Portal:Politics

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Politics (from 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 nonviolent, 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 limitedly, 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...)

Selected article

The European Union is an international organization of 27 European states, established in 1992. It originates from the Coal and Steel Community, founded in 1951 by Germany, France, Italy and the Benelux countries. However, the French-German politician Robert Schuman presented his proposal of a united Europe, known as the Schuman declaration, already in 1950, which is considered to be the beginning of what is now the European Union. The Union has many activities, the most important being a common single market, consisting of a customs union, a single currency, a Common Agricultural Policy and a Common Fisheries Policy.

Featured picture

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.

  Featured lists -

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

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  Khedivial dynastic coat of arms

  
  Monarchs of the Muhammad Ali dynasty reigned over Egypt from 1805 to 1953. Their rule also extended to Sudan throughout much of this period, as well as to the Levant, and Hejaz during the first half of the nineteenth century. The Muhammad Ali dynasty was founded by Pasha Muhammad Ali, an Albanian commander in the expeditionary force sent by the Ottoman Empire in 1801 to dislodge the French occupation of Egypt led by Napoleon Bonaparte. The defeat and departure of the French left a power vacuum in Egypt, which had been an Ottoman province since the sixteenth century, but in which the pre-Ottoman Mamluk military caste maintained considerable power. After a three-year civil war, Muhammad Ali managed to consolidate his control over Egypt, and declared himself Khedive of the country. The Ottoman government refused to acknowledge this title, instead recognizing Muhammad Ali by the more junior title of Wāli (roughly equivalent to a governor or viceroy) on 18 June 1805, making Muhammad Ali the successor to Ahmad Pasha in that position. In the years following his consolidation of power, Muhammad Ali extended Egypt's borders southwards into Sudan, and eastwards into the Arab-majority Mashreq, particularly the Levant. In 1840, his demand for hereditary control of Egypt and Sudan to be passed to his heirs and successors was accepted and confirmed by the Convention of London, but he was compelled to agree that, upon his death, control over his territories in the Mashreq would revert to the Porte.
  
  Muhammad Ali had a 43-year reign, the longest in the history of modern Egypt. Termed the "father of modern Egypt," he is viewed in Egyptian historiography as the dynasty's most important ruler, due to his massive agricultural, administrative, and military reforms. His son, Ibrahim Pasha, was the shortest-reigning monarch of the dynasty. The duration of his rule varies from one source to another, depending on whether or not his reign as regent is taken into account. Contrary to what the short length of his reign might suggest, Ibrahim Pasha was far from being a historically negligible figure, although most of his significant achievements were made before his accession to the throne. His successor, Abbas Helmi I, a traditionalist described by Lord Cromer as "an Oriental despot of the worst type," reverted many of his predecessors' reform-minded measures, and is considered the most controversial ruler of his family. (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. (Full article...)
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  The U.S. state of Texas is divided into 254 counties, more than any other U.S. state. While only about 20% of Texas counties are generally located within the Houston—Dallas—San Antonio—Austin areas, they serve a majority of the state's population with about 20,000,000 inhabitants.
  
  Texas was originally divided into municipalities (municipios in Spanish), a unit of local government under Spanish and Mexican rule. When the Republic of Texas gained its independence in 1836, the 23 municipalities became the original Texas counties. Many of these were later divided into new counties. The last county to be initially created was Kenedy County in 1921, but Loving County is the newest organized county; it was first organized in 1893 in an apparent scheme to defraud, abolished in 1897, then reorganized in 1931. Most of these recent counties, especially near the northwest, were created from Bexar County during the 1870s. (Full article...)
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  Map of Sullivan County, Pennsylvania with Municipal Labels showing Boroughs (red) and Townships (white)

  
  Sullivan County, Pennsylvania, United States, is divided into 13 incorporated municipalities. State law defines the two kinds of municipalities present in the county: four boroughs and nine townships. In the 2010 census, the population of Sullivan County was 6,428, making it an "Eighth Class County", defined by Pennsylvania law as "having a population of less than 20,000 inhabitants". Its county seat is Laporte, which was the smallest county seat in Pennsylvania by population, as of 2001.
  
  Sullivan County is located in north central Pennsylvania, about 123 miles (198 km) northwest of Philadelphia and 195 miles (314 km) east-northeast of Pittsburgh. The county covers 452 square miles (1,170 km²), of which 450 square miles (1,165 km²) is land and 2 square miles (5.2 km²) (0.53%) is water. Its municipalities range in size from the borough of Dushore with 0.9 square miles (2.3 km²) to Davidson Township with 78.2 square miles (203 km²). Cherry Township has the highest population of any municipality (1,705 or 26.5% of the county total as of 2010), while the borough of Eagles Mere has the lowest population (120 or 1.9%). (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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  <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...)
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  Title page of Recollections of Full Years by Helen Taft

  
  Thirteen first ladies of the United States have written a total of twenty-two 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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  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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  The Republic of Adygea, an enclave within Krasnodar Krai located at the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains, is a federal subject of Russia. It was originally established in 1922 as the Cherkess (Adyghe) Autonomous Oblast within the Russian SFSR for the Adyghe (Circassian) majority that lived in the area. As of the 2010 Census, Adyghe people accounted for 25.2% of the republic's population (107,048 people), while Russians accounted for the majority 63.6% (270,714 people).
  
  Since establishing and maintaining the structure of the administrative divisions of the federal subjects is not explicitly specified in the Constitution of Russia as the responsibility of the federal government, this task falls within the scope of the responsibilities of the Republic of Adygea itself. Changes to the administrative-territorial structure of the republic are authorized by the State Council. (Full article...)
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  Indiana's congressional districts since 2023

  
  
  These are tables of congressional delegations from Indiana to the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate.
  
  Since its statehood in 1816, the U.S. state of Indiana has sent congressional delegations to the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives. Each state elects two senators statewide to serve for six years, and their elections are staggered to be held in two of every three even-numbered years—Indiana's Senate election years are to Classes I and III. Before the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913, Senators were elected by the Indiana General Assembly. Members of the House of Representatives are elected to two-year terms, one from each of Indiana's nine congressional districts. Before becoming a state, the Indiana Territory elected delegates at-large and sent three to Congress, but the territorial delegates were restricted from voting on legislation. (Full article...)
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  There are ten counties in the U.S. state of New Hampshire. Five of the counties were created in 1769, when New Hampshire was still an English colony and not a state, during the first subdivision of the state into counties. The last counties created were Belknap County and Carroll County, in 1840.
  
  The majority of New Hampshire's counties were named for prominent British or American people or geographic locations and features. Only one county's name originates in a Native American language: Coös County, named for an Algonquian word meaning "small pines". (Full article...)
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  There are 114 counties and one independent city in the U.S. State of Missouri. Following the Louisiana Purchase and the admittance of Louisiana into the United States in 1812, five counties were formed out of the Missouri Territory at the first general assembly: Cape Girardeau, New Madrid, Saint Charles, Saint Louis, and Ste. Genevieve. Most subsequent counties were apportioned from these five original counties. Six more counties were added through the 1836 Platte Purchase, the acquired lands of which formed the northwest tip of the state and consisted of Andrew, Atchison, Buchanan, Holt, Nodaway, and Platte counties.
  
  In Missouri, the county level of government comes between those of the city and the state. Its primary responsibilities include maintaining roads, providing security, prosecuting criminals, and collecting taxes. Elected officials at this level include a sheriff, prosecuting attorney, and assessor. (Full article...)
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  West Virginia counties (clickable map)

  
  The U.S. state of West Virginia has 55 counties. Fifty of them existed at the time of the Wheeling Convention in 1861, during the American Civil War, when those counties seceded from the Commonwealth of Virginia to form the new state of West Virginia. West Virginia was admitted as a separate state of the United States on June 20, 1863. Five additional counties (Grant, Mineral, Lincoln, Summers, and Mingo) were formed from the original counties in the decades following admission.
  
  After the Civil War, Berkeley County and Jefferson County, the two easternmost counties of West Virginia, refused to recognize their inclusion in the state, and the Virginia General Assembly passed legislation attempting to reclaim them. In March 1866, the United States Congress passed a joint mandate assenting to their inclusion in the new state, and the Supreme Court of the United States confirmed this outcome in the case of Virginia v. West Virginia (1871). (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 five years of government, as this is the maximum length of office, as set by the constitution. However, elections can be called at any time by an incumbent government. The federal government, nine provinces, and one territory have changed to fixed election dates every four years. For these legislatures, 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. Nova Scotia and Yukon do not have fixed election dates in this matter. (Full article...)
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  The president of India is the head of state of the Republic of India and the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces. The president is referred to as the first citizen of India. Although vested with these powers by the Constitution of India, the position is largely a ceremonial one and executive powers are de facto exercised by the prime minister.
  
  The president is elected by the Electoral College composed of elected members of the parliament houses, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, and also members of the Saasana Sabha or Vidhan Sabha, the state legislative assemblies. Presidents may remain in office for a tenure of five years, as stated by article 56, part V, of the Constitution of India. In the case where a president's term of office is terminated early or during the absence of the president, the vice president assumes office. By article 70 of part V, the parliament may decide how to discharge the functions of the president where this is not possible, or in any other unexpected contingency. (Full article...)

Selected quote

Selected biography

David Lewis (1909–1981) was a Russian-born Canadian Rhodes Scholar, labour lawyer and social democratic politician. He was national secretary of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation from 1936 to 1950. As the United Steelworkers of America’s legal counsel in Canada, he played a central role in the creation of the Canadian Labour Congress in 1956 and in the New Democratic Party (NDP)'s formation in 1961. In 1962, he was elected as a Member of Parliament. He was the NDP's leader from 1971 to 1975. After his defeat in the 1974 Canadian election, he retired from politics. He spent his last years as a university professor and a newspaper travel correspondent. In retirement, he was named to the highest level of the Order of Canada for his political service. After a lengthy battle with cancer, he died in 1981.

Did you know (auto-generated) -

• ... that although he was a former Indonesian prime minister, Soekiman Wirjosandjojo was not arrested during a political purge as he was considered a non-threat?
• ... that the Byzantine emperor Isaac II Angelos was blinded at the Theotokos Kosmosoteira monastery?
• ... that before she was elected to the Parliament of Armenia, Maria Karapetyan spray-painted political graffiti on the streets of Yerevan in support of Nikol Pashinyan?
• ... that the London Forum, a British far-right organization, was described by an anti-fascist magazine as "[bridging] the fascist and Tory right"?
• ... that Elks Lodge 878, which boasted a peak membership of 6,600, controlled politics in the New York City borough of Queens for many years?
• ... 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?

More did you know...

• ...that the Communist League of America was formed after some members of the Communist Party USA were expelled for Trotskyism?

• ...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 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 when the Tennessee Center for Policy Research, a "free-market think tank," criticized Al Gore's energy use, CNN mistakenly called the organization an environmental group?

In this month

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

News and Current events

Wikinews on Politics and conflicts

• August 11: 4 local government areas in New South Wales, Australia locked down after COVID-19 case
• August 11: Australia: AstraZeneca vaccine access expanded by Victorian government
• August 1: Australia: Victorian lockdown lifted
• July 29: Tunisia's president dismisses prime minister, suspends parliament
• July 25: Australia: Wikinews interviews Reg Kidd, mayor of the City of Orange, about COVID-19 lockdown and local government
• July 23: South Australia enters week-long lockdown to contain COVID-19 Delta variant spread
• July 21: Technological University Dublin senior lecturer Dr Lorcan Sirr speaks to Wikinews on housing market in Ireland
• July 21: Three rural councils in New South Wales, Australia enter 7-day lockdown
• July 21: Australia: Victoria lockdown extended by a week with 85 active cases recorded
• July 15: California governor signs new state budget, eligible Californians to get stimulus payments

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.

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  Reformers 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)

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  Eugène 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)

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  The logo and slogan for change.org (from Politics and technology)

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  Ferdinand Marcos (pictured with his daughter Imee) was a Philippine dictator and kleptocrat. His regime was infamous for its corruption. (from Political corruption)

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  Division of the world according to Haushofer's Pan-Regions Doctrine (from Geopolitics)

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  Candlelight protest against South Korean President Park Geun-hye in Seoul, South Korea, 7 January 2017 (from Political corruption)

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  A map depicting Corruption Perceptions Index in the world in 2022; a higher score indicates lower levels of 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)
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  Karl Marx and his theory of Communism developed along with Friedrich Engels proved to be one of the most influential political ideologies of the 20th century. (from History of political thought)

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  The sixth president of the United States, John Quincy Adams' "corrupt bargain" of 1824 is an example of patronage. (from Political corruption)

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  Sir 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)

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  The 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)

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  Protesters in support of American whistleblower Edward Snowden, Berlin, Germany, 30 August 2014 (from Political corruption)

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  Montenegro's president Milo Đukanović is often described as having strong links to Montenegrin mafia. (from Political corruption)

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  Malaysia'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)

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  Detail from Corrupt Legislation (1896) by Elihu Vedder. Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington, D.C. (from Political corruption)

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  This 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)

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  Savka Dabčević-Kučar, Croatian Spring participant; Europe's first female prime minister (from Civil and political rights)

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  Saudi Arabian dissident Jamal Khashoggi was murdered by Saudi Government agents after he criticised them many times. (from Political corruption)

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  A 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)

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  Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders campaigning for extended US medicare coverage in 2017. (from Health politics)

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  Countries with politicians, public officials or close associates implicated in the Panama Papers leak on April 15, 2016 (from Political corruption)

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  A world map distinguishing countries of the world as federations (green) from unitary states (blue), a work of political science (from Political science)

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  United Nations Convention against Corruption (from Political corruption)

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  World map with the concepts of Heartland and Rimland applied (from Geopolitics)

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  Blockchain technology has created cryptocurrencies similarly to voting tokens seen in blockchain voting platforms, with recognizable names including Bitcoin and Ethereum. (from Politics and technology)

• 

  American lobbyist and businessman Jack Abramoff was at the center of an extensive corruption investigation. (from Political corruption)

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