IB History How Did Popular Movements Create Change? Key Definitions

A principle of non-violence rooted in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain traditions. Gandhi made it central to the Indian independence movement, arguing that non-violence was not passive but required active courage. It meant refusing to cause harm to any living being, even in the face of provocation.

The deliberate, non-violent refusal to obey unjust laws or government demands, as a form of political protest. Gandhi's civil disobedience campaigns (1930-1934) involved mass law-breaking, including the Salt March, refusal to pay taxes, and boycotts of British goods and institutions.

A sudden, illegal overthrow of a government, often carried out by the military. The term comes from French, meaning 'blow of state.'

To remove rights and privileges, such as the right to vote. In Rhodesia, the white government used property and wealth restrictions to disenfranchise the Black majority.

In Egypt, the State of Emergency law was in effect almost continuously from 1967 to 2012. It gave the president and security forces sweeping powers: suspending constitutional rights, censoring media, restricting public gatherings, detaining people indefinitely without charge and trying civilians in military courts. Its repeal was a key demand of the 2011 revolutionaries.

The granting of the right to vote. In the context of the suffrage movement, it refers to extending voting rights to women. In the Canadian Indigenous context, it had a different meaning: the process by which an Indigenous person gave up their legal status and rights as an Indigenous person in exchange for Canadian citizenship.

A form of irregular warfare in which small groups use ambushes, sabotage, raids, and hit-and-run tactics against a larger, conventional military force. The term comes from the Spanish word for 'little war.'

A Canadian federal law that governs matters relating to First Nations peoples and their reserves. It defined who qualified as "Indian," imposed the band council system, restricted cultural practices and controlled nearly every aspect of Indigenous life. It has been amended many times but remains in force.

Founded in 1885, the INC was the main political organisation leading India's independence movement. Initially moderate and dominated by educated elites, it became a mass movement under Gandhi's leadership in the 1920s. After independence in 1947, it became India's dominant political party.

A committee or council that rules a country, usually after seizing power by force. The term is most commonly associated with military rulers of Latin American countries.

The approach of working within existing political and legal systems to achieve gender equality through legislation, litigation, and lobbying.

In the suffragette context, the use of increasingly aggressive and confrontational tactics to advance political goals. WSPU militancy escalated from heckling and disruption (1905-1908) to window-smashing and arson (1912-1914). The term was debated within the movement, with some seeing it as necessary and others as counterproductive.

Tactics that apply public, political, legal, economic, or moral pressure on a government or opponent without organised armed force. Examples include petitions, boycotts, strikes, marches, sit-ins, and civil disobedience. Non-violent methods worked by making repression visible and costly, rather than by physically overpowering the state.

Founded in 1897 by Millicent Fawcett, the NUWSS was the largest suffrage organisation in Britain. It used constitutional, non-violent methods such as petitions, lobbying and public meetings to campaign for women's voting rights. Often called "suffragists" to distinguish them from the more militant suffragettes of the WSPU.

Founded in 1903 by Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters in Manchester, the WSPU was the most militant wing of the British suffrage movement. Its members, known as "suffragettes", used tactics ranging from disruption and civil disobedience to arson and window-smashing. Its motto was "Deeds, not words."