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Politics (from Ancient Greek πολιτικά (politiká) 'affairs of the cities') is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies politics and government is referred to as political science.

It may be used positively in the context of a "political solution" which is compromising and non-violent, or descriptively as "the art or science of government", but also often carries a negative connotation. The concept has been defined in various ways, and different approaches have fundamentally differing views on whether it should be used extensively or in a limited way, empirically or normatively, and on whether conflict or co-operation is more essential to it.

A variety of methods are deployed in politics, which include promoting one's own political views among people, negotiation with other political subjects, making laws, and exercising internal and external force, including warfare against adversaries. Politics is exercised on a wide range of social levels, from clans and tribes of traditional societies, through modern local governments, companies and institutions up to sovereign states, to the international level.

In modern nation states, people often form political parties to represent their ideas. Members of a party often agree to take the same position on many issues and agree to support the same changes to law and the same leaders. An election is usually a competition between different parties.

A political system is a framework which defines acceptable political methods within a society. The history of political thought can be traced back to early antiquity, with seminal works such as Plato's Republic, Aristotle's Politics, Confucius's political manuscripts and Chanakya's Arthashastra. (Full article...)

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Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli (May 3, 1469 – June 21, 1527) was an Italian diplomat, political philosopher, musician, poet, and playwright. He is a figure of the Italian Renaissance and a central figure of its political component, most widely known for his treatises on realist political theory (The Prince) on the one hand and republicanism (Discourses on Livy) on the other. These two written works, plus his History of Florence commissioned by the Medici family, were published posthumously in 1531. After the ousting and execution of Savonarola, the Great Council elected Machiavelli as the second chancellor of the Republic of Florence in June of 1498.

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Dilma Rousseff served as the 36th President of Brazil from 2011 until her impeachment in 2016. This is her official photograph on taking up the presidency.

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The Norwegian Nobel Institute assists the Norwegian Nobel Committee in selecting recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize and in organising the annual award in Oslo.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee awards the Nobel Peace Prize annually "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses." As dictated by Alfred Nobel's will, the award is administered by the Norwegian Nobel Committee and awarded by a committee of five people elected by the Parliament of Norway.

Each recipient receives a medal, a diploma, and a monetary award prize (that has varied throughout the years). It is one of the five prizes established by the 1895 will of Alfred Nobel (who died in 1896), awarded for outstanding contributions in chemistry, physics, literature, physiology or medicine. (Full article...)
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Coat of arms

The Mayor of Pichilemu is an elected politician who is the head of the executive branch of government of the commune of Pichilemu, Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins Region, Chile. The mayor presides over the local city council, composed of six members, and serves as the civic representative of the commune. The mayor is popularly elected in a municipal election, by simple majority. The office is held for a four-year term without term limits.

Forty different individuals, including acting mayors, have held the office of mayor since the commune of Pichilemu was created in December 1891. José María Caro Martínez, elected in 1894, was the inaugural mayor of the commune, and served for almost four consecutive terms, interrupted by his resignation in 1905. The current mayor is independent Cristian Pozo Parraguez, who was elected in May 2021 and took office on that 28 June. (Full article...)
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A total of 116 people have served on the Supreme Court of the United States, the highest judicial body in the United States, since it was established in 1789. Supreme Court justices have life tenure, meaning that they serve until they die, resign, retire, or are impeached and removed from office. For the 107 non-incumbent justices, the average length of service was 6,203 days (16 years, 359 days). The longest serving justice was William O. Douglas, with a tenure of 13,358 days (36 years, 209 days). The longest serving chief justice was John Marshall, with a tenure of 12,570 days (34 years, 152 days). John Rutledge, who served on the court twice, was both the shortest serving associate justice, with a tenure of 383 days (1 year, 18 days), and the shortest serving chief justice, with a tenure of 138 days (4 months 16 days). Among the current members of the court, Clarence Thomas's tenure of 11,918 days (32 years, 230 days) is the longest, while Ketanji Brown Jackson's 710 days (1 year, 345 days) is the shortest.

The table below ranks all United States Supreme Court justices by time in office. For five individuals confirmed for associate justice, and who later served as chief justice—Charles Evans Hughes, William Rehnquist, John Rutledge, Harlan F. Stone, and Edward Douglass White—their cumulative length of service on the court is measured. The basis of the ranking is the difference between dates; if counted by number of calendar days all the figures would be one greater, with the exception of Charles Evans Hughes and John Rutledge, who would receive two days, as each served on the court twice (their service as associate justice and as chief justice was separated by a period of years off the court). The start date given for each justice is the day they took the prescribed oath of office, with the end date being the date of the justice's death, resignation, or retirement. A highlighted row indicates a justice currently serving on the court. (Full article...)
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Standard of the governor of Ohio

The governor of Ohio is the head of government of Ohio and the commander-in-chief of the U.S. state's military forces. The officeholder has a duty to enforce state laws, the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the Ohio General Assembly, the power to convene the legislature and the power to grant pardons, except in cases of treason and impeachment.

There have been 64 governors of Ohio, serving 70 distinct terms. The longest term was held by Jim Rhodes, who was elected four times and served just under sixteen years in two non-consecutive periods of two terms each (1963–1971 and 1975–1983). The shortest terms were held by John William Brown and Nancy Hollister, who each served for only 11 days after the governors preceding them resigned in order to begin the terms to which they had been elected in the United States Senate; the shortest-serving elected governor was John M. Pattison, who died in office five months into his term. The current governor is Republican Mike DeWine, who took office on January 14, 2019. (Full article...)
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The chancellor of Germany is the political leader of Germany and the head of the federal government. The office holder is responsible for selecting all other members of the government and chairing cabinet meetings.

The office was created in the North German Confederation in 1867, when Otto von Bismarck became the first chancellor. With the unification of Germany and establishment of the German Empire in 1871, the Confederation evolved into a German nation-state and its leader became known as the chancellor of Germany. Originally, the chancellor was only responsible to the emperor. This changed with the constitutional reform in 1918, when the Parliament was given the right to dismiss the chancellor. Under the 1919 Weimar Constitution the chancellors were appointed by the directly elected president, but were responsible to Parliament. (Full article...)
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There have been 19 heads of government of the Canadian province of Alberta since it was created in 1905. Three were Liberal, three belonged to the United Farmers of Alberta, three were Social Credit, seven were Progressive Conservatives, two have belonged to the United Conservatives and one was New Democratic. The current premier of Alberta is Danielle Smith of the United Conservative Party.

Alberta uses a unicameral Westminster-style parliamentary government, in which the premier is the leader of the party that controls the most seats in the Legislative Assembly. The premier is Alberta's head of government, while the king of Canada is its head of state and is represented by the lieutenant governor of Alberta. The premier picks a cabinet, usually from the elected members of the Legislative Assembly, to form the Executive Council of Alberta, and presides over that body. (Full article...)
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Emblem of Tamil Nadu

The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu is the chief executive of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. In accordance with the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's de jure head, but de facto executive authority rests with the chief minister. Following elections to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, the state's governor usually invites the party (or coalition) with a majority of seats to form the government. The governor appoints the chief minister, whose council of ministers are collectively responsible to the assembly. Given that he has the confidence of the assembly, the chief minister's term is for five years and is subject to no term limits.

Since 1952, Tamil Nadu has had 12 chief ministers, 13 including V. R. Nedunchezhiyan, who twice acted in the role. The longest-serving chief minister, M. Karunanidhi from Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam held the office for over eighteen years in multiple tenures, while he was the one who had the largest gap between two terms (nearly thirteen years). The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's former general secretary J. Jayalalithaa has the second-longest tenure, and its founder M. G. Ramachandran, the first actor to become the chief minister in India has the third-longest tenure, while his wife V. N. Janaki Ramachandran has the shortest tenure (only 23 days). K. Kamaraj resigned his post of his own free will and devoted all of his energy to the revitalization of the Indian National Congress party; he was responsible for the elevation of Lal Bahadur Shastri to the position of Prime Minister of the Republic of India following the death of Jawaharlal Nehru and of Indira Gandhi following the death of Lal Bahadur Shastri. C. Rajagopalachari served as the last Governor-General of the Union of India before becoming chief minister of undivided Madras State. There have been four instances of president's rule in Tamil Nadu, most recently in 1991. (Full article...)
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The president of the Indian National Congress is the chief executive of the Indian National Congress (INC), one of the principal political parties in India. Constitutionally, the president is elected by an electoral college composed of members drawn from the Pradesh Congress Committees and members of the All India Congress Committee (AICC). In the event of any emergency because of any cause such as the death or resignation of the president elected as above, the most senior general secretary discharges the routine functions of the president until the Working Committee appoints a provisional president pending the election of a regular president by the AICC. The president of the party has effectively been the party's national leader, head of the party's organisation, head of the Working Committee, the chief spokesman, and all chief Congress committees.

After the party's foundation in December 1885, Wyomesh Chandra Banerjee became its first president. From 1885 to 1933, the presidency had a term of one year only. From 1933 onwards, there was no such fixed term for the president. During Jawaharlal Nehru's premiership, he rarely held the Presidency of INC, even though he was always head of the Parliamentary Party. Despite being a party with a structure, Congress under Indira Gandhi did not hold any organisational elections after 1978. In 1978, Gandhi split from the INC and formed a new opposition party, popularly called Congress (I), which the national election commission declared to be the real Indian National Congress for the 1980 general election. Gandhi institutionalised the practice of having the same person as the Congress president and the prime minister of India after the formation of Congress (I). Her successors Rajiv Gandhi and P. V. Narasimha Rao also continued that practice. Nonetheless, in 2004, when the Congress was voted back into power, Manmohan Singh became the first and only prime minister not to be the president of the party since establishment of the practice of the president holding both positions. (Full article...)
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The Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis, which houses the office of the governor

The governor of Indiana is the head of government of the U.S. state of Indiana. The governor is the head of the executive branch of Indiana's state government and is charged with enforcing state laws.

While a territory, Indiana had two governors appointed by the president of the United States. Since statehood in 1816, it has had 49 governors, serving 51 distinct terms; Isaac P. Gray and Henry F. Schricker are the only governors to have served non-consecutive terms. Four governors have served two four-year terms; territorial governor William Henry Harrison served for 11 years. The shortest-serving governor is Henry S. Lane, who served two days before resigning to become a U.S. senator. The current governor is Eric Holcomb, who took office on January 9, 2017. (Full article...)

The Great Seal of the State of West Virginia

The attorney general of West Virginia is the chief legal advisor to the West Virginia state government and is the state's chief law enforcement officer. The office was created by Article VII, Section 1 of the first Constitution of West Virginia in 1863. Under the current state constitution (1872), the attorney general is an executive department-level state constitutional officer, along with the governor, secretary of state, auditor, treasurer, and commissioner of agriculture. The attorney general is the ex officio reporter of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia. The constitution further specifies that the attorney general shall reside in the seat of state government, Charleston, during their term of office. In Charleston, they are to maintain public records, books, and papers pertaining to their office, and perform all duties prescribed by state law. the attorney general receives a salary of $95,000 per year.

The attorney general gives their written opinions and advice upon questions of law to state officials, heads of state institutions, and prosecuting attorneys. They are also responsible for all litigation on behalf of the state government and state agencies and departments. The attorney general represents the state in all claims processed by the United States Court of Claims, prosecutes civil actions as prescribed by law, enforces the state consumer, antitrust, and preneed burial statutes, and enforces the West Virginia Human Rights Act and the West Virginia Fair Housing Act. The attorney general is also an ex officio member of the Board of Public Works, Council of Finance and Administration, Public Land Corporation, West Virginia Housing Fund, West Virginia Sheriff’s Bureau, Department of Public Safety Retirement Board, Bid Suspension Review Board, State Building Commission, Commission on Charitable Contributions, Women’s Commission, Multistate Tax Compact Advisory Committee, Records Management, and Preservation Advisory Committee. (Full article...)

The Canadian province of New Brunswick was a British crown colony before it joined Canada in 1867. It had a system of responsible government beginning in 1854, and has kept its own legislature to deal with provincial matters. New Brunswick has a unicameral Westminster-style parliamentary government, in which the premier is the leader of the party that has the confidence of the Legislative Assembly to form a government. The premier is New Brunswick's head of government, and the king of Canada is its head of state and is represented by the lieutenant governor of New Brunswick. The premier picks a cabinet from the elected members to form the Executive Council of New Brunswick, and presides over that body.

Members are first elected to the legislature during general elections. General elections must be conducted every five years from the date of the last election, but the premier may ask for early dissolution of the Legislative Assembly. An election may also take place if the governing party loses the confidence of the legislature by the defeat of a supply bill or tabling of a confidence motion. (Full article...)

There are 52 municipalities in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania. Under Pennsylvania law, there are three types of incorporated municipalities in Lycoming County: cities, boroughs and. Any municipality in Pennsylvania with more than 10 persons can incorporate as a borough. Any township or borough with a population of at least 10,000 can ask the state legislature to become chartered as a city. There are no unincorporated areas in the county, since all territory in Pennsylvania is incorporated.

The 52 incorporated municipalities in Lycoming County are the subject of the first list, which gives their names and etymologies, dates settled and incorporated, what they were formed from, area, population, and location within the county. Two other lists dealing with former parts of Lycoming County are included. The second list is of former incorporated townships and gives the same information as above on their current status. The third list gives information on the eighteen other Pennsylvania counties which were formed from or contain land originally in the county. (Full article...)

This is a list of sovereign states without armed forces. Dependent territories (such as Bermuda, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands) whose defence is the responsibility of another country or an army alternative are excluded. The term armed forces refers to any government-sponsored defense used to further the domestic and foreign policies of their respective government. Some of the countries listed, such as Iceland and Monaco, have no standing armies but still have a non-police military force.

Many of the 21 countries listed here typically have had a long-standing agreement with a former colonial or protecting power; one example of the latter is the agreement between Monaco and France, which has existed for at least 300 years.
Similarly, the Compact of Free Association countries of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), the Marshall Islands, and Palau rely on the United States for their defence. They ensure their national security concerns are addressed through annual Joint Committee Meetings to discuss defence matters with the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. Andorra has a small army, and can request defensive aid if necessary, while Iceland has a unique agreement since 1951 with the United States which requires them to provide defence to Iceland when needed, although permanent armed forces have not been stationed there since 2006. (Full article...)

Canada is a federation that comprises ten provinces and three territories. Its government is structured as a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary democracy, with a monarch as its sovereign and a Prime Minister as its head of government. Each of the country's provinces and territories also has a head of government, called premier in English. Collectively, the federal Prime Minister and provincial and territorial premiers are referred to as first ministers. In French, the term premier ministre is used in both the federal and provincial/territorial contexts.

The longest-serving current first minister is Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who assumed office on November 4, 2015; the newest first minister is R.J. Simpson of the Northwest Territories, who assumed office on December 8, 2023. The oldest first minister, Blaine Higgs of New Brunswick, is 70; the youngest first minister, P.J. Akeeagok of Nunavut, is 39. Of the current first ministers, one (Danielle Smith of Alberta) is a woman and three (P.J. Akeeagok of Nunavut, Wab Kinew of Manitoba, and R.J. Simpson of the Northwest Territories) are Indigenous. (Full article...)

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Ed Stelmach (born 1951) was the Premier of Alberta, Canada, from December 14, 2006 to October 7, 2011. He spent his entire pre-political adult life as a farmer, except for some time spent studying at the University of Alberta. His first foray into politics was a 1986 municipal election, when he was elected to the county council of Lamont County. A year into his term, he was appointed reeve. He continued in this position until his entry into provincial politics. In the 1993 provincial election, Stelmach was elected as the Member of the Legislative Assembly for Vegreville-Viking. A Progressive Conservative, he served in the cabinets of Ralph Klein. When Klein resigned the party's leadership in 2006, Stelmach was among the first to run to replace him. After a third place finish on the first ballot of the leadership race, he won an upset second ballot victory over former provincial treasurer Jim Dinning. Stelmach's premiership has been heavily focused on management of the province's oil reserves, especially those of the Athabasca Oil Sands. Other policy initiatives have included commencing an overhaul of the province's health governance system, a re-introduction of all-party committees to the Legislature, and the conclusion of a major labour agreement with Alberta's teachers.

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... that Jonathan Allen left journalism for politics before quitting 40 days later?
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... that Nigeria's Muslim–Muslim ticket challenges the norm of religious balance in politics?
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... that Czech television reporter and author Vladimír Škutina was arrested and imprisoned twice for his use of political satire?

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...that in the 1930s, Australia was home to a paramilitary Fascist organization called the New Guard?

...that politicians discuss the ways in which they and their families have suffered because of Oprahization?
...that Democratic and Republican plans for the 2012 United States federal budget both focus on deficit reduction, but differ in their changes to taxation, entitlement programs, and research funding?
...that Conservative Party candidate Bernard Trottier won a seat in the 41st Canadian Parliament by defeating the incumbent Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada in the 2011 federal election?

...that co-founder of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association Mohammed al-Bejadi spent most of 2011 in prison?

...that the 2013 United States federal budget may impose a 23% cut on the defense budget due to the Budget Control Act of 2011, according to Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta?

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June 28, 2004 - Canadian federal elections occur; the Liberal party loses its absolute majority.

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The following are images from various politics-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1A memorial to the Great Famine (Ireland), a famine event in Ireland that faced elongated suffering from the UK's domestic policy failures at the time under the Prime Ministers Sir Robert Peel and Lord John Russell. (from Health politics)
Image 2Ferdinand Marcos (pictured with his daughter Imee) was a Philippine dictator and kleptocrat. His regime was infamous for its corruption. (from Political corruption)
Image 3The Flag of the United Nations flying at United Nations Plaza in the Civic Center, San Francisco, California. The UN is one of the key organizations in the process of the political globalization. (from Political globalization)
Image 4A map depicting Corruption Perceptions Index in the world in 2022; a higher score indicates lower levels of perceived corruption.
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  59 – 50
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(from Political corruption)
Image 5The logo and slogan for change.org (from Politics and technology)
Image 6Karl Marx and his theory of Communism, developed with Friedrich Engels, proved to be one of the most influential political ideologies of the 20th century. (from History of political thought)
Image 7Russia handing over the symbolic relay baton for the hosting rights of the 2022 FIFA World Cup to Qatar in June 2018 (from Political corruption)
Image 8A world map distinguishing countries of the world as federations (green) from unitary states (blue), a work of political science (from Political science)
Image 9US Military Police officer restraining and sedating prisoner, while a soldier holds him down (from Political corruption)
Image 10World map with the concepts of Heartland and Rimland applied (from Geopolitics)
Image 11United Nations Convention against Corruption (from Political corruption)
Image 12This is the divide of the different political parties in Estonia where in the 2013 elections, over 133,000 people (roughly 21.2% of participating voters) voted over the Internet. The 2013 elections were also the first elections to allow vote verification with mobile devices. (from Politics and technology)
Image 13Eugène Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People (1830, Louvre), a painting created at a time where old and modern political philosophies came into violent conflict. (from History of political thought)
Image 14Montenegro's president Milo Đukanović is often described as having strong links to Montenegrin mafia. (from Political corruption)
Image 15Reformers like the American Joseph Keppler depicted the Senate as controlled by the giant moneybags, who represented the nation's financial trusts and monopolies. (from Political corruption)
Image 16Sir Halford Mackinder's Heartland concept showing the situation of the "pivot area" established in the Theory of the Heartland. He later revised it to mark Northern Eurasia as a pivot while keeping area marked above as Heartland. (from Geopolitics)
Image 17Countries with politicians, public officials or close associates implicated in the Panama Papers leak on April 15, 2016 (from Political corruption)
Image 18American lobbyist and businessman Jack Abramoff was at the center of an extensive corruption investigation. (from Political corruption)
Image 19Detail from Corrupt Legislation (1896) by Elihu Vedder. Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington, D.C. (from Political corruption)
Image 20Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders campaigning for extended US Medicare coverage in 2017. (from Health politics)
Image 21Blockchain technology has created cryptocurrencies similarly to voting tokens seen in blockchain voting platforms, with recognizable names including Bitcoin and Ethereum. (from Politics and technology)
Image 22Candlelight protest against South Korean President Park Geun-hye in Seoul, South Korea, 7 January 2017 (from Political corruption)
Image 23The sixth president of the United States, John Quincy Adams' "corrupt bargain" of 1824 is an example of patronage. (from Political corruption)
Image 24Savka Dabčević-Kučar, Croatian Spring participant; Europe's first female prime minister (from Civil and political rights)
Image 25Protesters in support of American whistleblower Edward Snowden, Berlin, Germany, 30 August 2014 (from Political corruption)
Image 26Division of the world according to Haushofer's Pan-Regions Doctrine (from Geopolitics)
Image 27Malaysia's former Prime Minister Najib Razak was found guilty in the corruption trial over the multi-billion-dollar 1MDB scandal. He is currently serving his sentence in Kajang Prison. (from Political corruption)