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507 BCE
Developing Democracy
Democracy in Athens was a direct democracy. In a direct democracy the people decide on the policy initiatives directly. The major decisions of the state were made by general assemblies in which all citizens could participate. -
32 BCE
The Roman Senate votes to give extraordinary (dictatorial) powers to Octavian who then adopts the name Augustus, essentially ending the Roman Republic - democracy vanishes for centuries
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two treaties
Classical Liberalism, the Enlightenment, was a political movement that has impacted countries and their policies over many generations. The Enlightenment emphasized the notion that men are inherently good by nature (Bentley). The Enlightenment gave people the idea that a king was not necessary to rule over the people because people are not inherently bad. -
Iroquois league
Benjamin Franklin writes for independence from his inspiration from the six tribes of the Iroquois nation. He says that the six nations are savages and should not be able to form a union. -
Declaration of independence
The Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation, the first constitution of the United States, on November 15, 1777, but the states did not ratify them until March 1, 1781. The Articles created a loose confederation of sovereign states and a weak central government, leaving most of the power with the state governments. -
three branches
Montesquieu wrote The Spirit of the Laws as an explanation of human laws and social institutions. He believed that laws and social systems must be understood as a whole, and in the context of a variety of factors which affect then. -
responsible government
Canada was not established as fully independent, since the United Kingdom retained legislative control over Canada and full control over Canadian foreign policy. Canada did not have any foreign embassies until its first one was established in Washington, D.C., in 1931. Until 1949, changes to the British North America Acts could be made only by the British parliament. -
secret ballot
The secret ballot is a voting method in which a voter's choices in an election or a referendum is anonymous, forestalling attempts to influence the voter by intimidation, blackmailing, and potential vote buying. The system is one means of achieving the goal of political privacy. -
Lenin dies, opening the door for Stalin to take power in the USSR (leading to a ruthless dictatorship)
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qualified persons
this gave the women rights to vote. women were now "qualified persons". -
World War II ends, which also ends American-Soviet cooperation
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Hitler passes the Enabling Act, moving Germany from a democracy to a dictatorship
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START is signed to reduce the number of nuclear weapons being created as a form of deterrence
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Truman establishes the Marshall Plan to contain communist expansion (policy of containment)
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Berlin blockade and consequent airlift increases tensions
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Korean War begins after the USSR fails to show up for a veto in the UN, starting the first proxy war
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Vietnam War ends, demonstrating the failure of containment and the Domino Theory
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Creation of NATO to deter any aggression from the Soviet bloc
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Creation of the Warsaw Pact as a response to NATO through collective security
In 1949, the prospect of further Communist expansion prompted the United States and 11 other Western nations to form the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The Soviet Union and its affiliated Communist nations in Eastern Europe founded a rival alliance, the Warsaw Pact, in 1955. -
The Hungarian Uprising demonstrates that the Warsaw Pact is not ideologically unified, but this liberation movement is crushed by Warsaw Pact forces
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Khrushchev calls for peaceful co-existence
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Suffrage
From the colonial era to the present, the Canadian electoral system has evolved in ways that have affected Indigenous suffrage (the right to vote in public elections). -
Berlin Wall is built to prevent further Western expansion in the region
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Cuban Missile Crisis almost leads to a nuclear war between the superpowers due to brinkmanship
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Solidarity trade union organizes the pro-democracy movement in Poland
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The Prague Spring ends when the Soviet Union invades, followed by the Brezhnev Doctrine
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The Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty is signed
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Helsinki Accords provide a degree of détente during the Cold War
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The Soweto Uprisings in South Africa protest the majority tyranny laws that prevented Black students from getting an education in their preferred language under the Apartheid rules; some students are killed by police.
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Soviet invasion of Afghanistan leads to an increase of hostilities
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Berlin Wall is torn down, a year later Germany is reunified
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Triple E
The Western-based Reform Party made the Triple-E Senate a centrepiece of its platform. Yet as with so many other Reform policies, the Triple-E Senate was not exactly been top of mind under Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who though once a vociferous advocate, appointed well over 50 senators the decidedly old-fashioned way while in office. -
The Warsaw Pact is dissolved, with some members seeking to join NATO
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The Soviet Union ceases to exist, effectively ending the Cold War
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Referendum
The Charlottetown Accord of 1992 was a failed, joint attempt by the government of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and all 10 provincial premiers to amend the Canadian Constitution, specifically to obtain Quebec's consent to the Constitution Act of 1982. -
George W. Bush wins his first term as president of the United States without winning a majority of the votes due to the US electoral college system.
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The Harper Government passes Bill C-16, An Act to Amend the Canada Elections Act, which brings in fixed date elections to Canada’s federal electoral system
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President Mugabe of Zimbabwe blames the UK for the cholera outbreak in his country, thus making the UK a scapegoat for the problems being faced in his country.
