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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...)

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The Referendum Party was a Eurosceptic, single-issue political party that was active in the United Kingdom from 1994 to 1997. The party's sole objective was for a referendum to be held on the nature of the UK's membership of the European Union (EU). Specifically, it called for a referendum on whether the British electorate wanted to be part of a federal European state or to revert to being a sovereign nation that was part of a European free-trade bloc without wider political functions.

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Credit: Photograph credit: Eivind Enger; restored by Adam Cuerden

Gina Krog (20 June 1847 – 14 April 1916) was a Norwegian suffragist, teacher, liberal politician, writer and editor. She played a central role in the Norwegian women's movement from the 1880s until her death, notably as a leading campaigner for women's right to vote. In 1884, Krog co-founded the Norwegian Association for Women's Rights with liberal MP Hagbart Berner. Over the next two decades, Krog co-founded the Women's Voting Association, the National Association for Women's Suffrage, and the Norwegian National Women's Council, spearheading the presentation of women's suffrage proposals to the Storting (the Norwegian parliament). She was an early member of the Liberal Party and served as a deputy member of its national board.

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

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The Senate Chamber, located in the Centre Block of Parliament Hill

This is a list of current members of the Senate of Canada (French: Le Sénat du Canada), the upper house of the Parliament of Canada. Unlike the members of Parliament in the House of Commons, the 105 senators are appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister. Senators originally held their seats for life; however, under the British North America Act, 1965, members may not sit in the Senate after reaching the age of 75.

Seats are allocated on a regional basis: each of the four major regions receives 24 seats, with 9 remaining seats assigned to jurisdictions outside those regions. The four major regions are Ontario, Quebec, the Maritime provinces (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island), and the Western provinces (Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan). The seats for Newfoundland and Labrador (6), the Northwest Territories (1), Yukon (1), and Nunavut (1) are assigned apart from these regional divisions. The province of Quebec has 24 Senate divisions that are constitutionally mandated. In all other provinces, a Senate division is strictly an optional designation of the senator's own choosing, and has no real constitutional or legal standing. A senator who does not choose a special senate division is considered a senator for the province at large. (Full article...)
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there have been 23 members appointed to the Cabinet of the United States who had been born outside the present-day United States.

Alexander Hamilton, one of the Founding Fathers who signed the U.S. 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 the Treasury in 1789. Irish-born James McHenry, whom Washington appointed as Secretary of War in 1796 and who served in the same post in John Adams's administration, was the other foreign-born individual in Washington's cabinet. (Full article...)
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Location of Alberta in Canada

Alberta is the fourth-most populous province in Canada with 4,262,635 residents as of 2021 Census of Population and is the fourth-largest in land area at 634,658 km² (245,043 sq mi). Alberta's 344 municipalities cover 99.7% of the province's land mass and are home to 99% of its population. These municipalities provide local government services, including roads, water, sewer and garbage collection among others, and a variety of programs to their residents.

According to the Municipal Government Act (MGA), which was enacted in 2000, a municipality in Alberta is "a city, town, village, summer village, municipal district or specialized municipality, a town under the Parks Towns Act, or a municipality formed by special Act". The MGA also recognizes improvement districts and special areas as municipal authorities while Metis settlements are recognized as municipalities by the Government of Alberta's Ministry of Municipal Affairs. Cities, towns, villages, summer villages, municipal districts, specialized municipalities and improvement districts are formed under the provincial authority of the MGA. Special areas and Metis settlements are formed under the provincial authority of the Special Areas Act (SAA) and the Metis Settlements Act (MSA) respectively, of which both were enacted in 2000. As provincial law, the MGA, the SAA and the MSA were passed by the Legislative Assembly of Alberta with royal assent granted by the Lieutenant Governor. (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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The position of president of the National Rifle Association of America (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...)
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Map of the counties of colonial Connecticut, 1766.

There are eight counties in the U.S. state of Connecticut.

Four of the counties – Fairfield, Hartford, New Haven and New London – were created in 1666, shortly after the Connecticut Colony and the New Haven Colony combined. Windham and Litchfield counties were created later in the colonial era, while Middlesex and Tolland counties were created after American independence (both in 1785). Six of the counties are named for locations in England, where many early Connecticut settlers originated; Fairfield County was named after the salt marshes that bordered the coast, while New Haven County was named for the New Haven Colony. (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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The Canadian province of Manitoba was created in 1870. Manitoba 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 Manitoba's head of government, and the King of Canada is its head of state and is represented by the Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba. The premier picks a cabinet from the elected members to form the Executive Council of Manitoba, and then 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, but the premier may ask for early dissolution of the Legislative Assembly. An election may also happen if the governing party loses the confidence of the legislature by the defeat of a supply bill or tabling of a confidence motion. (Full article...)
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The Great Seal of the State of West Virginia

The attorney general of West Virginia is the chief legal advisor to the West Virginia state government and is the state's chief law enforcement officer. The office was created by Article VII, Section 1 of the first Constitution of West Virginia in 1863. Under the current state constitution (1872), the attorney general is an executive department-level state constitutional officer, along with the governor, secretary of state, auditor, treasurer, and commissioner of agriculture. The attorney general is the ex officio reporter of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia. The constitution further specifies that the attorney general shall reside in the seat of state government, Charleston, during their term of office. In Charleston, they are to maintain public records, books, and papers pertaining to their office, and perform all duties prescribed by state law. the attorney general receives a salary of $95,000 per year.

The attorney general gives their written opinions and advice upon questions of law to state officials, heads of state institutions, and prosecuting attorneys. They are also responsible for all litigation on behalf of the state government and state agencies and departments. The attorney general represents the state in all claims processed by the United States Court of Claims, prosecutes civil actions as prescribed by law, enforces the state consumer, antitrust, and preneed burial statutes, and enforces the West Virginia Human Rights Act and the West Virginia Fair Housing Act. The attorney general is also an ex officio member of the Board of Public Works, Council of Finance and Administration, Public Land Corporation, West Virginia Housing Fund, West Virginia Sheriff’s Bureau, Department of Public Safety Retirement Board, Bid Suspension Review Board, State Building Commission, Commission on Charitable Contributions, Women’s Commission, Multistate Tax Compact Advisory Committee, Records Management, and Preservation Advisory Committee. (Full article...)
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Flag of the president of Pakistan

The president of Pakistan is the head of state of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

The complete list of presidents of Pakistan includes the persons sworn into the office of president following the proclamation of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in 1956. (Full article...)
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Flag of the secretary

The United States secretary of energy is the head of the United States Department of Energy, a member of the Cabinet of the United States, and fifteenth in the presidential line of succession. The position was created on October 1, 1977, when President Jimmy Carter signed the Department of Energy Organization Act, establishing the department. The energy secretary and the department originally focused on energy production and regulation. The emphasis soon shifted to developing technology for better and more efficient energy sources, as well as energy education. After the end of the Cold War, the department's attention also turned toward radioactive waste disposal and the maintenance of environmental quality. Former secretary of defense James Schlesinger served as the first secretary of energy. As a Republican nominated to the post by Democratic president Jimmy Carter, Schlesinger's appointment marks the only time a president has chosen a member of another political party for the position. Schlesinger is also the only secretary to be dismissed from the post. Hazel O'Leary, Bill Clinton's first secretary of energy, was the first female and first African American to hold the position. The first Hispanic to serve as Energy Secretary was Clinton's second energy secretary, Federico Peña. Spencer Abraham became the first Arab American to hold the position on January 20, 2001, serving under the administration of George W. Bush. Steven Chu became the first Asian American to hold the position on January 20, 2009, serving under president Barack Obama. Chu was also the longest-serving secretary of energy and the first individual to join the Cabinet after having received a Nobel Prize.

President Joe Biden's nominee to be Secretary of Energy, former Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm, was confirmed on February 25, 2021. Granholm is the second woman to lead the Department of Energy. (Full article...)
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The seven members of the Swiss Federal Council (German: Schweizerischer Bundesrat; French: Conseil fédéral suisse; Italian: Consiglio federale svizzero; Romansh: Cussegl federal svizzer) constitute the federal government of Switzerland and collectively serve as the country's head of state. Each of the seven Federal Councillors heads a department of the Swiss federal administration.

The current Swiss Federal Councillors are: Guy Parmelin (first elected in 2015), Ignazio Cassis (first elected in 2017), Viola Amherd (first elected in 2018), Karin Keller-Sutter (first elected in 2018), Albert Rösti (first elected in 2022), Élisabeth Baume-Schneider (first elected in 2022), and Beat Jans (first elected in 2023) (Full article...)
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Priestley, painted late in life by Rembrandt Peale (c. 1800)

Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) was a British natural philosopher, Dissenting clergyman, political theorist, theologian, and educator. He is best known for his discovery, simultaneously with Antoine Lavoisier, of oxygen gas.

A member of marginalized religious groups throughout his life and a proponent of what was called "rational Dissent," Priestley advocated religious toleration and equal rights for Dissenters. He argued for extensive civil rights in works such as the important Essay on the First Principles of Government, believing that individuals could bring about progress and eventually the Millennium; he was the foremost British expounder of providentialism. Priestley also made significant contributions to education, publishing, among other things, The Rudiments of English Grammar, a seminal work on English grammar. In his most lasting contributions to education, he argued for the benefits of a liberal arts education and of the value of the study of modern history. In his metaphysical works, Priestley "attempt[ed] to combine theism, materialism, and determinism," a project that has been called "audacious and original." (Full article...)
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The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Austria is the official representative of the President and the Government of the Russian Federation to the President and the Government of the Republic of Austria.

The ambassador and his staff work at large in the Embassy of Russia in Vienna. The post of Russian Ambassador to Austria is currently held by Dmitry Lyubinsky [ru], incumbent since 10 August 2015. (Full article...)
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Freedom House ratings for European Union and surrounding states, as of 2019.
Partly free
Not free
EU member states are marked by a brighter color.

Member states of the European Union use various forms of democracy. The European Union (EU) is a sui generis supranational union of states. At a European Council Summit held in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 21 June and 22 June 1993, the European Union defined the Copenhagen criteria regarding the conditions a candidate country has to fulfill to be considered eligible for accession to the European Union:

Consequently, all member states have direct elections, nominally democratic states that are considered to be "free" or "partly free" according to the criteria of Freedom House. As of 2020, there is no expert consensus on how to classify Hungary's regime type; Freedom House considers it a hybrid regime. As of 2015, all European Union member states are representative democracies; however, they do not all have the same political system, with most of the differences arising from different historical backgrounds. (Full article...)

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Where there is discord, may we bring harmony. Where there is error, may we bring truth. Where there is doubt, may we bring faith. And where there is despair, may we bring hope.

— Margaret Thatcher

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Portrait of Samuel Adams by John Singleton Copley

Samuel Adams (1722–1803) was an American statesman, politician, writer and political philosopher who was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Adams was instrumental in garnering the support of the colonies in rebellion against Great Britain, ultimately resulting in the American Revolution. He was also one of the key architects of the principles of American republicanism that shaped American political culture. Adams organized protests against the British, including the Boston Tea Party in 1773, and participated in the Continental Congress. He also advocated for the adoption of the Declaration of Independence at the Second Continental Congress. Following the American Revolution, Adams helped draft the Articles of Confederation. After the war ended, he ran for the House of Representatives in the 1st United States Congressional election, but was unsuccessful in his bid. He was elected Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts in 1789 and after John Hancock's death in 1793, Adams served as the acting governor, until he was elected governor in January of the following year. He served in that position until June 1797 when he decided to retire from politics.

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... that the continuing influence of the Catholic Church in the politics of the Philippines means that the country lacks a divorce law?
... that Walker Keith Baylor, a strong believer in phrenology and physiognomy, determined the fitness of political candidates by measuring their faces and heads with a tape measure?
... that the First Lady Bake-Off was inspired by a political gaffe by Hillary Clinton and predicted five out of seven elections?
... that in the 1916 Declaration of Sainte-Adresse Britain, France and Russia committed to securing the political and economic independence of Belgium after the First World War?
... that politics in The Simpsons have caused controversy in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, and Japan?
... that Prawoto Mangkusasmito did not complete law school before the Japanese invaded because he was too busy with student and political organizations?

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

...that politicians discuss the ways in which they and their families have suffered because of Oprahization?
...that Democratic and Republican plans for the 2012 United States federal budget both focus on deficit reduction, but differ in their changes to taxation, entitlement programs, and research funding?
...that Conservative Party candidate Bernard Trottier won a seat in the 41st Canadian Parliament by defeating the incumbent Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada in the 2011 federal election?

...that co-founder of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association Mohammed al-Bejadi spent most of 2011 in prison?

...that the 2013 United States federal budget may impose a 23% cut on the defense budget due to the Budget Control Act of 2011, according to Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta?

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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.

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Image 1Sir 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)
Image 2Malaysia'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)
Image 3Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders campaigning for extended US Medicare coverage in 2017. (from Health politics)
Image 4Candlelight protest against South Korean President Park Geun-hye in Seoul, South Korea, 7 January 2017 (from Political corruption)
Image 5Detail from Corrupt Legislation (1896) by Elihu Vedder. Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington, D.C. (from Political corruption)
Image 6Savka Dabčević-Kučar, Croatian Spring participant; Europe's first female prime minister (from Civil and political rights)
Image 7Blockchain technology has created cryptocurrencies similarly to voting tokens seen in blockchain voting platforms, with recognizable names including Bitcoin and Ethereum. (from Politics and technology)
Image 8Ferdinand Marcos (pictured with his daughter Imee) was a Philippine dictator and kleptocrat. His regime was infamous for its corruption. (from Political corruption)
Image 9World map with the concepts of Heartland and Rimland applied (from Geopolitics)
Image 10Countries with politicians, public officials or close associates implicated in the Panama Papers leak on April 15, 2016 (from Political corruption)
Image 11United Nations Convention against Corruption (from Political corruption)
Image 12Montenegro's president Milo Đukanović is often described as having strong links to Montenegrin mafia. (from Political corruption)
Image 13Protesters in support of American whistleblower Edward Snowden, Berlin, Germany, 30 August 2014 (from Political corruption)
Image 14A 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)
Image 15Karl Marx and his theory of Communism, developed with Friedrich Engels, proved to be one of the most influential political ideologies of the 20th century. (from History of political thought)
Image 16Division of the world according to Haushofer's Pan-Regions Doctrine (from Geopolitics)
Image 17The sixth president of the United States, John Quincy Adams' "corrupt bargain" of 1824 is an example of patronage. (from Political corruption)
Image 18Russia handing over the symbolic relay baton for the hosting rights of the 2022 FIFA World Cup to Qatar in June 2018 (from Political corruption)
Image 19US Military Police officer restraining and sedating prisoner, while a soldier holds him down (from Political corruption)
Image 20The 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)
Image 21Eugène 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)
Image 22The logo and slogan for change.org (from Politics and technology)
Image 23American lobbyist and businessman Jack Abramoff was at the center of an extensive corruption investigation. (from Political corruption)
Image 24Reformers 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)
Image 25A world map distinguishing countries of the world as federations (green) from unitary states (blue), a work of political science (from Political science)
Image 26This 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)
Image 27A map depicting Corruption Perceptions Index in the world in 2022; a higher score indicates lower levels of perceived 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)