Glossary of Scenario Terms

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sanctions: coercive economic or military measures usually adopted by several nations in concert to force a nation which violates international law to change its ways. 

 

schistosomiasis: disease caused by infection with parasites, characterized by chronic symptoms of the digestive and urinary systems, and sometimes by fever. 

 

secession: withdrawing from a federation or association. An example is when a region within a country declares that it is no longer part of the country. 

 

segregation: requiring the separation of a specific group from the rest of society. 

 

separatists: a group of people who advocate the political separation of regions that are currently politically joined. In India, for example, separatists want the region of Kashmir to break off from India and join Pakistan instead. 

 

services: an economic term used to describe the performance of any duties or work for another. People who work as doctors, lawyers, bankers, or teachers provide services for the clients they interact with professionally. Services are contrasted with goods, which are manufactured products. Services, like goods, have economic value and can be sold in the market place. 

 

simulation: a representation of reality. Unlike a “game” simulations do not have winners or losers. Rather, the objective is to approximate reality in order to better understand it. 

 

slash-and-burn agriculture: practices that involve cutting down and burning all existing foliage or ground cover in an area to make farm land. The farmed plot is often abandoned within a few years because the topsoil in such areas is often very thin and the soil erodes quickly. 

 

socioeconomic status: a person’s position in a society or community based on that person’s class and wealth. 

 

soil degradation: deterioration of soil caused by repeated tilling and erosion. The short-term effects are minor, but cumulative effects over the long term can be devastating to the soil. 

 

sovereignty: the concept that a country has complete autonomy to determine its own policies. There is no higher authority that dictates the decisions of a nation state. 

 

Stability and Growth Pact: an agreement accepted by all European Union members adopting the euro to ensure the credibility of the currency. The Stability and Growth Pact stipulates that all European Union members adopting the euro must keep their public deficits under three percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2004. Germany has exceeded this limit for two years. France is close to exceeding it. 

 

stocks and bonds: stock is ownership in a company, represented by units of ownership called shares. A stockholder has a claim to the earnings and assets of a company. From an investor’s perspective, buying a company’s stocks is a way to own part of the company without having to build or manage the company yourself. From the company’s perspective, to have people buy its stocks is an important way of raising capital for investment. A bond is a certificate of private indebtedness. When people purchase a government bond, they have purchased the right to receive payment for the value of the bond, usually with interest added. Issuing bonds is one way that governments can raise money for their budget spending programs. 

 

Strategic Arms Limitations Talks I & II (SALT I), (SALT II): Agreements between the US and the former Soviet Union that limited nuclear weapons.  

 

subsidy: a payment from a government to a producer which supplements the market price of a commodity. Subsidies can keep consumer prices low while maintaining a higher income for domestic producers. However, economists view subsidies as inefficient. 

 

superpower: a country that has a strong military and a stable economy. Soon after the end of World War II, the United States and Soviet Union were the two superpowers, as they were the only countries with nuclear weapons. Even after other countries acquired those weapons, the United States and Soviet Union remained superpowers because of the large size of their nuclear arsenals, and because each was the center of a major alliance system. With the breakup of the Soviet Union, the United States became a hyperpower.