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77 Cards in this Set
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absolute monarchy
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a monarchy with unrestrained powers.
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Bolsheviks
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the faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party, led by Vladimir Lenin, that seized power in the 1917 revolution and became the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
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civic nationalism
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nationalism promoted “from above” by leaders like Bismarck and Cavour, as distinguished from popular nationalism initiated “from below”.
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class consciousness
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a term Karl Marx used to describe the development of a revolutionary frame of mind among workers (the proletariat) in capitalist societies.
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colonialism
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the practice of one country extending control over another by establishing a colony and sending settlers there.
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communism
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a political theory advocating a society in which all property is publicly owned, social classes and the state disappear, and everyone receives his or her basic needs.
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Concert of Europe
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the alliance of European monarchies after 1815, designed to prevent or crush any threat to their conservative regimes.
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constitutional monarchy
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a monarchy that is limited in its powers by a written or unwritten constitution, as distinguished from an absolute monarchy.
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divine right
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the doctrine that rulers derive their right to govern from God.
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economic determinism
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Marx’s theory that all aspects of a society are determined by the economic basis of that society.
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enclosure movement
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in British history, the practice of fencing off into private property land formerly considered community property.
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Enlightenment
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the 18th century philosophy and trend that emphasized reason, individualism, and human rights as opposed to tradition.
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eugenics
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the study of methods to improve the human race through control of mating and heredity by society, often by discouraging propagation by those deemed inferior or unfit.
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feudalism
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the social and economic system in medieval Europe, where a vassal held land from a superior in exchange for allegiance and service.
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historical materialism
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a part of Marxist theory holding that each stage of the historical development of a society is based on economic factors particularly the means of production.
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Holy Alliance
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formed in 1815 and inspired by Russian tsar Alexander I, an agreement among Russia, Austria, and Prussia to maintain and protect the Christian monarchies of Europe.
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ideology
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the system of ideas at the basis of an economic or political theory.
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imperialism
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the policy of a state to acquire dependent territories or extend a country’s influence over other states.
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irredentism
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a policy advocating the acquisition of some region included in another country, usually based on ethnicity.
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Leninism
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modifications of Marxist theory by the Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin in the early twentieth century, emphasizing the role of the “vanguard of the party” in stimulating a revolution in Russia, even though it was not yet an advanced capitalist society.
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liberalism
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a set of ideas in the mid-nineteenth century, promoted especially by the educated middle class, favoring Enlightenment ideas of progress, individual rights, voting rights, and constitutionalism.
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Marxism
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the body of economic, political, and social theories developed by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in the nineteenth century that included a “scientific” philosophy of history, a critique o capitalism, and a prediction of the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism and its replacement with communism.
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mercantilism
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an important economic policy in Western Europe from about 1500 until the Industrial Revolution an the advent of laissez-faire ideas.
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nation
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a group of people with a common culture, sense of identity, and political aspirations.
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nationalism
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a political and social philosophy in which the good of the nation is paramount.
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nation-state
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a state (with a government) that is made up largely of one nation.
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old regime (ancient regime)
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the old regime political and social system in France before the French Revolution of 1789, characterized by an absolute monarchy, mercantilism, and a rigid and hierarchical social structure.
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popular nationalism
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Nationalism promoted “from below” by the masses, as opposed to civic nationalism promoted by political leaders.
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proletariat
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the term used in Marxist theory to describe the working class, which would eventually lead a revolution to overthrow the capitalist order.
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romanticism
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a movement in the arts which favored a return to nature, exaltation of emotion and the senses over the intellect, and a revolt against 18th century rationalism.
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separatism
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a form of nationalism in which a national or ethnic group whishes to separate from a larger state or empire to form its own nation-state.
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social contract
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an Enlightenment-era philosophy that contended that people escape from the state of nature by forming a contract to crate a government, which is then responsible for the protection of these people.
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socialism
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a theory that advocates popular or government ownership or regulation of the economy with the principle aims of providing basic human needs and reducing social and economic inequality.
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state
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an organized political entity that occupies a definite territory and has a government that possesses sovereignty.
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suffrage
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the right to vote in political elections.
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tariffs
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in international trade, a from of economic protectionism in which a country attaches taxes to imports, thus reducing their competitive advantage with domestic products.
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Third World
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a term developed during the Cold War to describe the developing countries of the non-Western world, mostly in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
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apartheid
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the policy of racial segregation practiced by the government of South Africa before black majority-rule government was achieved in 1994.
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Balkans
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the Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe comprising Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, and parts of former Yugoslavia.
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Cold War
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the term used to describe the warlike state of tension between the Soviet Union and the United States from the end of World War II until the collapse of communism in 1989-1991.
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despotism
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a form of government led by a tyrant, despot, or absolute ruler.
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First World
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a term used after World War II to describe the most developed countries in the world, mostly in Western Europe and North America, as distinguished from the communist Second World and developing Third World countries.
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five-year plan
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in the Soviet Union, government-controlled economic plans first implemented by Stalin in 1929, with the aim of rapid industrialization.
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Fourteen Points
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the World War I peace proposal of U.S. president Woodrow Wilson in 1918, included appeals for self-determination of nations and the creation of a League of Nations.
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Great Purge
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in the Soviet Union between 1934 and 1938, a repressive wave of terror that Stalin used to eliminate opposition and help establish his own unchallenged leadership.
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League of Nations
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an international organization formed after World War I to promote peaceful settlement of international disputes through collective security.
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national self-determination
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the doctrine that postulates the right of a nation to have its own state and to choose its own form of government.
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nihilists
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(meaning nothing), a doctrine that rejects all existing moral principles and social, economic, and political institutions.
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populists
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a 19th century socialist movement of mostly intellectuals, who sought to transform society by basing it on the traditional peasant commune.
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protectorate
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a state that is controlled or protected by another.
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Scramble for Africa
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the rapid, competitive colonization of Africa by the European powers at he end of the 19th century.
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Second World
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a synonym for the communist states during the Cold War, including especially the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
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Slavophiles
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a group in 19th century Russia that saw Russia’s greatness as springing from traditional institutions like the Orthodox Church or the village commune and therefore opposed the Westernization of Russia.
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Triple Alliance
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an alliance from the 1880s until World War I between Austria-Hungary, Germany, and Italy (central powers).
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Triple Entente
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The loose alliance between Britian, France, an Russia from 1907, becoming a formal alliance at the beginning of World War I in 1914 (allied powers).
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Berlin airlift
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the yearlong airlift of supplies by the United States to West Berlin, begun in 1948 after the Soviet Union blocked access to West Berlin from Western Germany; a key element in the beginning of the Cold War.
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Brezhnev Doctrine
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a policy enunciated by Soviet Communist Party leader Leonid Brezhnev that justified Soviet military intervention in neighboring socialist states that had strayed too far from the Soviet Union.
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Charter 77
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the document signed in 1977 by a group of Czechoslovak intellectuals that called on the government to respect human rights guaranteed in the Helsinki Agreements. Came to refer to the human rights movement in that country.
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Collectivization of agriculture
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the forcible merger of individual peasant farms into collective farms, begun by Soviet party leader Stalin in 1929.
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Common Market
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an area free of barriers to trade; term used o describe the early versions of the European Union.
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Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA or Comecon)
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an organization created by Moscow in 1949 to coordinate trade and integrate the economies of the Eastern European communist states. Dissolved in 1991.
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European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC)
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a common market in coal and steel established by France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Holland, and Luxembourg in 1951; a forerunner of the EEC and the European Union.
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European Economic Community (EEC)
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a successor to the ECSC established in 1957 to establish a complete common market among its member state; a predecessor of the European Union.
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European Union
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known as the European Community (EC) until 1994, an intergovernmental organization promoting economic union among its member states, numbering twenty-seven in 2010.
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Fascism
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a totalitarian ideology that looks to a strong dictator, reveres the nation or state, and emphasizes order, militarism, and sometimes racism.
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Functionalism
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the idea that international cooperation and peace can best be achieved through gradual expansion of economic and social cooperation among countries, rather than through political venues. A principal idea behind the formation of the Common Market in Europe after World War II.
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Helsinki Accords (or Agreements)
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a diplomatic treaty signed by thirty-five nations in Helsinki, Finland, in 1975, which obliged all signatory states to promote human rights. Became a basis for challenges to restrictions on those rights in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
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Isolationism
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a policy of the United States up until the early 20th century to avoid political or military entanglements with the world community, especially Europe.
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Marshall Plan
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a large-scale U.S. aid program to Western Europe from 1947-1952 to help rebuild the economies shattered by World War II.
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National Socialist German Workers’ Party
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the Nazi Party of Adolf Hitler.-
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North Atlantic Treaty Organization
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a regional mutual defense alliance formed by the United States in 1949 to block the threat to Soviet military aggression in Europe. Its membership expanded and its mission changed after the collages of communism in 1989-1991.
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Prague Spring
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the 1968 communist reform movement in Czechoslovakia that tried to create “socialism with a human face” but was crushed by Soviet military intervention in August of that year.
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Quotas
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in international trade, a fixed limit on imports of particular products from other countries, a form of protectionism that was largely eliminated among member states of the European Union.
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Socialist internationalism
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part of the foreign policy of the Soviet Union that subordinated national interests to international socialist ones; used to justify Soviet intervention in Eastern Europe.
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Solidarity
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the Polish social movement and trade union that emerged in 1980 to challenge communist rule, was crushed by martial law in 1981, and reemerged to win national elections in 1989.
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Soviet bloc
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the alliance of communist states in Eastern Europe during the Cold War dominated by the Soviet Union.
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Supranational
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organizations or processes that are “above” the traditional state or transcend it, as with some elements of the European Union.
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