Full Exam Study Guide | Contemporary World History II

News

Information about current events.

Fake News

False or misleading information presented as news.

Clickbait

Content designed to attract attention and encourage visitors to click on a link.

Satire

The use of humor, irony, or exaggeration to criticize or mock.

Advertising

The activity of producing advertisements to promote products or services.

Entertainment

Activities that provide enjoyment or amusement.

Opinion

A personal belief or judgment.

Propaganda

Information, especially biased or misleading, used to promote a political cause.

Raw Information

Data that has not been processed or analyzed.

Logical Fallacy

An error in reasoning that renders an argument invalid.

Ad Hominem

A fallacy that attacks the person making an argument rather than the argument itself.

Straw Man

A fallacy that misrepresents an argument to make it easier to attack.

False Dilemma

A fallacy that presents two options as the only possibilities.

False Equivalence

A fallacy that asserts two things are equal when they are not.

Slippery Slope

A fallacy that suggests a minor action will lead to major consequences.

Median

The middle value in a list of numbers.

Mean

The average of a set of numbers.

Margin of Error

A measure of the accuracy of a poll or survey.

Story Selection

The process of choosing which news stories to report.

Framing

The way information is presented to influence perception.

Tone

The attitude or emotional quality conveyed in communication.

Sourcing

The process of identifying the origin of information.

Fairness and balance

The principle of presenting multiple viewpoints in news coverage.

Partisan Bias

Favoring one political party or ideology over others.

Demographic Bias

Bias that arises from the characteristics of a particular group.

Corporate Bias

Bias that favors corporate interests over public interests.

Neutrality Bias

The assumption that all viewpoints are equally valid.

"Big Story" Bias

The tendency to focus on major events while ignoring smaller issues.

Conspiracy Theory

A belief that events or situations are secretly manipulated by powerful forces.

Cognitive/ Confirmation Bias

The tendency to search for, interpret, and remember information in a way that confirms one's preconceptions.

Cognitive Dissonance

The mental discomfort experienced when holding two contradictory beliefs.

Echo Chamber

An environment where a person only encounters information that reinforces their existing beliefs.

Epistemic Motivation

The drive to seek knowledge and understanding.

Existential Motivation

The drive to find meaning and purpose in life.

Illusory Pattern Perception

The tendency to perceive patterns in random data.

Institutional Cynicism

A distrust of institutions and their motives.

Motivated Reasoning

The tendency to fit reasoning to conclusions one prefers.

Superstition

A belief in supernatural causality leading to certain consequences.

Watchdog

An entity that monitors the activities of others to ensure accountability.

Self- Censorship

The act of censoring one's own work or opinions.

State-Owned Media

Media outlets owned and controlled by the government.

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

A treaty signed in 1918 that ended Russia's involvement in World War I.

Holodomor

A man-made famine in Soviet Ukraine from 1932 to 1933.

Annex

To incorporate a territory into another geopolitical entity.

Budapest Memorandum

A 1994 agreement providing security assurances to Ukraine.

Sovereignty

The authority of a state to govern itself.

Viktor Yanukovych

The former president of Ukraine, ousted in 2014.

2013/2014 Ukraine Protests (Maidan)

Protests in Ukraine against Yanukovych's decision to suspend EU association.

Irredentism

The political principle of reclaiming lost territory.

2014 Annexation of Crimea

Russia's takeover of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

Donetsk and Luhansk

Regions in Eastern Ukraine with ongoing conflict.

Minsk Accords

Agreements aimed at resolving the conflict in Eastern Ukraine.

NATO

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a military alliance.

Putin

The President of Russia since 1999.

Zelensky

The President of Ukraine since 2019.

Industrial Revolution

The period of major industrialization during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Textile

A type of cloth or woven fabric.

Wage laborers

Workers who earn a wage for their labor.

Capitalist Class

The social class that owns the means of production.

Labor Unions

Organizations that represent workers' interests.

Colonialism

The practice of acquiring full or partial control over another country.

Imperialism

The policy of extending a country's power and influence through colonization.

Berlin Conference of 1884

A meeting where European powers divided Africa among themselves.

Primary Sector

The part of the economy that extracts and harvests natural resources.

Secondary Sector

The part of the economy that manufactures goods.

Tertiary Sector

The part of the economy that provides services.

Quaternary Sector

The part of the economy focused on knowledge-based activities.

Quinary Sector

The part of the economy that involves high-level decision making.

Base Industry

Industries that provide raw materials for other industries.

Containerization

A system of intermodal freight transport using standardized containers.

Break-of-bulk points

Locations where goods are transferred from one mode of transport to another.

Least Cost Theory

A theory that explains the optimal location of a manufacturing plant.

Bulk-gaining industry

An industry where the final product weighs more than the inputs.

Bulk-reducing industry

An industry where the final product weighs less than the inputs.

Core

The central region of economic activity.

Periphery

The outer regions of economic activity, often less developed.

Semi-Periphery

Regions that are between core and periphery in terms of development.

Rostow's Model of Development

A model that outlines the stages of economic growth.

Wallerstein's World Systems Theory

A theory that describes the world as a complex system of interdependent parts.

Comparative Advantage

The ability of a country to produce goods at a lower opportunity cost.

Complementarity

The relationship between two or more countries that enhances trade.

Neoliberal Policies

Economic policies that promote free markets and deregulation.

Free-trade agreements

Treaties between countries to reduce trade barriers.

USMCA

The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, a trade deal.

European Union

A political and economic union of European countries.

Customs Union

A group of countries that have agreed to charge the same import duties.

OPEC

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

IMF

The International Monetary Fund, an organization that promotes global economic stability.

World Bank

An international financial institution that provides loans and grants.

WTO

The World Trade Organization, an intergovernmental organization that regulates international trade.

2008 Global Financial Crisis

A severe worldwide economic crisis that occurred in 2008.

GDP

Gross Domestic Product, the total value of goods produced in a country.

GNP

Gross National Product, the total value of goods produced by a country's residents.

GNI

Gross National Income, the total income of a nation's residents.

GDP per capita

GDP divided by the population, a measure of economic output per person.

Informal sector

Economic activities that are not regulated by the government.

Human Development Index

A composite index measuring average achievement in key dimensions of human development.

Gender Inequality Index

An index measuring gender disparities in health, empowerment, and labor market.

Total Fertility Rates

The average number of children born to a woman over her lifetime.

Infant Mortality Rates

The number of infant deaths per 1,000 live births.