The Great Leap Forward was an economic policy of the Communist Party of China under the leadership of Mao Zedong. Although its primary goal was to increase industrial productivity, it ended up leading to a dramatic decline in agricultural production and one of the worst famines in human history.

The USSR had a Communist orientation; it was officially socialist and run by a Communist party that hoped to eventually export proletarian revolution to the entire world.

Italy under Mussolini, Germany under Hitler, and Japan under Tojo were fascist powers; they believed in an ethnocentric society run by military industrialists.

The United States and Great Britain are liberal powers; their legal systems are based on the primacy of property rights for private individuals.

Islamism is the belief that Muslim clerical authorities should have ultimate power over society.

Warlordism oftentimes exists in a failed state; for example, in China in the first half of the 20th century.

The Red Guards were mobilized by Mao Zedong during the Cultural Revolution to oppress anyone who opposed or disavowed Mao's ideology. The Red Guards were made up of Chinese youth who were directed towards the destruction of Chinese culture and traditions and the suppression of intellectuals and dissidents.

"The Parting Shot" is a corruption of the phrase, "The Parthian Shot," and refers to the ancient Parthian tactic of bowmen on horseback shooting arrows behind them as they retreat.

While the Mongols used this tactic as well, it was much later in history (over 1000 years) and the phrase "the parting shot" does not derive from Mongolian battle tactics.

The Romans did not throw their pilum before retreating, on the contrary, pilum were usually thrown upon making initial contact with the enemy; it was a way of forcing the enemy to hesitate right before hand-to-hand combat, so that the Roman soldiers had the initiative and were traveling forward while their enemies were on their heels.

Nonalignment, in this instance, means not being a member of either the capitalist bloc of nations led by the United States nor a part of the communist bloc of nations led by the Soviet Union. India and Yugoslavia both famously ascribed to the policy of nonalignment during the Cold War.

The rise of Fascism took place amid the backdrop of the Great Depression. The fact that it was influential in Germany tells us that Fascism can be understood primarily as a reaction to economic instability and depression.

The Brezhnev Doctrine, associated with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, states that the Soviet Union has a right to intervene in a communist country to protect communist parties from capitalist revolutions. It may be seen as a direct corollary to the foreign policy of the United States as stated in the Truman Doctrine. The Truman Doctrine says that the United States will work to prevent the spread of communism around the world.

Nkrumah was a proponent of African political unity and a federation comprising all African states. He was also a critic of capitalism and an advocate of socialism as a way towards African development. Nkrumah's plan for a federation also contradicted the idea of non-interference by other African countries. Lastly, it was a different African leader of the time period, Leopold Senghor of Senegal, who was a proponent of unity based on economic cooperation but who opposed the political integration of states.

Nyerere was the leader of Tanzania from 1960 until his retirement in 1985.

Ujamaa is a Swahili word referring to "extended family" and "brotherhood". Nyerere used it as a basis for African socialist and cooperative policies. He was a critic of capitalism and multi-party democracy that he argued would exacerbate conflict between ethnic groups. His implementation of a one-party state and the use of Swahili were intended to create a national Tanzanian identity rather than ethnic ones.