Cabinet

A group of officials appointed by a chief of state or prime minister to serve as advisors and heads of executive departments.

capitalism

An economic system characterized by private ownership of major resources and the means of production, and in which production and distribution of goods are determined by open competition in the free market. The United States practices capitalism.

caste

A social class of people separated from others on the basis of hereditary rank, profession, or wealth; a system of rigid social stratification sanctioned by law or custom.

cease-fire

A suspension, often temporary, of active hostilities by mutual consent of opposing parties; a truce.

civil war

A war between opposing regions or factions, esp. political or religious, within the same country.

Cold War

A state of political tension and military rivalry between countries that stops short of full-scale war, especially that which existed between the United States and the Soviet Union following World War II through the end of the 1980s.

colonization

A policy whereby the government of one nation occupies, controls militarily, and governs the native population of another, usually by minority rule.

commodity

A good, as opposed to a service, that is traded; an object of value or use.

communism

An economic system in which major resources and means of production are owned by the community, not by the state or individuals, and in which work is shared according to ability and benefits according to need. The former Soviet Union was a communist state.

coup d'ètat

A French phrase that means literally "stroke of state," referring to the sudden and illegal overthrow of a government by a group of people who substitute themselves as the ruling power.