Throughout the 20th century, it seemed as if a new 'buzz word' was invented every few months to describe one aspect or other of the way we lived then – remember 'Reaganomics'? The following are the terms that have stood the test of time.

Apartheid See Liberation and oppression

Cold War See A century of conflict

Communism See World of ideas

Decolonisation The granting of independence to former colonies, either as the result of a decision made in the home country or because of a successful war of independence or other pressure from the colonised population.

The gradual dismantling of imperialism began at the end of World War I, when the defeated Germany had to give up its colonies, and British dominions such as Australia and New Zealand were granted virtual independence.

The process was greatly speeded up after World War II when the inability of traditional European powers such as Britain, France and the Netherlands to defend many of their colonies from German and Japanese invasion revealed their weakness. Pushed to the sidelines by the two superpowers – the United States and Soviet Union – the Europeans had little choice but to give up their imperial roles.

Some countries, such as France (colonies: Indochina and Algeria), Belgium (Zaïre/Congo) and Portugal (Angola and Mozambique), did this with great unwillingness and subsequently suffered humiliating defeats in wars of independence.

Existentialism See World of ideas

Fascism and Nazism See World of ideas

Holocaust See Liberation and oppression

Imperialism A policy of acquiring colonies, which can then be exploited for material or political gain.

Imperialism reached its peak in 1914, when almost 85% of the world's land surface was controlled by a handful of colonial powers, mostly European, but also including the United States and Japan. Colonies were administered as empires by their occupying powers, usually from the metropolitan centre of the home country. The Soviet Union's domination of eastern Europe (especially under Stalin) could also be considered a form of imperialism.

Many colonies, such as British India and French West Africa, were acquired for economic gain, being markets for goods produced in the home country as well as providers of cheap raw materials and goods. Sometimes individual soldiers or administrators took over lands on behalf of their country, even when they had no orders to do so. For example, Cecil Rhodes extended British sovereignty over Rhodesia (now Zambia and Zimbabwe) without explicit instructions. Other motives for acquiring colonies included a desire to increase national prestige, the need for a distraction from domestic problems, a genuine belief in Western superiority, and Christian missionary zeal.

After World War II, most European countries granted or were forced to grant independence to their colonies – for example, the last viceroy of British India, Lord Mountbatten, presided over India's (and Pakistan's) independence in 1947. The Soviet Union's control over eastern Europe disappeared with its own disintegration late in the century.

Isolationism A policy of not participating in or withdrawing from international affairs, especially as practised by US governments during the first half of the 20th century.

The American attitude was not to get involved in the messy politics of the old colonial powers of Europe and to avoid being drawn into conflicts, particularly World Wars I and II.

The US policy of isolationism was put under severe strain in 1915 when a German U-boat sank the British liner Lusitania, which was carrying a substantial number of American citizens. Yet President Woodrow Wilson later found it difficult to overcome the unwillingness of many American politicians to participate in the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. He then found it impossible to persuade the Americans to take part in the League of Nations.

Make Germany pay: 1919

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During World War II, President Roosevelt was sympathetic to Britain's struggle against Nazi Germany, but isolationism was only discredited when the Japanese attacked the US fleet at Pearl Harbor in December 1941. In the 1980s and 1990s, some American politicians have argued for a return to isolationism, and elaborated ideas about a self-sufficient 'Fortress America'.

Liberalism See World of ideas

Nationalism A belief that groups of people are bound together by territorial, cultural and (sometimes) ethnic links.

Although nationalism developed in the 19th century, it caused some of the most dramatic events of the 20th century. It developed as an ideological response to some of the social, economic and political uncertainties of the modern world, and was often used by political activists to mobilise people against their rulers, especially when these were 'foreigners', as in the Austro-Hungarian empire.

Nationalism often means defining yourself in terms of a shared ancestry, common language and common religion. Usually, it involves a belief in national greatness, a vision of a mythical and glorious past and a belief in the divine mission of the nation-state. Mussolini's fantasies about a new Roman empire based on the Mediterranean, which led to the invasion of Abyssinia (Ethiopia) in 1935, are a good example of rampant nationalism.

War! Mussolini invades Ethiopia: October 1935

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Nationalism also played an important role in Germany's involvement in two world wars (and especially in Hitler's politics). It figured in the Versailles Peace Conference, when the Allied powers tried to form new states such as Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia out of the ruins of the Austro-Hungarian empire. And it resurfaced when the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 led to the independence of former Soviet-dominated states such as Romania, Poland and Czechoslovakia.

In the last decade of the 20th century, violent nationalistic feelings led to civil war in the former Yugoslavia.

Terrorism See A century of conflict

Third World A name that came into use during the 1960s to distinguish the rest of the world from the two Cold War power blocs of the capitalist west (United States and Europe) and the Communist east (Soviet Union, eastern Europe and China). These were the first and second worlds, respectively, and the rest was the Third World.

The name is now loosely applied to developing countries, especially those of Africa, Asia and Latin America, which are largely under-industrialised, are often very poor and frequently have extreme social problems. Such countries were often neutral during the Cold War (1945-91), and some of them organised themselves into a 'non-aligned' movement. Because of their past history as exploited colonies of the West, they are opposed to imperialism.

Zionism See World of ideas

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