What political philosopher is associated with the idea of the separation of powers?

Baron de Montesquieu

Separation of powers is commonly ascribed to French Enlightenment political philosopher Baron de Montesquieu. It is a fundamental principle of democratic governments whereby powers and responsibilities are divided among the legislative branch, executive branch, and judicial branch in order to avoid tyranny.

the fact that could also be added to column b is that during world war ii, specifically between the years 1941 and 1945, japan expanded its territory towards the indonesian territory in what was known later as part of the "pacific war". in that time, japan could conquer the philipines, singapore,   borneo, central java, malang, cebu, sumatra and various other islands of the area, therefore expanding its territory for a brief period of time.