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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. 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...)
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The Scottish Parliament is the national unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of Edinburgh. The Parliament is a democratically elected body with 129 members who are known as Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs). Members are elected for four year terms under the proportional representation system. The original Parliament of Scotland was the national legislature of the independent Kingdom of Scotland and existed from the early thirteenth century until the Kingdom of Scotland merged with the Kingdom of England under the Acts of Union 1707 to form the Kingdom of Great Britain. Following a referendum in 1997 where the Scottish people gave their consent, the current Parliament was established by the Scotland Act 1998 which sets out its powers as a devolved legislature. The Act delineated the areas in which it can make laws by explicitly specifying powers that are "reserved" to the Parliament of the United Kingdom. All matters that are not explicitly reserved are automatically the responsibility of the Scottish Parliament. The UK Parliament retains the ability to amend the terms of reference of the Scottish Parliament, and can extend or reduce the areas in which it can make laws. The first meeting of the new Parliament took place on 12 May 1999.
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The resignation letter of U. S. President Richard M. Nixon on August 9, 1974 during the Watergate scandal.
There are 52 municipalities in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. Under Pennsylvania law, there are three types of incorporated municipalities in Lycoming County: cities, boroughs and. Any municipality in Pennsylvania with more than 10 persons can incorporate as a borough. Any township or borough with a population of at least 10,000 can ask the state legislature to become chartered as a city. There are no unincorporated areas in the county, since all territory in Pennsylvania is incorporated.
The 52 incorporated municipalities in Lycoming County are the subject of the first list, which gives their names and etymologies, dates settled and incorporated, what they were formed from, area, population, and location within the county. Two other lists dealing with former parts of Lycoming County are included. The second list is of former incorporated townships and gives the same information as above on their current status. The third list gives information on the eighteen other Pennsylvania counties which were formed from or contain land originally in the county. (Full article...)
The premier of Prince Edward Island is the first minister for the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island. They are the province's head of government and de facto chief executive.
Prince Edward Island was a British crown colony before it joined Canadian Confederation in 1873. It has had a system of responsible government since 1851, and the province kept its own legislature to deal with provincial matters after joining Confederation. Prince Edward Island has 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 Prince Edward Island's head of government, and the Queen of Canada is its head of state and is represented by the Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island. The premier picks a cabinet from the elected members to form the Executive Council of Prince Edward Island, and presides over that body. (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...)
The Canadian province of Nova Scotia was a British colony with a system of responsible government since 1848, before it joined Canadian Confederation in 1867. Since Confederation, the province has been a part of the Canadian federation and has kept its own legislature to deal with provincial matters.
Nova Scotia has a unicameral Westminster-style parliamentary government, in which the premier is the leader of the party that controls the most seats in the House of Assembly. The premier is Nova Scotia's head of government, and the Queen in Right of Nova Scotia is its head of state and is represented by the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia. The premier picks a cabinet from the elected members to form the Executive Council of Nova Scotia, and presides over that body. (Full article...)
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 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 8 years and 90 days. (Full article...)
The table below ranks all United States Supreme Court Justices by time in office. For five individuals confirmed for associate justice, and who later served as chief justice—Charles Evans Hughes, William Rehnquist, John Rutledge, Harlan F. Stone, and Edward Douglass White—their cumulative length of service on the Court is measured. The basis of the ranking is the difference between dates; if counted by number of calendar days all the figures would be one greater, with the exception of Charles Evans Hughes and John Rutledge, who would receive two days, as each served on the Court twice (their service as associate justice and as chief justice was separated by a period of years off the Court). The start date given for each justice is the day they took the prescribed oath of office, with the end date being the date of the justice's death, resignation, or retirement. A highlighted row indicates a justice currently serving on the Court. (Full article...)
The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York and the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The officeholder has a duty to enforce state laws, to convene the New York State Legislature, the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the legislature, as well as to grant pardons, except in cases of treason and impeachment.
Fifty-seven people have served as state governor, four of whom served non-consecutive terms (George Clinton, DeWitt Clinton, Horatio Seymour, and Al Smith); the official numbering lists each governor only once. There has only been one female governor so far: Kathy Hochul. This numbering includes one acting governor: the lieutenant governor who filled the vacancy after the resignation of the governor, under the 1777 Constitution. The list does not include the prior colonial governors nor those who have acted as governor when the governor was out of state, such as Lieutenant Governor Timothy L. Woodruff during Theodore Roosevelt's vice presidential campaign in 1900, or Acting Speaker of the New York State Assembly Moses M. Weinstein, who acted as governor for 10 days in 1968 while the governor, the lieutenant governor and the senate majority leader were out of the state, attending the Republican National Convention in Miami. (Full article...)
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Edmund Burke PC (12 January [NS] 1729– 9 July 1797) was an Irish statesman, author, orator, political theorist and philosopher who, after moving to England, served for many years in the House of Commons of Great Britain as a member of the Whig party. He is mainly remembered for his support of the cause of the American Revolutionaries, and for his later opposition to the French Revolution. The latter led to his becoming the leading figure within the conservative faction of the Whig party, which he dubbed the "Old Whigs", in opposition to the pro–French Revolution "New Whigs", led by Charles James Fox. Burke was praised by both conservatives and liberals in the 19th century. Since the 20th century, he has generally been viewed as the philosophical founder of modern Conservatism, as well as a representative of classical liberalism.
Did you know (auto-generated) -
- ... that a prominent obituary of Socorro Sánchez, the first feminist journalist in the Dominican Republic, criticized her as "manly" and too political?
- ... that Presidential Ballots, 1836–1892 was reviewed by Richard P. McCormick, who wrote that it "should stimulate a host of studies in the little-explored field of American political behavior"?
- ... that in order to bypass political changes demanded by Germany at the 1940 Salzburg Conference, Slovakia adopted the Führer principle?
- ... that according to the superseded Catholic doctrine that "error has no rights", non-Catholics did not deserve civil or political rights?
- ... 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 prior to the first town council elections in Loxahatchee Groves, Florida, a political forum for the candidates was hosted at a nudist resort?
More did you know...
- ...that anarchism once was the strongest current in the Cuban labor movement?
- ...that Matt Taibbi's book Griftopia has been described as a "necessary ... corrective" to the assertion that bubbles are an inevitable part of the market economy?
- ...that in the book Net.wars, author Wendy M. Grossman attributes Internet conflict in the 1990s to culture shock from an influx of users?
- ...that former California Assembly Republican Leader and California Republican Party Chair Robert W. Naylor was editor of The Stanford Daily while he was a student at Stanford University?
- ...that the UK's Workers Socialist Federation began as a suffragette group?
- ...that on the death of Governor George Madison, Kentucky lieutenant governor Gabriel Slaughter was refused the title of "governor" by a hostile state legislature and was referred to as "acting governor" for the duration of his three-year administration?
In this month
- June 28, 2004 - Canadian federal elections occur; the Liberal party loses its absolute majority.
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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