Years of Poems and Spirits

For some reasons, all the IR study articles are peppered with Latin and French. The reason the world is such a mess is because there are too many people and too many languages! Latin and French, Latin and French! Job security, uh?

Anyway, I have to keep track …

vis-à-vis
raison d’etat
par excellence: Being the best or truest of a kind; quintessential, e.g. a diplomat par excellence.
casus belli: An act or event that provokes or is used to justify war.
sui generis: unique
modus vivendi: A manner of living; a way of life
faute de mieux : For lack of something better.