Politics, Law & Government
The world today is divided territorially into more than 190 countries, each of which possesses a national government that claims to exercise sovereignty and seeks to compel obedience to its will by its citizens. Governments can be classified in any number of ways. For example, they might be classified by the number of rulers, thus distinguishing government by one (as in a monarchy or a tyranny) from government by the few (in an aristocracy or oligarchy) and from government by the many (as in a democracy). Governments can also be classified by mode of succession; for example, ascension to governmental leadership may follow the rules of hereditary succession, or it may be determined through elections or by force. Governments also vary in terms of the laws and rules of conduct that each political entity follows.
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Featured content, March 21, 2024
The Surprisingly Disorderly History of the U.S. Presidential Succession Order
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8 Questions About Democracy Answered
Important questions asked and answered, briefly.
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Have Any U.S. Presidents Decided Not to Run For a Second Term?
Find out which American presidents have decided against running for reelection.
political system
Political system, the set of formal legal institutions that constitute a “government” or a “state.” This is the definition...
political philosophy
Political philosophy, branch of philosophy that is concerned, at the most abstract level, with the concepts and arguments...
industrial relations
Industrial relations, the behaviour of workers in organizations in which they earn their living. Scholars of industrial relations...
democracy
Democracy, literally, rule by the people. The term is derived from the Greek dēmokratia, which was coined from dēmos (“people”)...
Politics, Law & Government Quizzes
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Politics, Law & Government Subcategories
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Andrew Carnegie
American industrialist and philanthropist
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Steve Jobs
American businessman
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Cecil Rhodes
prime minister of Cape Colony
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Economic system, any of the ways in which humankind has arranged for its material provisioning. One would think that there would be a great variety of such systems, corresponding to the many cultural arrangements that have characterized human society.
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social security
government program
- insurance
- economics
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International relations is the study of the relations of states with each other and with international organizations and certain subnational entities (e.g., bureaucracies, political parties, and interest groups). It is related to a number of other academic disciplines, including political science, geography, history, economics, law, sociology, psychology, and philosophy.
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Paris Agreement
international treaty [2015]
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United Nations
international organization
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Liberal-Democratic Party of Japan
political party, Japan
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inheritance
law
- constitutional law
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commercial transaction
economics
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Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
United States policy
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Kosovo Liberation Army
Kosovar militant group
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French Foreign Legion
military organization
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liberalism
politics
- socialism
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conservatism
political philosophy
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- India
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Gustavus Adolphus
king of Sweden
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Jawaharlal Nehru
prime minister of India