Portal:Politics

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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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The Oregon State Capitol is the building housing the state legislature and the offices of the governor, secretary of state, and treasurer of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located in the state capital, Salem. The current building, constructed in 1935 and expanded in 1977, is the third to house the Oregon state government since the state administration moved to Salem in 1852. Two former capitol buildings were destroyed by fire, one in 1855 and the other in 1935. New York architects Trowbridge & Livingston conceived the current structure's Art Deco design, in association with Francis Keally. Much of the interior and exterior are made of marble. The Oregon State Capitol was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. The Public Works Administration, part of the U.S. government, partially financed construction, which was completed during the Great Depression, in 1937. The building was erected at a cost of $2.5 million for the central portion of the building, which includes a dome of 166 feet (51 m).

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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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Featured lists have been determined by the Wikipedia community to be the best lists on English Wikipedia.

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Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected Pope Francis by the conclave on 13 March 2013.

The papal conclave of 2013 was convened to elect a pope, the leader of the Catholic Church, to succeed Benedict XVI following his resignation on 28 February 2013. In accordance with the apostolic constitution Universi Dominici gregis, which governed the vacancy of the Holy See, only cardinals who had not passed their 80th birthday on the day on which the Holy See became vacant (in this case, those who were born on or after 28 February 1933) were eligible to participate in the conclave. Although not a formal requirement, the cardinal electors invariably elect the pope from among their number. The election was carried out by secret ballot (Latin: per scrutinium).

Of the 207 members of the College of Cardinals at the time of Benedict XVI's resignation, there were 117 cardinal electors who were eligible to participate in the subsequent conclave. Two cardinal electors did not participate, decreasing the number in attendance to 115. The number of votes required to be elected pope with a two-thirds supermajority was 77. (Full article...)
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Coat of arms of Prince Edward Island

The premier of Prince Edward Island is the first minister for the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island. They are the province's head of government and de facto chief executive.

Prince Edward Island was a British crown colony before it joined Canadian Confederation in 1873. It has had a system of responsible government since 1851, and the province kept its own legislature to deal with provincial matters after joining Confederation. Prince Edward Island has 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 Prince Edward Island's head of government, and the king of Canada is its head of state and is represented by the lieutenant governor of Prince Edward Island. The premier picks a cabinet from the elected members to form the Executive Council of Prince Edward Island, and presides over that body. (Full article...)
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Seal of the governor

The governor of West Virginia is the head of government of West Virginia and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has a duty to enforce state laws, and the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the West Virginia Legislature, to convene the legislature at any time, and, except when prosecution has been carried out by the House of Delegates, to grant pardons and reprieves.

Since West Virginia was admitted to the Union on June 20, 1863, during the American Civil War, 34 men have served as governor. Two, Arch A. Moore Jr. (West Virginia's 28th and 30th governor) and Cecil H. Underwood (West Virginia's 25th and 32nd governor), served two nonconsecutive terms in office. The longest-serving governor was Moore, who served for three terms over twelve years. The state's first governor after admission into the Union, Arthur I. Boreman, served the most consecutive terms, resigning a week before the end of his third term. Before the state's admission, Francis Harrison Pierpont, the "Father of West Virginia," was elected governor during the Wheeling Convention of 1861. Daniel D.T. Farnsworth was senate president at the time; he filled the last seven days of Boreman's term and remains the shortest-serving governor. Underwood has the unusual distinction of being both the youngest person to be elected as governor (age 34 upon his first term in 1957) and the oldest to both be elected and serve (age 74 upon his second term in 1997; age 78 at the end of his second term in 2001). (Full article...)
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There are 120 counties in the U.S. Commonwealth of Kentucky. Despite ranking 37th in size by area, Kentucky has 120 counties, fourth among states (including Virginia's independent cities). The original motivation for having so many counties was to ensure that residents in the days of poor roads and horseback travel could make a round trip from their home to the county seat in a single day, as well as being able to travel from one county seat to the next in the same fashion. Later, however, politics began to play a part, with citizens who disagreed with their county government petitioning the state to create a new county. Today, 22 of the 120 counties have fewer than 10,000 residents, and half have fewer than 20,000. The 20 largest counties by population all have populations of 49,000 or higher, and just 7 of the 120 have a population of 100,000 or higher. The average county population, based on the estimated 2023 state population of 4.526 million, was 37,718.

Following concerns of too many counties, the 1891 Kentucky Constitution placed stricter limits on county creation, stipulating that a new county:
- must have a land area of at least 400 square miles (1,036 km²);
- must have a population of at least 12,000 people;
- must not by its creation reduce the land area of an existing county to less than 400 square miles;
- must not by its creation reduce the population of an existing county to fewer than 12,000 people;
- must not create a county boundary line that passes within 10 miles (16 kilometers) of an existing county seat.
These regulations have reined in the proliferation of counties in Kentucky. Since the 1891 Constitution, only McCreary County has been legally created, in 1912. The General Assembly's creation of Beckham County in 1904 was ruled unconstitutional. Because today's largest county by area, Pike County, is 788 square miles (2,041 km²), it is only still possible to form a new county from portions of more than one existing county; McCreary County was formed in this manner, from parts of Wayne, Pulaski and Whitley counties. (Full article...)
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President George Washington appointed 9 justices to the Supreme Court and 28 judges to United States district courts.

United States President George Washington appointed 39 Article III United States federal judges during his presidency, which lasted from April 30, 1789 to March 4, 1797. The first group of Washington's appointments—two justices of the Supreme Court of the United States and ten district court judges—began service two days after Congress passed the Judiciary Act of 1789, which formally established the federal judiciary. Washington's last court appointee received his commission twelve days before the end of Washington's presidency.

As the first president, Washington was responsible for appointing the entire Supreme Court; he appointed a record eleven justices, including two Chief Justices and who were confirmed from outside the Court and one former Justice named as Chief Justice by a recess appointment, but not ultimately confirmed to the position. Additionally, Washington nominated Robert H. Harrison, who declined to serve, and nominated William Cushing for elevation to Chief Justice, who likewise declined. (Full article...)
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there have been 23 members appointed to the Cabinet of the United States who had been born outside the present-day United States.

Alexander Hamilton, one of the Founding Fathers who signed the U.S. Constitution, was the first cabinet member to be born outside of the United States. President George Washington appointed Hamilton, born in Nevis in 1755 or in 1757, as the United States' first Secretary of the Treasury in 1789. Irish-born James McHenry, whom Washington appointed as Secretary of War in 1796 and who served in the same post in John Adams's administration, was the other foreign-born individual in Washington's cabinet. (Full article...)
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Seal of the governor

The governor of Pennsylvania is the head of government of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, as well as commander-in-chief of the state's national guard.

The governor has a duty to enforce state laws and the power to approve or veto bills passed by the Pennsylvania General Assembly, as well as to convene the legislature. The governor may grant pardons except in cases of impeachment, but only when recommended by the Board of Pardons. (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 1950, 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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Currently in role
Jill Biden
since January 20, 2021

The first lady of the United States is the hostess of the White House. The position is traditionally filled by the wife of the president of the United States, but, on occasion, the title has been applied to women who were not presidents' wives, such as when the president was a bachelor or widower, or when the wife of the president was unable to fulfill the duties of the first lady. The first lady is not an elected position; it carries no official duties and receives no salary. Nonetheless, she attends many official ceremonies and functions of state either along with or in place of the president. Traditionally, the first lady does not hold outside employment while occupying the office, although Eleanor Roosevelt earned money writing and giving lectures, but gave most of it to charity, and Jill Biden has maintained her regular job as an educator during her time in the role. The first lady has her own staff, including the White House social secretary, the chief of staff, the press secretary, the chief floral designer, and the executive chef. The Office of the First Lady is also in charge of all social and ceremonial events of the White House, and is a branch of the Executive Office of the President.

There have been total of 54 first ladies including 43 official and 11 acting, within 46 first ladyships. This discrepancy exists because some presidents had multiple first ladies. Following Joe Biden's inauguration on January 20, 2021, his wife, Jill Biden, became the 43rd official first lady. (Full article...)
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The Supreme Court of Canada is the highest court of Canada. It was established by the Parliament of Canada through the Supreme and Exchequer Court Act of 1875. Since 1949, the Court has been the final court of appeal in the Canadian justice system. Originally composed of six justices (the Chief Justice of Canada and five puisne justices), the Court was expanded to seven justices by the creation of an additional puisne justice position in 1927, and then to nine justices by the creation of two more puisne justice positions in 1949.

The justices are appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister. When a chief justice leaves office, the vacancy is traditionally filled by elevating an incumbent puisne justice to the position, which requires a separate appointment process. The first six justices of the Court were all appointed in 1875 by Governor General the Earl of Dufferin, on the advice of Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie. (Full article...)
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Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected Pope Benedict XVI by the conclave on 19 April 2005.

The papal conclave of 2005 was convened to elect a pope, the leader of the Catholic Church, to succeed Pope John Paul II following his death on 2 April 2005. In accordance with the apostolic constitution Universi Dominici gregis, which governed the vacancy of the Holy See, only cardinals who had not passed their 80th birthday on the day on which the Holy See became vacant (in this case, cardinals who were born on or after 2 April 1925) were eligible to participate in the conclave. Although not a formal requirement, the cardinal electors invariably elected the pope from among their number. The election was carried out by secret ballot (Latin: per scrutinium).

Of the 183 members of the College of Cardinals at the time of John Paul II's death, there were 117 cardinal electors who were eligible to participate in the subsequent conclave. Two cardinal electors did not participate, decreasing the number in attendance to 115. The number of votes required to be elected pope with a two-thirds supermajority was 77, or (only in the event of a protracted deadlock) a simple majority of 58. (Full article...)
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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, except in cases of impeachment. The governor is also the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces.

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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Seal of the governor

The governor of Connecticut is the head of government of Connecticut, and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has a duty to enforce state laws, and the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the Connecticut General Assembly and to convene the legislature. Unusual among governors, the governor of Connecticut has no power to pardon. The governor of Connecticut is automatically a member of the state's Bonding Commission. He is an ex-officio member of the board of trustees of the University of Connecticut and Yale University.

There have been 69 post-Revolution governors of the state, serving 73 distinct spans in office. Four have served non-consecutive terms: Henry W. Edwards, James E. English, Marshall Jewell, and Raymond E. Baldwin. The longest terms in office were in the state's early years, when four governors were elected to nine or more one-year terms. The longest was that of the first governor, Jonathan Trumbull, who served over 14 years, but 7 of those as colonial governor; the longest-serving state governor — with no other position included in the term — was his son, Jonathan Trumbull Jr., who served over 11 years. The shortest term was that of Hiram Bingham III, who served only one day before resigning to take an elected seat in the United States Senate. Additionally, Lowell Weicker is noted for a rare third party win in American politics, having been elected to a term in 1990 representing A Connecticut Party. (Full article...)
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  Partially suspended member state
  Former member states
  British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies

The Commonwealth of Nations is a voluntary association of 56 sovereign states. Most of them were British colonies or dependencies of those colonies.

No government in the Commonwealth exercises power over the others, as is the case in a political union. Rather, the Commonwealth is an international organization in which countries with diverse social, political, and economic backgrounds are regarded as equal in status, and cooperate within a framework of common values and goals, as outlined in the Singapore Declaration issued in 1971. Such common values and goals include the promotion of democracy, human rights, good governance, the rule of law, civil liberties, equality before the law, free trade, multilateralism, and world peace, which are promoted through multilateral projects and meetings, such as the Commonwealth Games, held once every four years. (Full article...)
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The governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky is the head of government of Kentucky, and serves as commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has a duty to enforce state laws; the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the Kentucky General Assembly; the power to convene the legislature; and the power to grant pardons, except in cases of treason and impeachment. The governor is also empowered to reorganize the state government or reduce it in size. Historically, the office has been regarded as one of the most powerful executive positions in the United States.

Fifty-nine individuals have held the office of governor. Prior to a 1992 amendment to the state's constitution, the governor was prohibited from succeeding himself or herself in office, though four men (Isaac Shelby, John L. Helm, James B. McCreary and Happy Chandler) served multiple non-consecutive terms. Paul E. Patton, the first Kentucky governor eligible for a second consecutive term under the amendment, won his reelection bid in 1999. James Garrard succeeded himself in 1800, before the constitutional provision existed. Garrard is also the longest serving governor, serving for a total period of eight years and 90 days. In 2023 Democrat Andy Beshear became the 3rd incumbent governor in Kentucky history to be reelected to a second consecutive term. (Full article...)

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Barack Obama (born August 4, 1961) is the 44th President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was president of the Harvard Law Review. He served three terms representing the 13th District in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004, running unsuccessfully for the United States House of Representatives in 2000. He began his presidential campaign in 2007, and in 2008, after a close primary campaign against Hillary Clinton, he won sufficient delegates in the Democratic party primaries to receive the presidential nomination. He then defeated Republican nominee John McCain in the general election, and was inaugurated as president on January 20, 2009. Nine months later, Obama was named the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. In foreign policy, Obama ended U.S. military involvement in the Iraq War, increased troop levels in Afghanistan, signed the New START arms control treaty with Russia, ordered U.S. military involvement in Libya, and ordered the military operation that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden.

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... that Czech television reporter and author Vladimír Škutina was arrested and imprisoned twice for his use of political satire?
... that John Henry Dunn resigned from the Executive Council of Upper Canada only three weeks after his appointment, throwing away a post he had sought for 16 years, on a matter of political principle?
... that New Jersey politics expert Nick Acocella hosted Pasta & Politics, a television show where he would make pasta with various politicians including Thomas Kean, Cory Booker, and Chris Christie?
... that one abolitionist said that William L. Breckinridge's anti-slavery views would "disqualify [him] from political usefulness"?
... that the Chinese government began compiling an official history of the Qing dynasty in 2002, but as of 2023 a protracted political review is forestalling its publication?
... that Michita Sakata declined an offer to be Prime Minister of Japan because he thought the role was too political?

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More did you know...

...that Thutmose I was the first Pharaoh to be buried in the Valley of the Kings?

...that "Tippecanoe and Tyler too" (campaign banner pictured) was called the "Marseillaise" of the 1840 United States presidential election?
...that the events of Polish October together with Hungarian November shook the Eastern Bloc in 1956 and set the course for the Revolutions of 1989?
...that the current constitution of Nicaragua, the ninth in the country's history, was the final step in the institutionalization of the Sandinista regime?

...that just before the invasion of Poland, members of the German minority from Deutscher Volksverband were trained in sabotage by the Abwehr agents arriving in Poland from Germany?

...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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In this month

May 5, 2005 – A General Election in the United Kingdom sees Tony Blair's Labour government returned to office with a reduced majority of 66.
May 14, 1948 – The Declaration of Independence of Israel is made.
May 18, 1948 – The first Legislative Yuan of the Republic of China officially convenes in Nanking.

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News and Current events

Wikinews on Politics and conflicts

Topics and categories

See the portal's Topics and categories page for a comprehensive overview.

General images

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

Image 1Savka Dabčević-Kučar, Croatian Spring participant; Europe's first female prime minister (from Civil and political rights)
Image 2Montenegro's president Milo Đukanović is often described as having strong links to Montenegrin mafia. (from Political corruption)
Image 3Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders campaigning for extended US Medicare coverage in 2017. (from Health politics)
Image 4A map depicting Corruption Perceptions Index in the world in 2022; a higher score indicates lower levels of perceived corruption.
  100 – 90
  89 – 80
  79 – 70
  69 – 60
  59 – 50
  49 – 40
  39 – 30
  29 – 20
  19 – 10
  9 – 0
  No data
(from Political corruption)
Image 5The 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 6Ferdinand Marcos (pictured with his daughter Imee) was a Philippine dictator and kleptocrat. His regime was infamous for its corruption. (from Political corruption)
Image 7Countries with politicians, public officials or close associates implicated in the Panama Papers leak on April 15, 2016 (from Political corruption)
Image 8A 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 9Division of the world according to Haushofer's Pan-Regions Doctrine (from Geopolitics)
Image 10A world map distinguishing countries of the world as federations (green) from unitary states (blue), a work of political science (from Political science)
Image 11The logo and slogan for change.org (from Politics and technology)
Image 12American lobbyist and businessman Jack Abramoff was at the center of an extensive corruption investigation. (from Political corruption)
Image 13Detail from Corrupt Legislation (1896) by Elihu Vedder. Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington, D.C. (from Political corruption)
Image 14Russia 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 15Eugène 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 16The sixth president of the United States, John Quincy Adams' "corrupt bargain" of 1824 is an example of patronage. (from Political corruption)
Image 17World map with the concepts of Heartland and Rimland applied (from Geopolitics)
Image 18Reformers 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 19Blockchain 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 20Sir 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 21US Military Police officer restraining and sedating prisoner, while a soldier holds him down (from Political corruption)
Image 22This 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 23Malaysia'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 24United Nations Convention against Corruption (from Political corruption)
Image 25Candlelight protest against South Korean President Park Geun-hye in Seoul, South Korea, 7 January 2017 (from Political corruption)
Image 26Protesters in support of American whistleblower Edward Snowden, Berlin, Germany, 30 August 2014 (from Political corruption)
Image 27Karl 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)