yamato (q.v.) colony in southern Korea that served as a liaison office of the Yamato court to the Chinese court, probably as early as the sixth century. Marco Polo (or his scribe) referred to present-day Japan as Cipingu (Ribenguo in pinyin romanization), which has variously appeared as Cipangu, Jipangu, and Jipan, from which the current spelling of Japan undoubtedly descends.
Nizam-i-Mustafa: Rule of the Prophet, i.e., rule by sharia (q.v.) law according to Zia ul-Haq’s use of the term.
nomenklatura: The communist party’s system of appointing key personnel in the government and other important organizations, based on lists of critical positions and people in political favor. Also refers to the individuals included on these lists.
Nonaligned Movement: Established in September 1961 with the aim of promoting the concept of political and military nonalignment (q.v.) apart from the traditional East and West blocs. India was among the original members. The Nonaligned Movement in 1995 included 107 members plus the Palestine Liberation Organization, twenty-one observer nations and organizations, and twenty-one ""guest"" nations.
nonalignment: The ideological basis of Indian foreign policy, first articulated by Jawaharlal Nehru: refusal to align India with any bloc or alliance, peaceful settlement of international disputes, the Panch Shila (q.v.), anticolonialism, antiracism, and international cooperation to promote economic development.
nonparticipatory methodology: Unlike the ""start from scratch"" methodology used in 1987-88 (involving twenty-four subcommittees, eight committees, including a drafting committee, two rounds of floor votes, and extensive popular hearings in the committee stages), the nonparticipatory methodology in the constitutional revision made in 1993-94 was very streamlined, with no hearings or committees. It involved only the reporter’s reports article by article, including or excluding the proposed changes, and then a floor vote.; Source: Library of Congress
Nordic Council: Founded in 1952, the Nordic Council promotes political, economic, cultural, and environmental cooperation in the Nordic region. Members in 1995 were Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden.
Nordpolitik, or pukbang chngch'aek: The name given to the foreign policy pursued by South Korea since 1984 aimed at improving its diplomatic and economic ties with the former communist nations of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA): A free trade agreement comprising Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Tripartite negotiations to form NAFTA began among these countries in June 1991 and were concluded in August 1992. The United States Congress finally ratified NAFTA in November 1993, and the agreement went into effect on January 1, 1994. NAFTA was expected to create a free trade area with a combined population of 356 million and a GDP (q.v.) of more than US$6 trillion. Chile was expected to be incorporated into NAFTA as of January 1, 1995.
Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty: (NPT; full title Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons) Went into effect in 1970 to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and promote the peaceful uses of nuclear energy over a period of twenty-five years. In May 1995, it was extended indefinitely. Only thirteen countries have not joined the NPT.
NUGS.: National Union of Ghana Students.