Portal:Politics

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Politics is the process and method of gaining or maintaining support for public or common action, the conduct of decision-making for groups. Although it is usually applied to governments, political behavior is also observed in corporate, academic, religious, and other institutions. Political philosophy is the study of topics such as politics, liberty, justice, property, rights, law, and the enforcement of a legal code by authority: what they are, why (or even if) they are needed, what, if anything, makes a government legitimate, what rights and freedoms it should protect and why, what form it should take and why, what the law is, and what duties citizens owe to a legitimate government, if any, and when it may be legitimately overthrown, if ever. 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, the ideologies behind various politicians and interest groups, how politicians achieve and wield their influence, and so on.

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The Ordinances of 1311 were a series of regulations imposed upon King Edward II by the peerage and clergy of the Kingdom of England to restrict the power of the king. The twenty-one signatories of the Ordinances are referred to as the Lords Ordainers. English setbacks in the Scottish war, combined with perceived extortionate royal fiscal policies, set the background for the writing of the Ordinances in which the administrative prerogatives of the king were largely appropriated by a baronial council. The Ordinances reflect the Provisions of Oxford and the Provisions of Westminster from the late 1250s, but unlike the Provisions, the Ordinances featured a new concern with fiscal reform, specifically redirecting revenues from the king's household to the exchequer. Just as instrumental to their conception were other issues, particularly discontent with the king's favourite, Piers Gaveston, whom the barons subsequently banished from the realm. Edward II accepted the Ordinances only under coercion, and a long struggle for their repeal ensued that did not end until Thomas of Lancaster – the leader of the Ordainers – was executed in 1322.

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George John Douglas Campbell, 8th Duke of Argyll KG, KT, PC, FRS, FRSE (30 April 1823 – 24 April 1900), styled Marquess of Lorne until 1847, was a Scottish peer, Liberal politician as well as a writer on science, religion, and the politics of the 19th century.

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News and Current Events

Wikinews on Politics and conflicts

• June 29: Dutch senate votes in favour of face veil ban
• June 29: India: Punjab cabinet republishes ordinance approving capital punishment for rape of girls under age twelve
• June 25: Serbian Football Association complain about Swiss footballers Xhaka, Shaqiri eagle salute celebration
• June 24: International Criminal Court gives Myanmar till July 27 to respond on Rohingya case
• June 23: Algeria blocks internet across nation to prevent cheating in diploma exams
• June 21: India: Mehbooba Mufti resigns as Jammu Kashmir Chief Minister as Bharatiya Janata Party breaks alliance
• June 20: Iván Duque wins Colombia's presidential election
• June 17: UN releases first-ever human rights report on Kashmir
• June 3: Pakistani President signs bill to merge Federally Administered Tribal Areas with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
• May 30: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provincial Assembly votes to merge with Pakistani Federally Administered Tribal Areas

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 the National Assembly of Azerbaijan was the first secular republican parliament in the Muslim world?
• ...that in world-system theory, sociologists debate whether two world-systems have ever existed during the same period?
• ...that former Republican California State Senator Becky Morgan served on the Board of Trustees of both her alma maters, Stanford University and Cornell University?

• ...that Chinese Taipei is the designated name the Republic of China (Taiwan) uses in most international organizations?

• ...that the controversial Iraq De-Ba'athification policy banned anyone affiliated with the Ba'ath Party from working in the public sector?

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.

Related portals

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  Anarchism
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  European Union
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  Feminism
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  Freedom of speech
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  Genocide
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  Law
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  Left-wing populism
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  Men's rights
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  Nazism
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  Political science
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  Right-wing populism
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  SAARC
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  Social and political philosophy
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  United Nations
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