Final Study Guide

Question 1

Social Contract:

Answer 1

The government was created through the people’s consent to be ruled by the majority.

Question 2

Socialism:

Answer 2

Any ideology that believes that the public should control resources for the benefit of everyone in society and not by private interests for the benefit of private owners and investors. Socialism is a collectivist political and economic ideology that includes everything from Democratic Socialism (closer to modern liberalism) to Communism (on the far left of the spectrum. The economy should be owned collectively. An early Socialist thinker: Karl Marx (Communist, originator of the concept).

Question 3

Jean-Jacques Rousseau:

Answer 3

Major work: The Social Contract
Perspective on humanity: Man is born free, forever in chains - corrupted by society and ownership of property
Concern: Opposed to representative democracy - wants people to make laws directly; against religion

Question 4

John Locke:

Answer 4

Major work: Two Treatises of Government
Perspective on humanity: Reasonable, intelligent and can make rational decisions
Concern: Believed in democracy - that the PEOPLE were the source of power - the reason why government exists is to protect life, property and freedom.

Question 5

John Stuart Mill:

Answer 5

Major work: Liberty
Perspective on humanity: Humans desire perfection and sympathy for other human beings. People can improve themselves and want to
Concern: Only limits that should be placed on individuals were those that would protect others (called the harm principle). Believed strongly in individual freedom and freedom of speech.

Question 6

Adam Smith:

Answer 6

Major work: The Wealth of Nations
Perspective on humanity: People are motivated by self-interest, but when followed, they will unwittingly end up helping everyone else
Concern: Disagreed with mercantilism, believed individuals should work for their own self-interest in a free-market system. The government’s role should be limited to maintaining the rule of law, ensuring contracts are followed, and some limited public works (education, road maintenance, etc.)

Question 7

Karl Marx:

Answer 7

Marx wrote “The Communist Manifesto.” He thought that society, through revolution, could move closer to a state of “Communism.” His ideology was that the collective is more important than the individual. Marx was the foundation to marxism.

Question 8

Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu:

Answer 8

Major work: The Spirit of Laws
Perspective on humanity: Believed in the worth of the individual and that all men were equal
Concern: Separation of powers (believed it should be divided into judicial, legislative and executive). Accountability of the government to the people.

Question 9

Thomas Hobbes:

Answer 9

Major work: Leviathan
Perspective on humanity: Nasty, brutish, violent, can’t be trusted
Concern: Concerned about the safety of individuals - but came to the conclusion that we need security more than we need freedom.

Question 10

Reactionary:

Answer 10

Tending to oppose change. A reactionary change in a political regime often idealizes the past and accepts economic inequality.

Question 11

Classical Liberalism:

Answer 11

Classical liberalism is a political tradition and a branch of liberalism that advocates free market and laissez-faire economics; civil liberties under the rule of law with special emphasis on individual autonomy, limited government, economic freedom, political freedom and freedom of speech. The Industrial Revolution and the practice of Classical Liberal ideas were great for business owners but bad for most people in society, leading to Modern Liberal ideas.

Question 12

Haudenosaunee Confederacy (aka Iroquois Confederacy):

Answer 12

Haudenosaunee Confederacy (aka Iroquois Confederacy) includes some early liberal ideas that were developed before European philosophers started talking about them. Some democratic forms of government. Great Law of Peace = freedom of speech, religion, and rights of the individual. Rights for women (veto policy male leaders made). Some believe that the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and the ideas contained in it helped influence the development of the American Constitution (comparison to the Bill of Rights)

Question 13

Liberal Democracy:

Answer 13

The USA is a liberal democracy (republic because they don’t have a monarch as the head of state), but they elect nearly every position (including the president, senate, house of reps, and many positions that, in Canada, are appointed)

Question 14

Modern Liberalism:

Answer 14

More collectivist principles to protect individuals while keeping many individual freedoms. Utopian socialism, Grassroots movements, Welfare capitalism, classical conservatism, and Keynesian economics developed in response.

Question 15

The Industrial Revolution:

Answer 15

The Industrial Revolution was the transition from creating goods by hand to using machines. The Industrial Revolution and the practice of Classical Liberal ideas were great for business owners but bad for most people in society, leading to Modern Liberal ideas
Horrible working conditions, long hours in factories
Child Labour
Urbanization, overcrowding in cities (disease)
Massive income inequality

Question 16

Industrialization:

Answer 16

The stage of economic development during which the application of technology results in mass production and mass consumption within a country. This is accompanied by urbanization and changes in national living standards.

Question 17

Labour Standards and Unions:

Answer 17

The effort by organized labour to improve conditions for workers. Collective interest is the basis for the organized labour movement, which began during, and as a result of, the Industrial Revolution. Labour standards aimed for safe, clean working environments and protecting workers’ rights to free association, collective bargaining and freedom from discrimination. Unions were associations of workers engaged in a similar function who unite to speak with management about their concerns. Their purpose is to provide a united voice that speaks for the rights of its members.

Question 18

Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

Answer 18

A resolution adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1948. The declaration outlines the human rights to which all people are entitled.

Question 19

Voting Rights:

Answer 19

From 1867-1919, the classical liberal idea that voting was only a privilege for a few was replaced by the modern liberal concept that the franchise (right to vote) was a right granted to all men (at first). In 1920, the Dominion Elections Act in Canada extended the right to all citizens of European descent (men and women). The Inuit gained the right to vote in 1950 (but no polling stations were set up in the North until the 1960s). First Nations people could not vote without giving up their status until 1960. In 1988 people with mental disabilities were given the franchise, and in 2002, it was extended to prison inmates.

Question 20

Welfare State:

Answer 20

A state in which the economy is capitalist, but the government uses policies that directly or indirectly modify the market forces in order to ensure economic stability and a basic standard of living for its citizens, usually through social programs.

Question 21

Bourgeoisie:

Answer 21

In Marxist contexts - the capitalist class who own most of society’s wealth and means of production.

Question 22

Proletariat:

Answer 22

Workers or working-class people regarded collectively often used with reference to Marxism.

Question 23

Democratic Socialism:

Answer 23

The public holds much of the property through a democratically elected government, including most major industries, utilities, and transportation systems. There is a limit on the accumulation of private property and governmental regulation of the economy.

Question 24

The Great Depression:

Answer 24

An economic crisis that began in late 1929 with the stock market crash and continued through the 1930s. During this period, banks failed, factories closed, many people became unemployed, and international trade declined. After the stock market crashed, the world was plunged into the great depression. Many felt that laissez-faire capitalism (classical liberalism) had failed. John Maynard Keynes proposed a way out of the great depression by proposing a method for governments to control boom and bust cycles (many believe Keynesian economics was the origin of the mixed economy). As a result of Keynes’s ideas, the modern liberal idea of the welfare state emerged. President Franklin Roosevelt implemented the New Deal, which focused on relief and recovery from the Great Depression and included many new agencies designed to aid recovery and get people back to work. In Canada, Prime Minister Mackenzie King created new social programs and moved Canada toward a mixed economy with more intervention.

Question 25

Marxism:

Answer 25

A radical form of socialism, often called scientific socialism or communism, to distinguish it from other socialist ideologies.

Question 26

Utopian Socialism:

Answer 26

Humanitarians who advocated an end to the appalling conditions of the average worker in the industrial capitalist countries of the 19th century; people who believe it is possible to work to bring about a better world and that obvious evils can be eradicated. Utopian socialism is achieved through the moral persuasion of capitalists to surrender the means of production peacefully to the people.

Question 27

Bolsheviks:

Answer 27

Both Stalin & Lenin took inspiration from the “Communist Manifesto.” They formed a group called the SDLP (Social Democratic Labour Party) which the Czar banned, and both Lenin and Stalin served time in Siberia. Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin worked together on an illegal newspaper called “Iskra,” and the SDLP split into the Bolsheviks (more radical) and the Mensheviks. Stalin helped raise money for the Bolsheviks by robbing banks, kidnapping for ransom and extortion.

Question 28

Fascism:

Answer 28

Fascism is an extreme and authoritarian “right wing” ideology that wholly rejects the values of liberalism based on these values:
Social Darwinism
Some people/races are better than others
Dominating others can be achieved through discipline, obedience and violence
Maintain control through techniques of dictatorship
It was an anti-democratic nationalist movement which led to totalitarian forms of government in Germany and Italy from the 1920s to the 1940s.

Question 29

Leninism:

Answer 29

The land is given back to people, factories are given to the people (they got to decide wages), and men and women are considered equal. Art and music were allowed to flourish as long as they glorified communism and the revolution. The market was made illegal, which banned private trade/ownership/property, the property was confiscated from the upper classes, businesses and factories were nationalized, surplus crops were seized, and consumer goods were rationed. A new Economic Policy was introduced afterwards - recognizing that war communism went too fast and allowed some ownership of farmland, deciding what they produced, and other limited economic freedoms, but the state still maintained control of banking, large industry, transportation & foreign trade.

Question 30

Nazism:

Answer 30

To maintain control, the Nazis used the following:
Censorship: Banning material deemed offensive
Glorifying Leader/Cult of the Leader: Everything Hiter does is amazing!
Rewriting Curriculum/Indoctrination: Teaching children hate in school
Scapegoating: Blaming others for problems you created
Propaganda: False/misleading information to get your message across
Imprisoning Dissidents/Concentration Camps: Jews, political opponents, genocide, the holocaust
Controlled Participation: Holding elections with only one party on the ballot
Secret Police/Terror and Fear: Never know who’s watching you

Question 31

Stalinism:

Answer 31

After Lenin died, Stalin took over in Russia and truly implemented an authoritarian communist regime. He exiles Leon Trotsky to Mexico and then has him assassinated. Stalin claimed to be a “Marxist Leninist,” but his desire for absolute power and control created his own brand of communism. Remember, Marxism called for the people to be in charge - NOT a dictatorship. He created “Gulag” prison camps for those who opposed him. He used the secret police (NKVD) to control and terrorize people. Purges of 1936 and 1939 killed off opponents in his own party and military. He rewrote history by altering Soviet archives and photographs to serve his purposes. Rapid industrialization through Five-Year Plans caused massive human suffering.
Collectivization of all farms - private farms taken by force and turned into state farms.
Collectivization of farms
Lead to the Holodomour, Ukranian Hunger Famine (nearly 20 Million Starved to Death because of Stalin - considered a genocide)

Question 32

McCarthyism:

Answer 32

McCarthyism was an anti-communist movement in the United States during the 1950s, led by Republican senator Joseph McCarthy. It was intended to uncover and persecute those with perceived ties to communism within the US government, universities and entertainment industries. Many people had their reputations and lives ruined by even being accused of being associated with communism.

Question 33

Containment:

Answer 33

Stopping the spread of communism (USA: Marshall Plan and Truman Doctrine / USSR: Molotov Plan), Berlin Wall.

Question 34

Detente:

Answer 34

Calming things down with SALT I/II, NPT, Helsinki Accords, INF.

Question 35

Deterrence:

Answer 35

We have more bombs than you… so don’t even think about dropping any of yours on us!

Question 36

Liberation Movements:

Answer 36

People wanted democracy in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Poland, fall of the Berlin Wall.

Question 37

The Hungarian Revolution of 1956:

Answer 37

It was a spontaneous protest against the Soviet control of Hungary. It spread quickly - after secret police fired upon them, civilians armed themselves and fought back, taking control of much of the country. The Soviet Union sent in troops to reaffirm their control, and nearly 2500 people died, and 200 000 Hungarians left the country. By 1957, nearly all opposition was gone - but the invasion harmed people in the West who sympathized with communism.

Question 38

Prague Spring, Czechoslovakia, 1968:

Answer 38

Refers to a period of liberation in Czechoslovakia when Alexander Dubcek came to power. He was more liberal, granting additional rights, more capitalism, less media censorship, and more freedom of speech. As a response, the Soviets invaded and replaced Dubcek, occupying Czechoslovakia until 1990 and reversing all of Dubcek’s reforms.

Question 39

Lech Walesa and Solidarity in Poland, 1980:

Answer 39

“Solidarity,” a union founded by Lech Walesa in Poland in 1980, was anti-communist in a communist country. It became so powerful that the Soviets had to negotiate, with semi-free elections being held in Poland in 1989 with Walesa as president. He created more anti-communist feelings in other communist countries.

Question 40

The Berlin Wall Falls, East Germany, 1989:

Answer 40

The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 to keep East Germans (communists) from escaping to West Germany (liberal, democratic). People who tried to escape were shot. In 1989, a wave of democratic feeling and protest spread across Europe. In November of 1989, the barrier between East and West Germany was opened - and people tore down the wall, and people from both sides embraced! Some call this moment the unofficial end of the Cold War.

Question 41

Non-aligned Movements:

Answer 41

Rather than join the USA or USSR, some countries chose their own ideologies. Those countries met in Bandung, Indonesia, in April 1955 to discuss economic and cultural cooperation. In 1961, another conference in Serbia officially created the “Non-Aligned Movement” (NAM), countries not on either side of the Cold War - these countries became known as “Third World” nations. Even though these countries desired to be on their own, they were pursued aggressively by the USA and USSR to join their respective sides. The countries were focused on economic cooperation, human rights, and the principle of self-determination.

Question 42

Proxy Wars:

Answer 42

A way for the USA and USSR to battle each other’s ideologies without actually fighting each other

Question 43

The Korean War:

Answer 43

In the negotiations after WWII, it was agreed that the US and Soviet occupation zones in former Japan-occupied territory would stop at the “38th” parallel. This resulted in a divided country. The Soviet Union left North Korea in 1948, and by 1950, the communist Kim Il-Sung took over and invaded the south with the USSR’s help. After North Korea invaded South Korea, the freshly minted UN sent troops from 15 countries to push the North Koreans out of South Korea. A few months later, the North was pushed back to the 38th parallel, but the US didn’t stop - it kept going - which alarmed China, who then entered the war and helped push the South back. Three long years of conflict with very little movement ended with an armistice (ceasefire agreement) in 1953. The war is technically ongoing, with troops stationed in the DMZ (demilitarized zone) that was created as part of the ceasefire agreement.

Question 44

The Vietnam War:

Answer 44

Vietnam was divided at the 17th parallel (communist north and non-communist south), and elections were to be held in the south. The US feared the Communists would win the election, so they started supporting the government of South Vietnam in 1956 militarily. By 1966, there were over half a million US troops fighting in Vietnam. The war led to over 2 million Vietnamese deaths and over 58 000 US military deaths. The US faced huge pressure from back home due to peace movements and high death tolls and pulled out of Vietnam in 1973. Vietnam was unified in 1976 and became a single-party communist country and remains so today.

Question 45

The Soviet War in Afghanistan:

Answer 45

Sometimes referred to as the USSR’s “Vietnam War” because of its failure. The USSR invaded Afghanistan in 1979 to support the pro-communist PDPA (Marxist People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan) against the Mujahideen (Muslim resistance fighters). They were fighting for communism. The Americans supported the Mujahideen fighters with weapons and arms in a secret operation as a proxy to fight the USSR. The USSR found it nearly impossible to win the war and finally left in 1989. They left because of the US & Saudi support for Mujahideen fighters, the greater loyalty of many Afghans to their clan instead of the central government, and the lack of support from rural areas for the communist government.

Question 46

Chile’s ties with the CIA:

Answer 46

The USA interfered heavily in Chilean elections using the CIA to prevent a socialist from coming to power. Despite their efforts, Salvador Allende was elected in 1970, to the dismay of the Americans. President Nixon authorized the CIA to create political instability, which led to a military coup by General Augusto Pinochet, who was a brutal dictator who brought in free market capitalism. The American government claims it didn’t help Pinochet directly but admitted it helped create the conditions that led to the coup.

Question 47

Iran-Contra Affair:

Answer 47

In the 1980s, under President Reagan, a fiercely free-market-oriented leader, the USA wanted to eliminate all communist influence in South and Central America (target: Nicaragua). He directed various US security agencies to funnel money to cocaine-dealing rebels in Nicaragua (known as Contras) to fight the Socialist Nicaraguan government. Disagreeing Democrat-controlled US Congress passed laws preventing this, so then the NSC (National Security Council) secretly made money by selling weapons to Iranian moderates, whom they hoped would help free US hostages who were held in Lebanon at the time (but the money for the Contras was the goal). A Lebanese newspaper broke the story, making all of this public, leading to charges and convictions of conspiracy & obstruction of justice. The next president (George HW Bush) pardoned those found guilty, removing all their consequences.

Question 48

Indian Act:

Answer 48

An act of Parliament first passed in 1867, since
amended many times, dealing with the governance of reserves and the rights and benefits of registered individuals. The act includes First Nations peoples (and their descendants) who signed treaties or were otherwise registered in the act.

Question 49

Indigenous Collective Thought:

Answer 49

Fighting for collective rights to be recognized

Question 50

American Bill of Rights:

Answer 50

The first 10 amendments to the US Constitution. Ratified by the original 13 states by 1791, it is based primarily on John Locke’s concept of “natural rights” for all individuals, including life, liberty, and the protection of property.

Question 51

Anti-Terrorism Act (Canada):

Answer 51

Designed to prevent terrorists from getting into Canada and protect Canadians from terrorist acts. Activate tools to identify, prosecute, and punish terrorists were implemented. The Act was challenged but upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada. The Supreme Court said it is a reasonable limit on freedoms to keep people safe.

Question 52

FLQ Crisis:

Answer 52

The War Measures Act was in place until 1988, which gave the government sweeping powers to suspend civil liberties in times of national emergency. It was last used in 1970, during the October Crisis in Quebec, where a Quebecois extremist group known as the FLQ conducted a campaign of bombing and kidnapping to bring attention to their cause.

Question 53

Non-confidence Vote:

Answer 53

If support of the house is lost, a non-confidence vote is held, and if lost, an election is triggered.

Question 54

Postmodernism:

Answer 54

Skeptical society can be improved, no set moral or political ideas.

Question 55

Anti-War Movements:

Answer 55

Organized campaigns against war. The Vietnam anti-war movement gained public support during the late 1960s and contributed to the United States ending that war. These movements can be pacifist in general and aimed at ending or restricting the military policy options, or they can be movements opposing specific military campaigns.

Question 56

Civil-Rights Movements:

Answer 56

Popular movements, notably in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s, that work to extend rights to marginalized members of society. Often these struggles aim not only for legal and civic rights, but also for respect, dignity, and economic and social equality for all.

Question 57

The Orange Revolution:

Answer 57

The Orange Revolution was a series of protests and political events that took place in Ukraine from late November 2004 to January 2005, in the immediate aftermath of the run-off vote of the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election, which was claimed to be marred by massive corruption, voter intimidation and electoral fraud. Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, was the focal point of the movement’s campaign of civil resistance, with thousands of protesters demonstrating daily.

Question 58

War Resistors:

Answer 58

The United States invaded Iraq in 2003 with the support of many of its allies - but not Canada - under the pretense that Saddam Hussein was developing weapons of mass destruction. He wasn’t, but the US fabricated this evidence to back up their reasoning for going to war. Many soldiers in the US military, believing the war was unjust, refused to be deployed and faced military punishment as a result. Around 200 soldiers fled to Canada. Unlike Vietnam war resisters, who were given support from the government to stay in Canada, the government hasn’t been as supportive, and as of 2016, only 15 remained in Canada, the rest deported and forced to face justice for deserting their posts.