IB History What Was the Impact of Popular Movements? Key Definitions

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

An Egyptian activist group founded in 2008, originally to support striking textile workers in Mahalla al-Kubra. It used social media, particularly Facebook, to organise protests and played a key role in planning the 25 January 2011 demonstrations that launched the revolution. Its members studied non-violent protest techniques from movements in Serbia and elsewhere.

A national advocacy organisation representing First Nations peoples in Canada. It was established in 1982 as the successor to the National Indian Brotherhood. The AFN represents over 630 First Nations communities and advocates for Indigenous rights, treaty obligations and self-governance.

A system of government where power is concentrated in a single leader or small group, with limited political freedoms, restricted media, and little accountability to the population. In Egypt, authoritarian rule persisted from the 1952 Free Officers' coup through Nasser, Sadat and Mubarak, and was restored under el-Sisi after 2013.

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 series of parliamentary bills (1910, 1911, 1912) that proposed giving the vote to women who met property qualifications. The first bill passed its second reading in 1910 but was blocked by Prime Minister Asquith. Its repeated failure frustrated suffragettes and contributed to the escalation of militant tactics.

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 British law that gave all women over 21 the right to vote on the same terms as men. It removed the age and property restrictions of the 1918 act and established full equal suffrage in Britain.

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.

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.

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.

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 78-day standoff between Mohawk protesters, Quebec police and the Canadian army over the proposed expansion of a golf course onto Mohawk burial grounds and sacred pine groves near Oka, Quebec. It resulted in one police officer's death and drew national and international attention to Indigenous land rights in Canada.

The division of British India into two independent nations: India (majority Hindu) and Pakistan (majority Muslim), at independence on 15 August 1947. It triggered one of the largest mass migrations in history, with an estimated 10 to 20 million people displaced and widespread communal violence that killed between 200,000 and 2 million people.

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.

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."

A philosophy and practice of non-violent resistance developed by Mahatma Gandhi. The term combines the Sanskrit words for "truth" (satya) and "holding firmly" (agraha). It involves enduring suffering without retaliation to expose injustice and win over opponents through moral persuasion rather than force.

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.

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.