CENTRAL encyclopedia topics

central bank, financial institution designed to regulate and control the money supply of a nation, with the goal of fostering economic growth without inflation. Although central banking systems have varying levels of autonomy, there is generally a significant level of government control. The responsibilities of the central bank usually include maintaining adequate reserve backing for the nation's commercial banks and regulating the exchange rate of the nation's currency. Such duties are met by controlling the discount rate, making reserve advances to commercial banks, trading in government obligations, and acting as the government's fiduciary agent in its dealings with other governments and other central banks. The central bank has been called the "lender of last resort" and is expected to lend to its nation's banks at any time, particularly during a panic. Although the term was hardly known before 1900, the concept of central banking dates back to at least 1694, when the Bank of England was founded. Today, all economically developed nations—and most developing nations—possess the equivalent of a central bank; there are 172 central banks around the world. Notable central banks include France's Banque de France, Germany's Bundesbank, and the U.S. Federal Reserve System (est. 1913). The Bank for International Settlements in Switzerland serves as a central bank for the central banks of the world's largest capitalist nations. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund also serve certain central banking functions for member nations. The European Union established the European Central Bank in 1998 as a prelude to the adoption of the euro (see European Monetary System). In the United States, the inflation crisis of the late 1970s led to greater public awareness of the role of the Federal Reserve in setting interest rates; reaction to its decisions (and expected decisions) concerning interest rates often produces sharp movements in the stock and bond markets.

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Penn Central Company

Penn Central Company, former U.S. transportation company, formed in 1968 by the merger of the New York Central RR and the Pennsylvania RR. By the early 1970s the railroad was bankrupt; in 1976 the U.S. government created Conrail from the Penn Central and five other failed eastern railroads. In 1994 the company became an insurance firm, American Premier Underwriters. Conrail itself was taken over in 1999 by the CSX and Norfolk Southern railroads.

See J. R. Daughen and P. Binzen, The Wreck of the Penn Central (1971, repr. 1999).

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New York Central RR

New York Central RR, U.S. transportation compay formed in 1853 by the consolidation of many small New York state railroads. In 1867, Cornelius Vanderbilt became president of the railroad and, through a series of mergers, formed the New York Central and Hudson River RR Company, linking New York City with Buffalo. Vanderbilt continued to expand his railroad empire through financial maneuvers, and in the 20th cent. New York Central trains reached as far west as St. Louis, with trunk lines in six states. In 1914 the railroad reverted to its original name. By 1930, having absorbed other large railroads, the New York Central was one of the leading railroads connecting the Eastern seaboard with Midwestern cities. The only railroad having freight connections into Manhattan, it was an important factor in New York City's food supply. The New York Central was responsible for many technological innovations, including the first sleeping car, the first high-powered brakes, and the first centralized traffic-control system. In 1968, after a long legal battle that reached the U.S. Supreme Court, the New York Central and the Pennsylvania railroads merged to form the Penn Central Company. At the time of merger, the New York Central operated in 11 states and 2 Canadian provinces.

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Massif Central

Massif Central [Fr.,=central highlands], great mountainous plateau, c.33,000 sq mi (85,470 sq km), S central France, covering almost a sixth of the surface of the country. The chief water divide of France, it borders on the Paris basin in the north, the Rhône valley and basin in the east and south, and the Aquitanian basin in the west. The core of the Massif is the volcanic mass of the Auvergne Mts. that rises to the Massif's highest point, Puy de Sancy (6,187 ft/1,886 m). The Cévennes limit the Massif Central on the southeast and the Causses form its southwest border. The Massif Central is the most rugged and geologically diverse region within France. It is also France's most varied region climatically. All four chief rivers of France (the Seine, Loire, Rhône, and Garonne) receive tributaries from the Massif Central; the Loire, Dordogne, and Charente originate there. Sheep and goat grazing, dairying, cattle raising, and, in the fertile valleys, agriculture are the chief occupations of the region. Kaolin is mined. Hydroelectricity is produced along the western edge of the Massif Central. Clermont-Ferrand, Le Creusot, Limoges, Saint-Étienne, and Roanne are important industrial centers.

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Little Rock Central High School National Historical Site

Little Rock Central High School National Historical Site: see National Parks and Monuments (table).

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Central Valley project

Central Valley project, central Calif., long-term general scheme for the utilization of the water of the Sacramento River basin in the north for the benefit of the farmlands of the San Joaquin Valley in the south, undertaken by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in 1935. The program's concerns are flood control; improvement of navigation; the development of hydroelectric power, irrigation, and municipal and industrial water supply; protection of the Sacramento delta from seawater encroachment; and the propagation and preservation of fish and wildlife. Shasta and Keswick dams on the Sacramento River, and Friant Dam, on the San Joaquin River, were among the first units built. Canals, such as the Friant-Kern, the Madera, the Delta Cross Channel (which uses Sacramento water to fight soil salinity in the delta), and the Delta-Mendota, are used to transport water throughout the valley. Among the hydroelectric dams are San Luis, Spring Creek, Judge Francis Carr, and Auburn. Folsom Dam is one of the several units constructed in the valley by the U.S. Corps of Engineers.

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Central Valley

Central Valley, great trough of central Calif., c.450 mi (720 km) long and c.50 mi (80 km) wide, between the Sierra Nevada and the Coast Ranges. The Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers drain much of the valley before converging in a huge delta and flowing into San Francisco Bay; the delta is California's leading truck-farming and horticultural area. The Central Valley is California's agricultural heartland, although its urban and suburban areas have expanded dramatically since the 1970s. With its long growing season and fertile soil, the valley has the largest single concentration of fruit and nut farms and vineyards in the United States; cotton, grain, and vegetables are also grown. Precipitation ranges from 30 in. (76 cm) in the north to 6 in. (15.2 cm) in the south. Two thirds of the valley's agricultural land is in the south, while two thirds of its water is in the north. The Central Valley project sought to address this problem by bringing water from the Sacramento basin in the north into the San Joaquin Valley in the south, where Fresno and Tulare counties are the two leading U.S. agricultural counties. The dry, alkaline Tulare Lake basin in the extreme south is almost totally unsuitable for irrigation. Oil extraction and refining and petrochemical production are also important in the region. The Central Valley was seen by Spanish explorers in the 1500s but remained virtually uninhabited until the 1849 California gold rush. Irrigation was introduced in the 1880s.

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Central Utah project

Central Utah project, N central Utah; begun 1959 near Vernal, Utah, by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in conjunction with the Colorado River storage project. Water, collected from streams in the Uinta Mts., is carried across the Wasatch Range to the densely populated Salt Lake City region by a system of dams, reservoirs, tunnels, aqueducts, and canals. Strawberry Dam and Reservoir, in which the water is stored, provides water for domestic and industrial use, irrigation, hydroelectricity, fish and wildlife preservation, and flood control.

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Central Provinces and Berar

Central Provinces and Berar: see Madhya Pradesh.

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Central Powers

Central Powers, in World War I, the coalition of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire.

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Central Park

Central Park, 840 acres (340 hectares), the largest park in Manhattan, New York City; bordered by 59th St. on the south, Fifth Ave. on the east, 110th St. on the north, and Central Park West on the west. The land was acquired by the city in 1856; in the process several small communities were razed, one of the largest being Seneca Village, a settlement of some 250 working-class blacks. The park was built according to the plans of U.S. landscape architects Frederick L. Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, which took twenty years to implement. The park has rolling terrain with lakes and ponds, greeneries, bridle paths, walks, and park drives. There are many playgrounds and other recreational facilities, including the Wollman Skating Rink. The Metropolitan Museum of Art stands in the park on Fifth Ave.; other points of interest include a formal garden, a zoo, an Egyptian obelisk popularly called "Cleopatra's Needle," a New York City reservoir, and the Mall. In the open-air Delacorte Theater, Shakespearean dramas and other plays are presented free of charge. The private Central Park Conservancy works with New York City to preserve and improve the park.

See studies by E. Kinkead (1990), E. Blackmar and R. Rosenzweig (1992), and S. C. Miller (2003).

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Central Michigan University

Central Michigan University, at Mount Pleasant, Mich.; coeducational; est. 1892 as a normal school, became Central State Teachers College in 1927, achieved university status in 1959. The university maintains a forest that is used for botanical and biological research. The Clarke Historical Library contains material on the Old Northwest Territory.

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Central Intelligence Agency

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), independent executive bureau of the U.S. government established by the National Security Act of 1947, replacing the wartime Office of Strategic Services (1942-45), the first U.S. espionage and covert operations agency. While the CIA's covert operations receive the most attention, its major responsibility is to gather intelligence, in which it uses not only covert agents but such technological resources as satellite photos and intercepted telecommunications transmissions. The CIA was given (1949) special powers under the Central Intelligence Act: The CIA director may spend agency funds without accounting for them; the size of its staff is secret; and employees, exempt from civil service procedures, may be hired, investigated, or dismissed as the CIA sees fit. Under the U.S. intelligence agency reorganization enacted in 2004, the CIA reports to the independent director of national intelligence, who is responsible for coordinating the work and budgets of all 15 U.S. intelligence agencies. To safeguard civil liberties in the United States, the CIA is denied domestic police powers; for operations in the United States it must enlist the services of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Allen Welsh Dulles, director from 1953 to 1961, strengthened the agency and emboldened its tactics.

The CIA has often been criticized for covert operations in the domestic politics of foreign countries. The agency was heavily involved in the failed 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, deeply embarrassing the United States. In 1971 the U.S. government acknowledged that the CIA had recruited and paid an army fighting in Laos. In 1973 the CIA came under congressional investigation for its role in the Pentagon Papers case. The agency had provided members of the White House staff, on request, with a personality profile of Daniel Ellsberg, defendant in the Pentagon Papers trial in 1973, and had indirectly aided the White House "Plumbers," the special unit established to investigate internal security leaks. This direct violation of the National Security Act's prohibition led Congress to strengthen provisions barring the agency from domestic operations.

Its foreign operations came under attack in 1974 for involvement in Chilean internal affairs during the administration of Salvador Allende, and in 1986 it was shown to be involved in the Iran-Contra affair. Diminished in the early 1990s after the end of the cold war, it began rebuilding later in the decade, accelerating the process after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. It was subsequently hurt, however, by the revelation that Director George Tenet had insisted, prior to the Iraq invasion of 2003, that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, and the quality of the intelligence that it had provided was criticized. One result of the intelligence failures relating to Sept., 2001, and Iraq was the reorganization of 2004, which demoted the director of the CIA and made the CIA one of several agencies overseen by the new position of director of national intelligence.

Bibliography

See publications by the CIA History Staff; see also H. H. Ransom, The Intelligence Establishment (rev. ed. 1970); P. J. McGarvey, CIA: The Myth and the Madness (1972); S. D. Breckinridge, The CIA and the U.S. Intelligence System (1986); J. Ranelagh, The Agency (1986); S. Turner, Secrecy and Democracy; The CIA in Transition (1986); J. Marshall, The Iran-Contra Connection (1987); G. F. Treverton, Covert Action (1987); P. Agee, On the Run (1987); R. Jeffrey-Jones, The CIA and American Democracy (1989); E. Thomas, The Very Best Men: Four Who Dared: The Early Years of the CIA (1996).

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Central Falls

Central Falls, city (1990 pop. 17,637), Providence co., N R.I., on the Blackstone River NW of Pawtucket; inc. 1895. It is a small industrial center, now in decline.

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Central European Initiative

Central European Initiative, organization founded in 1991 to promote economic and political cooperation in the region between the Adriatic and Baltic seas. Members include Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia. Albania, Bulgaria, Belarus, Moldova, Romania, and Ukraine are associate members. The organization has initiated projects relating to agriculture and small-business development, transportation links among member countries, minority rights, and youth exchange.

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Central Australia

Central Australia: see Northern Territory, Australia.

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Central Asiatic Railroad

Central Asiatic Railroad: see Trans-Caspian RR.

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Central Asian Republics

Central Asian Republics, the countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Constituent republics of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, they all achieved independence in late 1991.

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Central American Federation

Central American Federation or Central American Union, political confederation (1825-38) of the republics of Central America—Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Salvador. United under a captaincy general in Spanish colonial times, they gained independence in 1821 and were briefly annexed to the Mexican empire formed by Agustín de Iturbide. The nations joined in a loose federal state, appointing (1825-29) as first president Manuel José Arce, who was succeeded (1830-38) by the liberal leader Francisco Morazán. Political and personal rivalries between liberals and conservatives, poor communication, and the fear of the hegemony of one state over another led to dissolution (1838) of the congress and the defeat (1839) of Morazán's forces by Rafael Carrera. In 1842, Morazán made an abortive attempt to reestablish the federation from Costa Rica. Later efforts by Nicaragua, Honduras, and Salvador failed, and the attempts of Justo Rufino Barrios (1885) and José Santos Zelaya (1895) only increased existing enmities. At the Central American conference of 1922-23, the U.S. recommendation of a union was not favorably received, partly because of earlier U.S. policies in Panama and Nicaragua. Nevertheless, geography, history, and practical expedience are factors that constantly encourage union. In 1951, the Organization of Central American States was formed to help solve common problems, and in 1960 the five nations established the Central American Common Market.

See T. L. Karnes, The Failure of Union: Central America, 1824-1960 (1961); N. Maritano, A Latin American Economic Community (1970).

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Central American Common Market

Central American Common Market (CACM), trade organization envisioned by a 1960 treaty between Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador. The treaty established (1961) a secretariat for Central American economic integration, which Costa Rica joined in 1963; Panama now has observer status in some areas. By 1970 trade between member nations had risen more than tenfold over 1960 levels, and imports doubled and a common tariff was established for 98% of the trade with nonmember countries. However, the 1969 war between El Salvador and Honduras led to the latter's effective withdrawal, and the political turmoil in Central America during the 1970s and 80s left the organization moribund. The 1990s saw a revival of the organization, but its ultimate place with respect to the Central American Free Trade Agreement (signed 2004, and including the Dominican Republic and the United States) and the proposed (2001) Free Trade Area of the Americas is unclear.

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Central America

Central America, narrow, southernmost region (c.202,200 sq mi/523,698 sq km) of North America, linked to South America at Colombia. It separates the Caribbean from the Pacific. Historically, geographers considered it to extend from the natural boundary of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, S Mexico, to that of the Isthmus of Panama. Generally, it is considered to consist of the seven republics (1990 est. pop. 29,000,000) of Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. The mountains of N Central America are an extension of the mountain system of W North America and are related to the islands of the West Indies. The middle portion of Central America is an active zone of volcanoes and earthquakes; it contains the Nicaragua Depression, which includes the huge lakes Nicaragua and Managua. The ranges of S Central America are outliers of the Andes Mts. of South America. Tajumulco (13,846 ft/4,210 m high), a volcano in Guatemala, is the region's highest peak. Central America's climate varies with altitude from tropical to cool. The eastern side of the region receives heavy rainfall. Bananas, coffee, and cacao are the chief crops of Central America, and gold and silver are mined there. The economies of the countries in the region are becoming increasingly diversified. Though agriculture is still the largest employer, more technical positions are being produced as the industrial and service sectors develop. The Inter-American Highway traverses W Central America.

See R. C. West and J. P. Augelli, Middle America (2d ed. 1976); J. L. Flora and E. Torres-Rivas, Central America (1989); H. P. Brignoli, A Brief History of Central America (1989).

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Central African Republic

Central African Republic, republic (2005 est. pop. 3,800,000), 240,534 sq mi (622,983 sq km), central Africa. The landlocked nation is bordered by Chad (N), Sudan (E), Congo (Kinshasa) and Congo (Brazzaville) (S), and Cameroon (W). Bangui is the capital and largest city.

Land and People

The terrain consists of a 2,000-3,000 ft (610-910 m) undulating plateau, mainly covered by savanna; dense tropical forests in the south; and a semidesert area in the east. The Bongo Massif in the northeast reaches a height of c.4,500 ft (1,370 m). The country is drained by numerous rivers, but only the Ubangi is commercially navigable. Rainfall is heavy in the south; the north is hot, dry, and subject to harmattan winds. There are no railroads, and the network of all-weather roads is inadequate; rivers are the chief means of transportation.

The population consists of approximately 80 ethnic groups, including the Baya, Banda, Mandjia, Sara, Mboum, Mbaka, and Yakoma. There is a small European minority. Considerable migration of inhabitants from urban to rural areas has led to the uneven distribution of the population. Population density is low relative to other African nations, and the eastern portion of the republic is largely uninhabited. French is the official language, but Sango, the national tongue, is used as a lingua franca; Arabic, Hausa, and Swahili are also spoken. About 35% of the population practices traditional religions, 50% are Christian, and about 15% are Muslim.

Economy

The overwhelming majority of the population is engaged in subsistence agriculture, although only about 3% of the land is under cultivation. Manioc, yams, millet, corn, and bananas are the main food crops. The principal cash crops and important exports are cotton, coffee, and tobacco; cocoa, rubber, and palm products are raised in the southwest. Timber is also an important export product. Cattle are raised in the western portion of the country.

Diamonds (the leading export), uranium, and gold are mined. Industry is limited to mineral, timber, and food processing and to the production of light consumer goods. Inadequate transportation has been a major obstacle to the country's economic development. Food, textiles, petroleum products, machinery, electrical equipment, motor vehicles, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals are imported. The Central African Republic's chief trading partners are Belgium, France, and the United States. Most exports are shipped via Pointe-Noire, in Congo (Brazzaville), more than 1,100 mi (1,770 km) away.

Government

The Central African Republic is governed under the constitution of 2004. The president, who is the head of state, is popularly elected for a five-year term and is eligible for a second term. The government is headed by a prime minister, who is appointed by the political party with a parliamentary majority. The unicameral legislature consists of the 109-seat National Assembly, whose members are popularly elected for five-year terms. Administratively, the country is divided into 14 prefectures, two economic prefectures, and the Bangui federal district.

History

Between the 16th and 19th cent., much of the region was subject to devastating slave raids. The Baya people, seeking refuge from the Fulani of northern Cameroon, arrived in what is now the Central African Republic in the early 19th cent.; the Banda, fleeing the Muslim Arab slave raiders of Sudan, came later in the century. French expeditions, pushing out from the Congo, made treaties with local tribal chiefs and occupied the area in 1887.

The region was organized in 1894 as the colony of Ubangi-Shari and was united administratively with Chad in 1906 and incorporated into French Equatorial Africa in 1910. Chad later became a separate French territory. Much of the region was leased to French concessionaires, whose fostering of forced labor and other abuses sparked rebellions in 1928, 1935, and 1946. The population of Ubangi-Shari actively supported the Free French forces during World War II.

In 1946 the colony was given its own territorial assembly and representation in the French parliament. In the French constitutional referendum of 1958 the country opted for membership in the French Community. It received autonomy and took its present name. Full independence was attained on Aug. 13, 1960, under President David Dacko. (The nationalist leader Barthélémy Boganda, founder of what was for years the country's only political party, the Social Evolution Movement of Black Africa [MESAN], had been killed in a plane crash in 1959.)

The Central African Republic had a parliamentary government until Dec., 1965, when a military coup led by Col. Jean-Bédel Bokassa (Boganda's nephew) overthrew the Dacko regime, dissolved the national assembly, and abrogated the constitution. The military regime, with Bokassa as both president and head of MESAN, dealt harshly with dissenters. Despite the brutal nature of Bokassa's regime, France continued to invest heavily in the country's economic development and financed the 1977 ceremony in which Bokassa crowned himself emperor of the renamed Central African Empire. His excesses aroused intense public opposition and, after a government-ordered massacre, the French military intervened.

Bokassa was removed from power in a 1979 coup and Dacko was reinstated. In 1981, Dacko was reelected president but was overthrown by General André Kolingba in a bloodless coup. Kolingba became president and head of the military and of MESAN, establishing a dictatorial rule. Parliament legalized opposition parties in 1991, and in 1993 Ange-Félix Patassé won the presidency in the country's first multiparty elections. A new constitution adopted in 1995 sought to decentralize the government through the establishment of regional assemblies. However, the cash-poor government encountered mounting unrest over its failure to provide steady pay to civil servants and soldiers, as well as allegations of corruption and incompetence.

After army mutinies in Apr. and May, 1996, Patassé formed a new government that included Kolingba supporters, but the country's main opposition groups refused to join the coalition. A third mutiny erupted in Nov., 1996, and degenerated into ethnic feuding before it was crushed by French troops in Jan., 1997. Patassé announced a new national unity government, naming Michel Gbezera-Bria, an independent, as prime minister. Mutinous troops continued to occupy a military base in Bangui, however, and new fighting broke out in June, 1997. France ended its military presence in the country in 1999 and was replaced by an all-African peacekeeping force. In Sept., 1999, Patassé was reelected.

Unsuccessful coup attempts were mounted against the president in 2001 and 2002; they were put down with aid from Libyan and other forces. Libyan troops were withdrawn after the Nov., 2002, coup attempt and replaced by peacekeepers from the Central African Economic Community. In Mar., 2003, while Patassé was abroad; supporters of former general François Bozizé, who had twice before attempted to oust the president, seized power, and Bozizé was named president. Some 30,000 people fled to Chad after the coup. Patassé remained abroad in exile; in 2006 he was convicted in absentia of corruption. Some of Patassé's supporters have continued to fight in the country's northwest.

Bozizé subsequently established the broad-based National Transitional Council to draft a new constitution, and announced that he would step down and run for president after it was approved. In Dec., 2004, the new constitution was approved. National elections were held in Mar., 2005, followed by a runoff in May. Bozizé, who was the front runner after the first round, was elected president in May, and his National Convergence coalition won 42 of the 105 seats in the national assembly. Attacks beginning in mid-2005 by unidentified armed groups in the northern part of the country caused several thousand people there to flee to Chad.

In Jan.-Mar., 2006, Bozizé was authorized by the national assembly to rule by decree, and reorganized the civil service and took anticorruption measures, including dismissing three government ministers. In June there were clashes between government forces and Chadian rebels, who had entered the Central African Republic in the north. A rebel uprising in the northeast that began in Oct., 2006, captured several towns there. Although it was put down by mid-December with the assistance of forces from France and several French-speaking central African nations, fighting recurred in the region in 2007. Several rebel groups signed accords with the government in Feb. and Apr., 2007, but despite this fighting continued. The instability in the north also led to an increase in lawlessness and banditry in the region, especially in 2008. In June, 2008, the government signed a peace agreement with two rebels groups.

Bibliography

See V. T. LeVine, Political Leadership in Africa (1967); P. Kalck, Central African Republic (tr. 1971) and Historical Dictionary of the Central African Republic (1980).

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CPU

in full central processing unit

Principal component of a digital computer, composed of a control unit, an instruction-decoding unit, and an arithmetic-logic unit. The CPU is linked to main memory, peripheral equipment (including input/output devices), and storage units. The control unit integrates computer operations. It selects instructions from the main memory in proper sequence and sends them to the instruction-decoding unit, which interprets them so as to activate functions of the system at appropriate moments. Input data are transferred via the main memory to the arithmetic-logic unit for processing (i.e., addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and certain logic operations). Larger computers may have two or more CPUs, in which case they are simply called “processors” because each is no longer a “central” unit. Seealso multiprocessing.

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central limit theorem

In statistics, any of several fundamental theorems in probability. Originally known as the law of errors, in its classic form it states that the sum of a set of independent random variables will approach a normal distribution regardless of the distribution of the individual variables themselves, given certain general conditions. Further, the mean (see mean, median, and mode) of the normal distribution will coincide with the (arithmetic) mean of the (statistical) means of each random variable.

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military government

Administration of territory by an occupying power. The definition does not cover military forces stationed in neutral or friendly territory that share administrative responsibilities with local civil authorities. Military government must also be distinguished from military law and martial law. Its control lasts until it either gives up power voluntarily or is overthrown. The term is popularly used for rule of a country by its own military, whether it comes to power through a coup d'état or is the legitimate governing body.

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government budget

Forecast of governmental expenditures and revenues for the ensuing fiscal year. In modern industrial economies, the budget is the key instrument for the execution of government economic policies. Because government budgets may promote or retard economic growth in certain areas of the economy and because views about priorities in government spending differ widely, government budgets are the focus of competing political interests. In the U.S. the federal budget is prepared by the president's Office of Management and Budget. The U.S. Congress has considerable input, influencing the budget's preparation through negotiations with the president and considering it in detail on its official submission to Congress.

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government

Political system by which a body of people is administered and regulated. Different levels of government typically have different responsibilities. The level closest to those governed is local government. Regional governments comprise a grouping of individual communities. National governments nominally control all the territory within internationally recognized borders and have responsibilities not shared by their subnational counterparts. Most governments exercise executive, legislative (see legislature), and judicial (see judiciary) powers and split or combine them in various ways. Some also control the religious affairs of their people; others avoid any involvement with religion. Political forms at the national level determine the powers exercised at the subnational levels; these have included autocracy, democracy, fascism, monarchy, oligarchy, plutocracy (government by the wealthy), theocracy, and totalitarianism.

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central bank

Institution, such as the U.S. Federal Reserve System, charged with regulating the size of a nation's money supply, the availability and cost of credit, and the foreign exchange value of its currency (see foreign exchange). Central banks act as the fiscal agent of the government, issuing notes to be used as legal tender, supervising the operations of the commercial banking system, and implementing monetary policy. By increasing or decreasing the supply of money and credit, they affect interest rates, thereby influencing the economy. Modern central banks regulate the money supply by buying and selling assets (e.g., through the purchase or sale of government securities). They may also raise or lower the discount rate to discourage or encourage borrowing by commercial banks. By adjusting the reserve requirement (the minimum cash reserves that banks must hold against their deposit liabilities), central banks contract or expand the money supply. Their aim is to maintain conditions that support a high level of employment and production and stable domestic prices. Central banks also take part in cooperative international currency arrangements designed to help stabilize or regulate the foreign exchange rates of participating countries. Central banks have become varied in authority, autonomy, functions, and instruments of action, but there has been consistent increased emphasis on the interdependence of monetary and other national economic policies, especially fiscal policies and debt management policies. Seealso bank; investment bank; savings bank.

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Massif Central

Plateau region, south-central France. It is bordered by the lowlands of Aquitaine, the Loire basin, the Rhône-Saône valley, and the Mediterranean coastlands of Languedoc. Comprising about one-sixth of France, it occupies an area of 35,006 sq mi (90,665 sq km). It consists mainly of plateaus with elevations of 2,000 to 3,000 ft (600 to 900 m). Its highest peak is Puy de Sancy, which reaches 6,184 ft (1,885 m). It is the source of many rivers, including the Loire, Allier, Cher, and Creuse.

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Central Valley

Spanish Valle Central

Valley, Chile. Located in central Chile between the Western Cordillera of the Andes Mountains and the coastal range, it extends about 400 mi (650 km) from the Chacabuco Range in the north to the Bío-Bío River in the south. The agricultural heartland of Chile, it was the original centre of European colonization beginning in the mid-1500s, and it continues to be home to most Chileans. Santiago is at its northern end.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

Central Powers

World War I coalition that was defeated by the Allied Powers. Its primary members were the German empire and Austria-Hungary, the “central” European states that were at war from August 1914 against France, Britain, and Russia. The Ottoman empire entered the war on the side of the Central Powers in October 1914, followed by Bulgaria in October 1915.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

Central Park

Public park, New York, New York, U.S. Located in Manhattan, it occupies an area of 840 acres (340 hectares). It was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and opened in 1876; it was artificially landscaped to create an impression of wild and varied terrain. It includes footpaths and bicycle paths, athletic fields, boating lakes, and a zoo. Free public concerts and performances are frequent, notably the Shakespeare in the Park series at an open-air theatre. The Metropolitan Museum of Art adjoins the park.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

Principal intelligence and counterintelligence agency of the U.S., established in 1947 as a successor to the World War II-era Office of Strategic Services. The law limits its activities to foreign countries; it is prohibited from gathering intelligence on U.S. soil, which is a responsibility of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Officially a part of the U.S. Defense Department, it is responsible for preparing analyses for the National Security Council. Its budget is kept secret. Though intelligence gathering is its chief occupation, the CIA has also been involved in many covert operations, including the expulsion of Mohammad Mosaddeq from Iran (1953), the attempted Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba (1961), and support of the Nicaraguan contras in the 1980s.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

Central African Republic

formerly Ubangi-Shari

Country, central Africa. Area: 240,324 sq mi (622,436 sq km). Population (2005 est.): 4,038,000. Capital: Bangui. The people form heterogeneous ethnic groups, with the Banda, Baya (Gbaya), Mandjia, and Ngbaka constituting more than two-thirds of the inhabitants. Languages: French, Sango (both official), several others. Religions: Christianity (mostly other Christians [largely unaffiliated and independent]; also Roman Catholic, Protestant), Islam, traditional beliefs. Currency: CFA franc. The country is landlocked country and consists of a large rolling plateau. The northern half is characterized by savanna and is drained by tributaries of the Chari River. The southern half is densely forested. The country has a developing free-enterprise economy of mixed state and private structure, with agriculture as the main component. It is a republic with one legislative body; its chief of state is the president, assisted by the prime minister. For several centuries before the arrival of Europeans, the territory was exploited by slave traders. The French explored and claimed central Africa and in 1889 established a post at Bangui. They subsequently partitioned the territory into several colonies, one of which was Ubangi-Shari (Oubangui-Chari), the future Central African Republic; it later became part of French Equatorial Africa. Ubangi-Shari became a French overseas territory in 1946. It became an autonomous republic within the French Community in 1958 and achieved independence in 1960. In 1965 the military overthrew a civilian government and installed Jean-Bédel Bokassa, who in 1976 renamed the country the Central African Empire. He was overthrown in 1979 and the former name was restored, but the military again seized power in the 1980s. Elections in 1993 led to installation of a civilian government, which attempted to deal with continued political and economic instability that persisted into the 21st century. The government was overthrown in a 2003 coup, which led to the promulgation of a new constitution in 2004. A democratically elected government was installed in 2005.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.