U Terms

What’s the Term?

#1) Scholars learned in Islamic scripture and law codes who Sunnis trust to interpret the Quran and the Sunna.

ulama

#1) Scholars learned in Islamic scripture and law codes who Sunnis trust to interpret the Quran and the Sunna.

What’s the Term?

#2) The worldwide community of believers in Islam. Muhammad’s (ca. 570-632) emphasis on loyalty to the whole of the umma over the individualism of the tribe allowed Islam to serve as a binding force for the converted.

umma

#2) The worldwide community of believers in Islam. Muhammad’s (ca. 570-632) emphasis on loyalty to the whole of the umma over the individualism of the tribe allowed Islam to serve as a binding force for the converted.

What’s the Term?

#3) A series of nineteenth-century treaties in which China made major concessions to Western powers, losing control of Vietnam, Korea, and Taiwan and allowing other countries to establish military bases, extract raw materials, and build railroads within China.

Unequal treaties

#3) A series of nineteenth-century treaties in which China made major concessions to Western powers, losing control of Vietnam, Korea, and Taiwan and allowing other countries to establish military bases, extract raw materials, and build railroads within China.

What’s the Term?

#4) A foreign policy in which a nation takes action in its own interest regardless of disapproval from allies. The United States moved unilaterally when it decided to invade Iraq in 2002, despite dissent from other members of the United Nations.

unilateralism

#4) A foreign policy in which a nation takes action in its own interest regardless of disapproval from allies. The United States moved unilaterally when it decided to invade Iraq in 2002, despite dissent from other members of the United Nations.

What’s the Term?

#5) An international peacekeeping organization and forum for international opinion, established in 1945 at the end of World War II (1939-1945). Beyond international peace, its mission includes developing friendly relations between countries, solving conflicts through negotiations, and promoting social and economic development.

United Nations (UN)

#5) An international peacekeeping organization and forum for international opinion, established in 1945 at the end of World War II (1939-1945). Beyond international peace, its mission includes developing friendly relations between countries, solving conflicts through negotiations, and promoting social and economic development.

What’s the Term?

#6) A declaration adopted in 1948 by the United Nations that affirmed the inherent dignity of all human beings and charged nations that signed to respect specific human rights as detailed in the document.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

#6) A declaration adopted in 1948 by the United Nations that affirmed the inherent dignity of all human beings and charged nations that signed to respect specific human rights as detailed in the document.

What’s the Term?

#7) A religious tradition that claims to be open to everyone and that actively seeks converts. It usually refers to Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam.

Universal religion

#7) A religious tradition that claims to be open to everyone and that actively seeks converts. It usually refers to Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam.

What’s the Term?

#8) Medieval European centers of scholarship and learning restricted to men and providing valuable services to kings and popes. Universities originally developed in the thirteenth century as guilds of students and masters in places such as Paris, Bologna, and Oxford. In the modern era universities became the site of critical scientific, technological, and sociological research, and some began admitting women in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

university

#8) Medieval European centers of scholarship and learning restricted to men and providing valuable services to kings and popes. Universities originally developed in the thirteenth century as guilds of students and masters in places such as Paris, Bologna, and Oxford. In the modern era universities became the site of critical scientific, technological, and sociological research, and some began admitting women in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

What’s the Term?

#9) Indian mystical and philosophical works, written between 800 and 400 B.C.E. by mostly anonymous thinkers. Although the new doctrines contained in the Upanishads were intellectually revolutionary, in social and political terms they reinforced the existing power structure in India.

Upanishads

#9) Indian mystical and philosophical works, written between 800 and 400 B.C.E. by mostly anonymous thinkers. Although the new doctrines contained in the Upanishads were intellectually revolutionary, in social and political terms they reinforced the existing power structure in India.

What’s the Term?

#10) The process by which formerly rural areas and small towns and cities grow in size and population. Beginning in the nineteenth century and fueled by industrialization, city populations in Western nations dramatically increased—nearly doubling in some countries—by mid-century, as people sought factory and other jobs in new urban centers. In much of Latin America, Africa, and Asia during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, urbanization occurred without much industrialization.

urbanization

#10) The process by which formerly rural areas and small towns and cities grow in size and population. Beginning in the nineteenth century and fueled by industrialization, city populations in Western nations dramatically increased—nearly doubling in some countries—by mid-century, as people sought factory and other jobs in new urban centers. In much of Latin America, Africa, and Asia during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, urbanization occurred without much industrialization.

What’s the Term?

#11) The practice of charging interest on loans, forbidden under Christian and Muslim legal codes.

usury

#11) The practice of charging interest on loans, forbidden under Christian and Muslim legal codes.

What’s the Term?

#12) A liberal ideology promoted by English philosopher Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), which argues that the best social and political policies are those that produce the greatest good for the greatest number and are therefore the most useful.

utilitarianism

#12) A liberal ideology promoted by English philosopher Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), which argues that the best social and political policies are those that produce the greatest good for the greatest number and are therefore the most useful.

What’s the Term?

#13) A plan developed by French and British thinkers early in the nineteenth century that envisioned the creation of a perfect society through cooperation and social planning. Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Friedrich Engels (1820-1995) coined the term and argued that such a society was not sustainable because the interests of the working and middle classes were inevitably opposed to each other.

Utopian socialism

#13) A plan developed by French and British thinkers early in the nineteenth century that envisioned the creation of a perfect society through cooperation and social planning. Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Friedrich Engels (1820-1995) coined the term and argued that such a society was not sustainable because the interests of the working and middle classes were inevitably opposed to each other.