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...)
Selected article
Political Animals and Animal Politics is a 2014 edited collection published by Palgrave Macmillan and edited by the green political theorists Marcel Wissenburg and David Schlosberg. The work addresses the emergence of academic animal ethics informed by political philosophy as opposed to moral philosophy. It was the first edited collection to be published on the topic, and the first book-length attempt to explore the breadth and boundaries of the literature. As well as a substantial introduction by the editors, it features ten sole-authored chapters split over three parts, respectively concerning institutional change for animals, the relationship between animal ethics and ecologism, and real-world laws made for the benefit of animals. The book's contributors were Wissenburg, Schlosberg, Manuel Arias-Maldonado, Chad Flanders, Christie Smith, Clemens Driessen, Simon Otjes, Kurtis Boyer, Per-Anders Svärd, and Mihnea Tanasescu. The focus of their individual chapters varies, but recurring features include discussions of human exceptionalism, exploration of ways that animal issues are or could be present in political discourse, and reflections on the relationship between theory and practice in politics.
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![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/92/Great_presidential_puzzle2.jpg/300px-Great_presidential_puzzle2.jpg)
An 1880 political cartoon depicts Senator Roscoe Conkling over a "presidential puzzle" consisting of some of the potential Republican nominees as pieces of a newly invented sliding puzzle. Conkling held significant influence over the party during the 1880 Republican National Convention and attempted to use that to nominate Ulysses S. Grant, only to lose out to "dark horse" candidate James A. Garfield.
Selected quote
Selected biography
Nguyen Ngoc Tho was the first Prime Minister of South Vietnam, serving from November 1963 to late January 1964. Tho was appointed to head a civilian cabinet by General Duong Van Minh's military junta, which came to power after overthrowing and assassinating Ngo Dinh Diem, the nation's first president. Tho's rule was marked by a period of confusion and weak government, as the Military Revolutionary Council and the civilian cabinet vied for power. Tho oversaw South Vietnam's failed land reform policy, and was accused of lacking vigour in implementing the program because he was a large landowner. He was noted for his faithful support of Diem during the Buddhist crisis that ended the rule of the Ngo family. Despite being a Buddhist, Tho staunchly defended the regime's pro-Catholic policies and its violent actions against the Buddhist majority. Tho lost his job and retired from politics when Minh's junta was deposed in a January 1964 coup by General Nguyen Khanh.
Did you know (auto-generated) -
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/44/Nuvola_apps_filetypes.svg/47px-Nuvola_apps_filetypes.svg.png)
- ... that Nigeria's Muslim–Muslim ticket challenges the norm of religious balance in politics?
- ... that Satrio Sastrodiredjo and Moerachman, both former mayors of Surabaya, Indonesia, were held as political prisoners in the same prison after the 30 September Movement in 1965?
- ... that the only purpose of the Delaware Straight-Out Truth Teller was to promote a political candidate?
- ... that Nargess Eskandari-Grünberg, the new mayor of Frankfurt, gave birth to her first child while a political prisoner in the wake of the Iranian Revolution?
- ... that advertisements for Road 96 were taken down by Facebook for being too political?
- ... that one abolitionist said that William L. Breckinridge's anti-slavery views would "disqualify [him] from political usefulness"?
More did you know...
- ...that the phrase "lipstick on a pig" may have its origins in the 18th-century expression "A hog in armour is still but a hog"?
- ...that the Pirate Party of the United States was formed after a 2006 raid by the Swedish police on the servers of The Pirate Bay, a popular file sharing website?
- ...that Andrey Kirillovich Razumovsky, at the time Ambassador of the Russian Empire to the Austrian Empire, commissioned three string quartets from Beethoven?
- ...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 depending on a time and place, the same social movement may be revolutionary or not?
- ...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
- July 20, 1944 – an assassination attempt is made on Adolf Hitler with involvement by notable German conservatives.
- July 23, 1952 – The European Coal and Steel Community is established.
- July 27, 1830 – King Charles X of France is overthrown in the French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution.
- July 31, 1912 – American conservative economist, statistician, and Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman is born.
News and Current events
- 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
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