resistance to liberalism (done) Flashcards
What traditional Aboriginal decision making processes encompass the values of Liberalism? Why are they important?
Equality and Democracy
They enhance Canada’s commitment to Liberalism
Name the person in particular that stands out when talking about the Liberalist Economic basis
Adam Smith
Who set down Liberalist political ideals?
John Stuart Mill
What did John Stuart Mill believe?
(two main takes on liberalism)
- people should be free and o as they wish, unless their actions harmed another person (“my fist ends where your face begins”)
- free speech! society could only develop through the free exchange and debate of various ideas.
What was John Stuart Mill against? Why?
Majority rule. He thought it was the tyranny of the majority and wanted governments to focus on the needs of the minority instead
What was John Stuart Mill’s take on oppression?
No one has the right to oppress or suppress another, regardless of any real or imagine superiority.
Instead of thinking about trade as a “winner-loser” situation, what did Adam Smith propose?
Trade can be mutually beneficial. Wealth is not based on gold and silver but on commodities.
According to Adam Smith, what determines the value of a commodity?
Its scarcity or demand as well as the labour that it takes to produce
Why was self interest an important factor in Adam Smith’s Liberal Economic system?
He believed that when people act in self-interest the profit is much higher.
What does the term “invisible hand” mean? Why was it named that?
-the unintended benefits of self-interest
-because it works just fine without government interference
Why did Smith advocate for little government interference in the economy?
Because he believed that the economy would regulate itself through the actions of the “invisible hand”
What does laissez-faire mean and who does the term belong to?
- “leave it alone”
- Adam Smith
What kind of role(s) did Adam Smith see for the government in the economy?
- needed to intervene in prevention of tedious labour on working class
- in favor of progressive taxation
What were some of the major disadvantages that society faced with the rise of capitalism and and the industrial revolution?
- low wages with intent to keep labour as cheap as possible
- working conditions were poor
- exploitation and child labour
what were some of the social issues brought on by the industrial revolution?
Urbanization caused people to move into cities without any real equipment looking for jobs. Making illnesses way easier to spread due to a lack of sanitization
What was the breaking point for the industrial revolution and the main reason for people to revolt against the system?
WEALTH DISPARITY!
What caused the rise of more socialist ideologies
some believed that wealth should be distributed equitably among workers instead of giving it to wealthy capitalists
Name the two most notable socialist theorists
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
In the book “The Communist Manifesto,” Marx and Engels stated that…
the poor treatment of the proletariat would result in the proletariat revolution.
Marx and Engels believed that after a revolution…
a communist society would emerge in which there would be no social classes.
What document was released from the Pope as a sign of support to the labour movement?
Rerum Novarum (“Of New things”)
Because liberalism believes in the equality of people, movements unfolded to protect those who are vulnerable. a direct result of this was further protection of…
human rights
What does USSR stand for?
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
What ideology did the Soviet union follow? When did it first take over?
Communism
After WWI
What were “Kulaks”?
The rich peasant class in the Soviet Union.
Name the totalitarian Russian leader that detained, tortured, and murdered farmer’s who tried to revolt against his dictatorship
Josef Stalin
What caused Ukraine to end up in
“Holomodor” (a great famine)
Strict government policies from the Soviet Union that required almost all foodstuffs to be exported out of Ukraine.
How did Hitler become such a totalitarian dictator?
The nazis were able to take control of Reichstag, Germany’s Parliament, and dismantled its liberal democratic elements.
After WWII, what two nations emerged as the two superpowers?
The Soviet Union and The United States of America.
Why is the Cold war named that?
Because it was never a war with bombs and explosives but more so a clash of ideologies that were trying to be protected by either side.
What were spheres of influence?
regions in which one of the superpowers was more dominant than the other
NATO and The Warsaw Pact were created in order to…
solidify their spheres of influence. By founding international alliances based on mutual protection, in which an attack on one ally would be construed as an attack on all those in alliance.
Winston Churchill famously referred to what as “The Iron Curtain”?
The buffer zone that the Soviet Union was keeping in Hungary and Czechoslovakia with the help of The Warsaw Pact.
What did The United States do in spirit of “containment” to stop the spread of communism?
Banking anti-communist elements of regimes.
How did mutually assured destruction (MAD) result in relative peace?
Neither superpower could attack the other without causing its own destruction.
What happened in the cuban Missile Crisis?
American spy planes found Soviet missile bases being built in Cuba.
What is one modern example of the imposition of liberalism?
The U.S declaring war on Afghanistan after 9/11 because they supported terrorists and because their regime was extremely oppressive.
Why is environmentalism an example of resistance to liberalism?
Because protecting the environment requires taking away some freedoms from people. it comes with economic and social costs that liberal societies have been reluctant to pay.
how was liberalism challenged by the aboriginal collective thought?
by the way land was used and ownership was viewed, as well as the collective Aboriginal community versus the focus on the individual in the European way of thinking.
in what ways can religion sometimes intervene with liberalism?
Although liberal societies allow everyone to practice their religion freely, sometimes it comes in concat with the law, and is not allowed. Example: polygamy is forbidden in Canada but practiced by some religions.
What is Detente?
a series of treaties made between the Soviet Union and the US drafted to limit the nuclear arsenals of the superpowers and to prevent the development of nuclear weapons in other countries.
The most important treaties are…
- The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty 1968 (NPT)
- The first Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty 1972 (SALT I)
- The Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty 1972 (ABM treaty)
- The second Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty 1979 (SALT II)
When did the period of detente end?
1979 with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and tensions once again began to rise.
What ultimately ended the Cold War in the mid 1980’s
Gobachev introduces a series of new reforms: Perestroika (restructuring), the reform of the soviet economy, and glasnost (openness), the reform of the soviet political structure to make it more transparent and free. Ultimately resulting in the collapse of the Soviet Union.
