IB History The Americas Key Definitions

The revolutionary organization founded by Fidel Castro in 1955, named after the date of the failed Moncada Barracks attack. It led the guerrilla campaign against Batista from the Sierra Maestra mountains.

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

A system in which permanent public agencies use delegated authority and specialist knowledge to implement and enforce government policy.

Legislation passed in 1952 that limited land ownership to 200 feddans per person and redistributed excess land to landless peasants. It broke the power of the old landowning class and was central to Nasser's social reforms.

A US foreign aid programme launched by President Kennedy in 1961, pledging $20 billion over ten years to promote economic development, social reform and democratic governance in Latin America. It aimed to reduce the appeal of communism by addressing poverty and inequality, but achieved limited results due to political conditions attached to aid and entrenched structural problems.

The formal participation of the United States in the First World War from April 1917, supported by military deployment, industrial mobilization, finance, shipping, and an expanded federal state.

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.

A record of money entering and leaving a country through trade, investment, borrowing, and debt payments.

A rapid withdrawal of deposits caused by fear that a bank will fail, which can make an otherwise solvent bank unable to meet immediate demands.

A failed CIA-backed invasion of Cuba in April 1961 by Cuban exiles attempting to overthrow Castro. Its failure strengthened Castro's position domestically and pushed Cuba closer to the Soviet Union.

A Canadian factory or subsidiary owned by a foreign company, commonly an American firm, established to produce inside Canada's tariff-protected market.

Canada's constitutional framework (1867) that divided powers between federal and provincial governments, assigning social welfare, property, and civil rights to the provinces.

King's governing philosophy that held relief and social policy to be the constitutional responsibility of the provinces under the British North America Act, not the federal government. This position limited federal action during the Depression but was constitutionally defensible.

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.

Fundamental protections against excessive government power, including freedom of speech, press, assembly, religion, and fair legal process.

A state that retains formal sovereignty but depends heavily on a stronger power for economic, military, or diplomatic support.

A Canadian democratic socialist political party founded in 1932, drawing support from prairie farmers and urban labour unions. It advocated public ownership, social security, and federal intervention in the economy. Its growing influence pushed King's Liberals to adopt more progressive policies.

A process where employees, typically represented by a trade union, negotiate with employers over wages, benefits, and working conditions. The Wagner Act (1935) gave collective bargaining federal legal protection in the United States, establishing the National Labor Relations Board to oversee union recognition and representation elections.

An agreement in which members promise to respond jointly when one member is attacked, as under Article 5 of the NATO treaty.

The cooperation of several countries in which an attack on one member is considered an attack on all members. Truman referred the Korean crisis to the UN Security Council because he believed North Korean aggression threatened this principle.

Brazil's state-owned steel company established by Vargas in 1941, whose Volta Redonda plant became the first integrated steel mill in Latin America and a flagship symbol of state-led industrialisation.

The informal alliance of Republicans and mainly southern Democrats that blocked or limited further New Deal reform from the late 1930s.

The United States strategy of preventing the further expansion of Soviet power and communist influence through economic, political, military, and covert measures, without directly attacking the Soviet Union itself.

Anti-communist rebel groups in Nicaragua active from 1979 to the early 1990s who opposed the Sandinista government. The Reagan administration funded, trained, and armed them as part of its broader Cold War strategy in Central America, a policy that later became entangled in the Iran-Contra affair after Congress restricted direct funding.