Linear theories

thumb|Vladimir Lenin, after whom Leninism is named

field of historical study. Not to be confused with universal history (genre)

'''''' (, ) refers to the theory in German historiography that considers the German-speaking lands or the country of Germany itself to have followed a course from aristocracy to democracy unlike any other in Europe.

Historiographical school of thought

perceived increase in the rate of technological change throughout history

thumb|right|William James was an early adherent to meliorism as a halfway position between metaphysical optimism and pessimism.

historical model of economic growth

Communist ideological concept

thumb|right|200px|Fourierism is the set of ideas first put forward by French Utopian socialism|utopian socialist François Marie Charles Fourier (1772–1837). Fourierism () is the systematic set of economic, political, and social beliefs first espoused by French intellectual Charles Fourier (1772–1837). It is based on a belief in the inevitability of communal associations of people who work and live together as part of the human future. Fourier's supporters called his doctrines associationism. Political contemporaries and subsequent scholarship have identified Fourier's set of ideas as a form of

speculative concept defined by the Global Scenario Group, stating that increasing global interdependence and risks, such as climate change, are binding the world into a unitary socio-ecological system