IB Global Politics

Absolute poverty refers to a condition where people do not have enough resources to secure the basic essentials for survival, including food, safe water, shelter, and healthcare. It is measured against a fixed threshold such as the World Bank’s $3.00 per day standard.

Agenda-setting is the process by which media outlets influence what issues the public and policymakers consider important by choosing which topics to cover prominently and which to ignore.

Asylum is the protection granted by a state to a person who has left their country of origin and meets the definition of a refugee, allowing them to remain in the host state and enjoy legal rights there.

Conflict between parties with significantly unequal military, economic, or political power. Often involves state versus non-state actors, with the weaker party using guerrilla tactics, terrorism, or other unconventional methods to offset the stronger party's conventional military advantage.

Bias refers to a systematic preference or inclination that shapes how theories are constructed and applied.

A border is a recognised boundary separating the territorial jurisdiction of one state from another, defining where one state's sovereignty ends and another's begins.

Borderlands are the social, economic, and cultural zones on either side of a formal border where the effects of the boundary are most acutely felt, often characterised by mixed identities, cross-border economic activity, and contested political authority.

The Capability Approach is a framework developed by Amartya Sen that evaluates equality and development in terms of individuals' real freedoms to achieve the life outcomes they have reason to value, rather than solely by income or resources.

Catalysts are factors or events that accelerate or trigger change, often speeding up existing processes or tensions without necessarily being the root cause. In politics, catalysts can intensify conflicts, reforms, or social movements.

A form of nationalism in which membership in the nation is based on shared citizenship, laws, and political values rather than ethnicity or religion, open in principle to anyone who accepts the civic compact.

Civil disobedience is the deliberate, public, and usually non-violent breaking of a law to protest an injustice. Participants typically accept the legal consequences in order to draw attention to the cause and pressure authorities to change.

Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) are non-state actors that operate independently of governments and businesses.

Climate justice is the framing of climate change as a rights and equity issue, not merely an environmental one: the communities least responsible for historical greenhouse gas emissions are disproportionately exposed to its worst impacts, raising questions of intergenerational and international fairness.

Climate security refers to the ways in which climate change threatens individual and state security by intensifying resource scarcity, displacement, extreme weather events, and political instability, functioning as a threat multiplier across economic, food, health, environmental, and personal security dimensions.

Collective rights are the rights held by groups of people, often tied to their shared identity, culture, or history, such as Indigenous peoples’ rights to land or the right of minority groups to preserve their language and traditions.

Common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR) is the principle, enshrined in the UNFCCC (1992), that all states share responsibility for addressing climate change, but that industrialised states bear a greater burden because of their historically higher cumulative emissions.

CBDR is contested: Global North states argue it exempts major emerging emitters like China and India, while Global South states invoke it to demand financing and technology transfers before accepting binding emission cuts.

Conflict is a central theme in global politics, encompassing a wide range of disputes and tensions that arise between individuals, groups, and states. It is essential to understand the different types of conflict to analyze their causes, dynamics, and potential resolutions.

Conflict is a disagreement or clash between individuals, groups, or states over incompatible goals, values, or resources. It can occur at various levels, from personal disputes to international wars.

Conflict is a fundamental aspect of global politics, arising when two or more parties perceive their goals, values, or interests as incompatible. It can occur at various levels, from interpersonal disputes to international wars.

Conflict dynamics refer to the patterns and processes that shape how conflicts emerge, escalate, and resolve. These dynamics are influenced by a complex interplay of factors at local, national, and global levels.

Conflict prevention involves proactive measures to address the root causes of conflict before they escalate into violence.

Conflict resolution is the process of addressing the underlying causes of conflict and finding mutually acceptable solutions. Common methods include negotiation, mediation, arbitration, and peacekeeping.

Conflict transformation is a broader approach that seeks to change the relationships, structures, and dynamics that sustain conflict. Its focus is on long-term peacebuilding, reconciliation, and social justice.

The emotional, cultural, and political associations that a word carries beyond its literal meaning. In global politics, connotations are strategically deployed by actors to frame issues, influence public opinion, and shape policy responses.