Portal:Politics

Portal topics: Activities; Culture; Geography; Health; History; Mathematics; Nature; People; Philosophy; Religion; Society; Technology; Random portal

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 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...)

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

edit

Selected article

The London Forum is a loose organisation of far-right individuals based in London but with regional headquarters across the United Kingdom. Emerging in 2011 out of a split within the British far-right, meetings were regularly held by the organisation. These have been met with significant protests by anti-fascist activists and have been infiltrated by journalists, most notably a 2015 investigation of the group by The Mail on Sunday with the help of Searchlight, an anti-fascist magazine that focuses on the British far-right.

edit

Featured picture

The western (front) side of the United States Capitol. The U.S. Capitol serves as the location for Congress, the legislative branch of the U.S. federal government. It is located in Washington, D.C., on top of Capitol Hill at the east end of the National Mall. The building is marked by its central dome above a rotunda and two wings. It is an exemplar of the Neoclassical architecture style.

Featured lists - load new batch

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

Image 1
The seven members of the Swiss Federal Council (German: Schweizerischer Bundesrat; French: Conseil fédéral suisse; Italian: Consiglio federale svizzero; Romansh: Cussegl federal svizzer) constitute the federal government of Switzerland and collectively serve as the country's head of state. Each of the seven Federal Councillors heads a department of the Swiss federal administration.

The current Swiss Federal Councillors are: Guy Parmelin (first elected in 2015), Ignazio Cassis (first elected in 2017), Viola Amherd (first elected in 2018), Karin Keller-Sutter (first elected in 2018), Albert Rösti (first elected in 2022), Élisabeth Baume-Schneider (first elected in 2022), and Beat Jans (first elected in 2023) (Full article...)
Image 2
Since the office was established in 1789, 45 persons have served as president of the United States. Of these, eight have died in office: 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 American president to die in office, Zachary Taylor, died on July 9, 1850, from acute gastroenteritis. Abraham Lincoln was the first U.S. president to be killed while in office. 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 over two months before dying on September 19, 1881. (Full article...)
Image 3
<timeline>
ImageSize = width:1600 height:auto barincrement:15
PlotArea = top:10 bottom:30 right:100 left:20
AlignBars = early

DateFormat = yyyy
Period = from:-210 till:220
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:10 start:-210 (Full article...)
Image 4
The premier of the Northwest Territories is a title given to the head of government in the Northwest Territories of Canada when the territory is using an elected system of responsible government. Throughout its history, the territory has been governed by various combinations of locally elected governments and administrators appointed by the government of Canada.

Upon creation, the Northwest Territories were governed by the lieutenant governor of Manitoba, a representative of the federal government and Queen Victoria, for the newly created province of Manitoba. Six years later in 1876, the territory was given its own lieutenant governor, separate from that of Manitoba. These lieutenant governors presided over an assembly with members both elected and appointed by the federal government. Before 1888, the territory required electoral districts with an area of 3,000 km² (1,200 sq mi) to contain at least 1,000 people. When this quota was met, a by-election was held to elect a member to replace an appointed one. (Full article...)
Image 5

France was ruled by monarchs from the establishment of the Kingdom of West Francia in 843 until the end of the Second French Empire in 1870, with several interruptions.

Classical French historiography usually regards Clovis I, king of the Franks (r. 507–511), as the first king of France. However, historians today consider that such a kingdom did not begin until the establishment of West Francia, during the dissolution of the Carolingian Empire in the 800s. (Full article...)
Image 6
BJP CM detailed in Indian map

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is one of the two major parties in the political system of the Republic of India, the other being the Indian National Congress (INC). , it is the country's largest political party in terms of representation in the national parliament. Established in 1980, the BJP's platform is generally considered as the right-wing of the political spectrum. , 52 BJP leaders have held the position of a chief minister and Deputy Chief Minister out of which twelve and Eleven are incumbent.

A chief minister is the head of government of each of the twenty-eight states and three union territories (UTs) (Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir and Puducherry). According to the Constitution of India, at the state-level, the governor is de jure head, but de facto executive authority rests with the chief minister. Following elections to the state legislative assembly, the 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. The chief minister's term is usually for a maximum of five years, with the confidence of the assembly's confidence. There are no limits to the number of terms the chief minister can serve. Deputy Chief Minister is a member of the state government and usually the second highest ranking executive officer of their state's council of ministers. While not a constitutional office, it seldom carries any specific powers.[1] A deputy chief minister usually also holds a cabinet portfolio such as home minister or finance minister. In the parliamentary system of government, the Chief Minister is treated as the "first among equals" in the cabinet; the position of deputy chief minister is used to bring political stability and strength within a coalition government. (Full article...)
Image 7

A monarch is the head of a monarchy, a form of government in which a state is ruled by an individual who normally rules for life or until abdication, and typically inherits the throne by birth. Monarchs may be autocrats (as in all absolute monarchies) or may be ceremonial figureheads, exercising only limited or no reserve powers at all, with actual authority vested in a legislature and/or executive cabinet (as in many constitutional monarchies). In many cases, a monarch will also be linked with a state religion. Most states only have a single monarch at any given time, although a regent may rule when the monarch is a minor, not present, or otherwise incapable of ruling. Cases in which two monarchs rule simultaneously over a single state, as is the current situation in Andorra, are known as coregencies.

A variety of titles are applied in English; for example, "king" and "queen", "prince" and "princess", "grand duke" and "grand duchess", "emperor" and "empress". Although they will be addressed differently in their local languages, the names and titles in the list below have been styled using the common English equivalent. Roman numerals, used to distinguish related rulers with the same name, have been applied where typical. (Full article...)
Image 8
Florida counties (clickable map)

There are 67 counties in the U.S. state of Florida, which became a territory of the U.S. in 1821 with two counties complementing the provincial divisions retained as a Spanish territory, Escambia to the west and St. Johns to the east. The two counties were divided by the Suwannee River. All of the other counties were created later from these two original counties. Florida became the 27th U.S. state in 1845, and its last county was created in 1925 with the formation of Gilchrist County from a segment of Alachua County. Florida's counties are subdivisions of the state government. Florida's most populous county is Miami-Dade County, the seventh most populous county in the nation, with a population of 2,701,767 as of the 2020 census.

In 1968, counties gained the power to develop their own charters. All but two of Florida's county seats are incorporated municipalities: the exceptions are Crawfordville, county seat of rural Wakulla County, and East Naples, located outside Naples city limits in Collier County. (Full article...)
Image 9
Party Composition of Maryland State Senate districts.

The Maryland Senate is the upper house of the Maryland General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. State of Maryland. One Senator is elected from each of the state's 47 electoral districts. As of January 2023, 34 of those seats are held by Democrats and 13 by Republicans. The leader of the Senate is known as the President, a position currently held by Bill Ferguson, who represents Baltimore. In addition, senators elect a President Pro Tempore, and the respective party caucuses elect a majority and minority leader and a majority and minority whip.

Senators are elected in even-numbered years when the President of the United States is not being elected, similar to most other state offices in Maryland. The most recent election was in November 2022. Senators are not term-limited. Should a Senator resign from office before his or her term expires, the local central committee of the party to which the retiring senator belonged makes a recommendation to the Governor for whom to appoint to the open seat. It is tradition for the Governor to appoint the recommended person. Nine of the current members of the Maryland State Senate were originally appointed, all of whom have since been elected in their own right. Newly elected senators are sworn in and begin work on the second Wednesday of the January following their election. (Full article...)
Image 10

Seal of the State of Florida

The governor of Florida is the head of government of the U.S. state of Florida 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 Florida Legislature, to convene the legislature and grant pardons, except in cases of impeachment.

When Florida was first acquired by the United States, future president Andrew Jackson served as its military governor. Florida Territory was established in 1822 and five people served as governor over 6 distinct terms. The first territorial governor, William Pope Duval, served 12 years, the longest of any Florida governor to date. (Full article...)
Image 11
Global Peace Index 2023. Countries appearing with a deeper shade of green are ranked as more peaceful, countries appearing more red are ranked as more violent.

Global Peace Index (GPI) is a report produced by the Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP) which measures the relative position of nations' and regions' peacefulness. The GPI ranks 163 independent states and territories (collectively accounting for 99.7 per cent of the world's population) according to their levels of peacefulness. In the past decade, the GPI has presented trends of increased global violence and less peacefulness.

The GPI is developed in consultation with an international panel of peace experts from peace institutes and think tanks with data collected and collated by the Economist Intelligence Unit. The Index was first launched in May 2009, with subsequent reports being released annually. In 2015 it ranked 165 countries, up from 121 in 2007. The study was conceived by Australian technology entrepreneur Steve Killelea, and is endorsed by individuals such as former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the Dalai Lama, archbishop Desmond Tutu, former President of Finland and 2008 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Martti Ahtisaari, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, economist Jeffrey Sachs, former president of Ireland Mary Robinson, former Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations Jan Eliasson and former United States president Jimmy Carter. The updated index is released each year at events in London, Washington, DC, and at the United Nations Secretariat in New York. (Full article...)
Image 12

A hanging-scroll portrait painting of Emperor Taizong of Song (r. 960–976), founder of the Song dynasty, painted by an anonymous Song artist

The Song dynasty (960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that succeeded the period referred to as Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (907–960) and preceded the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), which conquered the Song dynasty in 1279. The conventional division into the Northern Song dynasty (960–1127) and Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279) is created by the conquest of northern China by the Jin dynasty (1115–1234) in 1127 and the consequent shift of the capital from Bianjing (present-day Kaifeng) in the north to Lin'an (present-day Hangzhou) in the south.

Below is a complete list of emperors of the Song dynasty, including their temple names, posthumous names, given names, and era names. The dynasty was founded by Zhao Kuangyin, who became Emperor Taizu (r. 960–976) and concluded with the death of Zhao Bing (r. 1278–1279). The last emperor of the Northern Song was Emperor Qinzong (r. 1126–1127), while the first Southern Song emperor was Emperor Gaozong (r. 1127–1162). (Full article...)
Image 13

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...)
Image 14

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...)
Image 15

The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Austria is the official representative of the President and the Government of the Russian Federation to the President and the Government of the Republic of Austria.

The ambassador and his staff work at large in the Embassy of Russia in Vienna. The post of Russian Ambassador to Austria is currently held by Dmitry Lyubinsky [ru], incumbent since 10 August 2015. (Full article...)

edit

Selected quote

edit

Selected biography

Leverett George DeVeber (sometimes spelled De Veber) (February 10, 1849 – July 9, 1925) was a Canadian politician who served as Member of the Legislative Assemblies of Alberta and the North-West Territories, minister in the government of Alberta, and member of the Senate of Canada. Born in New Brunswick and trained as a physician, he joined the North-West Mounted Police and came west, eventually settling in Lethbridge after leaving the police force. He represented Lethbridge in the North-West Legislative Assembly from 1898 until 1905, when Lethbridge became part of the new province of Alberta. He was appointed Minister without Portfolio in Alberta's first government, but resigned four months later to accept an appointment to the Senate, where he remained until his death.

Did you know (auto-generated) - load new batch

... that Colin Mackay, the political editor at Scottish Television, was "very sad" when Colin MacKay, the political editor at Scottish Television, died?
... that the continuing influence of the Catholic Church in the politics of the Philippines means that the country lacks a divorce law?
... that even though the Legislative Assembly of Quebec ordered a monument of Maurice Duplessis in front of its building, later premiers hid it for 16 years to avoid political tensions?
... that What Hath God Wrought, the 2007 history of Jacksonian America written by Daniel Walker Howe, is dedicated to Andrew Jackson's "political nemesis" John Quincy Adams?
... that the party leader of the new Dutch youth political party LEF – For the New Generation tattooed his party's program points on his forearm?
... that American football wide receiver Bo Hines transferred to Yale University as a freshman to further his political ambitions?

edit

More did you know...

...that the Almanach de Gotha is a directory of European nobility first published in 1763?

...that, at a congress in May 1921, all Socialist Party of Romania delegates who supported Bolshevik guidelines were arrested 24 hours after a vote on affiliation to the Comintern?
...that Ngo Dinh Diem became president of South Vietnam after a fraudulent 1955 election run by his brother Ngo Dinh Nhu, polling 133% of registered voters in Saigon?
...that the Brothers Grimm were amongst the Göttingen Seven, university teachers who protested changes to the constitution of the Kingdom of Hanover in 1837?

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

...that Roman embassies to China are reported in Chinese historical accounts from as early as 166?

edit

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.

edit

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 1United Nations Convention against Corruption (from Political corruption)
Image 2Russia 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 3A world map distinguishing countries of the world as federations (green) from unitary states (blue), a work of political science (from Political science)
Image 4A 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 5Countries with politicians, public officials or close associates implicated in the Panama Papers leak on April 15, 2016 (from Political corruption)
Image 6The sixth president of the United States, John Quincy Adams' "corrupt bargain" of 1824 is an example of patronage. (from Political corruption)
Image 7Detail from Corrupt Legislation (1896) by Elihu Vedder. Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington, D.C. (from Political corruption)
Image 8Reformers 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 9Division of the world according to Haushofer's Pan-Regions Doctrine (from Geopolitics)
Image 10The logo and slogan for change.org (from Politics and technology)
Image 11The 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 12US Military Police officer restraining and sedating prisoner, while a soldier holds him down (from Political corruption)
Image 13A 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 14Malaysia'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 15Blockchain 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 16This 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 17World map with the concepts of Heartland and Rimland applied (from Geopolitics)
Image 18American lobbyist and businessman Jack Abramoff was at the center of an extensive corruption investigation. (from Political corruption)
Image 19Candlelight protest against South Korean President Park Geun-hye in Seoul, South Korea, 7 January 2017 (from Political corruption)
Image 20Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders campaigning for extended US Medicare coverage in 2017. (from Health politics)
Image 21Montenegro's president Milo Đukanović is often described as having strong links to Montenegrin mafia. (from Political corruption)
Image 22Savka Dabčević-Kučar, Croatian Spring participant; Europe's first female prime minister (from Civil and political rights)
Image 23Protesters in support of American whistleblower Edward Snowden, Berlin, Germany, 30 August 2014 (from Political corruption)
Image 24Karl 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 25Eugène 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 26Sir 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 27Ferdinand Marcos (pictured with his daughter Imee) was a Philippine dictator and kleptocrat. His regime was infamous for its corruption. (from Political corruption)