Glossary of Scenario Terms

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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.

 

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IMF: see International Monetary Fund  

 

imperial: the British colonial system that included regions such as India, Hong Kong, and much of the Middle East and Africa.

 

import quota: a limit on the quantity of a good that may be imported over a certain period of time. A government that wants to protect local producers from foreign competitors will sometimes set quotas on imports to keep the foreign goods from domestic consumers. 

 

independence: the condition of being completely self-governing; not requiring or relying on any other country. 

 

indigenous: people whose earliest ancestors can all be traced to a certain place. 

 

industrialization: the introduction on a massive scale of manufacturing and technically productive enterprises into an area. 

 

infiltration: If a country wants to attack its neighbor without a formal invasion, it will secretly send troops across the border. North Vietnam used this strategy to undermine South Vietnam. 

 

inflation: a rate of increase in the general price level of all goods and services. (This should not be confused with increases in the prices of specific goods relative to the prices of other goods.) 

 

infrastructure: services and facilities that support dayto- day economic activity in a country. Infrastructure includes roads, electricity, telephone service, and public transportation. Infrastructure has traditionally been provided and maintained by the government. However, some countries are currently experimenting with privatization of some elements of infrastructure. Infrastructure is essential to economic development. 

 

institutions: 1) significant practices, relationships or organizations in a society; also 2) established organizations, corporations or systems, especially of a public character (examples include educational organizations, governmental structures and economic systems) 

 

intellectual property rights: aim to provide certain rights for intangible products of the mind. Intellectual property rights deal with trademarks, copyrights, patents, industrial design, and trade secrets. They are especially important to companies that are heavily engaged in research and do not want their ideas copied by others without their permission. 

 

Inter-American Development Bank: a regional multilateral development institution. It was established in December of 1959 to help accelerate economic and social development in Latin America and the Caribbean. 

 

International Labor Organization (ILO): The International Labor Organization is a UN specialized agency which seeks the promotion of social justice and internationally recognized human and labor rights. It was founded in 1919 and is the only surviving major creation of the Treaty of Versailles, which brought the League of Nations into being, and it became the first specialized agency of the UN in 1946. The ILO formulates international labor standards in the form of Conventions and Recommendations setting minimum standards of basic labor rights: freedom of association, the right to organize, collective bargaining, abolition of forced labor, equality of opportunity and treatment, and other standards regulating conditions across the entire spectrum of work related issues. 

 

International Monetary Fund (IMF): established in 1944 as a specialized agency concerned with world monetary stability and economic development. Countries must meet certain fiscal and monetary standards in order to get support from the IMF. Go to the IMF home page at www.imf.org/

 

investment: the purchase of productive assets such as factories and equipment. Investments are made with an expectation of future returns on the productive assets. Basically, investment powers economic growth. 

 

Islamic Fundamentalism: a movement or attitude that stresses strict and literal obedience to Islamic religious beliefs and principles. 

 

Islamic legal code (sha’ria): Islamic religious laws that are based upon the Koran and the sayings of Muhammad. Sha’ria was developed over centuries by Islamic scholars, and it also draws upon several different legal traditions. Sha’ria is intended to be applicable across the entirety of the Islamic world. It differs from tribal law, which is law based upon the traditions of one particular ethnic group. 

 

Islamicization: large-scale conversion to the religion of Islam.