Early preventive diplomacy: The provision of skilled assistance through good offices, mediation and the like in order to resolve disputes well before the likelihood of eruption into armed conflict. (Evans, 1993: 10)
Early warning: The systematic collection and analysis of information coming from areas of crises for the purpose of anticipating the escalation of violent conflict; the development of strategic response to these crises; and the presentation of options to critical actors for the purpose of decision making. (FEWER, 1997; cited by Schmid 1998: http://www.fewer.org/pubs/thes/htm)
Economic growth: The steady process by which the productive capacity of the economy is increased over time to bring about rising levels of national output and income. (Todaro 1996: 688)
Elite-dominated democracy: System in which traditional rulers remain in control, even if pressured from below, and successfully use strategies of either compromise or force–or some mix of the two– to retain at least part of their power. (Sørensen 1993: 158)
Emerging infectious diseases: Pathogen-induced human illnesses which have increased in lethality, transmissibility, and/or expanded their geographical range since 1973. (Price-Smith 1999: 5-6)
Empowerment: An enabling condition manifested by individual self-assertion, collective mobilization, resistance and/or protest challenging existing power relations. It entails a process aimed at changing the nature and consequently the distribution of power. (TIID, 1997)
Enclave: An area surrounded or enclosed by territories belonging to another country. The area of Nagorno-Karabakh, for example, is an Armenian enclave within the state of Azerbaijan (and the source of a long-running war.) The term can also be used for a country or territory divided along sectarian grounds. One might speak, for example, of a Roman Catholic enclave within largely Protestant Northern Ireland. (Fast Times 1999: http://www.fast-times.com/political.html)
Environmental degradation: The decline in quality of the physical environment such as air, soil, and water and/or the reduction of available natural resources, generally stemming from human abuse.
Epidemiological transition: The process through which, as incomes and health technologies improve, the incidence of infectious and preventable diseases drops and overall health status improves. In their later stages, chronic and non-communicable diseases are the primary health concerns for all age groups. The epidemiological transition normally parallels the demographic transition. (TIID, 1997)
Essentialism: The practice of categorizing a group based on an artificial social construction that imparts the “essence” of that group, homogenizing the group and erasing individual differences. (UMD Diversity Dictionary, http://www.inform.umd.edu/EdRes/Topic/Diversity/Reference/divdic.html)
Ethnic cleansing: The systematized elimination of a targeted ethnic group for political purposes. Ethnic cleansing can be carried out through genocidal acts or forced migration. (Weiss & Collins, 1996; cited by Schmid 1998: http://www.fewer.org/pubs/thes/htm)
Ethnic war: Secessionist civil war, rebellion, protracted communal warfare, or sustained episodes of mass protest by politically organized communal groups. (Gurr & Haxton 1996: http://www.bsos.umd.edu/cidcm/mar/minrept1.htm)
Ethnicity: The condition of belonging to a particular specific group, i.e. a particular religious, racial, national, or cultural group. (Houghton Mifflin Company 1982: 467)
Ethnicity of ruling elite: The ethnic composition of the ruling class. The comparison of the ethnicity of the ruling elite to that of the population-at-large in an ethnically divided society indicates whether the elite demographically represents a minority group or the population as a whole. (Esty et al 1995: 16)
Ethnocentrism: Belief in the inherent superiority of one's own cultural, ethnic, or political group. (Fast Times 1999: http://www.fast-times.com/political.html)
Ethnoclass: Ethnically or culturally distinct peoples, usually descended from slaves or immigrants, most of whom occupy a distinct social and economic stratum or niche. (Gurr & Haxton 1996: http://www.bsos.umd.edu/cidcm/mar/minrept1.htm)
Ethnodevelopment: A pattern of development compatible with ethnic peace. It implies a challenge not only to mainstream development but to the nation state, as it entails development within a framework of cultural pluralism, internal self-determination, sustainability, and territoriality (i.e., that the regions themselves are to be individually developed, not subordinated to the priorities of the center). (Hettne 1993: 132-135)
Ethno-nationalism: A political movement which aims to secure for an ethnic group a sovereign state of its own. (Lawson, 1995; cited by Schmid 1998: http://www.fewer.org/pubs/thes/htm)
Ethnonationalists/ethnic nationalists:
A) Regionally concentrated peoples with a history of organized political autonomy with their own state, traditional ruler, or regional government, who have supported political movements for autonomy since 1945. (Gurr & Haxton 1996: http://www.bsos.umd.edu/cidcm/mar/minrept1.htm)
B) Groups that ideologically define a territory as the national home of a particular group. Ethnic nationalist movements seek the status of a majority group within their own state rather than remain as a minority group in another. Hence demands for a “Serbian state” for all Serbs are tied to ideologies that treat nationality as a matter of blood right, and accord citizenship solely on the basis of ethnic ancestry and cultural tradition. (Mason 1995: http://testweb1.wilpaterson.edu/cohss/polisci/faculty/jmfailed.htm)
Ethno-political conflict: Open conflict in which groups that define themselves using ethnic criteria make claims on behalf of their collective interests against the state, or against other groups. The 'ethnic criteria' used by a group to define itself may include any combination of shared culture, language, religious belief, nationality, place of residence, race, and collective experience, past or present. The term ethnic group is loosely synonymous with peoples, communal group, and minority and identity group. (Gurr & Harff, 1996; cited by Schmid 1998: http://www.fewer.org/pubs/thes/htm)
Ethnopolitical groups: Non-state communal groups that have acquired political significance in the contemporary world because of their status and political actions. These groups meet one or both of the following criteria: the group collectively suffers or benefits from systematic discriminatory treatment vis-à-vis other groups in a society; the group is the basis for political mobilization and action in defense or promotion of self-defined interests. (Gurr & Haxton 1996: http://www.bsos.umd.edu/cidcm/mar/minrept1.htm)
Ethno-sexual violence: Violence of a sexual nature committed on ethnic or religious grounds. In particular, it includes forced impregnation and attacks against human dignity, as well as forced prostitution. (Gurr & Haxton 1996: http://www.bsos.umd.edu/cidcm/mar/minrept1.htm)