Civilisation/World Politics
Countries
General Council of the Valleys – legislative body of Andorra
Agostinho Neto served as the first President of Angola (1975–79), leading the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) in the war for independence and the civil war
The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, commonly known by the acronym, UNITA, is an Angolan political party and was originally an anti-colonial movement which became a rebel force after Angola's independence in 1975. Until 2002 UNITA was largely a military force in the Angolan Civil War fighting the MPLA. From its foundation until his death in 2002, UNITA was led by its founder, Jonas Savimbi
La Casa Rosada (Spanish for ‘the Pink House’) is the official seat of the executive branch of the government of Argentina
Eva Peron was from the Duarte family. Died in 1952, aged 33
Eva Peron’s body was buried in Milan, moved to Spain, then returned to Argentina
Juan Peron was president of Argentina from 1946 to 1955 and from 1973 to 1974
Jorge Videla was President of Argentina from 1976 to 1981
Leopoldo Galtieri rose to the Presidency of Argentina by means of a coup that ousted General Roberto Viola in December 1981
Reynaldo Bignone was President of Argentina from 1982 to 1983
Raul Alfonsin was President of Argentina from1983 to 1989
Carlos Menem was President of Argentina from 1989 to 1999 for the Justicialist Party (Peronist)
Cristina Kirchner became President of Argentina in 2007
The Commonwealth Parliament was opened in 1901 in Melbourne, Australia. The federal legislature moved to Canberra in 1927
Henry Parkes was regarded as the Father of the Australian Federation
Notable Prime Ministers of Australia
| 1901-1903 | Edward Barton |
| 1949-1966 | Robert Menzies |
| 1966-1967 | Harold Holt |
| 1972-1975 | Gough Whitlam |
| 1975-1983 | Malcolm Fraser |
| 1983-1991 | Bob Hawke |
| 1991-1996 | Paul Keating |
| 1996-2007 | John Howard |
| 2007-2010 | Kevin Rudd |
| 2010-2013 | Julia Gillard |
| 2013 (83 days) | Kevin Rudd |
| 2013-2015 | Tony Abbott |
| 2015-2018 | Malcolm Turnbull |
| 2018- | Scott Morrison |
Edmund Barton was the first Australian Prime Minister
Harold Holt’s term as Prime Minister was ended when he disappeared while swimming at Cheviot Beach near Portsea and was presumed drowned
Gough Whitlam was removed from office by Governor-General John Kerr following a constitutional crisis which was precipitated by the Senate's refusal to pass the Whitlam government's money (Supply) bill
Julia Gillard was the first female Australian Prime Minster. Born in the Vale of Glamorgan
The Lodge is the official residence of the Prime Minister of Australia in the national capital, Canberra
Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia is the representative in Australia of the Australian monarch, currently Queen Elizabeth II
Parliament of Austria consists of two chambers – the Nationalrat and the Bundesrat
Azerbaijan declared its independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991, with Ayaz Mutalibov, former First Secretary of the Azerbaijani Communist Party, becoming the country's first President
In 1971, Bahrain declared independence and signed a new treaty of friendship with the United Kingdom
In 2002, Bahrain changed its formal name from the State of Bahrain to the Kingdom of Bahrain
Awami League is the mainstream centre-left, secular political party in Bangladesh
Grantley Adams was the first Premier of Barbados, from 1953 to 1958
Botswana gained independence in 1966 and Seretse Khama became its first president
Deodoro da Fonseca became the first President of Brazil in 1889 after heading a military coup that deposed Emperor Pedro II
Brazilian Federation is the ‘indissoluble union’ of three distinct political entities: the States, the Municipalities and the Federal District
Vargas Era is the period in the history of Brazil that lasted from 1930 to 1945, when the country was under the leadership of Getulio Dornelles Vargas
Fernando Henrique Cardoso was the 34th President of Brazil and served for two terms from 1995 to 2003
From 2003 to 2008, singer Gilberto Gil served as Brazil's Minister of Culture
Dilma Rousseff became the first female president of Brazil in 2011
Brunei gained independence from UK in 1984
Bulgaria proclaimed itself an independent state in 1908
Todor Zhivkov was leader of the People’s Republic of Bulgaria (PRB) from 1954 to 1989
In 1946 the monarchy in Bulgaria was overthrown and Simeon II went into exile. Fifty-five years later, Simeon resumed the role of leader of the nation upon taking office as Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria from July 2001 until August 2005
In 1948, Burma became an independent republic, named the Union of Burma, with Sao Shwe Thaik as its first President and U Nu as its first Prime Minister. Unlike most other former British colonies and overseas territories, it did not become a member of the Commonwealth
Coup led by General Ne Win overthrew the Burmese government in 1962
Karen National Union is a political organization with an armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army that represents the Karen people of Burma
Thein Sein is a former military commander who has been President of Burma (Myanmar) since March 2011. He was the Prime Minister from 2007 until 2011
Norodom Sihanouk was the King of Cambodia from 1941 to 1955 and again from 1993 until 2004. He also served as Prime Minister
Khmer Rouge – Communist Party of Kampuchea (Cambodia). Pol Pot (known as ‘Brother Number One’) became leader in 1962, and died in custody in 1998
Paul Biya has been the President of Cameroon since1982
John MacDonald was the first Prime Minister of Canada
Wilfrid Laurier was the first French-Canadian to serve as Prime Minister
Kim Campbell was the first female Canadian Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau is the son of Pierre Trudeau
Notable Prime Ministers of Canada
| 1867-1873,1878-1891 | John MacDonald |
| 1896-1911 | Wilfrid Laurier |
| 1921-1926, 1926-1930, 1935-1948 | Mackenzie King |
| 1968-1979, 1980-1984 | Pierre Trudeau |
| 1984 (80 days) | John Turner |
| 1984-1993 | Brian Mulroney |
| 1993 (132 days) | Kim Campbell |
| 1993-2003 | Jean Chretian |
| 2003-2006 | Paul Martin |
| 2006-2015 | Stephen Harper |
| 2015- | Justin Trudeau |
Canada Act 1982 severed all remaining dependence of Canada on the United Kingdom, in a process known as ‘patriation’
Canadian electoral constituencies are known as Ridings
24 Sussex Drive, New Edinburgh (also called Gorffwysfa) is the official residence of the Prime Minister of Canada. Built between 1866 and 1868 by Joseph Merrill Currier
Emperor Bokassa was head of state of the Central African Republic from 1966 to 1979. He spent nearly a third of the country’s GDP on a coronation ceremony inspired by Napoleon Bonaparte’s
The military dictatorship of Chile was an authoritarian military government that ruled Chile between 1973 and 1990. The dictatorship was established after the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende was overthrown by a CIA-backed coup d'état. The dictatorship was headed by a military junta presided by General Augusto Pinochet Patricio Aylwin was the president of Chile after its return to democratic rule in 1990
The Shanghai Municipal Council in China was the governing body which administered the combined British and American foreign concessions in Shanghai, known as the Shanghai International Settlement. It was established in 1854 to reorganize the existing concessions
Mao Zedong (also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao (1893 – 1976), called the atom bomb the ‘paper tiger’ by
Deng Xiaoping (1904 – 1997) served as the de facto leader of the People's Republic of China from 1978 to the early 1990s
The Kuomintang of China (KMT), also often translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party, is a political party in the Republic of China (ROC), located in Taiwan, and is currently the largest political party in terms of seats in the Legislative Yuan
The Legislative Yuan is the legislative body of the Republic of China, which administers Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu Islands
Chiang Kai-shek (1887 – 1975) served as Generalissimo of the national government of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 until his death in 1975, taking control of the Kuomintang
Open Door policy is generally associated with China
Deng Xiaoping became the first Chinese leader to visit the United States in 1979, meeting with President Carter at the White House
Li Peng was the Premier of the People's Republic of China between 1987 and 1998
Hu Jintao succeeded Jiang Zemin in 2003 and served until 2013
Xi Jinping became president in 2013
National People's Congress (NPC) is the national legislature of the People's Republic of China. With 2987 members in 2013, it is the largest parliamentary body in the world
Patrice Lumumba was the first legally elected Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo after he helped win its independence from Belgium in 1960. Only ten weeks later, Lumumba's government was deposed in a coup during the Congo Crisis. He was subsequently imprisoned and executed by firing squad under the command of the secessionist Katangan authorities in 1961
Felix Houphouet-Boigny was the first president of Cote d’Ivoire, from independence in 1960 until 1993
Franjo Tudman was the first president of Croatia, from 1990 to 1999
Tomas Estrada Palma was the first president of independent Cuba, in 1902
The 26th of July Movement (Spanish: Movimiento 26 de Julio; M-26-7) was the revolutionary organization planned and led by Fidel Castro that in 1959 overthrew the Fulgencio Batista government in Cuba
Raul Castro took over as President of Cuba from his brother Fidel in 2008
Archbishop Makarios was the first President of the Republic of Cyprus, from 1960 to 1974 and from 1974 to 1977
Cyprus became independent from Britain in 1960
Vaclav Havel was president of Czech Republic from partition in 1993 to 2003
Vaclav Klaus was president of Czech Republic from 2003 to 2013
Milos Zeman became president of Czech Republic in 2013
Jan Masaryk was a Czech diplomat and politician and Foreign Minister of Czechoslovakia from 1940 to 1948
Tomas Masaryk was the first president of Czechoslovakia, from 1918 to 1935
Mobutu Sese Seko was the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1965 to 1997
Mobutu changed the Congo's name to Zaire in 1971
Mobutu was overthrown in the First Congo War by Laurent-Desire Kabila and the country’s name was changed
Kabila President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1997 until his assassination by one of his bodyguards in 2001. He was succeeded by his son Joseph eight days later
Folketing is the parliament of Denmark. Christiansborg Palace (also known by its nickname, "Borgen" – Danish for "the castle") has been the domicile of parliament since 1849
In 2009, Lars Rasmussen succeeded Anders Fogh Rasmussen as Prime Minister following the latter's appointment as Secretary General of NATO
Helle Thorning-Schmidt became the first female Prime Minister of Denmark in 2011
Rafael Trujillo ruled the Dominican Republic from 1930 until his assassination in 1961. Officially, he was President only from 1930 to 1938, and again from 1942 to 1952. His brother Hector Trujillo was President from 1952 to 1960, and it was only under pressure from the Organization of American States that a non-relative, Trujillo ally Joaquin Balaguer, succeeded Hector
The first president of Egypt was Muhammad Naguib, one of the leaders of the Egyptian Revolution of 1952
Gamal Nasser was the second President of Egypt from 1956 until his death in 1970
Anwar Sadat succeeded Nasser and was president until he was assassinated by Khalid Islambouli in 1981
Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo is the President of Equatorial Guinea, having served since 1979
Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993
The Eduskunta (in Finnish), or the Riksdag (in Swedish), is the Parliament of Finland
Finland became an independent republic in 1917
Finland was first European country to have women MPs, in 1907
The politics of France take place with the framework of a semi-presidential system determined by the French Constitution of the Fifth Republic. Parliament comprises the National Assembly (lower house) and the Senate (upper house)
French president used to serve for seven years, now serves for five years
Raymond Poincare served three times as Prime Minister of France, and as President from 1913 to 1920
Georges Clemenceau was Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909 and from 1917 to 1920. Known as ‘The Tiger’. Survived an attempted assassination in 1919 by anarchist Emile Cottin
Georges Pompidou was Prime Minister of France from 1962 to 1968, holding the longest tenure in this position
Jacques Chirac served as Prime Minister from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988 (making him the only person to hold the position of Prime Minister twice under the Fifth Republic), and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995
Edith Cresson is the only female Prime Minister, serving from 1991 to 1992
Jean-Pierre Raffarin served as the Prime Minister of France from 2002 to 2005, resigning after France's rejection of the referendum on the European Union draft constitution
Presidents of the French Fifth Republic
| 1959-1969 | Charles de Gaulle |
| 1969-1974 | Georges Pompidou |
| 1974-1981 | Valery Giscard d’Estaing |
| 1981-1995 | Francois Mitterand |
| 1995-2007 | Jacques Chirac |
| 2007-2012 | Nicolas Sarkozy |
| 2012-2017 | Francois Hollande |
| 2017- | Emmanuel Macron |
Charles De Gaulle founded the Fifth Republic in 1958
Francois Mitterrand was the first socialist French president
Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) is a centre-right political party in France, being one of the two major contemporary political parties in the country along with the centre-left Socialist Party (PS)
Jean-Marie Le Pen was the first leader of the National Front and the undisputed centre of the party from its formation in 1972 until his resignation in 2011. Marine Le Pen, Jean-Maries's daughter, was elected as the current leader
The president of France also serves as a co-prince of Andorra
France withdrew from the integrated military structure of NATO in 1966
Eduard Shevardnadze was the first elected president of Georgia, in 1992. He was forced to retire in 2003 as a consequence of the Rose Revolution
Mikheil Saakashvili was president of Georgia from 2004 to 2013
Germany is a federal parliamentary republic, and federal legislative power is vested in the Bundestag (the parliament of Germany) and the Bundesrat (the representative body of the Lander, Germany's regional states). There is a multi-party system that, since 1949, has been dominated by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD)
Wilhelm Pieck was the first only president of the German Democratic Republic, serving from 1949 to 1960
Erich Honecker led the German Democratic Republic from 1971 until shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall in October 1989
Chancellors of the Federal Republic of Germany
| 1949-1963 | Konrad Adenauer |
| 1963-1966 | Ludwig Erhard |
| 1966-1969 | Kurt Georg Kiesinger |
| 1969-1974 | Willy Brandt |
| 1974-1982 | Helmut Schmidt |
| 1982-1998 | Helmut Kohl |
| 1998-2005 | Gerhard Schroder |
| 2005- | Angela Merkel |
Konrad Adenauer was the first chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany
Willy Brandt was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1971 for his efforts to strengthen cooperation in western Europe through the EEC
Helmut Kohl was Chancellor of West Germany between 1982 and 1990 and of a reunited Germany between 1990 and 1998, and the chairman of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to 1998
The Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) was the governing party of the German Democratic Republic from its formation in 1949 until the elections of March 1990
Since 2011 the Pirate Party Germany has succeeded in attaining a high enough vote share to enter four German state parliaments
Walter Ulbricht was an East German communist politician, and First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party from 1950 to 1971
Angela Merkel is a former research scientist who has been the leader of the Christian Democratic Union since 2000 and the Chancellor of Germany since 2005. She is the first woman and the first former citizen of the German Democratic Republic to hold either office. She was born Angela Dorothea Kasner in Hamburg in 1954
Alternative for Germany is a right-wing populist and Eurosceptic political party in Germany
Jerry Rawlings (born 1947 in Accra) was twice the president of Ghana. His first presidential term was acquired through a military coup, while his second was as head of the elected government
Kwame Nkrumah was the leader of Ghana and its predecessor state, the Gold Coast, from 1952 to 1966
Republic of Ghana formed in 1957. Ghana was the first sub-Saharan African country to gain independence
Between the restoration of democracy in 1974 and the government-debt crisis the party system in Greece was dominated by the liberal-conservative New Democracy and the social-democratic Panhellenic Socialist Movement
Grenada gained independence in 1974 under Eric Gairy. Succeeded in 1979 after a coup by Maurice Bishop, who built an international airport with financial assistance from Cuba to develop tourism
Ahmed Sekou Toure became President upon Guinea's independence from France in 1958, establishing a one-party dictatorship
Janet Jagan was the first woman President of Guyana, from 1997 to 1999
Bharrat Jagdeo was President of Guyana from 1999 to 2011
Francois Duvalier was President of Haiti from 1957 to 1971. Duvalier first won acclaim in fighting diseases, earning him the nickname ‘Papa Doc’
Jean-Claude Duvalier (nicknamed ‘Baby Doc’) succeeded his father, ‘Papa Doc’ Duvalier as the ruler of Haiti from his father's death in 1971 until his overthrow by a popular uprising in 1986
Althing is the parliament of Iceland. Oldest parliament in Europe, founded in 930
Iceland formally became a republic (independent from Denmark) in 1944, with Sveinn Bjornsson as the first President
In 1980, Icelanders elected Vigdís Finnbogadottir as president, the world's first directly elected female head of state
Olafur Ragnar Grimsson has been president of Iceland since 1996
Johanna Siguroardottir became Iceland's first female Prime Minister and the world's first openly lesbian head of government in 2009
Parliament of India consists of two houses: The Lok Sabha (House of the People) and the Rajya Sabha (Council of States)
Jawaharlal Nehru was first prime minister of India, and served from 1947 to 1964
When India became a Republic in 1950, Rajendra Prasad was elected its first President by the Constituent Assembly
Indira Gandhi served from 1966 to 1977 and then again from 1980 until her assassination in 1984. She is the only woman to hold the office. Indira Gandhi was the only child of the first Indian Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru
Operation Blue Star was an Indian military operation which occurred in1984, ordered by Indira Gandhi in order to establish control over the Harmandir Sahib Complex in Amritsar. Four months after the operation, Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her two Sikh bodyguards, in what is viewed as an act of vengeance
Rajiv Gandhi was the seventh Prime Minister of India, serving from 1984 to 1989. He took office after the death of Indira Gandhi, his mother, to become the youngest Indian prime minister. He was assassinated in 1991
Sonia Gandhi is an Italian-born Indian politician, who has served as President of the Indian National Congress party since 1998. She is the widow of Rajiv Gandhi
KR Narayanan was the tenth President of India, serving from 1997 to 2002. He was the first Dalit and the first Malayali to become President
Narendra Modi was elected as Prime Minister of India in 2014
Sukarno was the leader of his country's struggle for independence from the Netherlands and was Indonesia's first President from 1945 to 1967. He was replaced by one of his generals, Suharto, who held the office for 32 years
Indonesia declared independence from Netherlands in 1945, but this was not recognised until 1949
Abolhassan Banisadr was the first President of Iran after the 1979 Iranian Revolution abolished the monarchy
Mir Hossein Moussavi, Iran's former prime minister, is a painter and architect who withdrew from the political front for two decades. He served as the seventy-ninth and last Prime Minister of Iran from 1981 to 1989
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was President of Iran from 2005 to 2013
Hassan Rouhani became President of Iran in 2013
Chaim Weizmann was President of the Zionist Organization, and the first President of the State of Israel. He was elected in 1949, and served until his death in 1952. Weizmann was also a chemist who developed the ABE-process, which produces acetone through bacterial fermentation
Albert Einstein declined the presidency of Israel in 1952 following the death of Chaim Weizmann
Moshe Katsav was President of Israel from 2000 to 2007. He was sentenced to seven years in prison for rape and other charges in 2011
Reuven Rivlin is the current President of Israel
Notable Prime Ministers of Israel
| 1948-1954, 1955-1963 | David Ben-Gurion |
| 1969-1974 | Golda Meir |
| 1974-1977, 1992-1995 | Yitzhak Rabin |
| 1977-1983 | Menachem Begin |
| 1983-1984, 1986-1992 | Yitzhak Shamir |
| 1984-1986, 1995-1996 | Shimon Peres |
| 1996-1999, 2009- | Benjamin Netanyahu |
| 1999-2001 | Ehud Barak |
| 2001-2006 | Ariel Sharon |
| 2006-2009 | Ehud Olmert |
David Ben-Gurion was the first prime minister of Israel
Golda Meir was Israel’s first woman prime minister. Born in Kiev
Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by a right-wing Israeli radical named Yigal Amir, who was opposed to the peace process
Menachem Begin’s most significant achievement as Prime Minister was the signing of a peace treaty with Egypt in 1979, for which he and Anwar Sadat shared the Nobel Prize for Peace
Ehud Barak is the joint most highly decorated soldier in Israel's history
Shimon Peres served twice as the Prime Minister of Israel and twice as Interim Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon was prime minister until he was incapacitated by a stroke in 2006
Benjamin Netanyahu is the current prime minister. Netanyahu is the first Israeli prime minister born in Israel after the establishment of the state. His brother was killed in Operation Entebbe in 1976
Italy has been a democratic republic since 1946, when the monarchy was abolished by popular referendum
Giulio Andreotti served as Prime Minister of Italy from 1972 to 1973, from 1976 to 1979, and from 1989 to 1992. He was elected seven times
Forza Italia (People of Freedom) is led by Silvio Berlusconi
Berlusconi was Prime Minister for nine years in total, making him the longest-serving post-war Prime Minister of Italy
Romano Prodi served two terms as Prime Minister of Italy. He was also the tenth President of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004
Minimum age for Italian president is 50
Lega Nord (Northern League) is a federalist and regionalist political party in Italy. At times it has advocated secession of the North, which it calls Padania
Allesandra Mussolini is the granddaughter of Benito Mussolini, and the niece of Sophia Loren. She is the founder and former leader of the national conservative political party Social Action; from 2004 until 2008, Mussolini also served as a Member of the European Parliament
The current President is Sergio Mattarella and the current Prime Minister of Italy is Mario Draghi
Norman Manley served as Premier of Jamaica from 1959 to 1962
Jamaica was granted independence in 1962 and Alexander Bustamante served as the independent country's first Prime Minister until 1967
Norman Manley served as Prime Minister of Jamaica from 1972 to 1980 and from 1989 to 1992
Portia Simpson-Miller served as Prime Minister of Jamaica from 2006 to 2007 and from 2012 to 2016
The current Prime Minister of Jamaica is Andrew Holness
Japan is a multi-party parliamentary representative democratic Constitutional monarchy where the Emperor acts as the ceremonial Head of state, and the Prime Minister acts as the Head of government. Legislative power is vested in the Diet, which consists of the House of Representatives and the House of Councilors
Liberal Democratic Party held power in Japan from 1955, but were defeated by Democratic Party in 2009
Hideki Tojo was Prime Minister of Japan from 1941 to 1944, and was responsible for the attack on Pearl Harbor
Shinzo Abe was Prime Minister of Japan from 2012 to 2020
The current Prime Minister of Japan is Yoshihide Suga
Jomo Kenyatta served as the first Prime Minister (1963–64) and President (1964–78) of Kenya
Daniel arap Moi served as the second President of Kenya from 1978 to 2002
Mwai Kibaki served as the third President of Kenya from 2002 to 2013
Uhura Kenyatta, the son of Jomo Kenyatta, is the current President of Kenya
Kuwait gained independence from UK in 1961
Saeima – parliament in Latvia
Indulis Emsis became Prime Minister of Latvia in 2004, the first member of any Green Party to become Prime minister
Lebanon gained independence in 1943, while France was occupied by Germany
Samuel Doe – President of Liberia from 1980 to 1990. Liberia is Africa’s oldest republic
William Tolbert was President of Liberia from 1971 until 1980, when he was killed in a coup d'etat
Libya gained independence from Italy in 1951, and was ruled as a constitutional monarchy under King Idris I
Taking power in a coup d'etat, Muammar Gaddafi ruled as Revolutionary Chairman of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977 and then as the "Brotherly Leader" of the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1977 to 2011, when he was ousted in the Libyan Civil War
In the Principality of Liechtenstein, the Landtag is the sole national parliament Liechtenstein was the last place in Europe to give women the vote, in 1984
Jacques Santer was Prime Minister of Luxembourg from 1984 to 1995 and President of the European Commission from 1995 to 1999
Hastings Banda was the leader of Malawi and its predecessor state, Nyasaland, from 1961 to 1994
Tunku Abdul Rahman was Chief Minister of the Federation of Malaya from 1955, and the first Prime Minister of Malaysia from independence in 1957
Abdul Razak Hussein was the second Prime Minister of Malaysia, ruling from 1970 to 1976
Malta became an independent state in 1964
Malta is a republic whose parliamentary system and public administration are closely modelled on the Westminster system. The unicameral House of Representatives is made up of 69 members of parliament
Benito Juarez was a Zapotec Amerindian who served five terms as President of Mexico, between 1858 and 1872
Porfirio Diaz served seven terms as President of Mexico, totaling three and a half decades between 1876 and 1911
The current President of Mexico is Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador, also known as AMLO
Morocco gained independence from France in 1956
Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO) was a liberation movement which was founded in 1962 to fight for the independence of the Portuguese Overseas Province of Mozambique. Independence was achieved in 1975
Sam Nujoma was the first President of Namibia. He was inaugurated as President in 1990 and was subsequently re-elected in 1994 and 1999. He was also President of the South-West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) from its founding in 1960 until 2007
The Executive Wing of New Zealand Parliament Buildings in Wellington is commonly known as “The Beehive”
Notable Prime Ministers of New Zealand
| 1856 | Henry Sewell (first Colonial Secretary) |
| 1869-1872 | William Fox (first Premier) |
| 1893-1906 | Richard Seddon |
| 1906-1912 | Joseph Ward (first Prime Minister) |
| 1975-1984 | Robert Muldoon |
| 1990-1997 | Jim Bolger |
| 1997-1999 | Jenny Shipley |
| 1999-2008 | Helen Clark |
| 2008-2016 | John Key |
| 2016-2017 | Bill English |
| 2017- | Jacinda Ardern |
Richard Seddon is the longest-serving Prime Minister of New Zealand
Norman Kirk died in office in 1974
Jenny Shipley was the first woman Prime Minister of New Zealand
Fighters of the left-wing Sandinista National Liberation Front overthrew the regime in the republic of Nicaragua in 1979. President Somoza fled to the US
Nnamdi Azikiwe served as the last Governor-General from 1960 to 1963 and the first President of Nigeria from 1963 to 1966
Goodluck Jonathan was President of Nigeria from 2010 to 2015. Succeeded by Muhammadu Buhari
Kin Il-Sung led North Korea from its founding in 1948 until his death in 1994
Kim Jong-il was the Supreme Leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), commonly referred to as North Korea, from 1994 to 2011. Succeeded by Kim Jung-un
Storting –parliament of Norway. The Storting in its present form was first constituted at Eidsvoll in 1814
The first Prime Minister of Pakistan was Liaquat Ali Khan who was appointed to the position by the first Governor-General, Muhammmad Ali Jinnah in 1947
Iskander Mirza was the last Governor-General of the Dominion of Pakistan (1955 to 1956) and the first President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan (1956 to 1958)
Pakistan was readmitted into the Commonwealth in 2004
Pervez Musharraf served as the tenth President of Pakistan from 2001 until tendering resignation to avoid impeachment in 2008. Succeeded by Asif Ali Zardari
Mamnoon Hussain is the current President of Pakistan
Francisco Lopez was president of Paraguay from 1862 until his death in 1870. Lopez equipped his army with exact copies of uniforms of Napoleonic army. He ordered for himself an exact replica of Napoleon's crown
Alfredo Stroessner served as President of Paraguay from 1954 to 1989
Colorado Party was in power in Paraguay from 1947 to 2008
Emilio Aguinaldo was the first president of the Philippines, in 1897
Imelda Marcos is the widow of former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos best known for her collection of some three thousand pairs of shoes. She served as First Lady from 1965 to 1986
Ferdinand Marcos was succeeded by Corozon Aquino, the first woman to hold that office, and the first female president in Asia. Her husband, Benigno Aquino, was assassinated in 1983 upon returning to the Philippines from exile in the United States
Joseph Estrada was the 13th President of the Philippines, from 1998 to 2001. He was peacefully overthrown by the Second People Power Revolution after his aborted impeachment trial in the Senate
Gloria Arroyo was President of the Philippines from 2001 to 2010
Rodrigo Duterte succeeded Benigno Aquino III as President of the Philippines in 2017
Sejm is the lower house of the parliament of Poland
Ignacy Paderewski was a Polish pianist, composer, diplomat, politician, and the third Prime Minister of Poland, in 1919
Solidarity was founded in 1980 at the then Lenin Shipyards, and originally led by Lech Wałesa
Wojciech Jaruzelski was President of Poland from 1989 to 1990, and was succeeded by Lech Wałesa, the first President elected by popular vote
Lech Kaczynski served as the President of Poland from 2005 until 2010. He was the identical twin brother of the former Prime Minister of Poland Jaroslaw Kaczynski. Died in an air crash in 2010
Donald Tusk was Prime Minister of Poland from 2007 to 2014. He resigned to become President of the European Council
The current Prime Minister of Poland is Mateusz Morawiecki
The current President of Poland is Andrej Duda
Antonio Salazar was the President of the Council of Ministers of Portugal (Prime Minister) and the de facto dictator of the Portuguese Republic from 1932 to 1968
Manuel de Arriaga was first elected president of the First Portuguese Republic following the abdication of King Manuel II in 1911
Anibal Silva was President of Portugal from 2006 to 2016. He was previously Prime Minister of Portugal from1985 to 1995. His tenure of ten years was the longest of any Prime Minister since Salazar
Iron Guard was a far-right movement and political party in Romania in the period from 1927 into the early part of World War II
Nicolae Ceausescu was the first President of Romania, serving from 1974 to 1989. Ceausescu and his wife were then shot by a firing squad on 25 December 1989. He was succeeded by Ion Iliescu
According to the Constitution of Russia, the country is a federation and semi-presidential republic, wherein the President is the head of state and the Prime Minister is the head of government. The Russian Federation is fundamentally structured as a multi-party representative democracy
Duma is the lower house of the parliament of Russia
Politburo was formed in 1919. Called the Presidium between 1952 and 1966
Nikolai Podgorny served as leader of the Ukrainian SSR, from 1957 to 1963 and as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet from 1965 to 1977. He was replaced in 1977 by Leonid Brezhnev
Nikolai Bulganin served as Minister of Defence (1953–55) and Premier of the Soviet Union (1955–58)
Leaders of the Soviet Union and Russia
| 1917-1924 | Vladimir Lenin |
| 1924-1953 | Joseph Stalin |
| 1953 | Georgy Malenkov |
| 1953-1964 | Nikita Khrushchev |
| 1964-1982 | Leonid Brezhnev |
| 1982-1984 | Yuri Andropov |
| 1984-1985 | Konstantin Chernenko |
| 1985-1991 | Mikhail Gorbachev |
| 1991-1999 | Boris Yeltsin |
| 1999-2008, 2012- | Vladimir Putin |
| 2008-2012 | Dmitry Medvedev |
Nikita Khrushchev was First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and Chairman of the Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. He was removed from power by his party colleagues in 1964, Alexei Kosygin and Leonid Brezhnev becoming Premier and First Secretary respectively
Leonid Brezhnev was the General Secretary of the Central Committee (CC) of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), presiding over the country from 1964 until his death in 1982
On 19 August 1991 Communist hard-liners, haven taken Mikhail Gorbachev hostage, sent tanks into Moscow. They were stopped by Boris Yeltsin, leading to the fall of the Soviet Union
Boris Yeltsin was the first popularly elected leader in Russian history, in 1991
Vladimir Putin was Prime Minister of Russia from 1999 to 2000. He has been President since 2012. He married Lyudmila Shkrebneva in 1983
Mikhail Mishustin is the current Prime Minister of Russia
The Captains Regent are the two heads of state of San Marino. They are elected every six months by the Grand and General Council – the country's parliament
Leopold Senghor was the first President of Senegal, from 1960 to 1980
Slobadan Milosevic was the President of Serbia from 1989 to 1997 and President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1997 to 2000
Milton Margai was the first prime minister of Sierra Leone. He was the main architect of the post-colonial constitution of Sierra Leone and guided it to independence in 1961
Lee Kuan Yew was the first Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore from 1959 to 1990
British Somaliland became independent in 1960 as the State of Somaliland, and the Trust Territory of Somalia (the former Italian Somaliland) followed suit five days later. On 1 July 1960, the two territories united to form the Somali Republic
Jan Smuts served as Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa from 1919 until 1924 and from 1939 until 1948. He was the only person to sign the peace treaties ending both the First and Second World Wars
Pass laws in South Africa were designed to segregate the population and were one of the dominant features of the country's apartheid system. Introduced in South Africa in 1923, they were designed to regulate movement of black Africans into urban areas. Outside of designated homelands, black South Africans had to carry pass books at all times. The system of pass laws was repealed in 1986
Helen Suzman was the only anti-apartheid MP in South Africa in 1960s
Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) was founded by Chief Buthelezi in 1975
The Tricameral Parliament was the name given to the South African parliament and its structure from 1984 to 1994. While still entrenching the political power of the White section of the South African population (or, more specifically, that of the National Party), it did give a limited political voice to the country's Coloured and Indian population groups. The majority Black population group was still excluded
Walter Sisulu, ANC general secretary, released from Robbin Island in 1989, died in 2003
Presidents of South Africa
| 1994-1999 | Nelson Mandela |
| 1999-2008 | Thabo Mbeki |
| 2008-2009 | Kgalema Motlanthe |
| 2009-2018 | Jacob Zuma |
| 2018- | Cyril Ramaphosa |
African National Congress (ANC) is South Africa's governing political party, supported by its Tripartite Alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party, since the establishment of multi-racial democracy in 1994
Democratic Alliance (DA) is a South African political party and has been the official opposition at national level since the 1999 general election
Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu was King of the Zulu nation under the Traditional Leadership clause of South Africa's republican constitution from 1968 until his death in 2021. Succeeded by Misuzulu Zulu
Syngman Rhee was the first president of South Korea, from 1948 to 1960
Cortes Generales is the legislature of Spain. It is a bicameral parliament, composed of the Congress of Deputies (the lower house) and the Senate (the upper house)
Felipe Gonzalez was Prime Minister of Spain from 1982 to 1996
Jose Zapatero was Prime Minister of Spain from 2004 to 2011
Pedro Sanchez succeeded Mariano Rajoy in 2018 as Prime Minister of Spain
ETA is a Basque organization founded in 1959. It wants four Spanish provinces and three French ones to secede and form an independent state, hence the slogan ‘4 + 3 = 1’
Ceylon gained independence in 1948. D. S. Senanayake was the first Prime Minister of Ceylon. Became Sri Lanka in 1972
Sri Lanka is the oldest democracy in Asia
Following the parliamentary election in 1960, Sirimavo Bandaranaike became the prime minister and the world's first elected female head of government
Ranasinghe Premadasa was the third President of Sri Lanka, from 1989 to 1993. He was assassinated in Colombo in a suicide bombing
Maithripala Sirisena succeeded Mahinda Rajapaksa as President of Sri Lanka in 2015
Sudan gained independence in 1956 from UK and Egypt
Suriname became independent in 1975
Riksdag is the unicameral parliament of Sweden
Olaf Palme was assassinated in Stockholm in 1986
Stefan Lofven succeeded Fredrik Reinfeldt as Prime Minister of Sweden in 2014
Federal Council is the seven-member executive council which constitutes the federal government of Switzerland and serves as the Swiss collective head of state
Switzerland is the closest state in the world to a direct democracy. For any change in the constitution, a referendum is mandatory (mandatory referendum); for any change in a law, a referendum can be requested (optional referendum)
Hafez al-Assad was president of Syria from 1971 to 2000. He was succeeded by his son, current president Bashar al-Assad
Julius Nyerere served as the first President of Tanzania, from the country's founding in 1961 until his retirement in 1985
Trinidad and Tobago gained independence in 1962
Habib Bourguiba was the Founder and the first President of the Republic of Tunisia from 1957 until 1987
Tunisia gained independence from France in 1956
Milton Obote, Prime Minister of Uganda from 1962 to 1966 and President of Uganda from 1966 to 1971 and from 1980 to 1985, was a Ugandan political leader who led Uganda to independence from the British colonial administration in 1962
Idi Amin was President of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. He died in Saudi Arabia in 2003
In 1828 the Treaty of Montevideo, fostered by the United Kingdom, gave birth to Uruguay as an independent state. The nation's first constitution was adopted in 1830
Tabere Vasquez succeeded Jose Mujica as President of Uruguay in 2015
On 2 July 1976, North and South Vietnam were merged to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam
Ngo Dinh Diem was the first president of South Vietnam, from 1955 to 1963. He was assassinated during a coup d’etat
Ho Chi Minh was prime minister (1946–55) and president (1945–69) of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam)
Le Duc Tho was Head of the Central Organizing Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam from 1976 to 1982
Kenneth Kaunda served as the first President of Zambia, from 1964 to 1991
Bishop Muzarewa became the first black Prime Minister of Zimbabwe in 1979
Canaan Banana served as the first President of Zimbabwe from 1980 until1987, when Mugabe took over
Ian Smith was the leader of the Rhodesian Front party
Ian Smith declared UDI in Rhodesia in 1965
Ian Smith and Harold Wilson held two rounds of direct negotiations, both of which were held aboard Royal Navy ships off Gibraltar. The first took place aboard HMS Tiger in 1966, while the second, aboard HMS Fearless, were held in 1968
The Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) is a Zimbabwean Socialist party that has been the ruling political party in Zimbabwe since independence in 1980, led by Robert Mugabe, first as Prime Minister with the party simply known as ZANU, and then as President from 1988 after taking over ZAPU (Zimbabwe African People’s Union, led by Joshua Nkomo) and renaming the party ZANU-PF
Prior to its split in 2005, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) was a Zimbabwean political party organized under the leadership of Morgan Tsvangirai. The party split over whether to contest the 2005 senate election
Emmerson Mnangagwa replaced Robert Mugabe as President of Zimbabwe in 2017
United Nations
United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization established in 1945 to promote international co-operation. A replacement for the ineffective League of Nations, the organization was created following the Second World War to prevent another such conflict. At its founding, the UN had 51 member states; there are now 193. The headquarters of the United Nations is in Manhattan, New York City
Secretary-General of the United Nations
| 1945–1946 | Gladwyn Jebb | UK | Acting Secretary-General |
| 1946–1952 | Trygve Lie | Norway | Only Secretary-General to resign |
| 1953–1961 | Dag Hammarskjold | Sweden | Only Secretary-General to die in office |
| 1961–1971 | U Thant | Burma | Longest serving |
| 1971–1982 | Kurt Waldheim | Austria | Third term vetoed by China |
| 1982–1991 | Javier Perez de Cuellar | Peru | |
| 1992–1996 | Boutros Boutros-Ghali | Egypt | Second term vetoed by USA |
| 1997–2006 | Kofi Annan | Ghana | |
| 2007–2016 | Ban Ki-Moon | South Korea | |
| 2017– | Antonio Guterres | Portugal |
Limit of two terms introduced after 1982
Alexander Cadogan was Britain's representative to the United Nations from 1946 to 1950
Revolutions
Colour revolutions or Flower revolutions are the names given collectively to a series of related movements that developed in post-communist societies in Central and Eastern Europe, and Central Asia. So far these movements have been successful in Serbia (the 2000 Bulldozer Revolution), Georgia (the 2003 Rose Revolution), Ukraine (the 2004 Orange Revolution), and (though more violent than the previous ones) Kyrgyzstan (the 2005 Tulip Revolution). The Cedar Revolution in Lebanon, unlike the revolutions in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, followed not a disputed election, but rather the assassination of opposition leader Rafik Hariri in 2005.
Purple Revolution – a name first used by some hopeful commentators and later picked up by United States President George W. Bush to describe the coming of democracy to Iraq following the 2005 Iraqi legislative election
Blue Revolution – a term used by some Kuwaitis to refer to demonstrations in Kuwait in support of women's suffrage beginning in March of 2005
Singing Revolution is the commonly used name for events between 1987 and 1990 that led to the regaining of independence of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania
Jasmine Revolution was an intensive campaign of civil resistance, including a series of street demonstrations taking place in Tunisia. The events began in December 2010 and led to the ousting of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011
Europe
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg was set up under the European Convention on Human Rights of 1950 in order to monitor compliance by Signatory Parties. The European Convention on Human Rights is one of the most important conventions adopted by the Council of Europe. All 47 member states of the Council of Europe are signatories of the Convention
Single European Act (1986) was the first major revision of the Treaty of Rome that formally established the single European market and the European Political Cooperation
Maastricht Treaty (1992) led to the creation of the European Union and was the result of separate negotiations on monetary union and on political union
The 1985 Schengen Agreement is an agreement among most European countries which allows for the abolition of systematic border controls between the participating countries
European Commission is the executive branch of EU
Council of Ministers is the principle decision making institution in the EU
European Council (referred to as a European Summit) is the highest political body of the EU
Council of Europe headquarters is in Strasbourg
The Paris Charter was adopted by a summit meeting of most European governments in addition to those of Canada, the United States and the Soviet Union, in Paris in 1990. The charter was established on the foundation of the Helsinki Accords, and was further amended in the 1999 Charter for European Security. Together, these documents form the agreed basis for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. However not all OSCE member countries have signed the treaty
Copenhagen criteria are the rules that define whether a nation is eligible to join the European Union
President of the European Commission
| 1958-1967 | Walter Hallstein | Germany |
| 1967-1970 | Jean Rey | Belgium |
| 1970-1972 | Franco Maria Malfatti | Italy |
| 1972-1973 | Sicco Mansholt | Netherlands |
| 1973-1977 | Francois-Xavier Ortoli | France |
| 1977-1981 | Roy Jenkins | United Kingdom |
| 1981-1985 | Gaston Thorn | Luxembourg |
| 1985-1995 | Jacques Delors | France |
| 1995-1999 | Jacques Santer | Luxembourg |
| 1999-2004 | Romani Prodi | Italy |
| 2004-2014 | Jose Manuel Barraso | Portugal |
| 2014-2019 | Jean-Claude Juncker | Luxembourg |
| 2019- | Ursula von der Leyen | Germany |
President of the European Council
| 2009-2014 | Herman van Rompuy | Belgium |
| 2019-2019 | Donald Tusk | Poland |
| 2019- | Charles Michel | Belgium |
European Court of Justice is in Luxembourg
EU elections are held every five years
European Free Alliance (EFA) consists of various regionalist political parties in Europe advocating either full political independence (statehood), or some form of devolution or self-governance for their country or region. Founded in 1981
From 1 January 2007 (when Romania and Bulgaria joined the EU), there were 785 MEPs, but their number fell back to 736 at the elections in 2009, though this will eventually rise to 751, with each member state having at least six and at most 96. Elections occur once every five years
The European People’s Party (EPP) has been the largest party in the European Parliament since 1999, the European Council since 2002 and is also by far the largest party in the current European Commission
Frontex is an agency of the European Union established in 2004 to manage the cooperation between national border guards securing its external borders. Based in Warsaw
Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty enables a country to withdraw from EU
Dublin Regulation is an EU law that determines the EU Member State responsible to examine an application for asylum seekers seeking international protection under the Geneva Convention and the EU Qualification Directive, within the European Union
Africa
The African Union (AU) is an organization consisting of fifty-three African states. Established in 2001, the AU was formed as a successor to the amalgamated African Economic Community (AEC) and the Organization of African Unity (OAU)
The only African state that is not a member of the African Union is Morocco, which left the AU's predecessor, the OAU, in 1984, when the other member states supported the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. The AU's secretariat, the African Union Commission, is based in Addis Ababa
The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic is a government in exile founded by the Polisario Front in 1976. It does not currently control the majority of its claimed territory, the former Spanish colony of Western Sahara. Currently, Morocco administers the majority of the territory as its Southern Provinces, called 'Occupied Territory' by the Polisario; the SADR claims to control the rest as what it describes as the Free Zone, seen as a buffer zone by Morocco
Middle East
The term Green Line is used to refer to the 1949 Armistice lines established between Israel and its neighbours (Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria) after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The Green Line separates Israel not only from these countries but from territories Israel would later capture in the 1967 Six-Day War, including the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights and Sinai Peninsula (the latter has since been returned to Egypt). Its name is derived from the green pencil used to draw the line on the map during the talks
Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party was founded in Damascus in 1940 by the Syrian intellectuals Michel Aflaq and Salah al-Bitar
Khaled Mashal been the main leader of the Palestinian organization Hamas since 2004
Fatah is a leading secular Palestinian political party and the largest faction of the confederated multi-party Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)
South America
Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) is an intergovernmental union integrating two existing customs unions: Mercosur and the Andean Community of Nations, as part of a continuing process of South American integration. It is modelled on the European Union
Mercosur is composed of five sovereign member states: Argentina; Brazil; Paraguay; Uruguay; and Venezuela
Commonwealth
Commonwealth of Nations is a political association of 54 member states, most of which are former territories of the British Empire
Commonwealth Secretary-General is the head of the Commonwealth Secretariat, the central body which has served the Commonwealth of Nations since its establishment in 1965, and responsible for representing the Commonwealth publicly
Commonwealth Secretary-General
| 1965-1975 | Arnold Smith | Canada |
| 1975-1990 | Sonny Ramphal | Guyana |
| 1990-2000 | Emeka Anyaoku | Nigeria |
| 2000-2008 | Dom McKinnon | New Zealand |
| 2008-2016 | Kamalesh Sharma | India |
| 2016- | Patricia Scotland, Baroness Scotland of Asthal | Dominica/UK |
Group of Seven (G7)
The forum originated with a 1975 summit hosted by France that brought together representatives of six governments: France, West Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, thus leading to the name Group of Six or G6. The summit became known as the Group of Seven or G7 in 1976 with the addition of Canada. Russia was added to the group from 1998 to 2014, which then became known as the G8. The European Union was represented within the G8 since the 1980s but could not host or chair summits
Russia was suspended following the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the group has returned to its previous name of Group of Seven or G7
France and the UK have expressed a desire to expand the group to include five developing countries, referred to as the Outreach Five (O5) or the Plus Five: Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and South Africa. These countries have participated as guests in meetings that are sometimes called G8+5
