In July 2016, South Korea decided to deploy Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD), a US anti-ballistic missile system, as a response to escalating threats from North Korea. The decision resulted in informal, targeted economic pushbacks from China, including the shutting down of Korean firms’ stores in China, tourism restrictions, and bans on culture and entertainment exports. Despite the controversy, the deployment of THAAD took place in early 2017.

China’s current de-dollarization efforts include, but are not limited to, expanding yuan-based trade and lending, building payment infrastructure, and trimming the dollar’s role in currency benchmarks.

The "transactional" and "strategic" approaches represent two distinct approaches regarding how states should pursue their interests and engage with other nations. Transactional IR focuses on short-term, reciprocal, and deal-based exchanges, treating foreign policy as a series of negotiations aimed at immediate, tangible benefits. Conversely, Strategic IR prioritizes long-term, normative, and institutionalized relationships aimed at achieving broader, sustained national security and economic goals

For the purposes of this debate, the “Abject Woman” refers to a concept/literary trope of a woman who resists dominant social and gender norms through transgressive or self-destructive acts. They are often portrayed as women who disrupt social boundaries and can, at times, take on socially repulsive forms.

Examples include but are not limited to: Yeong-hye in The Vegetarian, where she creates intense conflict with her family by refusing the consumption of meat, leading to her institutionalization; Bertha Mason in Jane Eyre, where she exists as the “madwoman in the attic”; the Female Creature in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein where she exists as a subhuman and almost manstrous creature.

For the purposes of this debate, “productivity culture” is a social and economic mindset that prioritizes constant efficiency, output, and self-optimization.

Hedonism prioritises pleasure as the highest good and primary motivation for human actions. Hedonists believe that a fulfilling life is one where personal enjoyment is paramount. Asceticism emphasises self-discipline and the renunciation of physical pleasures. Ascetics believe that restraining from indulgence leads to a more meaningful and fulfilling life.

Unanimity voting in the EU means that all member states must agree for a decision to pass. It typically applies to sensitive policy areas, such as foreign policy, taxation, ascension and suspension of membership, and EU treaty changes. An abstention doesn't block the decision.

Article 42(7) of the Treaty on European Union, otherwise known as the "Mutual Defence Clause", stipulates that, if one of the Member States becomes a victim of armed aggression, others have an obligation of aid and assistance. While the clause has historically been triggered once by France, the clause has recently received increasing attention as a legal basis for a stronger EU-level military alliance.

Joint ventures is an arrangement whereby actors, such as public agencies or businesses, from developed and developing countries co-invest in shared projects such as infrastructure and energy. Entities implement projects usually as horizontal partners, sharing the profits that the projects generate. 

Welfare-to-work programs are government policies designed to transition individuals (e.g. single parents, unemployed) from public assistance to employment, often by making benefits conditional on work-related activities or job searches.

Human-AI relations refers to the way in which humans interact, communicate, and form functional or social connections with AI across personal, professional and societal contexts

Deplatforming is the action or practice of preventing someone holding views regarded as unacceptable or offensive from having a platform (e.g. removing them from a public debate or forum). 

Memeification refers to the process of transformming an event or person into an internet meme, turning them into humorous, satirical or viral adaptations.