Absolute gains: all states seek to gain more power and influence in the system to secure their national interests. This is absolute gain. Offensive neo-realists are also concerned with increasing power relative to other states. One must have enough power to secure interests and more power than any other state in the system-friend or foe. Abuse: states justify self-interested wars by reference to humanitarian principles. Agent-structure problem: the problem is how to think about the relationship between agents and structures. One view is that agents are born with already formed identities and interests and then treat other actors and the broad structure that their interactions produce as a constraint on their interests. But this suggests that actors are pre-social to the extent that there is little interest in their identities orpossibility that they might change their interests through their interactions with others. Another view is to treat the structure not as a constraint but rather as constituting the actors themselves. Yet this might treat agents as cultural dupes because they are nothing more than artefacts of that structure. The proposed solution to the agent-structure problem is to try and find a way to understand how agents and structures constitute each other. Anarchic system: the 'ordering principle' of international politics according to Realism, and that which defines its structure. Anarchy: a system operating in the absence of any central government. Does not imply chaos, but in Realist theory the absence of political authority. Anti-foundationalist: positions argue that there are never neutral grounds for asserting what is true in any given time or space. Our theories of world define what counts as the facts and so there is no neutral position available to determine between rival claims. Apartheid: system of racial segregation introduced in South Africa in 1948, designedto ensure white minority domination. Appeasement: a policy of making concessions to a revanchist (or otherwise territorially acquisitive) state in the hope that settlement of more modest claims willassuage that state's expansionist appetites. Appeasement remains most (in)famously associated with British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's acquiescence to Hitler's incursions into Austria and then Czechoslovakia, culminating in the Munich Agreement of September 1938. Since then, appeasement has generally been seen as synonymous with a craven collapse before the demands of dictators-encouraging, not disarming, their aggressive designs. ASEAN: a geopolitical and economic organization of several countries located in South-East Asia. Initially formed as a display of solidarity against Communism, its aims now have been redefined and broadened to include the acceleration ofeconomic growth and the promotion of regional peace. By 2005 the ASEAN countries had a combined GDP of about $884 billion. Asymmetrical globalization: describes the way in which contemporary globalization is unequally experienced across the world and among different social groups in sucha way that it produces a distinctive geography of inclusion in, and exclusion from, the global system. Axis of evil: phrase deliberately used by George W. Bush in January 2001 to characterize Iran, North Korea, and Iraq. Balance of power: in Realist theory, refers to an equilibrium between states; historical Realists regard it as the product of diplomacy (contrived balance) whereasstructural Realists regard the system as having a tendency towards a natural equilibrium (fortuitous balance). It is a doctrine and an arrangement whereby the power of one state (or group of states) is checked by the countervailing power of other states. Bank for InternationalSettlements: established in 1930 with headquarters in Basle. Membership (2004) of 55 shareholding central banks, although many other public financial institutions also use BIS facilities. Promotes cooperation among central banks and provides various services for global financial operations. For example, the Basle Committee on Banking Supervision, formed through the BIS in 1974, has spearheaded efforts at multilateral regulation of global banking. See further www.bis.org. Battle of the sexes: a scenario in game theory illustrating the need for a coordinationstrategy. Battlespace: in the era of aircraft and satellites, the traditional 'battlefield' has given way to the three-dimensional battlespace. Bipolarity: term employed by scholars of International Relations to describe the post-war order before the USSR fell apart in 1991, leaving the United States as the sole superpower. Bond: a contractual obligation of a corporation, association, or governance agency tomake payments of interest and repayments of principal on borrowed funds at certain fixed times. Breadwinner: a traditionally masculine role of working in the public sphere for wages and providing for the economic needs of the family. Brezhnev doctrine: declaration by Soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev in November 1968 that members of the Warsaw Pact would enjoy only 'limited sovereignty' in their political development. It was associated with the idea of 'limited sovereignty' for Soviet bloc nations, which was used to justify the crushing of the reform movement in Czechoslovakia in 1968.Capabilities: the resources that are under an actor's direct control such as population and size of territory, resources, economic strength, military capability, and competence (Waltz 1979: 131). Capacity building: providing the funds and technical training to allow developing countries to participate in global environmental governance. Capitalism: a system of production in which human labour and its products are commodities that are bought and sold in the market-place. In Marxist analysis, the capitalist mode of production involved a specific set of social relations that were particular to a specific historical period. For Marx there were three main characteristics of capitalism: (1) Everything involved in production (e.g. raw materials, machines, labour involved in the creation of commodities, and the commodities themselves) is given an exchange value, and all can be exchanged, one for the other. In essence, under capitalism everything has its price, including people's working time. (2) Everything that is needed to undertake production (i.e. the factories, and the raw materials) is owned by one class-the capitalists. (3) Workers are 'free', but in order to survive must