Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) school vouchers, government grants aimed at improving education for the children of low-income families by providing school tuition that can be used at public or private schools. The idea behind schoo...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Monaco mŏnˈəkō, mōnäˈkō, Fr. mônäkōˈ [key], officially Principality of Monaco, independent principality (2015 est. pop. 38,000), c.370 acres (150 hectares), on the Mediterranean Sea...

(Encyclopedia) Aso, Taro täˈrō äˈsō [key], 1940–, Japanese politician, prime minister of Japan (2008–9). Grandson of Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida and son of a successful industrialist, he attended Gakush...

(Encyclopedia) DMX,1970-2021, b. Mount Vernon, N.Y., as Earl Simmons. DMX grew up in Yonkers, NY, in the 1980s, in a highly dysfunctional family; abandoned by his fath...

(Encyclopedia) Calderón Hinojosa, Felipe de Jesús fālēˈpā dā hāso͞osˈ käldārōnˈ ēˌnōhōˈsä [key], 1962–, Mexican politician, president of Mexico (2006–2012). His father, Luis Calderón Vega, h...

(Encyclopedia) Hardenberg, Karl August, Fürst von kärl ouˈgo͝ost fürst fən härˈdənbĕrk [key], 1750–1822, Prussian administrator and diplomat, b. Hanover. After service for Hanover and Brunswick, he enter...

(Encyclopedia) Young Plan, program for settlement of German reparations debts after World War I. It was presented by the committee headed (1929–30) by Owen D. Young. After the Dawes Plan was put into operation (19...

(Encyclopedia) temporary worker, an employee, hired through a specialized employment agency, who generally works less than a year on one assignment, regardless of the number of hours worked per week. Temporary worke...

(Encyclopedia) Reading, Rufus Daniel Isaacs, 1st marquess of rĕdˈĭng [key], 1860–1935, British statesman. Called to the bar in 1887, he achieved great success in his profession. He entered Parliament as a Liber...

(Encyclopedia) eminent domain, the right of a government to force the owner of private property sell it if it is needed for a public use. The right is based on the doctrine that a sovereign state has dominion over a...