IB History Why Did Popular Movements Emerge? Key Definitions

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

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.

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 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.

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 economic approach that emphasises free markets, privatisation of state-owned enterprises, deregulation and reduced government spending on social services. In Egypt, neoliberal reforms under Mubarak enriched a small business elite while cutting subsidies and public services that many ordinary Egyptians depended on.

A campaign launched by Gandhi and the INC in 1920 calling on Indians to withdraw from British institutions: returning titles, boycotting courts, schools and elections, and refusing to buy British goods. It was suspended in 1922 after the Chauri Chaura incident, where protesters killed 22 police officers.