Portal:Politics
| Main | Topics and categories | Tasks and projects |
The Politics portal
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 between 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. For example, abolitionist Wendell Phillips declared that "we do not play politics; anti-slavery is no half-jest with us." 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 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 and Aristotle's Politics in the West, and Confucius's political manuscripts and Chanakya's Arthashastra in the East. (Full article...)
Selected article
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization established on 24 October 1945 to promote international co-operation. A replacement for the ineffective League of Nations, the organization was created following the Second World War to prevent another such conflict. At its founding, the UN had 51 member states; there are now 193. The UN Headquarters is situated in Manhattan, New York City and enjoys extraterritoriality. Further main offices are situated in Geneva, Nairobi and Vienna. The organization is financed by assessed and voluntary contributions from its member states. Its objectives include maintaining international peace and security, promoting human rights, fostering social and economic development, protecting the environment, and providing humanitarian aid in cases of famine, natural disaster, and armed conflict. During the Second World War, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt initiated talks on a successor agency to the League of Nations, and the United Nations Charter was drafted at a conference in April–June 1945; this charter took effect on 24 October 1945, and the UN began operation. Non-governmental organizations may be granted consultative status with ECOSOC and other agencies to participate in the UN's work. The organization won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001, and a number of its officers and agencies have also been awarded the prize. Other evaluations of the UN's effectiveness have been mixed. Some commentators believe the organization to be an important force for peace and human development, while others have called the organization ineffective, corrupt, or biased.
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 -
John Horgan is the current premier of British Columbia.
The premier of British Columbia is the first minister for the Canadian province of British Columbia. The province was a British crown colony governed by the Governors of British Columbia before joining Canadian Confederation in 1871. Since then, it has had 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 British Columbia's head of government, and the Queen of Canada is its head of state and is represented by the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia. The premier picks a cabinet from the elected members to form the Executive Council of British Columbia and presides over that body.
Members are first elected to the legislature during general elections. General elections must be conducted every four years from the date of the last election. An election may also take place if the governing party loses the confidence of the legislature by the defeat of a supply bill or tabling of a no-confidence motion. (Full article...)
In Sri Lanka, districts (Sinhala: දිස්ත්රික්ක, romanized: Distrikka, Tamil: மாவட்டம், romanized: Māvaṭṭam) are the second-level administrative divisions, and are included in a province. There are 25 districts organized into 9 provinces. Each district is administered under a district secretary, who is appointed by the central government. The main tasks of the district secretariat involve coordinating communications and activities of the central government and divisional secretariats. The district secretariat is also responsible for implementing and monitoring development projects at the district level and assisting lower-level subdivisions in their activities, as well as revenue collection and coordination of elections in the district. A district is divided into a number of Divisional Secretary's Divisions (commonly known as DS divisions), which are in turn subdivided into 14,022 grama niladhari divisions. There are 331 DS divisions in the country. (Full article...)
The position of president of the National Rifle Association (NRA) is a symbolic figurehead role, which dates back to the organization's foundation in New York on November 17, 1871. Founded by George Wood Wingate and William Conant Church, two Union veterans dismayed by the lack of shooting skills among recruits, the rifle association voted to have Union general Ambrose Burnside as its first president. Church succeeded Burnside as the second president of the organization, and Wingate became the tenth in 1886. Traditionally, the first vice president is elevated to president when the position becomes open while the second vice president is similarly promoted, but this practice has not always been followed.
Throughout its history, presidents have served purposes and effects including providing the NRA greater legitimacy; holders of the office have also intentionally provoked outrage and condemnation. Since the 1990s, some NRA presidents have made controversial statements such as when James W. Porter II referred to Barack Obama, whose administration he perceived as hostile to gun rights, as a "fake president" and when Charlton Heston proclaimed to gun control advocates that they could only have his firearm after taking it "from my cold, dead hands." (Full article...)
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. According to 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 fell vacant (i.e. 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 elect the pope from among their number. The election is carried out by secret ballot (Latin: per scrutinium).
Of the 183 members of the College of Cardinals at the time of the vacancy of the Holy See, 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 (98.3 per cent of all cardinal electors, 62.8 per cent of all cardinals). The number of votes required to be elected pope with a two-thirds supermajority or with a one-half simple majority (only in the event of a protracted deadlock) were 77 or 58, respectively. (Full article...)- 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...)
, there have been 24 members appointed to the United States Cabinet who had been born outside the present-day United States.
Alexander Hamilton, one of the Founding Fathers who signed the United States 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 Treasury in 1789. Irish-born James McHenry, whom Washington appointed as Secretary of War in 1796 and who served the in same post in John Adams's administration, was the other foreign-born individual in Washington's cabinet. (Full article...)
The Norwegian Nobel Committee awards the Nobel Peace Prize annually "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses". As dictated by Nobel's will, the award is administered by the Norwegian Nobel Committee and awarded by a committee of five people elected by the Parliament of Norway.
Each recipient receives a medal, a diploma, and a monetary award prize (that has varied throughout the years). It is one of the five prizes established by the 1895 will of Alfred Nobel (who died in 1896), awarded for outstanding contributions in chemistry, physics, literature, peace, and physiology or medicine. (Full article...)- 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...)
This is a list of countries without armed forces. The term country here means sovereign states and not dependencies (e.g., Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Bermuda), whose defense is the responsibility of another country or an army alternative. The term armed forces refers to any government-sponsored defense used to further the domestic and foreign policies of their respective government. Some of the countries listed, such as Iceland and Monaco, have no standing armies but still have a non-police military force.
Many of the 21 countries listed here typically have had a long-standing agreement with a former occupying country; one example is the agreement between Monaco and France, which has existed for at least 300 years.
The Compact of Free Association nations of the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), and Palau rely on the United States for their defense. They ensure their national security concerns are addressed through annual Joint Committee Meetings to discuss defense matters with US Pacific Command. Andorra has a small army, and can request defensive aid if necessary, while Iceland had a unique agreement with the United States that lasted until 2006, which required them to provide defense to Iceland when needed. (Full article...)
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...)- +5.6%!scope="col" align="center" | 922,503.01! scope="col" align="center"| 5.0/km2 (Full article...)
.png)
There are 95 counties in the U.S. State of Tennessee. As of 2020, Shelby County was both Tennessee's most populous county, with 929,744 residents, and the largest county in area, covering an area of 755 sq mi (1,955 km2). The least populous county was Pickett County (5,001) and the smallest in area was Trousdale County, covering 114 sq mi (295 km2). As of the same year, Davidson County, in which the capital Nashville is located, covers 502 sq mi (1,300 km2) with a population of 715,884. The population of the state of Tennessee as of the 2020 census was 6,910,840 in an area of 42,169 sq mi (109,217 km2). The oldest county is Washington County, founded in 1777. The most recently formed county is Chester County (1879).
According to the 2010 census, the center of population for Tennessee was located at , 2.5 mi (4.0 km) south of Murfreesboro in Rutherford County. The center of population pinpoints the location at which the population of the state, as placed on a map of the state where they reside, would balance out the map. The geographic center, the point where the map of Tennessee would balance without the population, is located 5 mi (8 km) northeast of Murfreesboro. In 1976, the Rutherford County Historical Society marked the geographic center of Tennessee with an obelisk. (Full article...)
.svg)
Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office is the title of the official resident cat of the prime minister of the United Kingdom at 10 Downing Street. There has been a resident cat in the English government employed as a mouser and pet since the 1500s, although modern records date only to the 1920s. Despite other cats having served Downing Street, the first one to be given the official title of Chief Mouser by the British government was Larry in 2011. Other cats have been given this title affectionately, usually by the British press. In 2004, a study was conducted showing that voters' perceptions of the chief mouser were not completely above partisanship. (Full article...)
There are 67 counties in the U.S. state of Florida. It 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, divided by the Suwannee River. All of the other counties were apportioned 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. 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.
The names of Florida's counties reflect its diverse cultural heritage. Some are named for Confederate political leaders and Spanish explorers, marking the influence of Spanish sovereignty, while others are named for Christian saints, Native American sites, and political leaders of the United States. Natural features of the region, including rivers, lakes, and flora, are also commonly used for county names. Florida has counties named for participants on both sides of Second Seminole War: Miami-Dade County is partially named for Francis L. Dade, a major in the U.S. Army at the time; Osceola County is named for the war's native Muscogee-Seminole resistance leader Osceola. (Full article...)
The governor of Washington is the head of government of Washington and commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The officeholder has a duty to enforce state laws, the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the Washington Legislature and line-item veto power to cancel specific provisions in spending bills. The Washington Governor may also convene the legislature on "extraordinary occasions".
Washington Territory had 14 territorial governors from its organization in 1853 until the formation of the state of Washington in 1889. Territorial governors were appointed by the President of the United States. Elisha P. Ferry had the longest term of eight years and went on to become the state's first governor. William H. Wallace was appointed governor but never took office due to being elected as the territory's congressional delegate. George Edward Cole was appointed governor and took office, but his appointment was never ratified by the U.S. Senate and he was replaced as governor after four months. (Full article...)
Selected quote
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
Selected biography
.jpg)
Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) was a British politician and the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, a position she held from 1979 to 1990. She was a member of the Conservative Party and the figurehead of a political ideology known as Thatcherism. Even before coming to power she was nicknamed The Iron Lady in Soviet propaganda, an appellation which stuck. The changes she set in motion between coming to power and 1985 were profound, and altered much of the economic, cultural and commercial landscape of Britain and, by example, the world as a whole. Along the way she also aimed to roll back the welfare state, or "nanny state", as she termed it. Her popularity finally declined when she replaced the unpopular local government rates tax with the even less popular Community Charge. At the same time the Conservative Party began to split over her sceptical approach to Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union. Her leadership was challenged from within and she was forced to resign in 1990, her loss at least partly due to inadequate advice and campaigning.
Did you know...
- ...that the Almanach de Gotha is a directory of European nobility first published in 1763?
- ...that four member states of the European Union have de jure opt-outs and do not participate fully in all common policies?
- ...that Cornelius, Oregon is named after pioneer Thomas R. Cornelius, who served in the both the Territorial and State legislatures?
- ...that the Society of the Friends of Peasants had significant influence on the Danish Constitution of 1849?
- ...that depending on a time and place, the same social movement may be revolutionary or not?
- ...that Roman embassies to China are reported in Chinese historical accounts from as early as 166?
In this month
- November 4, 1980 – Ronald Reagan defeats Jimmy Carter in the presidential election and becomes the 40th President of the United States.
- November 4, 2008 – Barack Obama was elected as the 44th President of the United States, becoming the first African American elected to the office. Congressional elections for the House of Representatives and one third of the Senators (second class) were also held.
- November 7, 2000 – Hillary Rodham Clinton is elected to the United States Senate, becoming the first First Lady of the United States to win public office.
- November 7, 1917 – The workers of the Petrograd Soviet in Russia, led by the Bolshevik Party and leader Vladimir Lenin, storm the Winter Palace and successfully destroy the Kerensky Provisional Government, resulting in the first overthrow of capitalism in history.
- November 11, 2004 – Former Palestinian President Yasser Arafat dies from a mysterious illness, aged 75.
- November 21, 2004 – Ukrainian presidential election, 2004: Viktor Yanukovych is declared the winner in the final round. International election observers express severe criticism, and large crowds gather in a protest rally in Kiev; 12 days later, the Supreme Court annuls the result, and a new poll is scheduled.
- November 22, – In Dallas, Texas, United States President John F. Kennedy is assassinated, Texas Governor John B. Connally is seriously wounded, and Vice President Lyndon Baines Johnson becomes the 36th President. All television coverage for the next four days is devoted to the assassination, its aftermath, the procession of the horsedrawn casket to the Capitol Rotunda, and the funeral of President Kennedy. Stores and businesses shut down for the entire weekend and Monday, in tribute.
Topics and categories
General images
Protesters in support of American whistleblower Edward Snowden, Berlin, Germany, 30 August 2014 (from Political corruption)
Candlelight protest against South Korean President Park Geun-hye in Seoul, South Korea, 7 January 2017 (from Political corruption)
Ferdinand Marcos was a Philippine dictator and kleptocrat. His regime was infamous for its corruption. (from Political corruption)
Malaysia's former Prime Minister Najib Razak was found guilty in the corruption trial over the multi-billion-dollar 1MDB scandal. (from Political corruption)
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)
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)
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)
Savka Dabčević-Kučar, Croatian Spring participant; Europe's first female prime minister (from Civil and political rights)
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)
Countries with politicians, public officials or close associates implicated in the Panama Papers leak on April 15, 2016 (from Political corruption)
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)
Detail from Corrupt Legislation (1896) by Elihu Vedder. Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington, D.C. (from Political corruption)
World map with the concepts of Heartland and Rimland applied (from Geopolitics)
American lobbyist and businessman Jack Abramoff was at the center of an extensive corruption investigation (from Political corruption)
Division of the world according to Haushofer's Pan-Regions Doctrine (from Geopolitics)
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)
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)
The logo and slogan for change.org (from Politics and technology)
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)
Montenegro's president Milo Đukanović is often described as having strong links to Montenegrin mafia. (from Political corruption)
Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders campaigning for extended US medicare coverage in 2017. (from Health politics)
Transparency International 2017 Corruption Perceptions Index (from Political corruption)
_(2).jpg)
.jpeg)
_(cropped).jpg)
.jpg)
Related portals
Associated Wikimedia
Portals