Britannica Insights
Government, Law, and Politics
Government, the political system by which a country or community is administered and regulated. Most of the key words commonly used to describe governments—words such as monarchy, oligarchy, and democracy—are of Greek or Roman origin. They have been current for more than 2,000 years and have not...
Browse Subcategories:
Displaying Featured Government, Law, and Politics Articles
-
Barack ObamaBarack Obama, 44th president of the United States (2009–17) and the first African American to hold the office. Before winning the presidency, Obama represented Illinois in the U.S. Senate (2005–08). He was the third African American to be elected to that body since the end of Reconstruction (1877).… -
Donald TrumpDonald Trump, 45th president of the United States (2017– ). Trump was a real-estate developer and businessman who owned, managed, or licensed his name to several hotels, casinos, golf courses, resorts, and residential properties in the New York City area and around the world. From the 1980s Trump… -
Augusto PinochetAugusto Pinochet, leader of the military junta that overthrew the socialist government of Pres. Salvador Allende of Chile on September 11, 1973. Pinochet was head of Chile’s military government (1974–90). During his dictatorial reign tens of thousands of opponents of his regime were tortured.… -
Kurt Georg KiesingerKurt Georg Kiesinger, conservative politician and chancellor (1966–69) of the Federal Republic of Germany whose “grand coalition” brought the Social Democratic Party (SPD) into the government for the first time since 1930. Kiesinger was educated at Berlin and Tübingen, after which he began to… -
Adolf HitlerAdolf Hitler, leader of the Nazi Party (from 1920/21) and chancellor (Kanzler) and Führer of Germany (1933–45). He was chancellor from January 30, 1933, and, after President Paul von Hindenburg’s death, assumed the twin titles of Führer and chancellor (August 2, 1934). Hitler’s father, Alois (born… -
United States Presidential Election of 2016United States Presidential Election of 2016, American presidential election held on November 8, 2016, in which Republican Donald Trump lost the popular vote to Democrat Hillary Clinton by more than 2.8 million votes but won 30 states and the decisive electoral college with 304 electoral votes to… -
Bernie SandersBernie Sanders, American politician who was first elected to represent Vermont in the U.S. Senate in 2006 and took office the following year. Previously he served as the mayor of Burlington (1981–89) and as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1991–2007). Formally unaffiliated with any… -
Elizabeth IIElizabeth II, queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from February 6, 1952. In 2015 she surpassed Victoria to become the longest-reigning monarch in British history. Elizabeth was the elder daughter of Prince Albert, duke of York, and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon.… -
Abraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln, 16th president of the United States (1861–65), who preserved the Union during the American Civil War and brought about the emancipation of the slaves. (For a discussion of the history and nature of the presidency, see presidency of the United States of America.) Among American… -
Vladimir PutinVladimir Putin, Russian intelligence officer and politician who served as president (1999–2008, 2012– ) of Russia and also was the country’s prime minister (1999, 2008–12). Putin studied law at Leningrad State University, where his tutor was Anatoly Sobchak, later one of the leading reform… -
Hillary ClintonHillary Clinton, American lawyer and politician who served as a U.S. senator (2001–09) and secretary of state (2009–13) in the administration of Pres. Barack Obama. She had served as first lady (1993–2001) during the administration of her husband, Bill Clinton, 42nd president of the United States.… -
Ronald ReaganRonald Reagan, 40th president of the United States (1981–89), noted for his conservative Republicanism, his fervent anticommunism, and his appealing personal style, characterized by a jaunty affability and folksy charm. The only movie actor ever to become president, he had a remarkable skill as an… -
John F. KennedyJohn F. Kennedy, 35th president of the United States (1961–63), who faced a number of foreign crises, especially in Cuba and Berlin, but managed to secure such achievements as the Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty and the Alliance for Progress. He was assassinated while riding in a motorcade in Dallas. (For… -
Arnold SchwarzeneggerArnold Schwarzenegger, Austrian-born American bodybuilder, film actor, and politician who rose to fame through roles in blockbuster action movies and later served as governor of California (2003–11). Schwarzenegger was known as the Styrian Oak, or Austrian Oak, in the bodybuilding world, where he… -
Bill ClintonBill Clinton, 42nd president of the United States (1993–2001), who oversaw the country’s longest peacetime economic expansion. In 1998 he became the second U.S. president to be impeached; he was acquitted by the Senate in 1999. (For a discussion of the history and nature of the presidency, see… -
George W. BushGeorge W. Bush, 43rd president of the United States (2001–09), who led his country’s response to the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001 and initiated the Iraq War in 2003. Narrowly winning the electoral college vote in 2000 over Vice Pres. Al Gore in one of the closest and most-controversial… -
Theodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt, 26th president of the United States (1901–09) and a writer, naturalist, and soldier. He expanded the powers of the presidency and of the federal government in support of the public interest in conflicts between big business and labour and steered the nation toward an active role… -
Franklin D. RooseveltFranklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd president of the United States (1933–45). The only president elected to the office four times, Roosevelt led the United States through two of the greatest crises of the 20th century: the Great Depression and World War II. In so doing, he greatly expanded the powers of… -
George WashingtonGeorge Washington, American general and commander in chief of the colonial armies in the American Revolution (1775–83) and subsequently first president of the United States (1789–97). (For a discussion of the history and nature of the presidency, see presidency of the United States of America.)… -
Napoleon INapoleon I, French general, first consul (1799–1804), and emperor of the French (1804–1814/15), one of the most celebrated personages in the history of the West. He revolutionized military organization and training; sponsored the Napoleonic Code, the prototype of later civil-law codes; reorganized… -
Jimmy CarterJimmy Carter, 39th president of the United States (1977–81), who served as the country’s chief executive during a time of serious problems at home and abroad. His perceived inability to deal successfully with those problems led to an overwhelming defeat in his bid for reelection. However, for his… -
Joseph StalinJoseph Stalin, secretary-general of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1922–53) and premier of the Soviet state (1941–53), who for a quarter of a century dictatorially ruled the Soviet Union and transformed it into a major world power. During the quarter of a century preceding his death, the… -
Henry VIIIHenry VIII, king of England (1509–47) who presided over the beginnings of the English Renaissance and the English Reformation. His six wives were, successively, Catherine of Aragon (the mother of the future queen Mary I), Anne Boleyn (the mother of the future queen Elizabeth I), Jane Seymour (the… -
Cold WarCold War, the open yet restricted rivalry that developed after World War II between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies. The Cold War was waged on political, economic, and propaganda fronts and had only limited recourse to weapons. The term was first used by the… -
Kim Jong-UnKim Jong-Un, North Korean political official who succeeded his father, Kim Jong Il, as leader of North Korea (2011– ). The youngest of Kim Jong Il’s three sons, Kim Jong-Un lived most of his life out of the public eye, and little was known about him. Reportedly educated in Gümligen, Switzerland, at… -
Alexander the GreatAlexander the Great, king of Macedonia (336–323 bce), who overthrew the Persian empire, carried Macedonian arms to India, and laid the foundations for the Hellenistic world of territorial kingdoms. Already in his lifetime the subject of fabulous stories, he later became the hero of a full-scale… -
Alexander HamiltonAlexander Hamilton, New York delegate to the Constitutional Convention (1787), major author of the Federalist papers, and first secretary of the treasury of the United States (1789–95), who was the foremost champion of a strong central government for the new United States. He was killed in a duel… -
United NationsUnited Nations (UN), international organization established on October 24, 1945. The United Nations (UN) was the second multipurpose international organization established in the 20th century that was worldwide in scope and membership. Its predecessor, the League of Nations, was created by the… -
John McCainJohn McCain, U.S. senator who was the Republican Party’s nominee for president in 2008 but was defeated by Barack Obama. McCain represented Arizona in the U.S. House of Representatives (1983–87) before being elected to the U.S. Senate (1987–2018). Although a self-described conservative “foot… -
Clint EastwoodClint Eastwood, American motion-picture actor who emerged as one of the most popular Hollywood stars in the 1960s and went on to become a prolific and respected director-producer. Growing up during the Great Depression, Eastwood moved from town to town with his family, spending little more than a…
