Acquis communautaire or community acquis: is the body of common rights and obligations which bind all the Member States together within the European Union. It is basically the body of the EUs legislation and comprises principles, declarations and resolutions adopted by the EU, measures realting to foreign and security policy, justice and home affairs and so on.

Anschluss: the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938

Balance of power: the distribution of power in which states counterbalance eact other, thus preventing one to become a dominant power..->sort of like a scale.

Berlin blockade: one of the major crises of the Cold War. The Soviet Union blocked Western Allies’ acces to West-Berlin. The Soviets offered to drop the blockade if the Western Allies withdrew the newly introduced Deutschmark from West Berlin. In response, the Western Allies organised the Berlin airlift to carry supplies to the people. 1948-1949

Berlin Wall: was a barrier that divided Berlin from 1961-1989. It served to prevent the emigration from East Germany. It has also become a symbol of the Iron Curtain

Charter of Fundemantal Right of the EU: contains certain political, social and economic rights for the citizens of the EU (these are superior to the national law). It entered into force by the treaty of Lisbon (however not directly, like it was intended in the Constitutional treaty).

Citizens’ initative: it was introduced by the treaty of Lisbon (effective 2009). EU citizens are given the right to initiate legislations, which will be discussed by the European Comission 1 million citizens have to sign it, representing 1/3 of the member states.

Co-decesion: Following the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, the codecision procedure becomes the ordinary legislative procedure of the European Union. It denotes the procedure in which the European Parliament, jontly with the Council of Ministers votes the proposals. If they both agree, the proposal becomes law.

Cohesion Policy: is the policy that receive funding from the European Regional Development Fund (introduced by the Single European Act. It is about reducing disparities between different regions of the EU.

Cold War: It’s the state of the political tension and rivalry without open conflicts, between the US and SU following World War II to 1991.

Colonialism: The policy to acquire political control over another country or territory and exploiting it economically.

Comecom: it was the association of communist countries, founded in 1949 as a response to the Marshall-plan, it was meant to prevent the eastern block from moving towards western political influence.

Common Foreign and Security Policy: is the organized, agreed foreign policy of the EU. The European Council defines the general guidelines and strategies of the EU and the Counci of Europe goes more in details about implementation and so on. Concernign the CFSP, unanimity remains the major rule of adopting decisions.

Copenhagen criteria: are the rules that define whether a country is eligible to join the European Union. It has to meet 3 criteria:1.political: the stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights, respect for and protection of minorities2.economic: existence of a functioning market economy3.acceptance of the Community acquis and adherence to the political, economic and monetary union

CoRePer: Committee of Permanent RepresentativesA technical body whichis responsible for preparing the work of the Council of the European Union. It consists of representatives from the Member States with the rank of Member States’ ambassadors. It is a forum for dialog and also means for political control (through the guidance of experts).

Customs union: is a trade block in which the states have a common external tariff and they also form a free trade area.

Democratic deficit: it is the idea that European Union and its various bodies suffer from a lack of democracy and seem inaccessible to the ordinary citizen because their method of operating is so complex.

Detterence diplomacy: it is a military strategy used especially in the Cold War with regard the use of nuclear weapons. It is about dissuading the enemy from taking an action.

Euroscepticism: it is the opposition to further political integration within the EU. Other views occasionally seen as eurosceptic include perceptions of the EU being too bureaucratic or undemocratic.

Eurozone: is an economic and monetary union of 18 EU member statesthat have adopted € as their currency.

Federalism: is a political concept, in which member states are bound together by a covenant with a governing representative head. In this federation the member states still remain independent in internal affairs. (Federal Europe, Churchill, Zurich)

German reunification: was the process in 1990 in which East- and West-Germany joined to form the reunited nation of Germany.

Great depression: a worldwide phenomenon of economic failures, it lasted from Black Tuesday 28 th of October 1929 until World War II.

High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy: The High Representative is charged with coordinating and carrying out the EU's foreign and security policy – known as the 'Common Foreign and Security Policy' (CFSP) and the 'Common Security and Defence Policy' (CSDP). The Amsterdam Treaty created the post of the High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy. It is the vice president of the European Commission and also the head of the Council of Foreign affairs. The title is appointed by the European Council by a qualified majority, with the approval of the President of the Commission for a mandate of five years.

Intergovernmentalism: it is an approach to integration that treats statesand governments as the primary actors in the integration process. The states cooperate through diplomacy, they take decisions in common in contrast to a supranational body.

Iron Curtain: the term was coined by Churchill and it symbolizes the ideological conflict and the physical boundary between the Comunist bloc and the Western states. The Iron Curtain lasted until the fall of Comunism in the eastern Europe.

Justice and Home Affairs: It was the third pillar of the EU,mainly intergovernmental, created by the treaty of Maastricht (effective 1993) in order to advance cooperation in criminal and justice fields.

Lisbon strategy: was an action and development plan devised in 2000, for the economy of the European Union between 2000 and 2010. The aim was to creative a competitive, knowledge-based economy, capable of sustainable growth with greater social cohesion. Wasn’t really successful.

Monroe doctrine: the idea of isolation from Europe, regarding the foreign policy of the US….

Motion of censure: or motion of no confidence, is a voting procedure, which states that the government is no longer deemed to fit that position. In the case of the EU the Parliament can call on the Commission to resign during its period in office, thus exerting its democratic control.

National souvereignity: Souvereignity is the power of the state to do everything necessary to govern itself, such as collecting taxes, making laws, having an independent foreign policy, forming alliances and so on.

Neighbourhood policy: ENP is a foreign relations instrument of the European Union, it works with its southern and eastern neighbours to achieve the closest possible political association and the greatest possible degree of economic integration. Currently the EU is working with 16 ENP countries.

Neutral state: A neutral country in a particular war is a sovereign state which officially declares itself to be neutral towards the belligerents. A permanently neutral power is a sovereign state which is bound by international treaty to be neutral towards the belligerents of all future wars. An example of a permanently neutral power is Switzerland.

New Deal: A series of economic policies introduced by President Franklin D. Roosevelt after the Great Depression left the U.S. economy in a dismal state. The various programs were rolled out over five years (1933-1938) and it focused on what historians call the "3 Rs": Relief, Recovery, and Reform. That is Relief for the unemployed and poor; Recovery of the economy to normal levels; and Reform of the financial system to prevent a repeat depression

Non-Aligned movement: founded in 1961, an international organization dedicated to representing the interests and aspirations of developing countries which are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc.

Ombudsman:A government official, especially in Scandinavian countries, who investigates citizens' complaint against the government or its functionaries.In the EU the Maastricht treaty introduced it (1993).

Opt-out: In general, the law of the European Union is valid in all of the twenty-eight European Union member states. However, occasionally member states negotiate certain opt-outs from legislation or treaties of the European Union, meaning they do not have to participate in certain policy areas.

Plebiscite: a mock-up referendum in which the result is manipulated

Qualified Majority Voting:  is the number of votes required in the Council for a decision to be adopted. It has become the ordinary legislative procedure since the treaty of (Triple majority voting->traty of Nice, double majority voting->treaty of Lisbon)

Ratification: Treaties and conventions require ratification, an executive act of final approval. In most democracies, the legislature authorizes the government to ratify treaties.

Risorgimento: means resurgence, a 19th-century movement for Italian unification that culminated in the establishment of the Kingdom of Italy. Risorgimento was an ideological and literary movement that helped to arouse the national consciousness of the Italian people, and it led to a series of political events that freed the Italian states from foreign domination and united them politically.

Self-determination: The right of nations to self-determinate is a cardinal principle in modern international law. It is the right of a nation or people to determine its own form of government without influence from outside

Separation of powers: division of the legislative, executive, and judicial functions of government among separate and independent bodies thus limiting arbitrary excesses by the government. The first modern formulation of the doctrine was that of the French writer Montesquieu.

Social contract: in political philosophy is an actual or hypothetical compact, or agreement, between the ruled and their rulers, defining the rights and duties of each. According to the theory in primeval times humans were born into a state of nature and later on formed a society by means of a contract among themselves.

Social funds: is the financial instruments of European Union (EU) regional policy, which is intended to narrow the development disparities among regions and Member States. More than 1/3 of the total EU budget. The majority of that spending is allocated to three funds: the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European Social Fund (ESF) and the Cohesion fund.

Subsidiarity: the principle of subsidiarity ensures that decisions are taken as closely as possible to the citizen. It is closely bound up with the principle of proportionality, which requires that any action by the Union should not go beyond what is necessary to achieve the objectives of the Treaties.

Supranationalism: the notion of delegation power to a supranational body in multi-national political system. Evidently, this supranational entity is beyond the authority of one national government.

Truman doctrine: refers to the policy of the US, during the Cold War. United States President Harry S. Truman pledged to contain communism and impelled the US to support any nation with both military and economic aid if its stability was threatened by communism or the Soviet Union ( the plea was made amid the crisis of civil war 1946-49).

Warsaw pact: was a collective defense treaty among eight communist states of Central and Eastern Europe in existence during the Cold War. It was formed in 1995, in response to NATO.

Zollverein: or German Customs Union refers to the maintenance of a uniform tariff on import from other contries, and of free trading among themselves. The foundation of the Zollverein in 1834 was the first instance in history in which independent states had formed a full economic union without the simultaneous creation of a political federation or union.