IB History Regional Study 11: Social Movements in the Americas Key Definitions

A supporter of the abolition (ending) of slavery and the extension of equal rights to formerly enslaved people.

The process by which the cultural, political, and social differences between groups are erased, with subordinate groups taking on the characteristics of the dominant group. France pursued an assimilation policy in Algeria, attempting to make it culturally and administratively part of France.

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.

Money or material loaned to another party, with repayment expected in the future. Excessive credit can fuel economic bubbles and make economies vulnerable to sudden downturns.

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.

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 political system where democratic rights and participation are limited to one dominant racial or ethnic group, while other groups are excluded or oppressed. The term was used by historian George Frederickson to describe systems like late-Victorian Britain, where parliamentary democracy coexisted with imperialism and the exclusion of women and colonised peoples.

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.

The position that patriarchy is the root cause of women's oppression and that the entire social system, not just laws, needs to be transformed in order to achieve genuine equality.

The right of a people to decide their own political status, governance and development without external interference. For Indigenous peoples in Canada, self-determination means the right to govern themselves according to their own traditions, control their lands and resources, and make decisions about their communities' futures.

The plan for achieving broad goals and aims. In warfare, strategy deals with the overall plan to achieve final military victory: deploying large formations over large geographic areas, mobilising all resources, and coordinating with political objectives.