Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

perestroika

(Encyclopedia)perestroika pərˈĕstroyˈkə [key], Soviet economic and social policy of the late 1980s. Perestroika [restructuring] was the term attached to the attempts (1985–91) by Mikhail Gorbachev to transfo...

Fraser, Peter

(Encyclopedia)Fraser, Peter, 1884–1950, New Zealand political leader, b. Scotland. He emigrated to New Zealand in 1910. Previously active in Labour politics in London, he was elected to Parliament in 1918, becomi...

Pirenne, Henri

(Encyclopedia)Pirenne, Henri äNrēˈ pērĕnˈ [key], 1862–1935, Belgian historian. He was for many years a professor of history at the Univ. of Ghent. A leader of Belgian passive resistance in World War I, he w...

Albert, Carl Bert

(Encyclopedia)Albert, Carl Bert, 1908–2000, U.S. Congressman (1947–76), b. McAlester, Okla. Admitted to the bar in 1935, Albert enlisted (1941) in the army as a private, served (1942–46) in the Pacific during...

Klyuchevsky, Vasily Osipovich

(Encyclopedia)Klyuchevsky, Vasily Osipovich vəsēˈlyē ôˈsĭpəvĭch klyo͞ochĕvˈskē [key], 1841–1911, Russian historian. Interpreting history from a sociological viewpoint, he emphasized geographic and ec...

Veil, Simone

(Encyclopedia)Veil, Simone, 1927–2017, French politician, b. Simone Jacob. Interned in Nazi concentration camps during World War II because she was Jewish, she became a lawyer and government official. She served ...

Maurer, Ion Gheorghe

(Encyclopedia)Maurer, Ion Gheorghe yôn gāôrˈgā [key], 1902–2000, Romanian statesman. A lawyer, he defended Romanian Communists in the 1930s and later became (1945) a member of the central committee of the Co...

Sobotka, Bohuslav

(Encyclopedia)Sobotka, Bohuslav bōˈho͞osläf sōˈbätkä [key], 1971–, Czech politician. Center-left in political philosophy and a member of the Czech Social Democratic party (CSSD) from 1989, Sobotka was fir...

American Friends Service Committee

(Encyclopedia)American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), organization est. 1917 by the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) that provides social services and information to the public in an attempt to promote int...

Mott Foundation

(Encyclopedia)Mott Foundation, philanthropic trust created (1926) by automobile executive Charles Stewart Mott (1875–1973) to support programs dealing with selected urban problems. The foundation originally conce...