Portal:Politics/Selected article/archive/2006
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This page is an archive of articles featured on the Politics Portal in 2006 (and one in 2005).
The United Nations (UN) is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate co-operation in international law, international security, economic development, and social equity. It was founded in 1945 at the signing of the United Nations Charter by 50 countries, replacing the League of Nations founded in 1919.
The UN was founded after the end of World War II by the victorious allied powers in the hope that it would act to prevent and intervene in conflicts between nations and make future wars impossible or limited. The organization's structure still reflects in some ways the circumstances of its founding, which has led to calls for reform. The five permanent members of the UN Security Council, each of which has veto power on any UN resolution, are the main victors of World War II or their successor states: People's Republic of China (which replaced the Republic of China), France, Russia (which replaced the Soviet Union), the United Kingdom, and the United States.
As of 2006, there are 192 United Nations member states, including virtually every internationally recognized independent country. From its headquarters in New York City, the UN's member countries and specialized agencies give guidance and decide on substantive and administrative issues in regular meetings held throughout each year. The organization is divided into administrative bodies, including the General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council, Secretariat, Trusteeship Council, and the International Court of Justice (ICJ), as well as counterpart bodies dealing with the governance of all other UN System agencies, such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). The UN's most visible public figure, and the representative head, is the Secretary-General, currently Kofi Annan. On 13 October 2006, South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon was approved by the United Nations General Assembly as the world body's eighth secretary-general and the first Asian to hold the post since 1971; Ban will assume the post on 1 January 2007.
Politics of Denmark takes place in a framework of a parliamentary, representative democratic, constitutional monarchy, in which the Prime Minister is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government, with the prime minister acting as primus inter pares. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Danish Parliament, Folketing.
Denmark has a multi-party system and no single party has held an absolute majority in the Folketing since the beginning of the 20th century. Since only four post-war governments have enjoyed a majority in parliament, government bills rarely become law without negotiations and compromise with both supporting and opposition parties. Hence the Danish parliament tends to be more powerful than legislatures in other EU countries. The constitution does not grant the judiciary power of judicial review of legislation, however the courts have asserted this power with the consent of the other branches of government. Since there are no constitutional or administrative courts, the Supreme Court deals with a constitutional dimension.
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.
The secret ballot is a voting method in which a voter's choices are confidential. The key aim is to ensure the voter records a sincere choice by forestalling attempts to influence the voter by intimidation or bribery.
The system is one means of achieving the goal of political privacy. Secret ballots are suitable for many different voting systems.
The most basic form may be blank pieces of paper, upon which each voter writes only their choice. Without revealing their vote to anyone, the voters place the ballots into a sealed box, which is emptied later for counting.
One of the most common forms in the modern world provides for pre-printed ballot papers with the name of the candidates or questions and respective checkboxes. Provisions are made at the polling place for the voter to record their preferences in secret. The ballots are specifically designed to eliminate bias and to prevent anyone from linking voter to ballot. This system is also known as the Australian ballot, because it originated in Australia during the 1850s.
Human rights refers to the concept of human beings as having universal rights, or status, regardless of legal jurisdiction or other localizing factors, such as ethnicity, nationality, and sex. As is evident in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, human rights, at least in the post-war period, are conceptualized as based on inherent human dignity, retaining their universal and inalienable character.
The existence, validity and the content of human rights continue to be the subject to debate in philosophy and political science. Legally, human rights are defined in international law and covenants, and further, in the domestic laws of many states. However, for many people the doctrine of human rights goes beyond law and forms a fundamental moral basis for regulating the contemporary geo-political order. For them, they are democratic ideals.
The Two Treatises of Government (or Two Treatises of Government: In the Former, The False Principles and Foundation of Sir Robert Filmer, And His Followers, are Detected and Overthrown. The Latter is an Essay concerning The True Original, Extent, and End of Civil-Government) is a work of political philosophy anonymously published in 1689 by John Locke. The two component treatises are often discussed as separate works, though Locke himself never published them separately. The Second Treatise is often cited as a manifesto for liberal democracy and capitalism, and so has been alternately praised and vilified, depending on one's point of view. Locke claims in the Preface to the work that its purpose is to justify William of Orange's ascension to the throne of England after the Glorious Revolution of 1688, though recent scholarship has suggested that the bulk of the writing was completed between 1679-1682. That he would write a defense of revolution during the Exclusion Crisis, i.e., during the reign of Charles II, rather than in anticipation of the imminent ouster of James II, serves to cast the work in a very radical light. Locke further edited the Treatises before publication.
The Westminster system is a democratic parliamentary system of government modelled after that of the United Kingdom system, as used in the Palace of Westminster, the location of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The system is a series of procedures for operating a legislature. It is also used, or was once used, in most Commonwealth and ex-Commonwealth nations, beginning with the Canadian provinces in the mid-19th century. It is also used in Australia, India, Ireland, Jamaica, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and Malta. There are other parliamentary systems, for example those of Germany and Italy, whose procedures differ considerably from the Westminster system.
Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence as a means of settling disputes. Pacifism covers a spectrum of views ranging from the belief that international disputes can and should be peacefully resolved, to absolute opposition to the use of violence, or even force, under any circumstances.
Pacifism may be based on principle or pragmatism. Principled (or Deontological) pacifism is based on beliefs that either war, deliberate lethal force, violence or any force or coercion is morally wrong. Pragmatic (or Consequential) pacifism does not hold to such an absolute principle but considers there to be better ways of resolving a dispute than war or considers the benefits of a war to be outweighed by the costs.
Dove or dovish are informal terms used, usually in politics, for people who prefer to avoid war or prefer war as a last resort. Some people termed dovish would not view their position as pacifist as they would consider war to be justifiable in some circumstances (see just war theory). The description refers to the story of Noah's Ark in which the dove came to symbolise the hope of salvation and peace. The opposite of a dove is a hawk or war hawk.
Some persons, who consider themselves pacifists, while opposing war, are not opposed to all use of coercion, physical force against people or destruction of property. Antimilitarists, for example, are specifically opposed to the modern nation-states' military institutions rather than to "violence" in general. Other pacifists follow principles of nonviolence, believing that only non-violent action is justifiable.
Political science is the theory and practice of politics and the description and analysis of political systems and political behavior.
Fields and subfields of political science include political theory and philosophy, political concepts, political systems and ideology, game theory, psephology (voting systems and electoral behaviour), political economy, geopolitics and political geography, policy studies and public policy analysis, comparative politics, national systems, cross-national political analysis, supranational and intergovernmental politics, globalisation studies, political development, international relations, foreign policy analysis, peace studies, international law and politics, public administration and local government studies, political psychology, bureaucratic, administrative and judicial behaviour, legislative processes and public law. Political Science also studies power in international relations and the theory of Great powers and Superpowers.
Political science is methodologically diverse. Approaches to the discipline include classical political philosophy, interpretivism, structuralism, and behavioralism, rationalism, realism, pluralism, and institutionalism. Political science, as one of the social sciences, uses methods and techniques that relate to the kinds of inquiries sought: primary sources such as historical documents and official records, secondary sources such as scholarly journal articles, survey research, statistical analysis, case studies, and model building.
The Fourth International (FI) has been a socialist international organisation working in opposition to both capitalism and "Stalinism". Consisting of supporters of Leon Trotsky, it has striven for an eventual victory of the working class to bring about socialism.
In Paris in 1938, Trotsky and many of his supporters, having been expelled from the Soviet Union, considered the Comintern to have become lost to "Stalinism" and incapable of leading the international working class towards political power. Thus, they founded their own competing "Fourth International". Throughout the better part of its existence, the Fourth International was hounded by agents of the Soviet secret police, repressed by capitalist countries such as France and the United States, and rejected by followers of the Soviet Union and later Maoism as illegitimate - a position these communists still hold today. It struggled to maintain contact under such conditions of both illegality and scorn around much of the world during World War II. When workers' uprisings occurred, they were usually under the influence of Soviet, Maoist, social democratic, or nationalist groups, leading to further betrayals and defeats for Trotskyists.
The FI suffered a split in 1940 and an even more significant split in 1953. Despite a partial reunification in 1963, more than one group claims to represent the political continuity of the Fourth International. The broad array of Trotskyist Internationals are split over whether the Fourth International still exists and if so, which organisation represents its political continuity.
The British House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Parliament also includes the Sovereign and the upper house, the House of Lords; the House of Commons is the dominant branch. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 646 members, who are known as "Members of Parliament" or MPs. Members are elected by the first-past-the-post system of election, holding office until Parliament is dissolved (a maximum of five years). Each member is elected by, and represents, an electoral district known as a constituency. The House of Commons is the source of the vast majority of government ministers and every Prime Minister since 1902, with the very brief exception of Sir Alec Douglas-Home in 1963, has been drawn from it (Home did actually rule from the House of Commons, however, taking a seat in the House shortly after being chosen as Prime Minister).
Anarcho-capitalism (also known by other names, such as free market anarchism) is an individualist political philosophy that advocates the provision of all goods and services—including systems of justice, law enforcement, and national defence—by competitors in a free market. Anarcho-capitalists argue that a pure free market system, based on private property, would maximise individual liberty and prosperity. For them, the only just way to acquire property is through trade, gift, or original appropriation. Anarcho-capitalism rejects the state as an aggressive entity that steals property through taxation, initiates physical force, uses its coercive powers to benefit some businesses and individuals at the expense of others, creates monopolies, and restricts trade. This embrace of unfettered capitalism leads to considerable tension between anarcho-capitalists and those anarchists who believe that capitalism is inherently authoritarian and hence incompatible with anarchism.
A voting system is a means of choosing between a number of options, based on the input of a number of voters. Voting is perhaps best known for its use in elections, where political candidates are selected for public office. Voting can also be used to award prizes, to select between different plans of action, or by a computer program to determine a solution to a complex problem. Voting can be contrasted with consensus decision making.
A voting system consists of the rules for how voters express their desires, and how these desires are aggregated to yield a final result. The study of formally defined voting systems is called voting theory, a subfield of political science, economics or mathematics. Voting theory began in the 18th century and has led to several proposals for voting systems.
Most voting systems are based on the concept of majority rule, or the principle that more than half of the voters should get the outcome they want. Given the simplicity of majority rule, those who are unfamiliar with voting theory are often surprised that such a variety of voting systems exists, or that popular voting systems can produce results not supported by more than half the voters. If every election had only two choices, the winner would be determined using majority rule alone. However, when there are three or more options, there may not be a single option that is preferred by a majority. Different voting systems may give very different results, particularly in cases where there is no clear majority preference. Thus, the choice of voting system(s) is one important component of a democratic government.
The United States Senate is one of the two chambers of the Congress of the United States, the other being the House of Representatives. In the Senate, each state is equally represented by two members; as a result, the total membership of the body is currently 100. Senators serve for six-year terms that are staggered so elections are held for approximately one-third of the seats (a "class") every second year.
The Vice President of the United States is the President of the Senate and serves as its presiding officer, but is not a Senator and does not vote except to break ties. The Vice President rarely acts as President of the Senate unless casting a tie-breaking vote or during ceremonial occasions, so the duty of presiding usually falls to the President Pro Tempore, customarily the most senior senator of the majority party. Most often, the President Pro Tempore will designate a member from his party to serve as presiding officer for the day.
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Gerald Ford was the 40th Vice President and the 38th President of the United States. He was elected House Minority Leader in 1963 and served in the House until 1973. When Spiro Agnew resigned, Ford was appointed Vice President of the United States during the height of the Watergate scandal. Following the resignation of Richard Nixon, Ford ascended to the presidency on August 9, 1974. The Ford administration saw the withdrawal of American forces from Vietnam, the execution of the Helsinki Accords and the continuing specter of inflation and recession. Faced with an overwhelmingly Democratic majority in Congress, the administration was hampered in its ability to pass major legislation and Ford's vetoes were frequently overridden. After Ford was criticized by many for granting a pardon to Nixon, Democrat Jimmy Carter narrowly defeated Ford in the 1976 presidential race. Ford is the only U.S. President never elected to either the Presidency or Vice Presidency. Along with his own Vice President, Nelson Rockefeller, he is one of two people appointed Vice President rather than elected. (read more...)
Gerald Ford was the 40th Vice President and the 38th President of the United States. He was elected House Minority Leader in 1963 and served in the House until 1973. When Spiro Agnew resigned, Ford was appointed Vice President of the United States during the height of the Watergate scandal. Following the resignation of Richard Nixon, Ford ascended to the presidency on August 9, 1974. The Ford administration saw the withdrawal of American forces from Vietnam, the execution of the Helsinki Accords and the continuing specter of inflation and recession. Faced with an overwhelmingly Democratic majority in Congress, the administration was hampered in its ability to pass major legislation and Ford's vetoes were frequently overridden. After Ford was criticized by many for granting a pardon to Nixon, Democrat Jimmy Carter narrowly defeated Ford in the 1976 presidential race. Ford is the only U.S. President never elected to either the Presidency or Vice Presidency. Along with his own Vice President, Nelson Rockefeller, he is one of two people appointed Vice President rather than elected. (read more...)
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The Second Malaysia Plan was an economic development plan set out by the government of Malaysia, with the goal of implementing the aims of the New Economic Policy. It aimed to "restructure" Malaysian society and overturn Chinese Malaysian and foreign hegemony in the economy of Malaysia so that the Malays would not be disadvantaged economically. Although the First Malaysia Plan had also set out to tackle the problem of poverty, especially among the Malays, it had not been very successful, and may have been a factor in the May 13 Incident when racial rioting broke out in Kuala Lumpur. The Second Malaysia Plan was regarded by some as excessive in its zeal to increase Malay participation in the economy, and the government accordingly scaled back the emphasis on restructuring the economy when the plan ended. (read more...)
The Second Malaysia Plan was an economic development plan set out by the government of Malaysia, with the goal of implementing the aims of the New Economic Policy. It aimed to "restructure" Malaysian society and overturn Chinese Malaysian and foreign hegemony in the economy of Malaysia so that the Malays would not be disadvantaged economically. Although the First Malaysia Plan had also set out to tackle the problem of poverty, especially among the Malays, it had not been very successful, and may have been a factor in the May 13 Incident when racial rioting broke out in Kuala Lumpur. The Second Malaysia Plan was regarded by some as excessive in its zeal to increase Malay participation in the economy, and the government accordingly scaled back the emphasis on restructuring the economy when the plan ended. (read more...)
The Washington gubernatorial election of 2004 was a dramatic event, gaining national interest for its legal twists and turns and its extremely close finish. Three parties, the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, and the Libertarian Party, fielded candidates. It is notable for being among the closest races in United States election history; the winner, Christine Gregoire, a Democrat, was elected after a second recount turned the election in her favor by a margin of 129 votes, or 0.0045%. Although Gregoire was sworn in as Governor of Washington on January 12, 2005, her opponent Dino Rossi did not formally concede and called for a re-vote due to concerns about the integrity of the election. The Republicans filed a lawsuit in Chelan County Superior Court contesting the election, in which the trial judge decided against the Republicans. Rossi chose not to appeal to the Washington State Supreme Court, thereby conceding the election on June 6, 2005. (read more...)
The Washington gubernatorial election of 2004 was a dramatic event, gaining national interest for its legal twists and turns and its extremely close finish. Three parties, the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, and the Libertarian Party, fielded candidates. It is notable for being among the closest races in United States election history; the winner, Christine Gregoire, a Democrat, was elected after a second recount turned the election in her favor by a margin of 129 votes, or 0.0045%. Although Gregoire was sworn in as Governor of Washington on January 12, 2005, her opponent Dino Rossi did not formally concede and called for a re-vote due to concerns about the integrity of the election. The Republicans filed a lawsuit in Chelan County Superior Court contesting the election, in which the trial judge decided against the Republicans. Rossi chose not to appeal to the Washington State Supreme Court, thereby conceding the election on June 6, 2005. (read more...)
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The granting of Royal Assent is the formal method by which the Sovereign of the United Kingdom, or the Sovereign's representative in Commonwealth Realms, completes the process of the enactment of legislation by formally assenting to an Act of Parliament. While the power to withhold Royal Assent was once exercised often, it is almost never exercised under modern constitutional conventions. The power remains as one of the reserve powers of the monarch. The granting of the Royal Assent is sometimes associated with elaborate ceremonies. In the United Kingdom, for instance, the Sovereign appoints Lords Commissioners who in turn announce that Royal Assent has been granted at a ceremony at the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace or another royal residence. Two methods of notifying the Parliament are available: the Lords Commissioners or the Sovereign's representatives may grant Assent in the presence of both Houses of Parliament; alternatively, each House may be notified separately, usually by the presiding officer. (read more...)
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Voter turnout is a measure of the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election. Almost all political scientists feel that high turnout is desirable in a democracy, but there is much debate over the factors that affect turnout. Different countries have very different average voter turnouts: for example, turnouts in the United States are typically more than 40 percentage points below those in Malta, which also does not have compulsory voting, and Australia, which does. These differences are believed to be caused by a mix of cultural and institutional factors. After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in most established democracies since the 1960s. This issue has been much studied, but scholars are divided on what has caused it, with a wide array of economic, demographic, technological, cultural, and institutional factors proposed as the cause of this decline. There have been many efforts to increase turnout and encourage voting. (read more...)
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The Canadian House of Commons is a component of the Parliament of Canada, which also includes the Sovereign (represented by the Governor General) and the Senate. Members of the Canadian House of Commons are elected for limited terms, holding office until Parliament is dissolved. Each member is elected by, and represents, an electoral district. The House of Commons was established in 1867, when the British North America Act 1867 created the Dominion of Canada. In practice, the House of Commons (the lower house) holds far more power than the Senate (the upper house), and is by far the dominant House of Parliament. Although the approval of both Houses is necessary for legislation, the Senate very rarely rejects bills passed by the Commons. Moreover, the Government of Canada is responsible solely to the House of Commons; the Prime Minister stays in office only as long as he or she retains the support of the Lower House. (read more...)
The Irish Houses of Parliament (also known as the Irish Parliament House, now called the Bank of Ireland, College Green due to its modern day use as a branch of the bank) was the world's first purpose-built two-chamber parliament house. It served as the seat of both chambers (the Lords and Commons) of the Irish parliament of the Kingdom of Ireland for most of the eighteenth century until that parliament was abolished by the Act of Union in 1800 when the island became part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In the 17th century, parliament had settled in Chichester House, a mansion in Hoggen Green (later renamed College Green) that had been owned by Sir George Carew, President of Munster and Lord High Treasurer of Ireland, and which had been built on the site of a nunnery disbanded by King Henry VIII after the dissolution of the monasteries. Carew's house, (later renamed Chichester House after a later owner Sir Arthur Chichester) was already a building of sufficient importance to have become a temporary home of the Kingdom of Ireland's law courts during the Michaelmas law term in 1605. Most famously, the legal documentation facilitating the Plantation of Ulster had been signed in the house on 16 November 1612. (read more...)
The 1996 U.S. campaign finance scandal refers to alleged efforts by the People's Republic of China to influence domestic United States politics prior to and during the Bill Clinton Administration as well as the fundraising practices of the administration itself. While questions regarding the U.S. Democratic Party's fundraising activities first arose in October 1996, the PRC's alleged role in the affair first gained public attention after Bob Woodward and Brian Duffy of the Washington Post published a story stating that a United States Department of Justice investigation into the fundraising activities had discovered evidence that agents of the PRC sought to direct contributions from foreign sources to the Democratic National Committee before the 1996 presidential campaign. The journalists wrote that intelligence information had shown the PRC Embassy in Washington, D.C. was used for coordinating contributions to the DNC in violation of United States law forbidding non-American citizens from giving monetary donations to United States politicians and political parties. Seventeen people were eventually convicted for fraud or for funneling Asian funds into the United States elections. A number of the convictions came against long-time Clinton-Gore friends and political appointees. (read more...)
The Democratic Labour Party was the main opposition party in Trinidad and Tobago between 1957 and 1971. The party was formed as a multi-racial alternative to the Afro-Trinidadian-dominated People's National Movement led by Eric Williams. Over the course of the next ten years the party developed into an Indo-Trinidadian-dominated party. After several splits brought about by leadership struggles, the party lost its hold on the Indo-Trinidadian community in the 1976 General Elections and was displaced by the United Labour Front under the leadership of Basdeo Panday. (read more...)
A polling station or polling place (the latter usage being favored in the United States) is where voters attend to cast their ballot in an election as part of the voting process in a democracy or republic. Since elections generally take place over a one- or two-day span on a periodic basis, often annual or longer, polling stations are often located in facilities used for other purposes, such as schools, sports halls or local government offices, and will each serve a similar number of people. The area may be known as a ward, precinct, polling district or constituency. The polling place is staffed with officials (who may be called election judges, returning officers or other titles) who monitor the voting procedures and assist voters with the election process. Scrutineers (or poll-watchers) are independent or partisan observers who attend the poll to ensure the impartiality of the process.
The Democratic Party of Japan (民主党 Minshutō?) is a liberal party in Japan. It is Japan's second largest party and main opposition party. It grew from a small party to a major force in modern Japan. The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) was formed on April 27, 1998. It was a merger of four previously independent parties that were opposed to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) (LDP)—the previous Democratic Party of Japan, the Good Governance Party (民政党, Minseito), the New Fraternity Party (新党友愛, Shinto-Yuai), and the Democratic Reform Party (民主改革連合, Minshu-Kaikaku-Rengo). These were all new parties that were either liberal or social-democratic. The new party began with ninety-three members of the House of Representatives and thirty-eight members of the House of Councillors.
The Althing (Modern Icelandic Alþingi; Old Norse Alþing) is the national parliament: literally, the "all-thing" (or Assembly of All Things) of Iceland. It was founded in 930 at Þingvellir, (the "assembly fields"), situated some 45 km east of what would later become the country's capital, Reykjavík, and this event marked the beginning of the Icelandic Commonwealth. Even after Iceland's union with Norway, the Alþing still held its sessions at Þingvellir until 1799, when it was discontinued for some decades. It was restored in 1844 and moved to Reykjavík, where it has resided ever since. The present parliament building, the Alþingishús, was built in 1881, of hewn Icelandic stone. The constitution of Iceland provides for six electoral constituencies with the possibility of an increase to seven. The constituency boundaries are fixed by legislation. Each constituency elects nine members. In addition, each party is allocated seats based on its proportion of the overall national vote in order that the number of members in parliament for each political party should be more or less proportional to its overall electoral support.
The Australian constitutional crisis of 1975 is generally regarded as the most significant domestic political and constitutional crisis in Australia's history. The crisis began in the upper house of the Australian Federal Parliament, the Senate, where the opposition Liberal-National Country Party coalition had a majority. The Senate deferred voting on bills that appropriated funds for government expenditure, attempting to force the Prime Minister to dissolve the House of Representatives and call an election. The government, led by Labor's Gough Whitlam, dismissed the calls. The impasse continued for some weeks, during which the threat of the government being unable to meet its financial obligations hung over the country. The crisis was resolved in a dramatic fashion on 11 November 1975 when the Governor-General, Sir John Kerr, dismissed Whitlam as Prime Minister and appointed his Liberal opponent Malcolm Fraser as caretaker Prime Minister. Kerr did so having secured an undertaking from Fraser that he would seek a dissolution of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, thus precipitating a general election.
The Botswana Democratic Party is the governing conservative party in Botswana, led by president Festus Mogae. At the last election, the party won 51.7% of popular votes and 44 out of 57 seats. Before independence it was known as the Bechuanaland Democratic Party. In the first general elections in 1965 it won 28 of 31 seats. Since independence it has been in power continuously. The party's base is in the traditional Setswana communities, and it was sometimes referred to as "the Chief's party" (referring to Sir Seretse Khama). The BDP is pro-Western, and it has been accused of accepting money from the United States and diamond mining interests during political campaigns. Its supporters believe that the party has provided stability - Botswana has never experienced a coup or civil war - democratic rule and a moderately high level of development compared to some other countries in southern Africa. Since 1997, however, the party's support has been declining largely due to the declining living standards in Botswana, and faces an uncertain future in the next general elections in 2009. Recent media polls have shown that a good number of citizens, particularly the youth are turning their support to opposition parties.
The Canadian federal election of 1993 was held on October 25, 1993. Fourteen parties competed for the 295 seats in the Canadian House of Commons at that time. It was one of the most eventful elections in Canadian history, with more than half of the electorate switching parties from the 1988 election. The election was called by new Progressive Conservative Party leader Kim Campbell, near the end of her party's five-year mandate. Despite an unpopular legacy from the Brian Mulroney years, Conservative support had recovered in the lead-up to the election, and was near the rival Liberals when the writs were dropped. However, this momentum did not last, and the Conservatives suffered the worst defeat in their history. The PCs lost more than half their vote from 1988 and were reduced to only two seats. The Liberals, led by Jean Chrétien, won a strong majority in the House and formed the next government of Canada. The traditional third party, the New Democratic Party, also fared poorly, winning only nine seats. Two new parties emerged in this election. The sovereigntist Bloc Québécois won almost half the votes in Quebec and became the Official Opposition, while the Western-based Reform Party won nearly as many seats. The Bloc Québécois had been founded only two years before, and was competing in its first election.
Kadima (Hebrew: קדימה, Qādīmāh, "forward") is a new Israeli political party with centrist aspirations. It was formed by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon after he formally left the rightist Likud party on November 21, 2005.
In its early stages, the policies of Kadima directly reflected the views of Ariel Sharon and his stated policies. Early statements from the Sharon camp reported by the Israeli media claimed that they were setting up a truly "centrist" and "liberal" party. When Sharon suffered a stroke, however, the party was taken over by Ehud Olmert. Whether the new party sees its own centrist party mission as enabling it to be in an alignment with Shinui - Sharon had in the past agreed with its social agenda - or with the Orthodox parties - the Haredi parties mostly agree with Sharon's foreign policy - remains to be seen.
From 1985 to 1996, New Zealand embarked upon a programme of Parliamentary electoral reform. All New Zealand elections from 1914 to 1996 have consistently used the British system of 'first past the post' for parliamentary elections. This system had consistently favoured the two largest parties, since 1936 being National and Labour. In 1986 The Royal Commission on the Electoral System, established in 1985, recommended changing to the Mixed Member Proportional electoral system (MMP). In 1992 and 1993, two referenda were held to decide whether or not to change to MMP. The result was that New Zealand adopted MMP. The first election under the new system was held in 1996. The two party system was broken and New Zealand currently has eight political parties within the Parliament.
Hugo Chávez is the current President of Venezuela, known for his democratic socialist governance, his anti-imperialism, and his radical criticism of neoliberal globalization and United States foreign policy. A career military officer, Chávez gained popularity following a failed 1992 coup d'état and was elected President in 1998 on promises of aiding Venezuela's poor majority. As President, Chávez has inaugurated massive Bolivarian Missions to combat disease, illiteracy, malnutrition, poverty and other social ills. Abroad, Chávez has acted against the Washington Consensus by advocating alternative models of economic development and fostering cooperation amongst the world's poor nations, especially those of Latin America. However, Venezuela's middle and upper classes have severely criticized Chávez, accusing him of repression and electoral fraud, and he has survived both a 2002 coup and a 2004 recall referendum. Chávez remains one of the most complex, controversial and high-profile figures in modern politics.
The European Union is an international organisation of 25 European states, established in 1992. It originates from the Coal and Steel Community, founded in 1951 by Germany, France, Italy and the Benelux countries. However, the French-German politician Robert Schuman presented his proposal of a united Europe, known as the Schuman declaration, already in 1950, which is considered to be the beginning of what is now the European Union. The Union has many activities, the most important being a common single market, consisting of a customs union, a single currency, a Common Agricultural Policy and a Common Fisheries Policy.
The Governor-General of India was the head of the British administration in India. The office was created in 1773, and gained complete authority over all of British India in 1833. In 1858, India came under the direct control of the British Crown, and the Governor-General acted as the Sovereign's representative. To reflect this role, the term "Viceroy" was informally applied; the title was abandoned when India became independent in 1947. The office of Governor-General continued to exist until India adopted a constitution in 1950.
