Gender sensitivity: An approach that considers the presence of social, cultural, economic, and political inequalities that may exist between men and women. (Tisch and Wallace 1994: 162)
Gender violence: Any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threat of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivations of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life. (United Nations 1993)
A) Any of the following acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, such as: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; and forcibly transferring children of the group to another group. (UN 1948 Convention on Genocide).
B) The attempt to systematically destroy, in whole or in part, a group of people on the basis of their identification with a communal, political, or politicized group, such as nation, ethnicity, language, religion, disability, caste, clan, sexual identity, class, ideology, culture, etc. This destruction is brought about by policies implemented by the political leadership of one group against another, including outright killing of the members of that group or indirect extermination of the group by depriving it of the means to sustain life. While in the legal sense (i.e., the UN Convention on Genocide) the massacre of, say, a village could constitute a genocide, in the popular consciousness the term refers to the destruction of a group on a very large scale, such as the massive slaughters that occurred in Rwanda, Cambodia, and Nazi-occupied territories. Confusion over the legal and popular senses of the term is quite common and can be problematic. For example, it has been argued that linking the deaths of 500 people to the term "genocide" can be misleading, inflammatory, or diminish its impact as an "early warning" for further slaughter. While the UN Convention on Genocide also includes actions such as forced sterilization or forced removal of the children of a group, in the common sense the term "genocide" refers to directly bringing about the deaths of the targeted group. Actions such as past American policies to sterilize Amerindian women and force children to attend boarding schools where their traditional culture and language was banned are more commonly termed "cultural genocide" or "ethnocide."
Gerrymander: Apportionment of electoral districts so as to give the political party in power an advantage in elections. Gerrymandering is usually accomplished by spreading out the favored party's electorate to enable it to win by a light majority in many districts. This device often produces electoral districts of curious shapes. The term originated in 1812, when Republican governor Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts signed a bill giving his party such an advantage. One electoral district was shaped so fantastically that it was compared to a salamander, and from that the term gerrymander was coined. (Microsoft Corporation 1997-1999: http://encarta.msn.com/)
Ghetto: The term ghetto is applied, often derogatorily, to poor crowded urban areas inhabited primarily by minorities. It was originnaly applied to a section of a European town or city within which Jews were compelled by law to live. (Microsoft Corporation 1997-1999: http://encarta.msn.com/)
A) Efficient, accountable management by the public sector and a predictable and transparent policy framework critical to the efficiency of markets and governments, hence to economic development. (World Bank 1992: 5)
B) Technical competence and expertise; organizational effectiveness; accountability; rule of law; transparency and open information systems. (TIID, 1997)
Governance: A government’s ability to govern; that is, to provide the public goods that cannot be provided by other institutions, to protect citizens, and to develop socially appropriate and responsive policies. The current emphasis on the importance of effective governance to development comes partly from a realization of the vital role of government in creating the physical, legal, and social infrastructure that permits markets to function, private firms to operate, and community-service organizations to flourish. (TIID 1997)
Grassroots: People or society at a local level rather than at the center of major political activity. (Houghton Mifflin Company 1982: 573)
Grievance: In the context of internal conflict, grievance refers to widely shared dissatisfaction among group members about their cultural, political and/or economic standing vis-à-vis dominant factions. (Gurr and Haxton, 1996: http://www.bsos.umd.edu/cidcm/mar/minrept1.htm)
Gross domestic product (GDP): The total value of output of goods and services produced by an economy during a specified period, by both residents and non-residents, regardless of its allocation to domestic and foreign uses. (UNDP 1998: 218)
A) Military and paramilitary operations conducted in enemy-held or hostile territory by irregular, predominantly indigenous forces. (US DOD: http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jel/doddict/)
B) Irregular, usually protracted, warfare by non-uniformed combatants not connected to large (formal) military organization. Guerrilla (Spanish term for 'small war') fighters often avoid direct clashes with regular government forces, engaging in one or several of the following tactics: partisan warfare behind enemy lines, hit-and-run operations, sabotage, ambush, urban terrorism. Violations of laws of war and criminal activities are common and often prevent guerrilla groups from gaining the moral high ground which could induce the people (or minority group they purport to represent) to join forces. (Parkinson, 1979; cited by Schmid 1998: http://www.fewer.org/pubs/thes.htm)