Portal:Politics

Canada is a federation that comprises ten provinces and three territories. Its government is structured as a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary democracy, with a monarch as its sovereign and a Prime Minister as its head of government. Each of the country’s provinces and territories also has a head of government, called premier in English. Collectively, the federal Prime Minister and provincial and territorial premiers are referred to as first ministers. In French, the term premier ministre is used in both the federal and provincial/territorial contexts.

The longest-serving current first minister is Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who assumed office on November 4, 2015; the newest first minister is Susan Holt of New Brunswick, who assumed office on November 2, 2024. The oldest first minister, François Legault of Quebec, is 67; the youngest first minister, P.J. Akeeagok of Nunavut, is 40. Of the current first ministers, two (Danielle Smith of Alberta and Susan Holt of New Brunswick) are women and three (P.J. Akeeagok of Nunavut, Wab Kinew of Manitoba, and R.J. Simpson of the Northwest Territories) are Indigenous. (Full article…)

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is one of the two major parties in the political system of the Republic of India, the other being the Indian National Congress (INC). As of 2015, it is the country’s largest political party in terms of representation in the national parliament. Established in 1980, the BJP’s platform is generally considered as the right-wing of the political spectrum. As of 13 June 2024, 54 BJP leaders have held the position of a chief minister out of which thirteen are incumbent.
A chief minister is the head of government of each of the twenty-eight states and two union territories (UTs) (Delhi and Puducherry). According to the Constitution of India, at the state-level, the governor is de jure head, but de facto executive authority rests with the chief minister. Following elections to the state legislative assembly, the governor usually invites the party (or coalition) with a majority of seats to form the government. The governor appoints the chief minister, whose council of ministers are collectively responsible to the assembly. The chief minister’s term is usually for a maximum of five years, with the confidence of the assembly’s confidence. There are no limits to the number of terms the chief minister can serve. (Full article…)

The counties of Croatia (Croatian: hrvatske županije) are the first-level administrative subdivisions of the Republic of Croatia. Since they were re-established in 1992, Croatia has been divided into 20 counties and the capital city of Zagreb, which has the authority and legal status of both a county and a city (separate from the surrounding Zagreb County). As of 2015, the counties are subdivided into 128 cities and 428 (mostly rural) municipalities. The divisions have changed over time since the medieval Croatian state. They reflected territorial losses and expansions; changes in the political status of Dalmatia, Dubrovnik and Istria; and political circumstances, including the personal union and subsequent development of relations between the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia and the Kingdom of Hungary. (Full article…)

France was ruled by monarchs from the establishment of the kingdom of West Francia in 843 until the end of the Second French Empire in 1870, with several interruptions.

Classical French historiography usually regards Clovis I, king of the Franks (r. 507–511), as the first king of France. However, historians today consider that such a kingdom did not begin until the establishment of West Francia, after the fragmentation of the Carolingian Empire in the 9th century. (Full article…)

The member states of the United Nations comprise 193 sovereign states. The United Nations (UN) is the world’s largest intergovernmental organization. All members have equal representation in the UN General Assembly.

The Charter of the United Nations defines the rules for admission of member states. Membership is open to all states which accept certain terms of the charter and are able to carry them out. New members must be recommended by the United Nations Security Council. In addition to the member states, the UN also invites non-member states to be observer states at the UN General Assembly. A member state that has persistently violated the principles of the United Nations Charter can be expelled from the United Nations. (Full article…)

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…)

The Himalayas lies in the north of West Bengal and the Bay of Bengal is at the south. Between them, the river Ganga flows eastwards and its main distributary, the Hooghly River, flows south to reach the Bay of Bengal. The Siliguri Corridor, which connects North-East India with rest of the India, lies in the North Bengal region of the state. Geographically, West Bengal is divided into a variety of regions—Darjeeling Himalayan hill region, Terai and Dooars region, North Bengal plains, Rarh region, Western plateau and high lands, coastal plains, Sundarbans and the Ganga Delta.

In 1947, when India gained independence, the state of West Bengal was formed, with 14 districts, as per partition plan of the then Bengal province of British India. The former princely state Koch Bihar joined as a district on 26 January 1950, and the former French enclave Chandannagore joined as part of the Hooghly district in 1954. The States Reorganisation Act of 1956 led to addition of Purulia district to the state and to enlargement of West Dinajpur district. Later, larger districts such as West Dinajpur, 24 Parganas and Midnapore were bifurcated. (Full article…)

There are fourteen counties in the U.S. state of Vermont. These counties together contain 255 political units, or places, including 237 towns, 10 cities, 5 unincorporated areas, and 4 gores. Each county has a county seat, often referred to as a «shire town.»

In 1779, Vermont had two counties. The western side of the state was Bennington County and the eastern was Cumberland County. In 1781, three new counties (including then-called Washington that became part of New Hampshire) were created out of Cumberland County, and the remainder of the county was renamed Windham.
Today’s Washington County was created in 1810 as Jefferson County; it was renamed Washington in 1814. (Full article…)

The chancellor of Austria is the head of government of Austria, appointed by the president and viewed as the country’s de facto chief executive. The chancellor chairs and leads the Cabinet, which also includes the vice-chancellor and the ministers.

Following World War I, the office was established by the Provisional National Assembly on 30 October 1918 and named state chancellor of the Republic of German-Austria, and its first holder, Karl Renner, was appointed by the State Council. After the Allied powers forbade German-Austria to merge with the Weimar Republic, the country formed the federal First Austrian Republic and the office was renamed from state chancellor to federal chancellor. The first federal chancellor was Michael Mayr. Ten chancellors served under the First Republic until Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss created the authoritarian and dictatorial Federal State of Austria. Following Dollfuss’s assassination by Austrian National Socialists, Kurt Schuschnigg succeeded him as chancellor and upheld the dictatorship. Schuschnigg was replaced by Arthur Seyss-Inquart, a Nazi caretaker who held the office for two days, until Austria was annexed into Nazi Germany. (Full article…)

Taiwan, officially the Republic of China, has 112 diplomatic missions across the world as of January 2024. Due to the One-China policy held by the People’s Republic of China on the Chinese mainland, other states are only allowed to maintain relations with one of the two countries. As most countries have changed their recognition to the latter over time, only 13 of Taiwan’s diplomatic missions have official status, consisting of twelve embassies and one consulate-general. This makes Taiwan one of the few countries in the world that has resident embassies in all of the states with which it has formal diplomatic relations.

Despite these barriers, 59 United Nations members maintain relations with Taiwan on an unofficial basis. In addition, Taiwan has informal relations with Somaliland, a state that is not internationally recognized by any other country, including China. To serve these locations and other places throughout the world, 92 semi-official representative offices are utilized for matters that would otherwise be handled by embassies or consulates. Their heads are still appointed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, making them de facto missions. Owing to pressure from the People’s Republic, most of these offices cannot operate under either the country’s official or common name, using the name of the capital Taipei instead to avoid addressing Taiwan’s political status. There have recently been two notable exceptions to this; the offices in Somaliland (opened 2020) and Lithuania (2021) use «Taiwan» in their names. Taiwan also maintains permanent missions to the European Union and the World Trade Organization, with the latter under the name «Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kimmen and Matsu«. (Full article…)

Fourteen first ladies of the United States have written a total of twenty-three memoirs. The first lady is the hostess of the White House, and the position is traditionally filled by the wife of the president of the United States, with some historical exceptions. Every memoir by a first lady published in the 20th and 21st centuries has been a bestseller, at times outselling those of their presidential husbands.

In the early 1800s, Abigail Adams had her correspondence published as Letters of Mrs. Adams, the Wife of John Adams, and Louisa Adams «made several attempts at an autobiography», though she never sought to publish them. The Memoirs and Letters of Dolley Madison, Wife of James Madison, President of the United States were published in 1886 but were actually edited by Lucia Cutts and written by Dolley Madison‘s niece Mary Cutts. (Full article…)

The sultans of Zanzibar (Arabic: سلاطين زنجبار; Swahili: Sultani wa Zanzibar) were the rulers of the Sultanate of Zanzibar, which was created on 19 October 1856 after the death of Said bin Sultan. He had ruled Oman and Zanzibar as the sultan of Oman since 1804. The sultans of Zanzibar were of a cadet branch of the Al Said Dynasty of Oman.

In 1698, Zanzibar became part of the overseas holdings of Oman, falling under the control of the sultan of Oman. Omani and other Arab traders had already been prominent in trade with the island for hundreds of years. It was also visited by traders from Persia and India, who arrived with the seasonal musim (west wind). Months later they could return east with a change in the wind. (Full article…)

The five counties of Hawaii on the Hawaiian Islands enjoy somewhat greater status than many counties on the United States mainland. Counties in Hawaii are the only legally constituted government bodies below that of the state. No formal level of government (such as city governments) exists below that of the county in Hawaii.

Unlike the other 49 states, Hawaii does not delegate educational responsibility to local school boards; public education is carried out by the Hawaii State Department of Education. Hawaiian counties collect property taxes and user fees in order to support road maintenance, community activities, parks (including life guards at beach parks), garbage collection, police (the state police force, called the Hawaii Department of Public Safety, is limited in scope), ambulance, and fire suppression services. (Full article…)

The Government of Ireland is the cabinet that exercises executive authority in the Republic of Ireland. Its ministers are collectively responsible for the Departments of State administered by the members of the Government.
As of 2025, twenty-three women have served as cabinet ministers in governments of the Republic of Ireland and its predecessors the Irish Free State (1922–1937) and the Irish Republic (1919–1922). After a 58-year gap between the first and second women ministers, there has been at least one woman in all cabinets since December 1982. No woman has ever been Taoiseach (prime minister), but four women have served as Tánaiste (deputy prime minister). (Full article…)

Below is a list of the premiers of the province of Ontario, Canada, since Confederation in 1867. Ontario uses 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 Ontario’s head of government. The premier picks a cabinet from the elected members to form the Executive Council of Ontario, and 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. 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…)