AP Euro -Isms

HUMANISM

Basics: Renaissance philosophy popularized in Northern Italy, which emphasized the critical study of Latin and Greek literature with the goal of understanding human nature; spread throughout Europe; exerted a major influence on education, became “the liberal arts;” praised individual achievement

ANTICLERICALISM

Basics: Opposition to or distrust of the Catholic clergy; a popular feeling on the eve of the Reformation; critics of the clergy concentrated on clerical immorality, clerical ignorance and clerical pluralism, aka holding more than one church office at a time; the Church addressed these issues at Council of Trent

PROTESTANTISM

Basics: Originating with Luther's posting of his 95 Theses in 1517 in the Holy Roman Empire, Protestantism is a diverse range of Christian denominations whose common characteristic is a rejection ("protest") of the Catholic Church; some branches are more Catholic (Anglican) while others less so (Calvinism)

CALVINISM

Basics: Based on the teachings of John Calvin; preached predestination and simplicity of worship; became known by different names in different regions; Presbyterians in Scotland, Huguenots in France, Puritans in England; became the biggest force in Protestantism; often associated with rise of capitalism

ABSOLUTISM

Basics: Political philosophy which held that kings were God’s representatives on Earth; based on the divine right theory; Bossuet wrote about it favorably; the king’s subjects owed him total allegiance; examples include Louis XIV of France, Philip II of Spain, and Peter and Catherine the Great of Russia

MERCANTILISM

Basics: Economic system designed to increase the power of the state; colonies exist to benefit mother countries; must have a large gold/silver supply; must export more than you import; much government regulation, tariffs; supported by Colbert in France; the dominant economic system prior to capitalism

WESTERNIZATION

Basics: Essentially, modernization based on the Western European model; frequently embraced by nations that were behind, politically or technologically; Peter the Great of Russia was prime example; Japan Westernized in the Meiji Restoration; Ottoman Empire tried to Westernize before WWI, but failed

CONSTITUTIONALISM

Basics: Form of government in which power is limited by law and balanced between the authority of the government, and the rights and liberties of the people; can be a constitutional monarchy, or a republic; Britain, Holland and the United States were early examples; after Cold War, most of Europe embraced it

REPUBLICANISM

Basics: A form of government in which there is no monarch and power rests in the hands of the people as exercised through elected representatives; Cromwell’s Protectorate was a (fatally flawed) republic; the United States was first, lasting modern example; modern France, Italy, Germany are all republics;

EMPIRICISM

Basics: Theory of inductive reasoning that calls for acquiring evidence through observation and experimentation rather than reason and speculation; major departure from Medieval science; blossomed during the Scientific Revolution; Francis Bacon was a big advocate; scientific method

CARTESIAN DUALISM

Basics: Theory of deductive reasoning, formulated by Rene Descartes, which held that all of reality could ultimately be reduced to mind and matter, aka the spiritual and the physical; idea that God gave humans reason (rational thought) in order to understand the truths of creation; bit more speculative than Bacon

RATIONALISM

Basics: A secular, critical way of thinking in which nothing was to be accepted on faith, and everything was to be submitted to reason; the unofficial philosophy of Enlightenment thinkers; naturally suspicious of all Church authority; led to frank critiques of society, monarchy, the Church and traditions of all kinds

ENLIGHTENED ABSOLUTISM

Basics: Term used to describe the rule of certain 18th Century monarchs who, without giving up their own absolute powers, adopted some Enlightenment ideas, such as rationalism, tolerance and progress; examples include Frederick the Great of Prussia, Catherine the Great of Russia, and Joseph II of Austria

CAMERALISM

Basics: Political phenomenon throughout Prussia and the German lands; view that monarchy was the best form of government; all elements of society should serve the monarch; the state should use its resources for the public good; overlapped with Enlightenment ideas; big in the 17th and 18th Centuries

ECONOMIC LIBERALISM

Basics: A belief in free trade and competition based on Adam Smith’s argument that the invisible hand of free trade/free markets would benefit all individuals, rich and poor; summed up in Smith’s “Wealth of Nations;” Enlightenment ideas applied to economics; inspired the neoliberalism of the late 20th Century

PIETISM

Basics: A Protestant revival movement in early 18th Century northern German states and Scandinavia that emphasized a warm, emotional religion; the priesthood of all believers; the power of Christian rebirth in everyday affairs; appealed to all social classes; in England it became/inspired Methodism

JANSENISM

Basics: A sort of random sect of Catholicism begun by Cornelius Jansen that emphasized the heavy weight of original sin, and accepted the doctrine of predestination; sought to return to the austere, early Christianity of St. Augustine; most popular in France; eventually outlawed as heresy by the pope + king

DECHRISTIANIZATION

Basics: Campaign to eliminate Christian faith and practice in France during the French Revolution; churches were sold, clerics persecuted, religious images destroyed; switch from Christian calendar to revolutionary one good example; also practiced by Communist regimes, such as under Stalin in USSR

ECONOMIC NATIONALISM

Basics: Formulated by German writer Friedrich List, philosophy and policy designed to protect and develop one’s own national economy; popular in the German states; focused on railroad building; promoted the Zollverein (free trade zone) among the German states; placed high tariffs on imports

CONSERVATISM

Basics: Political movement whose principal concern was countering the ideas of the Enlightenment/French Revolution; favored traditional institutions such as strong monarchy, privileged aristocracy, a powerful church and balance of power; high point was Congress of Vienna; opposed nationalism, free market capitalism

LIBERALISM

Basics: Political movement whose principal ideas were equality and liberty; demanded representative government and equality before the law; demanded individual liberty, as well as freedom of the press, speech, assembly, free markets; very influential in the 19th Century; the United States first successful example

NATIONALISM

Basics: Notion that every people has its own character and own specific unity, which manifests itself in common language and history; often led to a desire for an independent nation-state; powerful force in the 19th and 20th Centuries; brought Germany + Italy together; tore Austrian + Ottoman Empires apart

JINGOISM

Basics: Nationalism on steroids. The highest and most destructive version of nationalism. Often associated with the Age of Imperialism, often has racist/racialist/Social Darwinist overtone, characterized by a strong sense of cultural even genetic superiority over other nations/races, justifies imperialist/militarist actions

SOCIALISM

Basics: Backlash against the emergence of individualism and the fragmentation of society; promoted cooperation and a sense of community; wanted more government involvement with the economy; called for economic planning, greater economic equality, state regulation of property; welfare state

COMMUNISM

Basics: Extreme branch of socialism, first put forth by Karl Marx in “The Communist Manifesto” in 1848; said history is the story of class struggle; proletariat must rise up against the bourgeoisie, and create a classless society; private property must be abolished; use of violence permitted; inspired Lenin/Stalin

ROMANTICISM

Basics: Movement in the arts that reached its height from about 1790 to the 1840s; partly a revolt against classicism and the Enlightenment; characterized by emotional exuberance, unrestrained imagination and spontaneity in both art and one’s personal life; seen in poetry, painting and music

UTILITARIANISM

Basics: Dreamt up by Jeremy Bentham, the idea that social policies should promote the “greatest good for the greatest number;” Chadwick was a big follower; inspired the public health movement; led cities to provide clean running water and modern sewer systems; sanitation led to less disease and longer life

SOCIAL DARWINISM

Basics: The application of Darwin’s theory of evolution to human affairs; a corruption of Darwin’s original ideas; saw the human race as driven by an unending economic struggle; survival of the fittest; might makes right; one of the justifications for imperialism; often veered into racism, such as with Hitler

REALISM

Basics: A literary movement that emerged in the 1840s and dominated Western culture till the 1890s; reaction to, and rejection of, Romanticism; stressed the depiction of life as it actually is, warts and all; tackled taboo subjects like sex, politics, violence and alcoholism; sometimes shocked the middle class

IRREDENTISM

Basics: A movement inspired by nationalism, associated with Italy prior to unification (from "Italia irredenta" meaning "unredeemed Italy"), holds that territories populated by one ethnicity but controlled by a different one (like Venice controlled by Austria) need to be liberated; all members of a nationality should be in one nation-state

ZIONISM

Basics: Founded by Jewish journalist Theodor Herzl, it is a movement whose aim is the creation of a Jewish state; paradoxically, it is partly a reaction to rising nationalism in Europe, which was increasing persecution of Jews, and an embodiment of nationalism; Jewish nationhood became a reality in 1948

REVANCHISM

Basics: Another movement inspired by nationalism, associated with France after the loss of Alsace-Lorraine in Franco-Prussian War (from "revanche" meaning "revenge"), holds that lost territory must be regained even at great cost; sort of the flip of irredentism; known for aggressive political rhetoric + militarist attitude

ANARCHISM

Basics: From Greek meaning "without authority," term covers a range of teachings which generally oppose the state as an institution; views government as negative/unneeded, prevents the true/natural development of humanity; never widely popular; could be violent, resorting to terrorist tactics like assassination

REVISIONISM

Basics: An effort by moderate socialists, in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, to update Marxist doctrines to reflect the realities of the time; advocated by Bernstein; considered a great betrayal and error by militant Marxists; tended to split socialist parties in countries like Germany, France and Russia

IMPERIALISM

Basics: The economic, political, military and cultural domination of one nation by another; literally refers to “empire” building; “imperium” is Latin for “empire;” the new imperialism reached its height between 1880 and 1914; included Scramble for Africa, conquests in Middle East, India and China; a cause of WWI

ORIENTALISM

Basics: Term coined to explain the way Westerners imagined/understood non-Western cultures, especially East Asian/Middle Eastern/African societies, romanticizing them as either dangerous/backward on the one hand, or exotic/mysterious on the other, but in both cases presenting them as simple stereotypes

MILITARISM

Basics: Coincided with the height of the new imperialism; a willingness to use violence to achieve national aims; manifested itself in arms races, large, modern militaries, expansionist policies and a rejection of diplomacy to resolve crises; one of the causes of WWI; also influenced Fascism and Nazism

WAR COMMUNISM

Basics: Led by Trotsky; application of centralized state control during the Russian Civil War of 1917-1922; the Bolsheviks seized grain from peasants; introduced rationing; nationalized all banks and industry; and required everyone to work; drastic attempt to save the revolution and defeat the Whites; and it worked

NIHILISM

Basics: Tradition-disrupting/denying philosophy associated with the rise of modernity, its foundations lie in the second half of the nineteenth century but it flourished in the early twentieth (Age of Anxiety; Interwar Years); from the Latin word "nihil," meaning "nothing," posits that life/existence is meaningless

LOGICAL POSITIVISM

Basics: Philosophy that sees meaning only in those beliefs that can be empirically proven; rejects most of the concerns of traditional philosophy, including the existence of God, the meaning of happiness, etc; truly revolutionary; gained much traction after WWI; associated with Austrian philosopher Wittgenstein

EXISTENTIALISM

Basics: Philosophy that stresses the meaningless of existence and the importance of the individual in searching for moral values in an uncertain world; associated with Heidegger, Sartre and Camus; most existentialists were atheists, not all; quotes “existence precedes essence; man is condemned to be free”

MODERNISM

Basics: Term for the artistic and cultural movements of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries; typified by radical experimentation that challenged traditional forms of artistic expression; manifested itself in painting, architecture, music, even cinema; includes Gropius with Bauhaus, Picasso with Cubism

FUNCTIONALISM

Basics: A Modernist architectural principle that buildings, like industrial products, should serve as well as possible the purpose for which they were made; quote “a house is a machine for living in;” proponents include Franco-Swiss architect Corbusier, and Germans Walter Gropius and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

DADAISM

Basics: A Modernist artistic movement of the 1920s and 1930s that attacked all accepted standards of art and behavior, and delighted in outrageous conduct; began among exiles in Zurich, Switzerland during WWI; life is meaningless, thus, so is art; quote “anti-art;” many Dadaists gravitated towards surrealism

TOTALITARIANISM

Basics: 20th Century phenomenon of radical dictatorships that made unprecedented “total claims” on the beliefs and behavior of their citizens, by taking control of the economic, social, intellectual, and cultural aspects of society; one-party state; either fascist or communist; cult of personality; violence

FASCISM

Basics: A 20th Century political movement characterized by extreme, often expansionist nationalism, anticommunism, a dynamic and violent leader, and militarism; embraced eugenics; includes Mussolini’s Fascist Italy, Hitler’s Nazi Germany, and Franco’s Nationalist Spain; completely discredited after WW2

NATIONAL SOCIALISM

Basics: The name for the Fascist movement in Germany; another name for the Nazi ideology; a blend of extreme nationalism and racism; led by Adolf Hitler; ruled Germany from 1933 to 1945; anti-Semitic; wanted to restore German glory and dominance in Europe; forced Europe into WW2; utterly crushed

NEOLIBERALISM

Basics: Philosophy of 1980s conservatives, especially Margaret Thatcher in Britain and Ronald Reagan in the United States, that promoted decreased government spending on social services, privatization of state-run industries, lower taxes and stronger national defense; rooted in 19th Century liberalism

REALLY EXISTING SOCIALISM

Basics: Term used by Communist leaders in the East Bloc and the USSR to describe the socialist accomplishments of their societies, such as nationalized industry and collective agriculture; publicly appeared good, privately people were unhappy; standard of living was still well below that of the West

MULTICULTURALISM

Basics: The mixing of different ethnic styles in daily life, and in cultural works such as film, music, art, literature and cuisine; can happen when a blend of ethnic groups coexist in a single country; has had a huge impact on Europe since decolonization and the end of the Cold War; unresolved tensions remain

EUROSCEPTICISM

Basics: Recent social/political movement critical of the growing size/power of the European Union; sort of a neo-nationalism thing; has fueled the rise of new/growing populist parties in many countries; currently in power in Italy, Poland, Hungary; biggest impact has been successful "Leave" Brexit vote in UK