IB History Political Opposition Key Definitions

The period of direct British rule over the Indian subcontinent from 1858 to 1947. It began after the British Crown took control from the East India Company following the 1857 revolt. "Raj" is a Hindi word meaning "rule" or "reign."

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.'

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 grassroots Indigenous protest movement that began in late 2012 in response to the Canadian government's omnibus Bill C-45, which weakened environmental protections for waterways and made it easier to lease reserve land. It grew into a broader movement for Indigenous sovereignty, environmental protection and treaty rights, using social media, teach-ins, round dances and blockades.

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.

An Islamist political organization founded in Egypt in 1928. Initially supportive of the Free Officers, it was banned by Nasser in 1954 after an assassination attempt, and its members were imprisoned or exiled.

A British law that extended voting rights to all men over 21 and to women over 30 who met certain property qualifications. It enfranchised about 8.5 million women, roughly two-thirds of the female population. It was the first time women could vote in British parliamentary elections.

A system of boarding schools in Canada, funded by the federal government and run mostly by churches, that operated from the 1880s to 1996. Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families, forbidden from speaking their languages or practising their cultures, and subjected to widespread abuse. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission called it "cultural genocide."

British colonial laws that extended wartime emergency powers, allowing detention without trial and trials without jury for suspected revolutionaries. They provoked widespread protest across India and directly led to the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar.

The collective leadership of the Egyptian military that took power after Mubarak's resignation on 11 February 2011. Led by Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, SCAF governed Egypt during the transitional period, overseeing elections while also suppressing protests and consolidating military influence over the political system.

An economic system where production is primarily aimed at meeting the basic needs of the community rather than generating surplus for trade or profit. Indigenous economies in Canada were traditionally organised around subsistence, with resources harvested according to what was available, needed and could be regenerated.

A major public square in central Cairo that became the focal point of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution. Hundreds of thousands of protesters gathered there from 25 January 2011, and the sustained occupation became a symbol of popular resistance to Mubarak's regime. The name means "Liberation Square" in Arabic.

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."