susans awesome vocab

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Christian Democrats

Center-right political parties that rose to power in western Europe after the Second World War.

Cold War

The rivalry between the Soviet Union and the United States that divided much of Europe into a Soviet-aligned Communist bloc and a U.S.-aligned capitalist bloc between 1945 and 1989.

Common Market

The European Economic Community, created by six western and central European countries in the West Bloc in 1957 as part of a larger search for European unity.

Council for Mutual Economic Assistance

An economic organization of Communist states meant to help rebuild East Bloc countries under Soviet auspices.

de-Stalinization

The liberalization of the post-Stalin Soviet Union led by reformer Nikita Khrushchev.

decolonization

The postwar reversal of Europe's overseas expansion caused by the rising demand of the colonized peoples themselves, the declining power of European nations, and the freedoms promised by U.S. and Soviet ideals.

displaced persons

Postwar refugees, including 13 million Germans, former Nazi prisoners and forced laborers, and orphaned children.

economic miracle

Term contemporaries used to describe rapid economic growth, often based on the consumer sector, in post-World War II western Europe.

guest worker programs

Government-run programs in western Europe designed to recruit labor for the booming postwar economy.

Marshall Plan

American plan for providing economic aid to western Europe to help it rebuild.

NATO

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, an anti-Soviet military alliance of Western governments.

neocolonialism

A postcolonial system that perpetuates Western economic exploitation in former colonial territories.

nonalignment

Policy of postcolonial governments to remain neutral in the Cold War and play both the United States and the Soviet Union for what they could get.

postcolonial migration

The postwar movement of people from former colonies and the developing world into Europe.

Socialist Realism

Artistic movement that followed the dictates of Communist ideals, enforced by state control in the Soviet Union and East Bloc countries in the 1950s and 1960s.

Truman Doctrine

America's policy geared to containing communism to those countries already under Soviet control.

Warsaw Pact

Soviet-backed military alliance of East Bloc Communist countries in Europe.

Brezhnev Doctrine

Doctrine created by Leonid Brezhnev that held that the Soviet Union had the right to intervene in any East Bloc country when necessary to preserve Communist rule.

detente

The progressive relaxation of Cold War tensions that emerged in the early 1970s.

developed socialism

A term used by Communist leaders to describe the socialist accomplishments of their societies, such as nationalized industry, collective agriculture, and extensive social welfare programs.

glasnost

Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev's popular campaign for openness in government and the media.

neoliberalism

Philosophy of 1980s conservatives who argued for privatization of state-run industries and decreased government spending on social services.

New Left

A 1960s counterculture movement that embraced updated forms of Marxism to challenge both Western capitalism and Soviet-style communism.

OPEC

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Ostopolitik

German for Chancellor Willy Brandt's new "Eastern policy"; West Germany's attempt in the 1970s to ease diplomatic tensions with East Germany, exemplifying the policies of détente.

perestroika

Economic restructuring and reform implemented by Premier Mikhail Gorbachev in the Soviet Union in 1985.

postindustrial society

A society that relies on high-tech and service-oriented jobs for economic growth rather than heavy industry and manufacturing jobs.

privatization

The sale of state-managed industries such as transportation and communication networks to private owners; a key aspect of broader neoliberal economic reforms meant to control government spending, increase private profits, and foster economic growth, which were implemented in western Europe in response to the economic crisis of the 1970s.

Second Vatican Council

A meeting of Catholic leaders convened from 1962 to 1965 that initiated a number of reforms, including the replacement of Latin with local languages in church services, designed to democratize the church and renew its appeal.

second-wave feminism

Label given to the revitalized feminist movement that emerged in the United States and western Europe in the late 1960s and 1970s.

Solidarity

Independent Polish trade union that worked for workers' rights and political reform throughout the 1980s.

stagflation

Term coined in the early 1980s to describe the combination of low growth and high inflation that led to a worldwide recession.

Velvet Revolution

The term given to the relatively peaceful overthrow of communism in Czechoslovakia; the label came to signify the collapse of the East Bloc in general from 1989 to 1990.

Arab Spring

A series of popular revolts in several countries in the Middle East and North Africa that sought an end to authoritarian, often Western-supported regimes.

Brexit

The informal name for Great Britain's exit from the European Union.

climate change

Changes in long-standing weather patterns caused primarily by carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels.

Color Revolutions

A series of popular revolts and insurrections that challenged regional politicians and Russian interests in the former Soviet republics during the first decade of the twenty-first century.

ethnic cleansing

The attempt to establish ethnically homogeneous territories by intimidation, forced deportation, and killing.

European Union

The economic, cultural, and political alliance of twenty-eight European nations.

globalization

A label for the new international economic, cultural, and political connections that emerged in the last decades of the twentieth century.

Islamic State

A radical Islamist militia that controlled substantial parts of central Syria and Iraq, where it applied an extremist version of shari'a law.

Maastricht Treaty

The basis for the formation of the European Union, which set financial and cultural standards for potential member states and defined criteria for membership in the monetary union.

multiculturalism

The mixing of ethnic styles in daily life and in cultural works such as film, music, art, and literature.

shock therapy

Economic policies set in place in Russia and some former East Bloc countries after the collapse of communism, through which a quick turn to free markets was meant to speed economic growth.

war on terror

American policy under President George W. Bush to fight global terrorism in all its forms.

World Trade Organization

A powerful supranational financial institution that sets trade and tariff agreements for over 150 member countries and so helps manage a large percentage of the world's import-export policies. Like the IMF and the World Bank, the WTO promotes neoliberal policies around the world.