New Internationalist

turvy Terms

Issue 334

Click here to subscribe to the print edition. [image, unknown] New Internationalist 334[image, unknown] [image, unknown] [image, unknown] May 2001[image, unknown] Click here to search the mega index.

WTO / TERMS



Charles Dickens used ‘topsy-turvy’ to describe an inversion
of the familiar order of things. International trade does this
to language. Here are some of the jargon words: how
they are used by trade negotiators – and what
they really mean for the rest of us.

[image, unknown] [image, unknown] [image, unknown] [image, unknown] [image, unknown] [image, unknown] [image, unknown] [image, unknown] [image, unknown] [image, unknown] [image, unknown] [image, unknown] [image, unknown] [image, unknown] [image, unknown] [image, unknown] [image, unknown] [image, unknown] [image, unknown] [image, unknown] [image, unknown] [image, unknown]
[image, unknown] Round: Concessions negotiated in exchange for benefits. [image, unknown] [image, unknown]
[image, unknown] Protectionism: Raising trade barriers against foreign competition. [image, unknown] [image, unknown]
[image, unknown] Meaning: An offer you can't refuse. [image, unknown]
[image, unknown] Meaning: Obstructing corporate interests. [image, unknown] [image, unknown]
[image, unknown] [image, unknown]
[image, unknown] Sustainable: Eco-friendly and equitable. [image, unknown] [image, unknown]
[image, unknown] [image, unknown]
[image, unknown] Meaning: Business-friendly and profitable. [image, unknown] Open: No barriers to foreign trade. [image, unknown] [image, unknown]
[image, unknown] [image, unknown]
Meaning: Closed to democratic control. [image, unknown] [image, unknown]
[image, unknown] [image, unknown] [image, unknown]
[image, unknown] Intellectual property: Ideas for making money. [image, unknown] [image, unknown]
[image, unknown] Meaning: Ideas used to extort payment. [image, unknown] [image, unknown]
[image, unknown] [image, unknown] Fair: In accordance with the rules. [image, unknown] [image, unknown]
[image, unknown] [image, unknown]
[image, unknown] Free: Without government interference. [image, unknown] Meaning: Imposed on the weak by the strong. [image, unknown]
[image, unknown] [image, unknown]
[image, unknown] Meaning: Rule by transnational corporations. [image, unknown] [image, unknown]
[image, unknown] [image, unknown]

Previous page.
Choose another issue of NI.
Go to the contents page.
Go to the NI home page.
Next page.


This first appeared in our award-winning magazine - to read more, subscribe from just £7

Permalink | Published on May 5, 2001 by | 0

Comments on turvy Terms

Leave your comment







 

  • Maximum characters allowed: 5000
  • Simple HTML allowed: bold, italic, and links

Registration is quick and easy. Plus you won’t have to re-type the blurry words to comment!
Register | Login

...And all is quiet.

Subscribe to Comments for this articleArticle Comment Feed RSS 2.0

Guidelines: Please be respectful of others when posting your reply.

Subscribe to New Internationalist Magazine

Get our free fortnightly eNews

Multimedia

Videos from visionOntv’s globalviews channel.

Recently in Features

All Features

Popular tags

All tags

This article was originally published in issue 334

New Internationalist Magazine issue 334
Issue 334

More articles from this issue

  • A world turned upside down

    May 1, 2001

    And how to put it the right way up – David Ransom talks to UNCTAD and to Martin Khor of Third World Network.

  • Sleeping through the wake-up call

    May 1, 2001

    Has anything happened since the ‘Battle of Seattle’? David Ransom talks to the people he can vote for.

  • Zimbabwe

    May 1, 2001

    Country Profile – Zimbabwe

More articles on this theme

New Internationalist Magazine Issue 436

If you would like to know something about what's actually going on, rather than what people would like you to think was going on, then read the New Internationalist.

– Emma Thompson –

A subscription to suit you

Save money with a digital subscription. Give a gift subscription that will last all year. Or get yourself a free trial to New Internationalist. See our choice of offers.

Subscribe