Ideological movements & their consequences

Twenty historical cases, ordered by the beginning of the event or movement examined. They cover constitutional republicanism, socialist and communist governments, fascism, religiously framed political movements, anti-communist repression, independence struggles and democratic transitions. Each article identifies leaders, institutions, effects on residents and international consequences.

  1. 1649 — The English Commonwealth and military republicanism
  2. 1776 — American independence and constitutional republicanism
  3. 1789 — The French Revolution and competing republics
  4. 1791 — The Haitian Revolution and the abolition of slavery
  5. 1848 — The revolutions of 1848 and the limits of reform
  6. 1871 — The Paris Commune and revolutionary municipal government
  7. 1917 — The Russian revolutions and Bolshevik one-party rule
  8. 1922 — Italian fascism under Benito Mussolini
  9. 1933 — Nazism, racial dictatorship and aggressive war
  10. 1936 — Stalinist terror and command-state repression
  11. 1947 — Indian independence, partition and competing national visions
  12. 1949 — The Chinese Communist victory and Mao-era campaigns
  13. 1959 — The Cuban Revolution and one-party socialism
  14. 1965 — Indonesia’s anti-communist mass killings
  15. 1975 — The Khmer Rouge and revolutionary Cambodia
  16. 1979 — Iran’s revolution and the Islamic Republic
  17. 1980 — Poland’s Solidarity movement and negotiated transition
  18. 1991 — The dissolution of the Soviet Union
  19. 2001 — Transnational jihadist violence and the post-2001 wars
  20. 2011 — The Arab uprisings and divergent political outcomes

Dates mark the opening event discussed, not the founding date of every ideology. Islamism refers to movements seeking a political role for Islamic principles; it is not interchangeable with Islam or with violent jihadist organizations. Republics differ in whether their institutions permit genuine competition, civil liberties and limits on executive power.