Portal:Politics

The Politics portal

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 status or resources. The branch of social science that studies politics and government is referred to as political science.

Politics 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 the word often also 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 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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The monarchy of the United Kingdom is a system of government in which a hereditary monarch is the sovereign of the United Kingdom and its overseas territories. The terms British monarch and British monarchy may mean different things in different contexts beyond the United Kingdom. The present monarch is King Charles III, who has reigned since 8 September 2022. The heir apparent is his brother,. They and the Queen's husband and consort, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, undertake various public duties in accordance with their positions. Elizabeth II is Head of the Commonwealth and also reigns as head of state of 15 other Commonwealth countries. This developed from the former colonial relationship of these countries to Britain, but they are now independent and the monarchy of each is legally distinct.

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The resignation letter of U. S. President Richard M. Nixon on August 9, 1974 during the Watergate scandal.

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Flag of Arizona

The governor of Arizona is the head of government of the U.S. state of Arizona. As the top elected official, the governor is the head of the executive branch of the Arizona state government and is charged with faithfully executing state laws. The governor has the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the Arizona State Legislature; to convene the legislature; and to grant pardons, with the exception of cases of impeachment. The governor is also the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. Arizona is one of the few states that currently does not have a governor's mansion or other official residence.

Twenty-four people have served as governor over 28 distinct terms. All of the repeat governors were in the state's earliest years, when George W. P. Hunt and Thomas Edward Campbell alternated as governor for 17 years and, after a two-year gap, Hunt served another term. One governor, Evan Mecham, was successfully impeached, and one, Fife Symington, resigned upon being convicted of a felony. The longest-serving governor was Hunt, who was elected seven times and served just under fourteen years. The longest single stint was that of Bruce Babbitt, who was elected to two four-year terms after succeeding to the office following the death of his predecessor, Wesley Bolin, serving nearly nine years total. Bolin had the shortest tenure, dying less than five months after succeeding as governor. Arizona has had five female governors, the most in the United States, and was the first—and until 2019 (when Michelle Lujan Grisham succeeded Susana Martinez in neighboring New Mexico) the only—state where female governors served consecutively. (Full article...)
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Emblem of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the leader of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). From 1924 until the country's dissolution in 1991, the officeholder was the recognized leader of the Soviet Union. Prior to Joseph Stalin's accession, the position was not viewed as an important role in Vladimir Lenin's government and previous occupants had been responsible for technical rather than political decisions.

Officially, the General Secretary solely controlled the Communist Party directly.^{[dubious – discuss]} However, since the party had a monopoly on political power, the General Secretary de facto had executive control of the Soviet government. Because of the office's ability to direct both the foreign and domestic policies of the state and preeminence over the Soviet Communist Party, it was the de facto highest office of the Soviet Union. (Full article...)
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Since the office was established in 1789, 45 individuals have served as president of the United States. Of these, eight have died in office, of whom four were assassinated and four died of natural causes. In each of these instances, the vice president has succeeded to the presidency. This practice is now governed by Section One of the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1967, which declares that, "the Vice President shall become President" if the president is removed from office, dies, or resigns. The initial authorization for this practice was provided by Article II, Section 1, Clause 6, of the U.S. Constitution.

The first incumbent U.S. president to die was William Henry Harrison, on April 4, 1841, only one month after Inauguration Day. He died from complications of what at the time was believed to be pneumonia. The second U.S. president to die in office, Zachary Taylor, died on July 9, 1850, from acute gastroenteritis. Abraham Lincoln was the third U.S. president to die in office, and was the first to be assassinated. He was shot by John Wilkes Booth on the night of April 14, 1865, and died the following morning. Sixteen years later, on July 2, 1881, James A. Garfield was shot by Charles J. Guiteau, surviving for 79 days before dying on September 19, 1881. (Full article...)
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Title page of Recollections of Full Years by Helen Taft

Fourteen first ladies of the United States have written a total of twenty-three memoirs. The first lady is the hostess of the White House, and the position is traditionally filled by the wife of the president of the United States, with some historical exceptions. Every memoir by a first lady published in the 20th and 21st centuries has been a bestseller, at times outselling those of their presidential husbands.

In the early 1800s, Abigail Adams had her correspondence published as Letters of Mrs. Adams, the Wife of John Adams, and Louisa Adams "made several attempts at an autobiography", though she never sought to publish them. The Memoirs and Letters of Dolley Madison, Wife of James Madison, President of the United States were published in 1886 but were actually edited by Lucia Cutts and written by Dolley Madison's niece Mary Cutts. (Full article...)
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Privy Seal of the State of Wisconsin

The lieutenant governor of Wisconsin is the first person in the line of succession of Wisconsin's executive branch, thus serving as governor in the event of the death, resignation, removal, impeachment, absence from the state, or incapacity due to illness of the governor of Wisconsin.
Forty-one individuals have held the office of lieutenant governor since Wisconsin's admission to the Union in 1848, two of whom—Warren Knowles and Jack Olson—have served for non-consecutive terms. The first lieutenant governor was John Holmes, who took office on June 7, 1848. The current lieutenant governor is Sara Rodriguez, who took office on January 3, 2023. (Full article...)
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Seal of San Francisco

The mayor of the City and County of San Francisco is the head of the executive branch of the San Francisco city and county government. The officeholder has the duty to enforce city laws, and the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, the legislative branch. The mayor serves a four-year term and is limited to two successive terms. Because of San Francisco's status as a consolidated city-county, the mayor also serves as the head of government of the county; both entities have been governed together by a combined set of governing bodies since 1856.

There have been 45 individuals who have served as mayor in San Francisco since 1850, when California became a state following the American Conquest of California. Prior to the conquest, Californios served as Mayor of San Francisco during the Spanish and Mexican eras since 1779. (Full article...)
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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 Scott Moe of Saskatchewan, who assumed office on February 2, 2018; the newest first minister is Prime Minister Mark Carney, who assumed office on March 14, 2025. The oldest first minister, François Legault of Quebec, is 67; the youngest first minister, P.J. Akeeagok of Nunavut, is 40. Of the current first ministers, two (Danielle Smith of Alberta and Susan Holt of New Brunswick) are women 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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Coat of arms of Nova Scotia

The Canadian province of Nova Scotia was a British colony with a system of responsible government since 1848, before it joined Canadian Confederation in 1867. Since Confederation, the province has been a part of the Canadian federation and has kept its own legislature to deal with provincial matters.

Nova Scotia has a unicameral Westminster-style parliamentary government, in which the premier is the leader of the party that controls the most seats in the House of Assembly. The premier is Nova Scotia's head of government, and the king in right of Nova Scotia is its head of state and is represented by the lieutenant governor of Nova Scotia. The premier picks a cabinet from the elected members to form the Executive Council of Nova Scotia, and presides over that body. (Full article...)
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Kamala Harris is the highest-ranking woman to serve in a Cabinet as Vice President of the United States.

The Cabinet of the United States, which is the principal advisory body to the President of the United States, has had 72 female members altogether, with eight of them serving in multiple positions for a total of 80 cabinet appointments. Of that number, 43 different women held a total of 46 permanent cabinet posts, having served as the Vice President or heads of the federal executive departments; 34 more women held cabinet-level positions, which can differ under each president; and five officeholders served in both cabinet and cabinet-rank roles. No woman held a presidential cabinet position before the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920, which prohibits the federal government or any state from denying citizens the right to vote on the basis of sex.

Frances Perkins became the first woman to serve in a president's cabinet when she was appointed Secretary of Labor by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933. Patricia Roberts Harris was the first African-American woman and the first woman of color to serve in a presidential cabinet when she was named Secretary of Housing and Urban Development by President Jimmy Carter in 1977. Two years later, Carter tapped her for Secretary of Health and Human Services, therefore making her the first woman to hold two different cabinet positions. Madeleine Albright, who was born in Czechoslovakia, became the first foreign-born woman to serve in a president's cabinet when she was picked by President Bill Clinton for United States Ambassador to the United Nations, a cabinet-rank position, in 1993. She was elevated to Secretary of State four years later, during Clinton's second term, thus making her, at the time, the highest-ranking woman in the history of the federal government. (Full article...)
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La Fortaleza in Old San Juan is the official residence of the governor of Puerto Rico. It was built between 1533 and 1540.

This list of governors of Puerto Rico includes all persons who have held that post, either under Spanish or American rule. The governor of Puerto Rico is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The position was first established by the Spanish Empire during the 16th century following the archipelago's colonization.

The first person to officially occupy the position was Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León in 1509.
At the time, the Spanish monarchy was responsible for appointing the functionary who would perform this office. The first native Puerto Rican to perform the function was Juan Ponce de León II, as interim governor in 1579. During this administration, all of those appointed to take the position had served another function within the empire's government or the Roman Catholic Church. In 1898, the United States invaded Puerto Rico and the Spanish government ceded control of the island to the United States. During the first two years, the entire government in Puerto Rico was appointed by the president of the United States. In 1900, the American government approved the establishment of the Foraker Act as a federal law, this act established a civilian government in the island. In 1947, the federal Elective Governor Act was enacted, which created a new system where, since 1948, the governor is elected through a democratic process every four years. The governor is in charge of Puerto Rico's executive branch and is responsible for appointing executive branch agency heads, including the Secretary of State, who fulfills the role of lieutenant governor, the legislative branch's ombudsman and comptroller and all judges in the judicial branch. (Full article...)
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A total of 41 counties (Romanian: județe), along with the municipality of Bucharest, constitute the official administrative divisions of Romania. They represent the country's NUTS-3 (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics – Level 3) statistical subdivisions within the European Union and each of them serves as the local level of government within its borders. Most counties are named after a major river, while some are named after notable cities within them, such as the county seat.

The earliest organization into județe of the Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia (where they were termed ținuturi) dates back to at least the late 14th century. For most of the time since modern Romania was formed in 1859, the administrative division system has been similar to that of the French departments. The system has since changed several times and the number of counties has varied over time, from the 71 județe that existed before World War II to only 39 after 1968. The current format has largely been in place since 1968 as only small changes have been made since then, the last of which was in 1997. (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 timeline of elections in Canada covers all the provincial, territorial and federal elections from when each province was joined Confederation through to the present day. The table below indicates which party won the election. Several provinces held elections before joining Canada, but only their post-Confederation elections are shown. These include:
- Lower Canada held 15 elections for its Legislative Assembly, from 1792 to 1835;
- Upper Canada held 13 elections to its Legislative Assembly, from 1792 to 1836;
- the Province of Canada held 8 elections for its Legislative Assembly from 1841 to 1863;
- New Brunswick's first 21 elections, beginning in 1785 (the 21st Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick was elected in 1866, one year before Confederation, and continued until 1870, three years after Confederation);
- Nova Scotia's first 22 elections, beginning in 1758;
- Prince Edward Island's first 25 elections, beginning in 1773; and
- Newfoundland's first 29 elections, beginning in 1832.
The most recent election is shown with a box limited to four years of government, as the federal government and all provinces and territories have fixed election dates every four years. However, elections can be called at any time by an incumbent government. Thus, the box is shown as running until the next scheduled election, but one could still be earlier if the government falls due to a motion of no confidence, or if the governing party calls an early election. The maximum length of office as set by the constitution is five years. (Full article...)
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The U.S. state of Alabama has 67 counties. Each county serves as the local level of government within its borders. The land enclosed by the present state borders was joined to the United States of America gradually. Following the American Revolutionary War, West Florida was ceded to Spain by treaty while the remainder was organized primarily as the Mississippi Territory, and later the Alabama Territory. The territorial assembly established some of the earliest county divisions that have survived to the present, including the earliest county formation, that of Washington County, created on June 4, 1800. In 1814, the Treaty of Fort Jackson opened the territory to American settlers, which in turn led to a more rapid rate of county creation. Alabama was admitted to the Union as the 22nd state in 1819. The Alabama state legislature formed additional counties from former native lands as the Indian Removal Act took effect and settlers populated different areas of Alabama. In 1820, Alabama had 29 counties. By 1830 there were 36 and Native Americans still occupied large areas of land in northeast and far western Alabama. By 1840, 49 counties had been created; 52 by 1850; 65 by 1870; and the present 67 counties by 1903. Houston County was the last county created in the state, on February 9, 1903.

According to 2024 U.S. Census data, the average population of Alabama's 67 counties is 76,981, with Jefferson County as the most populous (664,744), and Greene County (7,127) the least. The average land area is 756 sq mi (1,958 km²). The largest county is Baldwin (1,590 sq mi, 4,118 km²) and the smallest is Etowah (535 sq mi, 1,386 km²). The Constitution of Alabama requires that any new county in Alabama cover at least 600 square miles (1,600 km²) in area, effectively limiting the creation of new counties in the state. (Full article...)
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India is a union consisting of 28 states and 8 union territories. As of 2024, with an estimated population of 1.484 billion, India is the world's most populous country. India occupies 2.4% of the world's area and is home to 17.5% of the world's population. The Indo-Gangetic Plain has one of the world's biggest stretches of fertile not-deep alluvium and are among the most densely populated areas of the world. The eastern and western coastal regions of Deccan Plateau are also densely populated regions of India. The Thar Desert in western Rajasthan is one of the most densely populated deserts in the world. The northern and north-eastern states along the Himalayas contain cold arid deserts with fertile valleys. These states have relatively low population density due to indomitable physical barriers. (Full article...)

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Cosmo Gordon Lang (1864–1945) was an Anglican prelate who served as Archbishop of York and Archbishop of Canterbury. As Archbishop of Canterbury during the abdication crisis of 1936 he took a strong moral stance, and comments he made in a subsequent broadcast were widely condemned as uncharitable towards the departed king. In his early ministry Lang served in slum parishes in Leeds and Portsmouth before his appointment in 1901 as suffragan Bishop of Stepney in London. In 1908 Lang was nominated Archbishop of York, despite his relatively junior status as a suffragan rather than a diocesan bishop. He entered the House of Lords as a Lord Spiritual and caused consternation in traditionalist circles by speaking and voting against the Lords' proposal to reject David Lloyd George's 1909 "People's Budget". This apparent radicalism was not, however, maintained in later years. At the start of World War I, Lang was heavily criticised for a speech in which he spoke sympathetically of the Kaiser. After the war he supported controversial proposals for the revision of the Book of Common Prayer, but after acceding to Canterbury he took no practical steps to resolve this issue. As Archbishop of Canterbury he presided over the 1930 Lambeth Conference, which gave limited church approval to the use of contraception.

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... that Rabab Al-Kadhimi was threatened with deportation from Egypt due to the political nature of her poetry?
... that Patricia Grace did not intend for her novel Potiki, about the impact of land development on an indigenous community, to be seen as political?
... that Iraqi poet Kazim al-Samawi spent more than half his life in political exile and was called "The Sheikh of the Exiles"?
... that Pocatello mayor Les Purce was the first African-American political officeholder in Idaho?
... that a political action committee paid $132,000 to former First Lady Melania Trump's fashion stylist for strategy consulting?
... that Kit Nascimento, a spokesperson for the government of Guyana during the aftermath of Jonestown, disagrees with current proposals to open the former Jonestown site as a tourist attraction?

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More did you know...

...that the traditional form of government in Tibet from 1642 to 1951 was the Cho-sid-nyi?

...that the National Assembly of Azerbaijan was the first secular republican parliament in the Muslim world?
...that in world-system theory, sociologists debate whether two world-systems have ever existed during the same period?
...that former Republican California State Senator Becky Morgan served on the Board of Trustees of both her alma maters, Stanford University and Cornell University?

...that although U.S. President Barack Obama is Christian, high-ranked al-Qaida member Ayman al-Zawahiri has falsely claimed that Obama secretly "pray[s] the prayers of the Jews"?

...that on the death of Governor George Madison, Kentucky lieutenant governor Gabriel Slaughter was refused the title of "governor" by a hostile state legislature and was referred to as "acting governor" for the duration of his three-year administration?

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In this month

April 1, 1979 – Iran's government becomes an Islamic Republic by a 98% vote, overthrowing the Shah officially.
April 9, 1948 – the period known as La Violencia begins with the assassination of Colombian Liberal Party leader Jorge Eliécer Gaitán. For the next ten years Liberals, Communists and Conservatives would fight each other in the conflict.
April 9, 2003 – Government of Saddam Hussein overthrown by American forces in Iraq.
April 19, 2006 – Han Myung-sook becomes South Korea's first female Prime Minister.
April 24, 2005 – Presidential elections in Togo return Faure Gnassingbe to power two months after he was installed by the military following the death of his father, Gnassingbé Eyadéma.
April 28, 1937 – Saddam Hussein, the President of Iraq was born.
April 30, 1945 – Adolf Hitler and his wife Eva Braun, commit suicide as the Red Army approached the Führerbunker in Berlin. Karl Dönitz succeeds Hitler as President of Germany; Joseph Goebbels succeeds Hitler as Chancellor of Germany.

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

Image 1Karl 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 2A world map distinguishing countries of the world as federations (green) from unitary states (blue), a work of political science (from Political science)
Image 3United Nations Convention against Corruption (from Political corruption)
Image 4Malaysia'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)
Image 5Countries with politicians, public officials or close associates implicated in the Panama Papers leak on April 15, 2016 (from Political corruption)
Image 6The 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 7Candlelight protest against South Korean President Park Geun-hye in Seoul, South Korea, 7 January 2017 (from Political corruption)
Image 8Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders campaigning for extended US Medicare coverage in 2017. (from Health politics)
Image 9Protesters in support of American whistleblower Edward Snowden, Berlin, Germany, 30 August 2014 (from Political corruption)
Image 10Savka Dabčević-Kučar, Croatian Spring participant; Europe's first female prime minister (from Civil and political rights)
Image 11Sir 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 12US Military Police officer restraining and sedating prisoner while a soldier holds him down (from Political corruption)
Image 13Division of the world according to Haushofer's pan-regions doctrine (from Geopolitics)
Image 14Eugène 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 15Montenegro's president Milo Đukanović is often described as having strong links to Montenegrin mafia. (from Political corruption)
Image 16The sixth president of the United States, John Quincy Adams' "corrupt bargain" of 1824 is an example of patronage. (from Political corruption)
Image 17American lobbyist and businessman Jack Abramoff was at the center of an extensive corruption investigation. (from Political corruption)
Image 18World map with the concepts of Heartland and Rimland applied (from Geopolitics)
Image 19Ferdinand Marcos (pictured with his daughter Imee) was a Philippine dictator and kleptocrat. His regime was infamous for its corruption. (from Political corruption)
Image 20Russia 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 21A 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 22Detail from Corrupt Legislation (1896) by Elihu Vedder. Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington, D.C. (from Political corruption)
Image 23Reformers 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 24The logo and slogan for change.org (from Politics and technology)
Image 25This 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)