Glossary of Scenario Terms

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J-L | M | N | O | P | Q-R | S | T | U-Z

Browse or search for a term alphabetically by clicking the appropriate letter above, or enter the term below to search all the pages in the glossary.

 

______________E_______________

EC: see European Community  

 

economies of scale: the advantages of making many of the same things at one time. For example, if an automobile company mass-produces cars instead of producing them one at a time, each additional car can be produced at lower cost. 

 

eco-system: all plant and animal life in one environment. The term stresses how all creatures affect each other. 

 

El Niño: a periodic warming trend that occurs in ocean waters in the Western Pacific and that can dramatically altar traditional weather patterns on a worldwide basis. 

 

embargo: an agreement, often involving many countries, to prohibit trade and other economic activity with a country that is violating international law. The economic embargo of South Africa by most nations in the world contributed to the dismantling of apartheid. 

 

emerging market country: a country that is making an effort to change or improve its economy to try to join the world’s wealthy nations. Emerging market countries include countries that have made financial and structural economic reforms, such as Brazil and Mexico. They also include the countries of Eastern and Central Europe that are making the transition from communism to a free market economy. 

 

emissions: pollutants released into the atmosphere as a result of industrial processes. 

 

endowments: the property, people, and funds that a country has. Endowments differ from country to country, and the amount of endowments a country has usually indicates how much it can produce on its own. 

 

epidemic: a state of a disease when it spreads widely and rapidly through a population. 

 

ethnic cleansing: a process in which the advancing army of one ethnic group forcefully expels civilians of other ethnic groups from towns and villages it conquers in order to create “ethnically pure” enclaves for members of their own ethnic group. 

 

ethnic group: a group of people of the same race or nationality who share a common and distinctive culture. 

 

EU: see European Union 

 

euro: the name of the common currency that was adopted in 1999 as part of the unification of European nations. 

 

euro zone: the area within the European Union that has adopted the euro as a common currency. 

 

European Community (EC): Established in April 1965, to become effective in July 1967. The goal of the EC was to move toward the establishment of a completely integrated common market by 1992, and, eventually, toward a federation of Europe. Members include Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and the UK, with Czechoslovakia granted associate membership. 

 

European unification: the step-by-step integration of many sovereign European nations into a new economic and political community.  

 

European Union (EU): drafted in 1984, and focused heavily on goals pertaining to political unification for Europe. The EU called for a federal-type Western European government, with a two-house legislature. 

 

European Economic Community (EEC): formed before the European Community, it concentrated exclusively on economic matters. It was superseded by the EC. 

 

external debt: money owed to a foreign country or bank. 

 

extradition: When one country hands over a person suspected of committing a crime to the country where the crime was committed.