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ombudsman

(Encyclopedia)ombudsman ämˈbədzmən [key] [Swed.,=agent or representative], public official appointed to deal with individual complaints against government acts. The office originated in Sweden in 1809 when the ...

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development

(Encyclopedia)Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), international organization that came into being in 1961. It superseded the Organization for European Economic Cooperation, which had been ...

Karelian Isthmus

(Encyclopedia)Karelian Isthmus, land bridge, NW European Russia, connecting Russia and Finland. Situated between the Gulf of Finland in the west and Lake Ladoga in the east, it is 25 to 70 mi (40–113 km) wide and...

Whitelocke, Bulstrode

(Encyclopedia)Whitelocke, Bulstrode bo͝olˈstrōd hwĭtˈlŏk [key], 1605–75, English statesman. A lawyer and member of the Long Parliament, he was head of the committee that managed the prosecution of Thomas We...

wage and price controls

(Encyclopedia)wage and price controls, economic policy measure in which the government places a ceiling on wages and prices to curb inflation. Also known as incomes policy, such programs have generally been avoided...

Björling, Jussi

(Encyclopedia)Björling, Jussi yo͞osˈsĭ byörˈlĭng [key], 1911–60, Swedish tenor. He studied at the Royal Opera School in Stockholm, making his debut there in 1930 as Don Ottavio in Mozart's Don Giovanni. He...

Breitenfeld

(Encyclopedia)Breitenfeld brīˈtənfĕltˌ [key], village, Saxony, S central E Germany. It gave its name to two battles of the Thirty Years War. Gustavus Adolphus (Gustavus II) of Sweden there defeated the imperia...

Reinfeldt, Fredrik

(Encyclopedia)Reinfeldt, Fredrik frāˈdrĭk rīnˈfĕld [key] 1965–, Swedish politician. A member of the center-right Moderate party, he joined its Youth League in the 1980s, was first elected to parliament in 1...

Devolution, War of

(Encyclopedia)Devolution, War of, 1667–68, undertaken by Louis XIV for the conquest of the Spanish Netherlands. On her marriage to Louis, Marie Thérèse, daughter of Philip IV of Spain, had renounced her rights ...

Chambers, Sir William

(Encyclopedia)Chambers, Sir William, 1723–96, English architect, b. Gothenburg, Sweden. He traveled extensively in the East Indies and in China making drawings of gardens and buildings, many of which were later p...