Korea Diplomat Candidate Exam flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Security dilemma

A condition in which one state's defensive buildup appears threatening to others, prompting counter-armament and lowering everyone's security even without aggressive intent.

Democratic peace theory

The empirical claim that established democracies rarely wage war on one another; debated whether institutions, norms, or shared trade explain the pattern.

Balance of power

A system tendency in which states form countervailing coalitions against a rising or dominant power to prevent any single state from achieving hegemony.

Two-level game

Putnam's model in which leaders bargain simultaneously with foreign counterparts and domestic constituencies; ratification depends on overlapping win-sets.

Jus cogens

Peremptory norms of international law, such as prohibitions on genocide, torture, and slavery, from which no treaty or state practice may derogate.

Pacta sunt servanda

The treaty-law principle that agreements are binding on the parties and must be performed in good faith, codified in the Vienna Convention.

Universal jurisdiction

A basis for prosecution by any state over grave crimes such as piracy, genocide, and war crimes, regardless of where they occurred or the parties' nationality.

State immunity

The doctrine shielding states from foreign courts for sovereign acts (jure imperii) while typically denying immunity for commercial acts (jure gestionis).

Exclusive economic zone

A coastal state's maritime zone extending 200 nautical miles from the baseline, with sovereign rights over resources but not full territorial sovereignty.

Comparative advantage

Ricardo's principle that trade benefits both parties when each specializes in goods with lower opportunity cost, even if one is absolutely less productive.

Mundell-Fleming trilemma

An open economy cannot simultaneously maintain a fixed exchange rate, free capital mobility, and independent monetary policy; only two are attainable.

Purchasing power parity

The long-run tendency for exchange rates to equalize price levels across countries; deviations reflect productivity gaps in non-tradable goods and services.

Natural rate of unemployment

The unemployment level consistent with stable inflation in the long run; the Phillips curve is vertical at this point, so demand policy cannot lower it permanently.

Balance of payments identity

An accounting identity stating that the current account plus the capital and financial accounts plus statistical discrepancy sum to zero.

Deadweight loss of a tariff

The welfare loss from a tariff arising from distorted consumption and production decisions, separate from the transfer of tariff revenue.

Separation of powers

Montesquieu's design dividing legislative, executive, and judicial authority so that each branch can check the others and no single body dominates.

Rule of law

Dicey's principle that no one is punished except for a breach of law established through ordinary courts, and all are equal before the law.

Korean Constitutional Court

A nine-justice body reviewing statute constitutionality, impeachment, party dissolution, and constitutional complaints; justices serve renewable six-year terms.

Weberian bureaucracy

An administrative form built on hierarchy, written rules, merit-based appointment, and impersonal officeholding, contrasted with market-oriented new public management.

Responsibility to Protect

A norm holding that sovereignty entails responsibility; when a state fails to protect its people from atrocity crimes, the international community may act.

Contrapositive equivalence

The logical rule that P implies Q is equivalent to not-Q implies not-P; the converse and inverse are not logically equivalent.

Necessary versus sufficient

A necessary condition must hold for the outcome; a sufficient condition guarantees it. Confusing the two is a standard reasoning trap.

Base-rate neglect

The error of judging probability from case-specific evidence while ignoring the prior frequency; corrected by applying Bayes' rule with the prior odds.

Correlation and causation

Observed association does not establish cause; confounders, reverse causation, and selection effects must be ruled out before a causal inference is drawn.

Quantifier negation

The rule that the negation of 'all A are B' is 'some A is not B', and the negation of 'some A are B' is 'no A are B'.

Scope in main-idea questions

The correct answer matches the passage's overall claim; options that capture only a detail or extend beyond the text are wrong.

Hedging in formal writing

The use of cautious modals such as may, appears to, and suggests to signal uncertainty and avoid overstating claims in diplomatic or academic prose.

Discourse markers in listening

Words such as however, actually, and that said that signal contrast or correction, often introducing the information a listening question targets.

되/돼 구분

‘되어’로 바꾸어 자연스러우면 ‘돼’, 그렇지 않으면 ‘되’를 쓴다. 예: 안 돼(안 되어), 되었다(되어 있다).

의존명사 띄어쓰기

것, 수, 바, 줄, 데 등 의존명사는 앞말과 띄어 쓰고, 조사는 앞말에 붙여 쓴다. 예: 할 수 있다, 아는 바와 같이.

로서/로써 구분

자격이나 신분을 나타낼 때는 ‘로서’, 수단이나 도구를 나타낼 때는 ‘로써’를 쓴다. 예: 외교관으로서, 글로써.

객체 높임

목적어나 부사어가 지시하는 대상을 높이는 표현으로, ‘모시다, 뵙다, 드리다’ 같은 특수 어휘를 사용한다. 예: 할아버지를 뵙다.