IB Global Politics Framing Global Politics Key Definitions

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.

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.

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.

A diaspora refers to a population that has dispersed from its ancestral homeland and lives outside it, whether through voluntary migration or forced displacement.

Formal forums are structured and institutionalized, often with legal or binding authority. They include international organizations, treaties, and summits.

Framing is the way media presents information to emphasize certain aspects of a story while downplaying others, shaping how audiences interpret events and issues.

Refers to countries with lower levels of economic and industrial development, typically found south of more developed nations.

A socially constructed sense of self and group belonging, shaped by shared history, culture, language, religion, ethnicity, or ideology, that informs how individuals and collectives act in political life.

Informal forums are flexible and adaptive, often lacking legal or binding authority. They facilitate dialogue, consensus-building, and innovation.

Insider groups are interest or pressure groups that enjoy regular, institutionalized access to government decision-makers, being consulted on policy development and regarded as legitimate stakeholders within the established political process.

Interest groups are organizations that seek to influence public policy to benefit their members or advance a specific cause.

Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs) are formal institutions made up of two or more states that work together on common issues such as peace, security, trade, or the environment. They are established through treaties and operate under international law, meaning member states are legally bound by the organization’s rules.

Intersectionality is a framework, developed by Kimberle Crenshaw in 1989, that analyses how overlapping social identities such as race, gender, and class interact to produce distinct and compounded forms of discrimination or disadvantage.

Legitimacy refers to the perceived justification or acceptability of an action, decision, or institution.

Lobbying is the direct attempt to influence legislators, government officials, or regulators on specific policy issues, typically through face-to-face meetings, policy briefs, and the provision of technical expertise.

Multinational Companies (MNCs) operate in multiple countries but maintain a strong centralized headquarters in their home country.

A nation state is a political unit in which a culturally or ethnically defined nation and a sovereign state broadly coincide, so the same group of people forms both the cultural community and the governing authority.

NGOs are part of civil society but often more structured, they operate independently from governments. Work to solve global/local issues (poverty, health, education, human rights, environment).

Nonviolent resistance is the use of tactics such as protests, strikes, boycotts, and civil disobedience to challenge authority without the use of physical force against people.

Civil society = groups/organizations not linked to government. Often have a shared purpose and may challenge societal problems, policies, or attitudes.

Political forums are platforms where actors engage in dialogue, negotiation, and decision-making. They can be formal or informal, each serving distinct but complementary roles in global politics.

A political issue involves how power is distributed and exercised in the real world. It affects people's lives, communities, and the broader society. Political issues aren't limited to politicians or governments, they appear in everyday life (e.g. healthcare, education, taxes, laws, social media).

Political leaders are people who lead and make key decisions on behalf of a state or community. They may be in charge at different levels such as national, regional, or local. Some are elected by the people, while others are appointed by political parties or inherit power.

Political parties are groups of people who share ideas about how a country should be governed. Their main goal is to gain and hold political power.