Forming stable governments: national unity versus division
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Flip to reveal answersWhy was stable government hard to build after independence?
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Question
Why was stable government hard to build after independence?
Answer
Institutions were weak and untested, and societies were divided by religion, ethnicity, region and class — often exploited by ambitious strongmen.
Question
Define constitution.
Answer
The basic rulebook that sets out how a country is governed and how power is held and limited.
Question
Define caudillo.
Answer
A regional strongman, usually a military leader, who ruled Spanish-American states by personal force and loyalty rather than by law.
Question
When did India become independent, and at what cost?
Answer
In 1947, but through a violent Partition into India and Pakistan that killed around a million people and uprooted about 15 million.
Question
What was India's 1950 Constitution?
Answer
The world's longest written constitution, making India a secular, democratic republic with rights, elections and an independent judiciary.
Question
Who drafted India's constitution and who led its early civilian rule?
Answer
B. R. Ambedkar chaired the drafting; Jawaharlal Nehru led as prime minister (1947–1964), keeping the army out of politics.
Question
What was India's deepest internal division?
Answer
Communal (Hindu–Muslim) tension, made worse by Partition but managed within a secular democracy rather than abolished.
Question
What was Bolívar's vision, and what happened to it?
Answer
A single united Spanish America; it collapsed as the new republics split apart and refused central rule.
Question
What was Gran Colombia and when did it break up?
Answer
Bolívar's union of modern Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Panama; it broke apart in 1830, the year he died.
Question
Why did Spanish America stay politically unstable?
Answer
No shared institutions, constitutions written and torn up, region and class divisions, and caudillos ruling by military force.
Question
Compare India and Spanish America on stability.
Answer
India built lasting institutions that contained division and kept democracy; Spanish America relied on strongmen, so division destroyed unity.
Question
How should you structure a 'compare and contrast' stability essay?
Answer
By themes (institutions, managing division, leadership), comparing both states directly, and ending with a clear judgement — not country-by-country.
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Full study notes for Forming stable governments: national unity versus division
Topic 13.3 hub
Challenges after independence
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