apparatchiks (en)

members of a communist party apparat (apparatus)

coltan (en)

a dull black metallic ore from which the elements niobium and tantalum (used to manufacture tantalum capacitors, used in electronic products) are extracted; its mining has financed serious conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo

garrison states (en)

a state organized to serve primarily its own need for military security; also : a state maintained by military power

porto franco (en)

(Italian or Portuguese for "free port") a port or an area of a port in which imported goods can be held or processed free of customs duties before reexport.

ratchet effect (en)

(labor markets) when workers subject to performance pay choose to restrict their output, because they rationally anticipate that firms will respond to higher output levels by raising output requirements or cutting pay