Portal:Politics

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Politics Portal

Politics is the process and method of gaining or maintaining support for public or common action: the conduct of decision-making for groups. This notion predates human society. Although it is usually applied to governments, political behavior is also observed in corporate, academic, religious, and other institutions. Political science is the field devoted to studying political behavior and examining the acquisition and application of power, or the ability to impose one's will on another. Its practitioners are known as political scientists. Political scientists look at elections, public opinion, institutional activities (how legislatures act, the relative importance of various sources of political power), the ideologies behind various politicians and interest groups, how politicians achieve and wield their influence, and so on.

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Campaign finance refers to the means by which money is raised for election campaigns. As campaigns have many expenditures, ranging from the cost of travel for the candidate and others to the purchasing of air time for TV advertisements, they often spend a great deal of time and effort raising money to finance their cause.

Campaigns vary in their techniques for doing this. Some smaller campaigns, given their relatively low fundraising needs, will raise little to no money. Larger campaigns, such as campaigns for President of the United States, will raise hundreds of millions of dollars.

Campaign contributions are often provided by lobbyists, corporations, trade unions, and other special interest groups. These interests often expect something in return (such as specific legislation being enacted or defeated) so some have come to equate campaign finance with political corruption and bribery. These views have led some governments to impose restrictions on fundraising sources and techniques in the hope of eliminating perceived undue influence being given to monied interests.

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Samuel Taliaferro Rayburn (January 6, 1882 – November 16, 1961) was a United States politician from Bonham, Texas. "Mr. Sam", as he was widely known, served as the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives for 17 years, and is widely regarded as the most effective Speaker of the House in American history.

He went to Congress on 4 March 1913 at the beginning of Woodrow Wilson's administration and served as a Democrat without interruption for over 48 years. During this entire time, he never faced a Republican or other serious challenger for reelection. On 16 September 1940, at the age of 58, he became Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. When his career as Speaker was interrupted during the sessions of 1947–1948 and 1953–1954 during Republican control of the House, Rayburn served as minority leader. He usually worked quietly in the background in the shaping of legislation. As Speaker, he won a reputation for being fair in his rulings and for forgetting politics when he handled the gavel. He had served as Speaker more than twice as long as any predecessor when he died of cancer in Bonham, Texas. His record for total service as Speaker has not yet been broken although Tip O'Neill surpassed Rayburn's record for continuous amount of time as Speaker having served six uninterrupted terms to Rayburn's five. (read more...)

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News and Current Events

• The Dutch care-taker government of prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende is in crisis after a parliamentary motion of disapproval was passed against immigration minister Rita Verdonk. (Financial Times)
• An Ethiopian court finds exiled former president Mengistu Haile Mariam guilty of genocide.(BBC)
• The President of the Palestine Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, orders security forces to deploy across the Gaza Strip in response to the murder of a Fatah security chief's three sons. (Reuters via ABC News Australia)
• Former GAM rebel leader Irwandi Yusuf is elected governor of the Indonesian province of Aceh in elections that are part of a peace deal ending the civil war. (Bernama)
• Former Prime Minister of Fiji Sitiveni Rabuka is cleared of two charges of mutiny in relation to the mutinies of the 2000 Fijian coup d'état. (ABC News Australia)
• United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan strongly criticizes the United States, in particular the Bush administration, for straying from multilateralism and human rights, in his final speech. (BBC)
• Incumbent Igor Smirnov wins the presidential elections in the self-declared state of Transnistria.
• Ex-Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet dies. (The New York Times) (CNN)

Wikipedia also has articles on other current events:

• Fijian coup plot
• Iran's nuclear program
• Iraqi insurgency

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Soldiers raising the flag of Soviet Union on the roof of Reichstag building in Berlin, Germany in May, 1945. Photo credit: Yevgeny Khaldei

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We will stand by our friends and administer a stinging rebuke to men or parties who are either indifferent, negligent, or hostile, and, wherever opportunity affords, to secure the election of intelligent, honest, earnest trade unionists, with clear, unblemished, paid-up union cards in their possession.

—Samuel Gompers, American Federationist, May 1906

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Comprehensive overview of politics coverage

Numerous articles in Wikipedia are related to politics, especially to political science, democracy and the various aspects of a democratic system, most notably elections. In general, all the following articles have at least some connection with politics or the democratic decision-making process.

General

The Politics series:
Politics by country Political science Political history Political scientists Comparative government International relations Political economy Political philosophy Political psychology Form of government Sovereignty Public administration Bureaucracy Street-level bureaucracy Consent of the governed Theories of political behavior
Subseries of Politics
Forms of government Anarchy Aristocracy Autocracy Democracy Despotism Dictatorship Monarchy Absolute monarchy Constitutional monarchy Ochlocracy Oligarchy Single-party state Theocracy Tyranny Executives Legislature Elections Voting Electoral systems Ideology Political parties
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