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Introduction
Politics (from Ancient Greek: πολιτικά, translit. Politiká, meaning "affairs of the cities") refers to a set of activities associated with the governance of a country, or an area. It involves making decisions that apply to members of a group.
It refers to achieving and exercising positions of governance—organized control over a human community, particularly a state. The academic study focusing on just politics, which is therefore more targeted than general political science, is sometimes referred to as politology (not to be confused with politicology, a synonym of political science).
In modern nation-states, people have formed political parties to represent their ideas. They 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. Some examples of political parties worldwide are: the African National Congress (ANC) in South Africa, the Conservative in the United Kingdom, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in Germany and the Indian National Congress in India.
Politics is a multifaceted word. It has a set of fairly specific meanings that are descriptive and nonjudgmental (such as "the art or science of government" and "political principles"), but does often colloquially carry a negative connotation. The word has been used negatively for many years: the British national anthem as published in 1745 calls on God to "Confound their politics", and the phrase "play politics", for example, has been in use since at least 1853, when abolitionist Wendell Phillips declared: "We do not play politics; anti-slavery is no half-jest with us."
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.
A political system is a framework which defines acceptable political methods within a given society. The history of political thought can be traced back to early antiquity, with seminal works such as Plato's Republic, Aristotle's Politics and the works of Confucius.
Selected article
The Belarusian Republican Youth Union is an organized youth group in the Eastern European country of Belarus. The goals of the BRSM are to promote patriotism and to instill individual moral values into the youth of Belarus, using activities such as camping, sporting events and visiting memorials. The organization, which was created by a merger of other youth groups in 2002, is the successor of the Leninist Communist Youth League of the Belorussian SSR. While it is only one of a few youth groups inside Belarus, it is the largest and receives much backing from the Belarusian government. The BRSM has been accused of using methods of coercion and empty promises to recruit members and of being used as a propaganda tool by the Lukashenko Government.
Featured picture
The resignation letter of U. S. President Richard M. Nixon on August 9, 1974 during the Watergate scandal.
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News and Current Events
- March 28: Thousands march in anti-Brexit protest, London
- March 15: Former Trump advisor, Paul Manafort, receives second sentence in U.S. Federal Court
- February 25: Texas federal judge says drafting only men violates United States Constitution
- February 21: Sixteen states sue U.S. President Trump to stop declaration of emergency for border wall
- February 17: Francis D'Souza, former Deputy Chief Minister of Goa, dies aged 64
- February 12: German migrant rescue charity renames ship after drowned Syrian toddler
- February 11: Thai political party withdraws nomination of princess for prime minister
- February 7: Nevada becomes first state in U.S. with majority-female legislature
- February 5: Block of flats collapses in Aleppo, killing eleven
- January 30: Mokha, Yemen bomb kills photojournalist, at least five others
Selected biography
David William Donald Cameron (/ˈkæmərən/; born 9 October 1966) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party. Cameron represents Witney as its Member of Parliament (MP). Cameron studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford, gaining a first class honours degree. He then joined the Conservative Research Department and became Special Adviser to Norman Lamont, and then to Michael Howard. He was Director of Corporate Affairs at Carlton Communications for seven years. A first candidacy for Parliament at Stafford in 1997 ended in defeat, but Cameron was elected in 2001 as the Member of Parliament for the Oxfordshire constituency of Witney. He was promoted to the Opposition front bench two years later, and rose rapidly to become head of policy co-ordination during the 2005 general election campaign. With a public image of a young, moderate candidate who would appeal to young voters, he won the Conservative leadership election in 2005.
Did you know...
- ...that the first phase of Mitt Romney's 2012 U.S. presidential campaign was announced via a video message?
- ...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 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
- April 1, 1979 – Iran's government becomes an Islamic Republic by a 98% vote, overthrowing the Shah officially.
- April 9, 1948 – the period known as La Violencia begins with the assassination of Colombian Liberal Party leader Jorge Eliécer Gaitán. For the next ten years Liberals, Communists and Conservatives would fight each other in the conflict.
- April 9, 2003 – Government of Saddam Hussein overthrown by American forces in Iraq.
- April 19, 2006 – Han Myung-sook becomes South Korea's first female Prime Minister.
- April 24, 2005 – Presidential elections in Togo return Faure Gnassingbe to power two months after he was installed by the military following the death of his father, Gnassingbé Eyadéma.
- April 28, 1937 – Saddam Hussein, the President of Iraq is born.
- April 30, 1945 – Adolf Hitler and his wife of one day, Eva Braun, commit suicide as the Red Army approaches the Führerbunker in Berlin. Karl Dönitz succeeds Hitler as President of Germany; Joseph Goebbels succeeds Hitler as Chancellor of Germany.
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Liberalism
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Social and political philosophy
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