- published: 20 Apr 2012
- views: 3425
- author: Keith Hughes
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- Academic discipline
- Acts of the Apostles
- Adhocracy
- Adolf Hitler
- American Civil War
- An Anarchist FAQ
- Anarchism
- Andhra Pradesh
- Anti-Federalism
- Argentina
- Article 370
- Arunachal Pradesh
- Assam
- Australia
- Austria
- Autonomous area
- Belgium
- Bible
- Bicameral
- Bloomington, Indiana
- Boris Yeltsin
- Brazil
- Brussels
- Bundesrat (Germany)
- Bundesrat of Germany
- Bureaucracy
- Canada
- Canadian federalism
- Capitalism
- Catalonia
- Category Politics
- Centralization
- Charles Picqué
- Chechen War
- China
- Chinese nationalism
- Christian Church
- City-state
- Commerce Clause
- Communism
- Comparative politics
- Confederalism
- Confederation
- Consociationalism
- Constituent country
- Constituent state
- Constitution
- Constitution of Iraq
- Council of Jerusalem
- Coup d'état
- Covenant Theology
- Cypriot Turks
- Cyrenaica
- Czech Republic
- Czechoslovakia
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- Decentralization
- Democracy
- Democratic
- Deodoro da Fonseca
- Devolution
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- Direct democracy
- Directorial system
- Doctrine
- Dual federalism
- Dutch language
- East Cantons
- East Germany
- Ecclesiology
- Elder (religious)
- Election
- Electoral branch
- Empire of Brazil
- Enabling Act of 1933
- Enumerated powers
- Ethiopia
- Europe
- European Council
- European Movement
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- Executive federalism
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- Federalism in China
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- Federalist
- Federalist No. 39
- Federalist party
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- Feudalism
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- Fiscal federalism
- Flanders
- Flemish Community
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- Foreign policy
- Form of government
- Forum of Federations
- France
- France 2
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- Government
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Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh /ˌɑːndrə prəˈdɛʃ/ is one of the 28 states of India, situated on the country's southeastern coast. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Hyderabad. Andhra Pradesh lies between 12°41' and 22°N latitude and 77° and 84°40'E longitude, and is bordered by Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Orissa in the north, the Bay of Bengal in the east, Tamil Nadu to the south and Karnataka to the west.
Andhra Pradesh has the second-longest coastline of 972 km (604 mi) among the states of India. Two major rivers, the Godavari and the Krishna, run across the state. The small enclave (30 square kilometres (12 sq mi)) of Yanam, a district of Pondicherry, lies in the Godavari delta in the northeast of the state. The state is separated into three regions: Telangana, Andhra, and Rayalaseema.
The primary official language of Andhra Pradesh is Telugu and the co-official language is Urdu. Other languages often spoken in the state include Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Kannada, and Oriya.
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Argentina
Argentina
i/ˌɑrdʒənˈtiːnə/, officially the Argentine Republic (Spanish: República Argentina [reˈpuβlika aɾxenˈtina]), is a country in South America, the continent's second largest by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth-largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations.
Argentina's continental area is between the Andes mountain range in the west and the Atlantic Ocean in the east. It borders Paraguay and Bolivia to the north, Brazil and Uruguay to the northeast, and Chile to the west and south. Argentine claims over Antarctica, as well as overlapping claims made by Chile and the United Kingdom, are suspended by the Antarctic Treaty of 1961. Argentina also claims the Falkland Islands (Spanish: Islas Malvinas) and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, which are administered by the United Kingdom as British Overseas Territories.
A recognised middle power, Argentina is Latin America's third-largest economy, with a "very high" rating on the Human development index. Within Latin America, Argentina has the fifth highest nominal GDP per capita and the highest in purchasing power terms. Analysts have argued that the country has a "foundation for future growth due to its market size, levels of foreign direct investment, and percentage of high-tech exports as share of total manufactured goods", and it is classed by investors as middle emerging economy. Argentina is a founding member of the United Nations, Mercosur, the Union of South American Nations, the Organization of Ibero-American States, the World Bank Group and the World Trade Organization, and is one of the G-15 and G-20 major economies.
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Assam
Assam /əˈsæm/ (Assamese: অসম) also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province (British India), is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country[citation needed]. Assam was one of the original provinces of the British ruled Indian sub-continent and among the original provinces of present day India, having a legislature that dates back to 1937. However, present day Assam has undergone numerous territory alignment changes, with its state map being altered more than any other province's. Known for exquisite natural resources, geography and its important role in India's freedom struggle; Assam has its capital as Dispur, an especialized city circuit region located on the outskirts of its largest metropolis, Guwahati.
Assam is particularly famous for its natural beauty. The landscape includes tea gardens, the river Brahmaputra, and many historical monuments and temples. Swami Vivekananda once said that, "next only to Kashmir, Assam is the most beautiful place in India" A state with an abundance of forest, Assam also has five national parks, around half a dozen other wildlife sanctuaries, and is home to two-thirds of the population of the unique one-horned rhino. When it comes to wildlife, Assam too has successfully conserved the one-horned Indian rhinoceros from near extinction, along with the tiger and numerous species of birds, and it provides one of the last wild habitats for the Asian elephant. It is becoming an increasingly popular destination for wildlife tourism, and Kaziranga and Manas are both World Heritage Sites.
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Australia
Australia (
/əˈstreɪljə/), officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent as well as the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area. Neighbouring countries include Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea to the north; the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia to the north-east; and New Zealand to the south-east.
For at least 40,000 years before European settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who belonged to one or more of roughly 250 language groups. After discovery by Dutch explorers in 1606, Australia's eastern half was claimed by Great Britain in 1770 and settled through penal transportation to the colony of New South Wales from 26 January 1788. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades; the continent was explored and an additional five self-governing Crown Colonies were established.
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Austria
Austria (i/ˈɒstriə/ or /ˈɔːstriə/; German: Österreich [ˈøːstɐˌʁaɪç] (
listen)), officially the Republic of Austria (German: Republik Österreich (help·info)), is a landlocked country of roughly 8.47 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Hungary and Slovakia to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west. The territory of Austria covers 83,855 square kilometres (32,377 sq mi) and has a temperate and alpine climate. Austria's terrain is highly mountainous due to the presence of the Alps; only 32% of the country is below 500 metres (1,640 ft), and its highest point is 3,798 metres (12,461 ft). The majority of the population speak local Austro-Bavarian dialects of German as their native language, and German in its standard form is the country's official language. Other local official languages are Burgenland Croatian, Hungarian and Slovene.
The origins of modern-day Austria date back to the time of the Habsburg dynasty when the vast majority of the country was a part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Austria became one of the great powers of Europe and, in response to the coronation of Napoleon I as the Emperor of the French, the Austrian Empire was officially proclaimed in 1804. In 1867, the Austrian Empire was reformed into Austria-Hungary.
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Belgium
Belgium (i/ˈbɛldʒəm/ BEL-jəm), officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO. Belgium covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres (11,787 sq mi), and it has a population of about 11 million people. Straddling the cultural boundary between Germanic and Latin Europe, Belgium is home to two main linguistic groups, the Dutch-speakers, mostly Flemish (about 60%), and the French-speakers, mostly Walloons (about 40%), plus a small group of German-speakers. Belgium's two largest regions are the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in the north and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia. The Brussels-Capital Region, officially bilingual, is a mostly French-speaking enclave within the Flemish Region. A German-speaking Community exists in eastern Wallonia. Belgium's linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in the political history and a complex system of government.
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Bloomington, Indiana
Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County in the southern region of the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 80,405 at the 2010 census.
Bloomington is the home to Indiana University Bloomington. Established in 1820, IU Bloomington has approximately 40,000 students and is the original and largest campus of Indiana University. In the 1991 book entitled The Campus as a Work of Art, author Thomas Gaines named the Bloomington campus one of the five most beautiful in America. Most of the campus buildings are built of Indiana limestone.
Bloomington is also the home of the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University Maurer School of Law, the Jacobs School of Music, the Kelley School of Business, the Kinsey Institute, the Indiana University School of Optometry, and the Midwest Proton Radiotherapy Institute.
Bloomington has been named a Tree City for more than 20 years. The city was the site of the Academy Award-winning movie Breaking Away, featuring a reenactment of Indiana University's annual Little 500 bicycle race; Bloomington's rock quarries also figure in the movie.
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Brazil
Brazili/brəˈzɪl/ (Portuguese: Brasil, IPA: [bɾaˈziw]), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: República Federativa do Brasil, listen (help·info)), is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people. It is the only Portuguese-speaking country in the Americas and the largest lusophone country in the world.
Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east, Brazil has a coastline of 7,491 km (4,655 mi). It is bordered on the north by Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and the French overseas region of French Guiana; on the northwest by Colombia; on the west by Bolivia and Peru; on the southwest by Argentina and Paraguay and on the south by Uruguay. Numerous archipelagos form part of Brazilian territory, such as Fernando de Noronha, Rocas Atoll, Saint Peter and Paul Rocks, and Trindade and Martim Vaz. It borders all other South American countries except Ecuador and Chile.
Brazil was a colony of Portugal from the landing of Pedro Álvares Cabral in 1500 until 1815, when it was elevated to the rank of kingdom and the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves was formed. The colonial bond was in fact broken in 1808, when the capital of the Portuguese colonial empire was transferred from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, after Napoleon invaded Portugal.Independence was achieved in 1822 with the formation of the Empire of Brazil, a unitary state governed under a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary system. The country became a presidential republic in 1889, when a military coup d'état proclaimed the Republic, although the bicameral legislature, now called Congress, dates back to the ratification of the first constitution in 1824. Its current Constitution, formulated in 1988, defines Brazil as a Federal Republic. The Federation is formed by the union of the Federal District, the 26 States, and the 5,564 Municipalities.
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Brussels
Brussels (French: Bruxelles, pronounced [bʁysɛl] ( listen); Dutch: Brussel, pronounced [ˈbrʏ.səɫ] ( listen); German: Brüssel, pronounced [ˈbʁyː.səl]), officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region (French: Région de Bruxelles-Capitale (help·info), Dutch: Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest (help·info)), is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union (EU). It is also the largest urban area in Belgium, comprising 19 municipalities, including the municipality of the City of Brussels, which is the de jure capital of Belgium, in addition to the seat of the French Community of Belgium and of the Flemish Community.
Brussels has grown from a 10th-century fortress town founded by a descendant of Charlemagne into a metropolis of more than one million inhabitants. The metropolitan area has a population of over 1.8 million, making it the largest in Belgium.
Since the end of the Second World War, Brussels has been a main centre for international politics. Hosting principal EU institutions as well as the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the city has become the polyglot home of numerous international organisations, politicians, diplomats and civil servants.
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Bundesrat (Germany)
The German Bundesrat (literally "Federal Council"; pronounced [ˈbʊndəsʁaːt]) is a legislative body that represents the sixteen Länder (federal states) of Germany at the federal level. It has its seat at the former Prussian House of Lords in Berlin.
The Bundesrat participates in legislation, alongside of the Bundestag, the directly elected representation of the people of Germany, with laws affecting state competences and all constitutional changes requiring the consent of the body. Functioning similarly, it is often said to be an upper house such as the US Senate or the House of Lords in the United Kingdom, although the German constitution does not declare the Bundestag and Bundesrat to form houses of a bicameral parliament (the word "Parliament" does not even occur in the Constitution). Officially, it is generally referred to as a "constitutional body" alongside the Bundestag, the President, the Government and the Federal Constitutional Court.
Bundesrath (from 1901 on: Bundesrat, according to a general spelling reform) was already the name of similar bodies in the North German Confederation (1867) and the German Empire (1871). In 1919-1933/1934 the name was Reichsrat.
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Bundesrat of Germany
The German Bundesrat (literally "Federal Council"; pronounced [ˈbʊndəsʁaːt]) is a legislative body that represents the sixteen Länder (federal states) of Germany at the federal level. It has its seat at the former Prussian House of Lords in Berlin.
The Bundesrat participates in legislation, alongside of the Bundestag, the directly elected representation of the people of Germany, with laws affecting state competences and all constitutional changes requiring the consent of the body. Functioning similarly, it is often said to be an upper house such as the US Senate or the House of Lords in the United Kingdom, although the German constitution does not declare the Bundestag and Bundesrat to form houses of a bicameral parliament (the word "Parliament" does not even occur in the Constitution). Officially, it is generally referred to as a "constitutional body" alongside the Bundestag, the President, the Government and the Federal Constitutional Court.
Bundesrath (from 1901 on: Bundesrat, according to a general spelling reform) was already the name of similar bodies in the North German Confederation (1867) and the German Empire (1871). In 1919-1933/1934 the name was Reichsrat.
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Canada
Canada ( /ˈkænədə/) is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean. Spanning over 9,900,000 km2 (3,800,000 sq mi), Canada is the world's second-largest country by total area, and its common border with the United States is the longest land border in the world.
The land that is now Canada has been inhabited for millennia by various Aboriginal peoples. Beginning in the late 15th century, British and French colonial expeditions explored, and later settled, along the region's Atlantic coast. France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North America in 1763 after the Seven Years' War. In 1867, with the union of three British North American colonies through Confederation, Canada was formed as a federal dominion of four provinces. This began an accretion of provinces and territories and a process of increasing autonomy; the Canada Act 1982 severed the vestiges of legal dependence on Britain.
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Catalonia
Catalonia (English /kætəˈloʊniə/, /kætəˈloʊnjə/; Catalan: Catalunya [kətəˈɫuɲə] or [kataˈluɲa]; Spanish: Cataluña [kataˈluɲa]; Occitan: Catalonha [kataˈluɲɔ]) is an autonomous region of Spain in the north-east of the Iberian Peninsula, with the official status of a "nationality". Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona which is the second largest Spanish city by population after Madrid. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an official population of 7,535,251. Its borders essentially reflect those of the former Principality of Catalonia. It borders France and Andorra to the north, Aragon to the west, the Valencian Community to the south, and the Mediterranean Sea to the east (580 km coastline). The official languages are Catalan, Spanish and Aranese (Occitan).
The name Catalunya (Catalonia) began to be used in the late 11th century in reference to the group of counties that comprised the Marca Hispanica. The origin of the term is subject to diverse interpretations. A theory suggests that Catalunya derives from the term "Land of Castles", having evolved from the term castlà, the ruler of a castle (see castellan). This theory therefore suggests that the names Castile and Catalonia have the same etymology.
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China
China (i/ˈtʃaɪnə/; Chinese: 中国; pinyin: Zhōngguó; see also Names of China), officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is the world's most-populous country, with a population of over 1.3 billion. Covering approximately 9.6 million square kilometres, the East Asian state is the world's second-largest country by land area, and the third- or fourth-largest in total area, depending on the definition of total area.
The People's Republic of China is a single-party state governed by the Communist Party of China. It exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four directly controlled municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing), and two mostly self-governing special administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macau). Its capital city is Beijing. The PRC also claims Taiwan—which is controlled by the Republic of China (ROC), a separate political entity—as its 23rd province, a claim controversial due to the complex political status of Taiwan and the unresolved Chinese Civil War. The PRC government denies the legitimacy of the ROC.
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Czech Republic
The Czech Republic (i/ˈtʃɛk/ CHEK;Czech: Česká republika, pronounced [ˈtʃɛskaː ˈrɛpuˌblɪka] ( listen), short form Česko Czech pronunciation: [ˈtʃɛskɔ]) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the north, Germany to the west, Austria to the south and Slovakia to the east. Its capital and largest city, with 1.3 million inhabitants, is Prague.
It is a pluralist multi-party parliamentary representative democracy, a member of the European Union, NATO, the OECD, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the Visegrád Group.
The Czech state, formerly known as Bohemia, was formed in the late 9th century as a small duchy around Prague, at that time under dominance of the powerful Great Moravian Empire (which reached its greatest territorial extent during the reign of Svatopluk I from the House of Mojmír). After the fall of the Empire in 907, the centre of power was transferred from Moravia to Bohemia, under the Přemyslids. During the rule of Přemyslid dukes/kings and their successors, the Luxembourgs, the country reached its greatest territorial extent (13th–14th century). Life in the country was significantly affected by the Hussite wars, during which it faced economic embargo and crusades from all over Europe. Following the Battle of Mohács in 1526, the Crown of Bohemia was gradually integrated into the Habsburg monarchy as one of its three principal parts alongside the Archduchy of Austria and the Kingdom of Hungary. The Bohemian Revolt (1618–20) led to the further centralization of the monarchy including forced recatholization and Germanization. During radical reforms in the 18th century the Bohemian Crown was even de facto abolished (1749). In the 19th century the Czech lands became the industrial powerhouse of the monarchy and the core of the Republic of Czechoslovakia which was formed in 1918, following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian empire after World War I.
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Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia (Czech and Slovak: Československo, Česko-Slovensko) was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992. From 1939 to 1945, the state did not de facto exist because of its forced division and partial incorporation into Nazi Germany, but the Czechoslovak government-in-exile nevertheless continued to exist during this period. In 1945, the eastern part of Carpathian Ruthenia was taken over by the Soviet Union. On 1 January 1993, Czechoslovakia peacefully split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Form of state:
Neighbours:
Topography:
The country was of generally irregular terrain. The western area was part of north-central European uplands. The eastern region was composed of northern reaches of Carpathian Mountains and Danube River basin lands.
Climate:
The weather was predominantly continental, but varied from the moderate temperature of Western Europe in the west, to more severe weather of Eastern Europe and the western Soviet Union in the east.
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East Germany
The German Democratic Republic (GDR; German: Deutsche Demokratische Republik [ˈdɔʏtʃə demoˈkʀaːtɪʃə ʀepuˈbliːk] or DDR), informally known as East Germany (German: Ostdeutschland), was a socialist state established by the USSR in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city. The GDR had an area of 107,771 km2 (41,610 mi2), bordering Czechoslovakia to the south, West Germany to the south and west, Poland to the east, and the Baltic Sea to the north. East Germany was dissolved upon joining the institutions of West Germany in the German reunification, on 3 October 1990.
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Empire of Brazil
The Empire of Brazil was a 19th-century state that broadly comprised the territories which form modern Brazil. Its government was a representative parliamentary constitutional monarchy under the rule of Emperors Dom Pedro I and his son Dom Pedro II, both members of the House of Braganza—a branch of the Capetian dynasty. A colony of the Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil became the seat of the Portuguese colonial Empire in 1808, when the Portuguese Prince regent, later King Dom João VI (John VI), fled from Napoleon I's invasion of Portugal and established himself and his government in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro. João VI later returned to Portugal, leaving his eldest son and heir, Pedro, to rule Brazil as regent.
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Ethiopia
Ethiopia (
/ˌiːθiˈoʊpiə/) (Ge'ez: ኢትዮጵያ ʾĪtyōṗṗyā), officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2. Ethiopia is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Djibouti and Somalia to the east, Sudan and South Sudan to the west, and Kenya to the south. With its capital at Addis Ababa, it is also the most populous landlocked nation in the world.
Ethiopia was a monarchy for most of its history, and the Ethiopian dynasty traces its roots to the 2nd century BC. Ethiopia is also one of the oldest sites of human existence known to scientists today, having yielded some of humanity's oldest traces. It may be the region from which Homo sapiens first set out for the Middle East and points beyond. Alongside Rome, Persia, China and India, the Ethiopian Aksum Empire was considered one of the great world powers of the 3rd century. During the Scramble for Africa, Ethiopia was the only African country beside Liberia that retained its sovereignty as a recognized independent country, and was one of only four African members of the League of Nations. After a brief period of Italian occupation, Ethiopia became a charter member of the United Nations. When other African nations received their independence following World War II, many of them adopted the colors of Ethiopia's flag, and Addis Ababa became the location of several international organizations focused on Africa.
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Flanders
Flanders (Dutch: Vlaanderen (help·info)) is the (political) community of the Flemings, one of the communities of Belgium, and also a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands.
"Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp. Over the course of history, the geographical territory that was called "Flanders" has varied. In the second half of the twentieth century, there has been a gradual shift of political and economic power from French-speaking Wallonia (which was industrialized earlier) to the Flemish.
To the English-speaking peoples, Flanders meant historically (from circa 1000 AD) the land situated along the North Sea from the Strait of Dover to the Scheldt estuary. The southern borders were generally ill-defined. Over the last millennium, it was mostly the southern and western borders that receded to give the present day borders within northern Belgium.
Flanders has figured prominently in European history. Between the early 17th century and 1945, the political outcomes of modern Spain, France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Germany and Austria were often decided by battles on the plains of Flanders. Even earlier in British and Irish history, the Flemings (or Flemish) were important allies of the Normans in their conquest of England (1066) and invasion of Ireland (1169–71).
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Flemish Community
The term Flemish Community (Dutch: Vlaamse Gemeenschap [ˈvlaːmsə ʝəˈmeːnsxɑp] ( listen); French: Communauté flamande; German: Flämische Gemeinschaft [ˈflɛːmɪʃə ɡəˈmaɪ̯nʃaft]) has two distinct, though related, meanings:
Under the Belgian constitution, the Flemish Community has legal responsibility for the following:
As the Flemish Community's institutions (parliament, government and ministry) absorbed all competencies of the Flemish region, they became also competent for the following areas:
Members of the Flemish Parliament who were elected in Brussels region, have no right to vote on Flemish regional affairs. They can only vote on community affairs, since affairs concerning their region are governed by the Brussels Parliament.
Legally speaking, in the regions of Brussel-Capital as well as of Flanders, the Flemish Community is responsible not for individual people, but for Flemish institutions such as schools, theatres, libraries and museums. The reason for this is that no distinct sub-national status exists in Belgium.
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France
France (Englishi/ˈfræns/ FRANSS or /ˈfrɑːns/ FRAHNSS; French: [fʁɑ̃s] ( listen)), officially the French Republic (French: République française [ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛz]), is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. It is often referred to as l’Hexagone ("The Hexagon") because of the geometric shape of its territory. It is the largest western European country and it possesses the second-largest exclusive economic zone in the world, covering 11,035,000 km2 (4,260,000 sq mi), just behind that of the United States (11,351,000 km2 / 4,383,000 sq mi).
Over the past 500 years, France has been a major power with strong cultural, economic, military and political influence in Europe and around the world. During the 17th and 18th centuries, France colonised great parts of North America and Southeast Asia; during the 19th and early 20th centuries, France built the second largest colonial empire of the time, including large portions of North, West and Central Africa, Southeast Asia, and many Caribbean and Pacific Islands.
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Galicia (Spain)
Galicia (Englishi/ɡəˈlɪsiə/, /ɡəˈlɪʃə/; Galician: [ɡaˈliθja]; Spanish: [ɡaˈliθja]) is an autonomous community in northwest Spain, with the official status of a nationality of Spain.
Its component provinces are A Coruña, Lugo, Ourense and Pontevedra. It is bordered by Portugal to the south, the Spanish autonomous communities of Castile and León and Asturias to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and the Bay of Biscay to the north. Besides its continental territory, Galicia includes Arousa Island, and the archipelagos of Cíes, Ons, Sálvora Island, Cortegada Island, Malveiras Islands, Sisargas Islands, and other minor isles and islets.
Galicia has roughly 2.79 million inhabitants as of 2011, with the largest concentration in two coastal areas, from Ferrol to A Coruña in the north-west, and from Vilagarcía to Vigo in the south-west. The capital is Santiago de Compostela, in the province of A Coruña. Vigo, in the province of Pontevedra, is the most populous municipality with 297,332 inhabitants and the second most populous city with 206,411 habitants; while A Coruña is the most populous city with 220,581 habitants and the second most populous municipality with 246,056 habitants in its municipality (INE 2009). Both cities are the cores of the two major metropolitan areas of Galicia.
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German Empire
The German Empire (German: Deutsches Kaiserreich) is the common name given to the state officially named the Deutsches Reich (literally: "German Realm"), designating Germany from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.
The German Empire consisted of 27 constituent territories (most of them ruled by royal families). While the Kingdom of Prussia contained most of the population and most of the territory of the Reich; the Prussian leadership became supplanted by German leaders and Prussia itself played a lesser role. As Dwyer (2005) points out, Prussia's "political and cultural influence had diminished considerably" by the 1890s. Its three largest neighbors were rivals Imperial Russia to the east and France to the west and ally Austria-Hungary to the south.
After 1850, Germany industrialized rapidly, with a foundation in coal, iron (and later steel), chemicals and railways. From a population of 41 million people in 1871, it grew to 68 million in 1913. From a heavily rural nation in 1815, it was now predominantly urban. During its 47 years of existence, the German Empire operated as an industrial, technological and scientific giant, receiving more Nobel Prizes in science than Britain, France, Russia and the United States combined.
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Germany
Germany (i/ˈdʒɜrməni/), officially the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland, pronounced [ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant] ( listen)), is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate. With 81.8 million inhabitants, it is the most populous member state and the largest economy in the European Union. It is one of the major political powers of the European continent and a technological leader in many fields.
A region named Germania, inhabited by several Germanic peoples, was documented before AD 100. During the Migration Period, the Germanic tribes expanded southward, and established successor kingdoms throughout much of Europe. Beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation while southern and western parts remained dominated by Roman Catholic denominations, with the two factions clashing in the Thirty Years' War, marking the beginning of the Catholic–Protestant divide that has characterized German society ever since. Occupied during the Napoleonic Wars, the rise of Pan-Germanism inside the German Confederation resulted in the unification of most of the German states into the German Empire in 1871 which was Prussian dominated. After the German Revolution of 1918–1919 and the subsequent military surrender in World War I, the Empire was replaced by the Weimar Republic in 1918, and partitioned in the Treaty of Versailles. Amidst the Great Depression, the Third Reich was proclaimed in 1933. The latter period was marked by Fascism and World War II. After 1945, Germany was divided by allied occupation, and evolved into two states, East Germany and West Germany. In 1990 Germany was reunified.
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Goa
Goai/ˈɡoʊ.ə/ is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its western coast. Goa is India's richest state with a GDP per capita two and a half times that of the country as a whole. It was ranked the best placed state by the Eleventh Finance Commission for its infrastructure and ranked on top for the best quality of life in India by the National Commission on Population based on the 12 Indicators.
Panaji is the state's capital, while Vasco da Gama is the largest city. The historic city of Margao still exhibits the cultural influence of the Portuguese, who first landed in the early 16th century as merchants and conquered it soon thereafter. Goa is a former Portuguese colony, the Portuguese overseas territory of Portuguese India existed for about 450 years until it was annexed by India in 1961.
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Greece
Greecei/ˈɡriːs/ (Greek: Ελλάδα, Ellada, IPA: [eˈlaða] ( listen) historically in Katharevousa and Ancient Greek: Ἑλλάς, Hellas, IPA: [eˈlas] and [helːás] respectively), officially the Hellenic Republic (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία, Elliniki Dimokratia, IPA: [eliniˈci ðimokraˈtia]), is a country in Southern Europe, politically considered part of Western Europe.Athens is the capital and the largest city in the country (its urban area also including Piraeus). The population of the country is around 11 million.
Greece has land borders with Albania, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the east. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of mainland Greece, the Ionian Sea to the west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the 11th longest coastline in the world at 13,676 km (8,498 mi) in length, featuring a vast number of islands (approximately 1,400, of which 227 are inhabited), including Crete, the Dodecanese, the Cyclades, and the Ionian Islands among others. Eighty percent of Greece consists of mountains, of which Mount Olympus is the highest at 2,917 m (9,570 ft).
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Hungary
Hungaryi/ˈhʌŋɡəri/ (Hungarian: Magyarország [ˈmɒɟɒrorsaːɡ] ( listen)) is a country, which is located in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The country's capital, and largest city, is Budapest. Hungary is a member of the European Union, NATO, the OECD, the Visegrád Group, and is a Schengen state. The official language is Hungarian, also known as Magyar, which is part of the Finno-Ugric group and is the most widely spoken non-Indo-European language in Europe.
Following a Celt (after c. 450 BC) and a Roman (AD 9 - c. 430) period, the foundation of Hungary was laid in the late 9th century by the Hungarian prince Árpád, whose great-grandson Saint Stephen I was crowned with a crown sent by the pope from Rome in 1000 AD. The Kingdom of Hungary lasted for 946 years, and at various points was regarded as one of the cultural centres of the Western world. After about 150 years of partial Ottoman occupation (1541–1699), Hungary was integrated into the Habsburg Monarchy, and later constituted half of the Austro-Hungarian dual monarchy (1867–1918).
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Iraq
Iraq (/ɪˈræk/ or
i/ɪˈrɑːk/; Arabic: العراق al-‘Irāq); officially the Republic of Iraq (Arabic: جمهورية العراق (help·info) Jumhūriyyat al-‘Irāq), is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.
Iraq borders Syria to the northwest, Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, Jordan to the southwest and Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to the south. Iraq has a narrow section of coastline measuring 58 km (36 mi) on the northern Persian Gulf. The capital city, Baghdad is in the center-east of the country.
Two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run through the center of Iraq, flowing from northwest to southeast. These provide Iraq with agriculturally capable land and contrast with the steppe and desert landscape that covers most of Western Asia.
Historically, Iraq was the center of the Abbasid Arabic Islamic Empire. Iraq has been known to the west by the Greek toponym 'Mesopotamia' (Land between the rivers) and has been home to continuous successive civilizations since the 6th millennium BC. The region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers is often referred to as the cradle of civilization and the birthplace of writing, law and the wheel. At different periods in its history, Iraq was the center of the indigenous Akkadian, Sumerian, Assyrian, Babylonian, and Abbasid empires. It was also part of the Achaemenid, Hellenistic, Parthian, Sassanid, Roman, Rashidun, Umayyad, Mongol, Safavid, Afsharid, and Ottoman empires, and under British control as a League of Nations mandate.
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Iraqi Kurdistan
Iraqi Kurdistan or Kurdistan Region (Kurdish: ههرێمی کوردستان, Herêmî Kurdistan; Arabic: إقليم كردستان العراق Iqlīm Kurdistān al-‘Irāq) is an autonomous region of Iraq. It borders Iran to the east, Turkey to the north, Syria to the west and the rest of Iraq to the south. The regional capital is Arbil, known in Kurdish as Hewlêr. The region is officially governed by the Kurdistan Regional Government.
The establishment of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq dates back to the March 1970 autonomy agreement between the Kurdish opposition and the Iraqi government after years of heavy fighting. The Iran-Iraq war during the 1980s and the Anfal genocide campaign of the Iraqi army devastated the population and nature of Iraqi Kurdistan. Following the 1991 uprising of the Iraqi people against Saddam Hussein, many Kurds were forced to flee the country to become refugees in bordering regions of Iran and Turkey. A northern no-fly zone was established following the First Gulf War in 1991 to facilitate the return of Kurdish refugees. As Kurds continued to fight government troops, Iraqi forces finally left Kurdistan in October 1991, leaving the region to function de facto independently; however, neither of the two major Kurdish parties had at any time declared independence and Iraqi Kurdistan continues to view itself as an integral part of a united Iraq but one in which it administers its own affairs. The 2003 invasion of Iraq and the subsequent political changes led to the ratification of a new Constitution of Iraq in 2005. The new Iraqi constitution defines Iraqi Kurdistan as a federal entity of Iraq, and establishes Arabic and Kurdish as Iraq's joint official languages.
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Italy
Italyi/ˈɪtəli/ (Italian: Italia [iˈtaːlja]), officially the Italian Republic or the Republic of Italy (Italian: Repubblica italiana), is a unitary parliamentary republic in south-central Europe. To the north, it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia along the Alps. To the south, it consists of the entirety of the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Sardinia–the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea–and many other smaller islands. The independent states of San Marino and the Vatican City are enclaves within Italy, while Campione d'Italia is an Italian exclave in Switzerland. The territory of Italy covers some 301,338 km2 (116,347 sq mi) and is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. With 60.6 million inhabitants, it is the fifth most populous country in Europe, and the 23rd most populous in the world.
Rome, the capital of Italy, was for centuries a political and religious centre of Western civilisation as the capital of the Roman Empire and site of the Holy See. After the decline of the Roman Empire, Italy endured numerous invasions by foreign peoples, from Germanic tribes such as the Lombards and Ostrogoths, to the Byzantines and later, the Normans, among others. Centuries later, Italy became the birthplace of Maritime republics and the Renaissance, an immensely fruitful intellectual movement that would prove to be integral in shaping the subsequent course of European thought.
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Jammu and Kashmir
Jammu and Kashmiri/ˌdʒɑːmuː/ & /ˈkæʃmɪər/ is the northernmost state of India. It is situated mostly in the Himalayan mountains. Jammu and Kashmir shares a border with the states of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab to the south and internationally with the People's Republic of China to the north and east and the Pakistan-administered territories of Azad Kashmir and Gilgit–Baltistan, to the west and northwest respectively.
Formerly a part of the erstwhile Princely State of Kashmir and Jammu, which governed the larger historic region of Kashmir, this territory is disputed among China, India and Pakistan. Pakistan, which claims the territory as disputed, refers to it alternatively as Indian-occupied Kashmir or Indian-held Kashmir, while some international agencies such as the United Nations, call it Indian-administered Kashmir. The regions under the control of Pakistan are referred to as Pakistan-occupied Kashmir or PoK within India.
Jammu and Kashmir consists of three regions: Jammu, the Kashmir valley and Ladakh. Srinagar is the summer capital, and Jammu is the winter capital. While the Kashmir valley is famous for its beautiful mountainous landscape, Jammu's numerous shrines attract tens of thousands of Hindu pilgrims every year. Ladakh, also known as "Little Tibet", is renowned for its remote mountain beauty and Buddhist culture.
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Kingdom of Belgium
Belgium (i/ˈbɛldʒəm/ BEL-jəm), officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO. Belgium covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres (11,787 sq mi), and it has a population of about 11 million people. Straddling the cultural boundary between Germanic and Latin Europe, Belgium is home to two main linguistic groups, the Dutch-speakers, mostly Flemish (about 60%), and the French-speakers, mostly Walloons (about 40%), plus a small group of German-speakers. Belgium's two largest regions are the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in the north and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia. The Brussels-Capital Region, officially bilingual, is a mostly French-speaking enclave within the Flemish Region. A German-speaking Community exists in eastern Wallonia. Belgium's linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in the political history and a complex system of government.
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Kurdistan Region
Iraqi Kurdistan or Kurdistan Region (Kurdish: ههرێمی کوردستان, Herêmî Kurdistan; Arabic: إقليم كردستان العراق Iqlīm Kurdistān al-‘Irāq) is an autonomous region of Iraq. It borders Iran to the east, Turkey to the north, Syria to the west and the rest of Iraq to the south. The regional capital is Arbil, known in Kurdish as Hewlêr. The region is officially governed by the Kurdistan Regional Government.
The establishment of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq dates back to the March 1970 autonomy agreement between the Kurdish opposition and the Iraqi government after years of heavy fighting. The Iran-Iraq war during the 1980s and the Anfal genocide campaign of the Iraqi army devastated the population and nature of Iraqi Kurdistan. Following the 1991 uprising of the Iraqi people against Saddam Hussein, many Kurds were forced to flee the country to become refugees in bordering regions of Iran and Turkey. A northern no-fly zone was established following the First Gulf War in 1991 to facilitate the return of Kurdish refugees. As Kurds continued to fight government troops, Iraqi forces finally left Kurdistan in October 1991, leaving the region to function de facto independently; however, neither of the two major Kurdish parties had at any time declared independence and Iraqi Kurdistan continues to view itself as an integral part of a united Iraq but one in which it administers its own affairs. The 2003 invasion of Iraq and the subsequent political changes led to the ratification of a new Constitution of Iraq in 2005. The new Iraqi constitution defines Iraqi Kurdistan as a federal entity of Iraq, and establishes Arabic and Kurdish as Iraq's joint official languages.
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Libya
Libya (Arabic: ليبيا Lībyā), Berber: ⵍⵉⴱⵢⴰ) is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west.
With an area of almost 1.8 million square kilometres (700,000 sq mi), Libya is the third largest country in Africa by area, and the 17th largest in the world. The largest city, Tripoli, is home to 1.7 million of Libya's 6.4 million people. The three traditional parts of the country are Tripolitania, Fezzan and Cyrenaica.
In 2009 Libya had the highest HDI in Africa and the fourth highest GDP (PPP) per capita in Africa, behind Seychelles, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. Libya has the 10th-largest proven oil reserves of any country in the world and the 17th-highest petroleum production.
As a result of the Libyan civil war, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, which had at that time been in existence for 34 years, collapsed and Libya entered a period of governance by a transitional administration called the National Transitional Council. The NTC has stated its intention to oversee the first phase of a transition to constitutional democracy, after which it claims it will dissolve in favor of a representative legislature.
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Luxembourg
Luxembourg (i/ˈlʌksəmbɜrɡ/ LUKS-əm-burg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (Luxembourgish: Groussherzogtum Lëtzebuerg, French: Grand-Duché de Luxembourg, German: Großherzogtum Luxemburg, Dutch: Groothertogdom Luxemburg), is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland ("good country") in the south. Luxembourg has a population of over half a million people in an area of approximately 2,586 square kilometres (998 sq mi). A representative democracy with a constitutional monarch, it is ruled by a grand duke. It is now the world's only remaining sovereign grand duchy. The country has a highly developed economy, with the world's highest GDP (nominal) per capita according to the IMF. Its historic and strategic importance dates back to its founding as a Roman era fortress site and Frankish count's castle site in the Early Middle Ages. It was an important bastion along the Spanish Road when Spain was the principal European power influencing the whole western hemisphere and beyond in the 16th–17th centuries.
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Manipur
Manipur /mænɨˈpʊər/ (Pronunciation manipur (help·info)), literally meaning "a jeweled land", is a state in northeastern India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. Manipur is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west; it also borders Burma to the east. It covers an area of 22,347 square kilometres (8,628 sq mi).
The Meiteis (Meeteis), who live primarily in the state's valley region, form the primary ethnic group (60% of the total population) but occupy only 10% of the total land area. Their language, Meiteilon (Meeteilon), (also known as Manipuri), is also the lingua franca in the state, and was recognized as one of the national languages of India in 1992. The Muslims (Meitei-Pangal) also live in the valley; the Kukis, Nagas, Paites and other smaller groups form about 40% of the population but occupy the remaining 90% of the total land area of Manipur State. Manipur is considered a sensitive border state.[citation needed]
Manipur state has taken Bengali script of writing but now-a-days started in their original scripts "Meetei/Meitei Mayek(Script)" at schools as well as in Newspapers.
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Mexico
Mexico (i/ˈmɛksɨkoʊ/; Spanish: México, IPA: [ˈmexiko] ( listen)), officially the United Mexican States (Spanish: Estados Unidos Mexicanos (help·info)), is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States of America; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico. Covering almost two million square kilometres (over 760,000 sq mi), Mexico is the fifth largest country in the Americas by total area and the thirteenth largest independent nation in the world. With an estimated population of over 113 million, it is the eleventh most populous country and the most populous Spanish-speaking country. Mexico is a federation comprising thirty-one states and a Federal District, the capital city.
In Pre-Columbian Mexico many cultures matured into advanced civilizations such as the Olmec, the Toltec, the Teotihuacan, the Zapotec, the Maya and the Aztec before the first contact with Europeans. In 1521, Spain conquered and colonized the territory from its base in México-Tenochtitlan, which was administered as the Viceroyalty of New Spain. This territory would eventually become Mexico as the colony's independence was recognized in 1821. The post-independence period was characterized by economic instability, the Mexican-American War and territorial cession to the United States, a civil war, two empires and a domestic dictatorship. The latter led to the Mexican Revolution in 1910, which culminated with the promulgation of the 1917 Constitution and the emergence of the country's current political system. Elections held in July 2000 marked the first time that an opposition party won the presidency from the Institutional Revolutionary Party.
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Mizoram
Mizoram /mɨˈzɔrəm/ (Mizo pronunciation: /mɪ.'zoʊ.'rʌm/) (from mi 'people', zo 'hill', ram 'country', Land of the Hill People / Mizo people") is one of the Seven Sister States listed as in North Eastern India, sharing borders with the states of Tripura, Assam, Manipur and with the neighboring countries of Bangladesh and Myanmar Burma. Mizoram became the 23rd state of India on 20 February 1987. Its capital is Aizawl. Mizoram is located in the northeast of India.
Mizoram has a mild climate, comfortable in summer 20 °C to 29 °C (68 °F to 84 °F) and never freezing during winter, with temperatures from 7 °C to 21 °C (44 °F to 70 °F). The region is influenced by monsoons, raining heavily from May to September with little rain in the dry (cold) season. The average state rainfall is 254 cm (100 in.), per annum. In the capital, Aizawl rainfall is about 208 centimetres (82 in.) and in Lunglei, another major center, about 350 centimetres (138 in.)
Mizoram is a land of rolling hills, valleys, rivers and lakes. As many as 21 major hills ranges or peaks of different heights run through the length and breadth of the state, with plains scattered here and there. The average height of the hills to the west of the state are about 1,000 metres (3,281 feet). These gradually rise up to 1,300 metres (4,265 feet) to the east. Some areas, however, have higher ranges which go up to a height of over 2,000 metres (6,562 feet). Phawngpui Tlang also known as the Blue Mountain, situated in the south-eastern part of the state, is the highest peak in Mizoram at 2,210 metres (7,251 feet).
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Montenegro
Montenegro (i/ˌmɒntɨˈneɪɡroʊ/ or /ˌmɒntɨˈniːɡroʊ/; or /ˌmɒntɨˈnɛɡroʊ/; Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора [tsr̩̂ːnaː ɡɔ̌ra] ( listen), meaning "Black Mountain") is a country in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the southeast. Its capital and largest city is Podgorica, while Cetinje is designated as the Prijestonica (Пријестоница), meaning the former Royal Capital City.
In the 10th century, there existed three Slavic principalities on the territory of Montenegro: Duklja, roughly corresponding to the southern half, Travunia, the west, and Rascia, the north. In 1042, archon Stefan Vojislav led a revolt that resulted in independence of Duklja and the establishment of the Vojislavljević dynasty. Duklja reached its zenith under Vojislav's son, Mihailo (1046–81), and his son Bodin (1081–1101). By the 13th century, Zeta had replaced Duklja when referring to the realm, which at the time was part of the Serbian Grand Principality of the Nemanjić dynasty.
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Nagaland
Nagaland /ˈnɑːɡəlænd/ is a state in the far north-eastern part of India. It borders the state of Assam to the west, Arunachal Pradesh and part of Assam to the north, Burma to the east and Manipur to the south. The state capital is Kohima, and the largest city is Dimapur. The state of Nagaland has an area of 16,579 km2 with a population of 1,980,602 (nineteen lakhs eighty thousand six hundred two) as per the 2011 census making it one of the smallest states of India. The state is mostly mountainous except those areas bordering Assam valley. Mount Saramati is the highest peak in Nagaland with a height of 3,840 metres and its range forms a natural barrier between Nagaland and Burma. It lies between the parallels of 98 degree and 96 degree East Longitude and 26.6 degree and 27.4 degree latitude North of the Equator.
Nagaland, the 16th state of the Indian Union, was established on December 1, 1963. It is divided into eleven districts: Kohima, Phek, Mokokchung, Wokha, Zunheboto, Tuensang, Mon, Dimapur, Kiphire, Longleng and Peren. It is a largely mountainous state. Agriculture is the most important economic activity in Nagaland. Principal crops include rice, corn, millets, pulses, tobacco, oilseeds, sugarcane, potatoes and fibres. Other economy boosters are forestry, cottage industries, insurance, real estate and tourism.
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Navarre
Navarre (English /nəˈvɑr/; Spanish: Navarra; Basque: Nafarroa), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre (Spanish: Comunidad Foral de Navarra [komuniˈðað foˈɾal de naˈβara]; Basque: Nafarroako Foru Erkidegoa [nafaroako foɾu erkidegoa]), is an autonomous community in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Country, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and Aquitaine in France. The capital is the city of Pamplona (or Iruña in Basque).
During the time of the Roman Empire, the territory of the province was inhabited by the Vascones, a pre-Roman tribe who populated the southern slopes of the Pyrenees. In the northern, mountaineous areas the Vascones escaped large-scale Roman settlement but not so in the flatter areas to the south which were amenable to large-scale Roman farming.
The area was never fully subjugated either by the Visigoths or by the Moors. In AD 778, the Basques defeated a Frankish army in the Battle of Roncevaux Pass. Two generations later, in 824, the chieftain Iñigo Arista was chosen King of Pamplona, laying a foundation for the later Kingdom of Navarre. That kingdom reached its zenith during the reign of Sancho III of Navarre and covered the area of the present-day Navarre, Basque country, and La Rioja, together with parts of modern Cantabria, Castile and León, and Aragon.
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Nazi Germany
The Third Reich, also Nazi Germany, is the common name for Germany when it was a totalitarian state ruled by Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP). On 30 January 1933 Hitler became chancellor of Germany, quickly eliminating all opposition to rule as sole leader. The state idolized Hitler as its Führer ("leader"), centralizing all power in his hands. Historians have emphasized the hypnotic effect of his rhetoric on large audiences, and of his eyes in small groups. Kessel writes, "Overwhelmingly...Germans speak with mystification of Hitler's 'hypnotic' appeal..." Under the "leader principle", the Führer's word was above all other laws. Top officials reported to Hitler and followed his policies, but they had considerable autonomy. The government was not a coordinated, cooperating body, but rather a collection of factions struggling to amass power and curry favor with the Führer. In the midst of the Great Depression, the Nazi government restored prosperity and ended mass unemployment using heavy military spending and a mixed economy of free-market and central-planning practices. Extensive public works were undertaken, including the construction of the Autobahns. The return to prosperity gave the regime enormous popularity; the suppression of all opposition made Hitler's rule mostly unchallenged.
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Nigeria
Nigeriai/naɪˈdʒɪəriə/, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in the north. Its coast in the south lies on the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean. The three largest and most influential ethnic groups in Nigeria are the Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba.
In terms of religion Nigeria is roughly split half and half between Muslims in the North and Christians in the South; a very small minority practice traditional religion. Since 2002 there have been a spate of clashes, particularly in the North of the country, between government forces and the Islamists Boko Haram, militant jihadists who seek to establish sharia law.
The people of Nigeria have an extensive history. Archaeological evidence shows that human habitation of the area dates back to at least 9000 BCE. The area around the Benue and Cross River is thought to be the original homeland of the Bantu migrants who spread across most of central and southern Africa in waves between the 1st millennium BC and the 2nd millennium.
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Ottawa
Ottawa (i/ˈɒtəwɑː/ or /ˈɒtəwə/) is the capital of Canada. It is the second largest city in Ontario and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, located on the north bank of the Ottawa River; together they form the National Capital Region (NCR).
Founded in 1826 as Bytown and incorporated as "Ottawa" in 1855, the city has evolved into a political and technological centre of Canada. Its original boundaries were expanded through numerous minor annexations and ultimately replaced by a new city incorporation and major amalgamation in 2001 which significantly increased its land area. The name "Ottawa" is derived from the Algonquin word adawe, meaning "to trade". Initially an Irish and French Christian settlement, Ottawa has become a multicultural city with a diverse population.
The 2011 census had the city's population as 883,391, and the metropolitan population as 1,236,324.Mercer ranks Ottawa with the second highest quality of living of any large city in the Americas, and 14th highest in the world. It is also rated the second cleanest city in Canada, and third cleanest city in the world. In 2012, the city was ranked for the third consecutive year as the best community in Canada to live in by MoneySense.
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Parliament of Canada
The Parliament of Canada (French: Parlement du Canada) is the federal legislative branch of Canada, seated at Parliament Hill in the national capital, Ottawa. Formally, the body consists of the Canadian monarch—represented by her governor general—the Senate, and the House of Commons, each element having its own officers and organization. The governor general summons and appoints each of the 105 members of the upper house on the advice of the Prime Minister of Canada, while the 308 members of the lower house are directly elected by eligible voters in the Canadian populace, with each Member of Parliament representing a single electoral district, commonly referred to as a riding.
By constitutional convention, the House of Commons is the dominant branch of parliament, the Senate and Crown rarely opposing its will. The Senate, thus, reviews legislation from a less partisan standpoint, and the monarch and viceroy provide the necessary Royal Assent to make bills into law and summon, prorogue, and dissolve parliament in order to call an election, as well as reading the Throne Speech. The current parliament, summoned by Governor General David Johnston on 2 June 2011, is the 41st since Confederation.
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Portugal
Portugali/ˈpɔrtʃʉɡəl/ (Portuguese: Portugal, IPA: [puɾtuˈɣaɫ]), officially the Portuguese Republic (Portuguese: República Portuguesa) is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula . Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira are part of Portugal. The country is named after its second largest city, Porto, whose Latin name was Portus Cale.
The land within the borders of the current Portuguese Republic has been continuously settled since prehistoric times: occupied by Celts like the Gallaeci and the Lusitanians, integrated into the Roman Republic and later settled by Germanic peoples such as the Suebi, Swabians, Vandals and the Visigoths. In the 8th century most of the Iberian Peninsula was conquered by Moorish invaders professing Islam, which were later expelled by the Knights Templar under the Order of Christ. During the Christian Reconquista, Portugal established itself as an independent kingdom from León in 1139, claiming to be the oldest European nation state.
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Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States.
It is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution. Princeton provides undergraduate and graduate instruction in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences and engineering. Princeton does not have schools of medicine, law, divinity, or business, but it does offer professional degrees through the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, the Princeton University School of Engineering and Applied Science and the School of Architecture.
Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, as the College of New Jersey, the university moved to Newark in 1747, then to Princeton in 1756 and was renamed Princeton University in 1896. The present-day College of New Jersey in nearby Ewing, New Jersey, is an unrelated institution. Princeton was the fourth chartered institution of higher education in the American colonies. Princeton had close ties to the Presbyterian Church, but has never been affiliated with any denomination and today imposes no religious requirements on its students.
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Republika Srpska
Republika Srpska listen (help·info) (Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian: Republika Srpska, Cyrillic script: Република Српскa, [rɛpǔblika sr̩̂pskaː]) is one of the two main political entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Constitution of Republika Srpska defines it as a territorially unified, indivisible and inalienable constitutional and legal entity that independently performs its constitutional, legislative, executive and judicial functions. The National Assembly and the Government of Republika Srpska are based in Banja Luka, although Sarajevo remains the official capital.
In the name Republika Srpska, the first word means republic. The second word is a nominalized adjective derived by adding the suffix -ska to srb-, the root of the noun Srbin, meaning Serb. The -ps- sequence rather than -bs- is a result of voicing assimilation. Adjectives derived in this way from ethnonyms are often used in Serbian as names of countries: e.g., Škot – Škotska (Scot – Scotland), Hrvat – Hrvatska (Croat – Croatia).
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Sikkim
Sikkim (/ˈsɪkɨm/; Devanagari: सिक्किम, i.e. the "Goodly Region", or Shikim, Shikimpati or Sikkim;Lepcha: Mayel Lyang; Limbu: Yuksom, "one of the fortified place";Standard Tibetan: འབྲས་ལྗོངས་, Bras Ljongs, Denzong or Demojongs) is a landlocked Indian state located in the Himalayan mountains. The state borders Nepal to the west, China's Tibet Autonomous Region to the north and east, and Bhutan to the southeast, while the state of West Bengal lies to the south.
With around 607,000 inhabitants as of 2011[update], Sikkim is the least populous state in India and the second-smallest state after Goa in total area, covering approximately 7,096 km2 (2,740 sq mi). Sikkim is nonetheless geographically diverse due to its location in the Himalayas; the climate ranges from subtropical to high alpine, and Kangchenjunga, the world's third-highest peak, is located on Sikkim's border with Nepal. Sikkim is a popular tourist destination, owing to its culture, scenery and biodiversity. It also has the only open land border between India and China. Sikkim's capital and largest city is Gangtok.
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Slovakia
The Slovak Republic (short form: Slovakiai/sloʊˈvɑːkiə/ or /sləˈvækiə/; Slovak: Slovensko (help·info), long form Slovenská republika (help·info)) is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about 49,000 square kilometres (19,000 sq mi). Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south. The largest city is the capital, Bratislava, and the second largest is Košice. Slovakia is a member state of the European Union, NATO, United Nations, OECD and WTO among others. The official language is Slovak, a member of the Slavic language family.
The Slavs arrived in the territory of present day Slovakia in the 5th and 6th centuries during the migration period. In the course of history, various parts of today's Slovakia belonged to Samo's Empire (the first known political unit of Slavs), Principality of Nitra (as independent polity, as part of Great Moravia and as part of Hungarian Kingdom), Great Moravia, Kingdom of Hungary, the Austro-Hungarian Empire or Habsburg Empire, and Czechoslovakia. A separate Slovak state briefly existed during World War II, during which Slovakia was a dependency of Nazi Germany between 1939 and 1944. From 1945 Slovakia once again became a part of Czechoslovakia. The present-day Slovakia became an independent state on 1 January 1993 after the peaceful dissolution of Czechoslovakia.
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Spain
Spain (i/ˈspeɪn/ SPAYN; Spanish: España, pronounced: [esˈpaɲa] ( listen)), officially the Kingdom of Spain (Spanish: Reino de España), is a sovereign state and a member of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Its mainland is bordered to the south and east by the Mediterranean Sea except for a small land boundary with the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar; to the north and north east by France, Andorra, and the Bay of Biscay; and to the northwest and west by the Atlantic Ocean and Portugal.
Spanish territory also includes the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the African coast, and two autonomous cities in North Africa, Ceuta and Melilla, that border Morocco. Furthermore, the town of Llívia is a Spanish exclave situated inside French territory. With an area of 504,030 square kilometres (194,610 sq mi), it is the second largest country in Western Europe and the European Union after France, and the fourth largest country in Europe after Russia, Ukraine and France.
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Switzerland
Switzerland (German: die Schweiz[ˈʃvaɪts]; French: Suisse [sɥis(ə)]; Italian: Svizzera [ˈzvit͡sːɛra]; Romansh: Svizra [ˈʒviːtsrɐ] or [ˈʒviːtsʁːɐ]), in its full name the Swiss Confederation (Latin: Confoederatio Helvetica, hence its abbreviation CH), is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in western Europe, where it is bordered by Germany to the north, France to the west, Italy to the south, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east.
Switzerland is a landlocked country geographically divided between the Alps, the Swiss Plateau and the Jura, spanning an area of 41,285 km2 (15,940 sq mi). While the Alps occupy the greater part of the territory, the Swiss population of approximately 8 million people is concentrated mostly on the Plateau, where the largest cities are to be found. Among them are the two global cities and economic centres of Zurich and Geneva.
The Swiss Confederation has a long history of armed neutrality—it has not been in a state of war internationally since 1815—and did not join the United Nations until 2002. It pursues, however, an active foreign policy and is frequently involved in peace-building processes around the world. Switzerland is also the birthplace of the Red Cross and home to a large number of international organizations, including the second largest UN office. On the European level, it is a founding member of the European Free Trade Association and is part of the Schengen Area – although it is notably not a member of the European Union, nor the European Economic Area.
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Tripoli
Tripoli is the capital and largest city in Libya. It is also known as Tripoli-of-the-West (Arabic: طرابلس الغرب Ṭarābulus al-Gharb), to distinguish it from Tripoli, Lebanon. It is affectionately called The Mermaid of the Mediterranean (Arabic: عروسة البحر ʼarūsat el-baḥr; lit: "bride of the sea"), describing its turquoise waters and its whitewashed buildings. Tripoli (English pronunciation: /ˈtrɪpɵli/) is a Greek name that means "Three Cities", introduced in Western European languages through the Italian Tripoli. In Arabic: طرابلس it is called Ṭarābulus ( pronunciation (help·info), Libyan Arabic: Ṭrābləs pronunciation (help·info), Berber: Ṭrables, from Ancient Greek: Τρίπολις Trípolis). As of 2011, the Tripoli metropolitan area (district area) had a population of 2.2 million. The city is located in the northwest part of the country on the edge of the desert, on a point of rocky land projecting into the Mediterranean and forming a bay.
The city includes the Port of Tripoli and the country's largest commercial and manufacturing centre. It is also the site of the University of Tripoli. The vast Bab al-Azizia barracks, which includes the former family compound of Muammar Gaddafi, is also located in the city; Gaddafi largely ruled the country from his residence in this barracks.
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United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK, or Britain) is a sovereign state located off the north-western coast of continental Europe. The country includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel and the Irish Sea.
The United Kingdom is a unitary state governed under a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary system, with its seat of government in the capital city of London. It is a country in its own right and consists of four countries: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. There are three devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in Belfast, Edinburgh and Cardiff, the capitals of Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Associated with the UK, but not constitutionally part of it, are three Crown Dependencies. The United Kingdom has fourteen overseas territories. These are remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in 1922, encompassed almost a quarter of the world's land surface and was the largest empire in history. British influence can still be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former territories.
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Wallonia
Wallonia (French: Wallonie [wa.lɔ.ni], German: Wallonie(n), Dutch: Wallonië [wɐˈloːnɪə] ( listen) or [βɐˈloːnɪə], Walloon: Walonreye) is the predominantly French-speaking southern region of Belgium. It is governed as the Walloon Region, which makes up 55% of the territory of Belgium but with only a third of its population. Contrary to the situation in Flanders, the Walloon Region was not merged with the French Community of Belgium, a political level responsible for matters related mainly to culture and education. The small German-speaking minority in the east forms the German-speaking Community of Belgium, which has its own government and parliament for culture-related issues. The demonym for Wallonia is Walloon.
During the industrial revolution, Wallonia trailed only the United Kingdom in industrialization, capitalizing on its extensive deposits of coal and iron. This brought the region wealth, and, from the beginning of the 19th to the middle of the 20th centuries, Wallonia was the more prosperous half of Belgium. Since World War II, however, the importance of heavy industry has greatly declined, and the Flemish Region surpassed Wallonia in wealth as Wallonia economically declined. Wallonia now suffers from high unemployment and has a significantly lower GDP per capita than Flanders. The economic inequalities and linguistic divide between the two are major sources of political conflict in Belgium.
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Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic (Weimarer Republik [ˈvaɪmaʁɐ ʁepuˈbliːk] (
listen)) is the name given by historians to the federal republic and parliamentary representative democracy established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government. It was named after Weimar, the city where the constitutional assembly took place. Its official name was German Reich (Deutsches Reich)
Following World War I, the republic emerged from the German Revolution in November 1918. In 1919, a national assembly convened in Weimar, where a new constitution for the German Reich was written, then adopted on 11 August of that same year. The ensuing period of liberal democracy lapsed in the early 1930s, leading to the ascent of the nascent Nazi Party and Adolf Hitler in 1933. The legal measures taken by the Nazi government in February and March 1933, commonly known as Gleichschaltung ("coordination") meant that the government could legislate contrary to the constitution. The republic nominally continued to exist until 1945, as the constitution was never formally repealed. However, the measures taken by the Nazis in the early part of their rule rendered the constitution irrelevant. Thus, 1933 is usually seen as the end of the Weimar Republic and the beginning of Hitler's Third Reich.
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Zanzibar
Zanzibar ( /ˈzænzɨbɑr/; from Arabic: زنجبار Zanjibār, from Persian: زنگبار Zangibār "Coast of Blacks"; zangi [black-skinned] + bār [coast]) is a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania, in East Africa. It comprises the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, 25–50 kilometres (16–31 mi) off the coast of the mainland, and consists of numerous small islands and two large ones: Unguja (the main island, informally referred to as Zanzibar), and Pemba. Other nearby island countries and territories include Comoros and Mayotte to the south, Mauritius and Réunion to the far southeast, and the Seychelles Islands about 1,500 km to the east. Arab and Portuguese traders visited the region in early times, and it was controlled by Omanis in the 18th and 19th centuries. Britain established a protectorate (1890) that became an independent sultanate in December 1963 and a republic after an uprising in January 1964. In April 1964 it joined Tanganyika to form a new republic that was renamed Tanzania in October 1964. The capital of Zanzibar, located on the island of Unguja, is Zanzibar City, and its historic centre, known as Stone Town, is a World Heritage Site.
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Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (German: [ˈadɔlf ˈhɪtlɐ] ( listen); 20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party (German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP), commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945 and dictator of Nazi Germany (as Führer und Reichskanzler) from 1934 to 1945. Hitler is commonly associated with the rise of fascism in Europe, World War II, and the Holocaust.
A decorated veteran of World War I, Hitler joined the German Workers' Party, precursor of the Nazi Party, in 1919, and became leader of the NSDAP in 1921. In 1923, he attempted a coup d'état, known as the Beer Hall Putsch, in Munich. The failed coup resulted in Hitler's imprisonment, during which time he wrote his memoir, Mein Kampf (My Struggle). After his release in 1924, Hitler gained popular support by attacking the Treaty of Versailles and promoting Pan-Germanism, antisemitism, and anticommunism with charismatic oratory and Nazi propaganda. After his appointment as chancellor in 1933, he transformed the Weimar Republic into the Third Reich, a single-party dictatorship based on the totalitarian and autocratic ideology of Nazism. His aim was to establish a New Order of absolute Nazi German hegemony in continental Europe.
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Austria
Austria (i/ˈɒstriə/ or /ˈɔːstriə/; German: Österreich [ˈøːstɐˌʁaɪç] ( listen)), officially the Republic of Austria (German: Republik Österreich (help·info)), is a landlocked country of roughly 8.47 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Hungary and Slovakia to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west. The territory of Austria covers 83,855 square kilometres (32,377 sq mi) and has a temperate and alpine climate. Austria's terrain is highly mountainous due to the presence of the Alps; only 32% of the country is below 500 metres (1,640 ft), and its highest point is 3,798 metres (12,461 ft). The majority of the population speak local Austro-Bavarian dialects of German as their native language, and German in its standard form is the country's official language. Other local official languages are Burgenland Croatian, Hungarian and Slovene.
The origins of modern-day Austria date back to the time of the Habsburg dynasty when the vast majority of the country was a part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Austria became one of the great powers of Europe and, in response to the coronation of Napoleon I as the Emperor of the French, the Austrian Empire was officially proclaimed in 1804. In 1867, the Austrian Empire was reformed into Austria-Hungary.
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Boris Yeltsin
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (Russian: Бори́с Никола́евич Е́льцин; IPA: [bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈlaɪvʲɪtɕ ˈjelʲtsɨn] ( listen); 1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was the President of Russia, serving from 1991 to 1999.
Originally a supporter of Mikhail Gorbachev, Yeltsin emerged under the perestroika reforms as one of Gorbachev's most powerful political opponents. On 29 May 1990 he was elected the chairman of the Russian Supreme Soviet. On 12 June 1991 he was elected by popular vote to the newly created post of President of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (SFSR), at that time one of the 15 constituent republics of the Soviet Union. He won 57% of the vote in a six-candidate contest and became the second democratically elected leader of Russia in history. Upon the resignation of Mikhail Gorbachev and the final dissolution of the Soviet Union on 25 December 1991, Yeltsin remained in office as the President of the Russian Federation, the USSR's successor state. Yeltsin was reelected in the 1996 election; in the second round of the election Yeltsin defeated Gennady Zyuganov from the revived Communist Party by a margin of 13%. However, Yeltsin never recovered his early popularity after a series of economic and political crises in Russia in the 1990s.
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Charles Picqué
Charles Picqué (born 1 November 1948, Etterbeek) is a Belgian politician. He is currently serving his second term as Minister-President of the Brussels Capital-Region.
After obtaining a Master's Degree in Economics at the Institut d'administration et de gestion at the Louvain School of Management (University of Louvain), he made his first steps in politics in the Brussels municipality of Saint-Gilles, where he has been Mayor since 1985.
Deeply concerned by urban issues in general and Brussels urban issues in particular, he has devoted a large part of his political activity to promoting and defending Brussels' role and rights as a full Region – at par with the two other Regions of Belgium – within the institutional framework of the Belgian state.
When the government of the Brussels-Capital Region was established in 1989, he became his first Minister-President with two mandates that lasted until 1999. In July 2004, he was reappointed to the same position, which he still holds today.
In 1999, he was appointed Special Rapporteur for the Federal Government on Policies in support of Major Cities. During his mandate as Minister of the Economy and Scientific Research – from 2000 to 2003 – he maintained this responsibility, and played a key role in introducing measures to support Belgium's large cities in coping with the specific problems typical of major urban agglomerations.
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China
China (i/ˈtʃaɪnə/; Chinese: 中国; pinyin: Zhōngguó; see also Names of China), officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is the world's most-populous country, with a population of over 1.3 billion. Covering approximately 9.6 million square kilometres, the East Asian state is the world's second-largest country by land area, and the third- or fourth-largest in total area, depending on the definition of total area.
The People's Republic of China is a single-party state governed by the Communist Party of China. It exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four directly controlled municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing), and two mostly self-governing special administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macau). Its capital city is Beijing. The PRC also claims Taiwan—which is controlled by the Republic of China (ROC), a separate political entity—as its 23rd province, a claim controversial due to the complex political status of Taiwan and the unresolved Chinese Civil War. The PRC government denies the legitimacy of the ROC.
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Deodoro da Fonseca
Marshal Manuel Deodoro da Fonseca (Portuguese pronunciation: [mɐnuˈɛɫ deoˈdɔɾu da fõˈsekɐ]; 5 August 1827 – 23 August 1892) became the first president of the Republic of Brazil after heading a military coup that deposed Emperor Pedro II and proclaimed the Republic in 1889, dis-establishing the Empire of Brazil.
Fonseca was born the third child of a large military family in Vila Madalena, Alagoas, a town that today bears his name as Marechal Deodoro, in Northeast Brazil. He was the son of Manuel Mendes da Fonseca Galvão (1785-1859) and his wife Rosa Maria Paulina de Barros Cavalcanti (1802-1873). In the period of the Brazilian Empire, his older brother Severino Martins da Fonseca was created the first Baron of Alagoas. Another notable relative was the Portuguese humanist Francisco de Holanda (d. 1585), his remote uncle. Fonseca pursued a military career that was notable for his suppression of the Praieira revolt in Pernambuco in 1848, Brazil's response to the European year of failed liberal revolutions. He also saw action during the Paraguayan War (1864–1870), attaining the rank of captain. In 1884 he was promoted to the rank of field-marshal, and he later achieved the rank of full marshal. His personal courage, military competence and manly personal style made him a national figure.
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Federal War
The Federal War (Spanish: Guerra Federal) - also known as the Great War or the Five Year War - was a civil war (1859–1863) in Venezuela between the conservative party and the liberal party about the monopoly of the conservatives of the land and the government positions, and their reluctance to grant any reforms. This drove the liberals to look for greater autonomy for the provinces. It was the biggest and bloodiest civil war Venezuela had had since its independence. Hundreds of thousands died in the violence of the war, or from hunger or disease, in a country with a population of just over a million people.
The Federal War was mainly a guerrilla war largely without a centralized command for the Federalists, who professed to ride on social resentment. Just three major conventional battles were fought: The Battle of Santa Inés (December 10, 1859), in which Ezequiel Zamora and 3,400 men defeated the Central Army of 2,300 men, with about 1,200 casualties altogether both sides; the Battle of Coplé (February 17, 1860), victory of the government forces of general León de Febres Cordero over a Federalist army of 4,500 men, commanded by Falcón, and the Battle of Buchivacoa (December 26-December 27, 1862). The hostilities ended with the signing of the Treaty of Coche in April 1863.
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Federalism in China
Chinese federalism refers to political theories which argue that China's central government either does or should devolve large amounts of power to local entities. (See federalism). Such proposals were made in the early twentieth century, in connection with the end of the Qing dynasty; as well as recently, with a view to providing checks against the power of the central government, as well as settling the relationship between the People's Republic of China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and other potential political entities. A few scholars, such as Fareed Zakaria, suggest that political power in China is already decentralized, albeit on an informal basis.
Wu Bangguo, officially number two in China's leadership structure, said in 2011 there will be no federal system in China.
Although there have been extremely few studies of Chinese federalism during the imperial era, some important contributions have been made recently. Federal institutional reforms of Han and Tang China have been recently compared to the Roman Empire in work by Ronald A. Edwards. The study Edwards (2009) clearly shows similarities in constitutional reforms across two major Chinese dynasties and the Roman Empire. This paper, in particular, more than many recent comparative studies of China and the West, makes one of the strongest cases for comparisons that can contribute to our understanding of federalism in ancient China and ancient Rome and more generally China and the West.
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Getúlio Vargas
Getúlio Dornelles Vargas (Portuguese pronunciation: [ʒeˈtuliu doɾˈnɛlis ˈvaɾɡɐs]; 19 April 1882 – 24 August 1954) served as President of Brazil, first as dictator, from 1930 to 1945, and in a democratically elected term from 1951 until his suicide in 1954. Vargas led Brazil for 18 years, the most for any President, and second in Brazilian history only to Emperor Pedro II among heads of government. He favored nationalism, industrialization, centralization, social welfare and populism – for the latter, Vargas won the nickname "O Pai dos Pobres" (Portuguese for "The Father of the Poor"). Despite his promotion of workers' rights, Vargas was a staunch anti-communist.
Vargas was brought to power by political outsiders and the rank and file of the Armed Forces in the Revolution of 1930, a reaction to his loss in rigged elections earlier that year. His ascent marked the end of the Brazilian oligarchic Old Republic and states' dominated café com leite politics. He successfully influenced the outcome of the Brazilian presidential election of 1934, and instituted an authoritarian corporatist regime in 1937 known as the Estado Novo ("New State"), prolonging his hold onto power. Vargas went on to appease and eventually dominate his supporters, and pushed his political agenda as he built a propaganda machine around his figure.
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Greek Cypriots
Greek Cypriots (Greek: Ελληνοκύπριοι, Ellinokýprioi; Turkish: Kıbrıslı Rumlar) are the ethnic Greek population of Cyprus, forming the island's largest ethnolinguistic community at 77% of the population. Greek Cypriots are mostly members of the Church of Cyprus, an autocephalous Greek Orthodox Church within the wider communion of Orthodox Christianity. In regards to the 1960 Constitution of Cyprus, the term also includes Arabic-speaking Maronites, Armenians and Latin Rite Catholics ("Latins"), who were given the option of being included in one or other of the two constituent communities (Greek or Turkish) and voted to join the Greek Cypriot community.
The Greek Cypriots trace their origins to the descendants of the Mycenaean Greeks who settled on the island during the second half of the second millennium BC. Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean after Sicily and Sardinia, and the largest island in the eastern Mediterranean. Mount Olympus (also known as Chionistra), the highest point of the Troodos Mountains (1952 m), is the highest point on the island. The island gradually became part of the Hellenic world as the settlers prospered over the next centuries. Alexander the Great liberated the island from the Persians in 333 BC. After the division of the Roman Empire in 285 AD, Cypriots enjoyed home rule for almost nine centuries under the jurisdiction of the Byzantine Empire, something not seen again until 1960. Perhaps the most important event of the early Byzantine period was the local church's independence from the Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East in 431. The bishop of the ancient capital Salamis (renamed Constantia by Emperor Constantius II) was constituted metropolitan by Emperor Zeno, with the title archbishop.
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Ruy Barbosa
Ruy Barbosa de Oliveira (November 5, 1849 – March 1, 1923) was a Brazilian writer, jurist, and politician.
Born in Salvador da Bahia, he was a federal representative, senator, Minister of Finance and diplomat. For his distinguished participation in the Hague Peace Conference of 1907, he earned the nickname "Eagle of the Hague". He ran unsuccessfully for the presidency of Brazil in 1910 and again in 1919.
Ruy Barbosa gave his first public speech for the abolition of slavery when he was 19. For the rest of his life he remained an uncompromising defender of civil liberties. Slavery in Brazil was finally abolished by the Lei Áurea ("Golden Law") in 1888. Part of Barbosa's legacy to history is that he authorised, as minister of finance on December 14, 1890, the destruction of most government records relating to slavery. The avowed reason for this destruction, which took several years to be enacted and was followed by his successors, was to erase the "stain" of slavery on Brazilian history. However, historians concur to say, today, that Barbosa aimed by this measure at impeding any possible indemnization of the former slave-owners for this liberation. Indeed, eleven days after the abolition of slavery, a law project was deposed at the Chamber, proposing some indemnization to the slave owners.
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Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 (April 2, 1743 O.S.) – July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Father, the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence (1776) and the third President of the United States (1801–1809). At the beginning of the American Revolution, Jefferson served in the Continental Congress, representing Virginia. He then served as a wartime Governor of Virginia (1779–1781). Just after the war ended, from mid-1784 Jefferson served as a diplomat, stationed in Paris, initially as a commissioner to help negotiate commercial treaties. In May 1785, he became the United States Minister to France. He was the first United States Secretary of State (1790–1793) during the administration of President George Washington. Upon resigning his office, with his close friend James Madison he organized the Democratic-Republican Party. Elected Vice-President in 1796, under his opponent John Adams, Jefferson with Madison secretly wrote the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, which attempted to nullify the Alien and Sedition Acts.
wn.com/Thomas_Jefferson -
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (Russian: Влади́мир Влади́мирович Пу́тин; IPA: [vɫɐˈdʲimʲɪr vɫɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvʲɪtɕ ˈputʲɪn] ( listen); born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician who has been the President of Russia since 7 May 2012. Putin previously served as President from 2000 to 2008 and as Prime Minister of Russia from 1999 to 2000, and again from 2008 to 2012. Putin also serves as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when president Boris Yeltsin resigned in a surprising move. Putin won the 2000 presidential election; in 2004 he was re-elected for a second term lasting until 7 May 2008.
Because of constitutionally mandated term limits, Putin was ineligible to run for a third consecutive presidential term. After his successor Dmitry Medvedev won the 2008 presidential election, Putin was nominated by Medvedev to be Russia's Prime Minister; Putin took office on 8 May 2008 and a period of so-called "tandemocracy" followed. In September 2011, Putin and Medvedev agreed he should seek a third, non-consecutive term in the 2012 presidential election, which he won in the first round on 4 March 2012.
wn.com/Vladimir_Putin -
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, PC, DL, FRS, Hon. RA (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British Conservative politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. Widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century, he served as Prime Minister twice (1940–45 and 1951–55). A noted statesman and orator, Churchill was also an officer in the British Army, a historian, a writer, and an artist. He is the only British prime minister to have received the Nobel Prize in Literature, and was the first person to be made an Honorary Citizen of the United States.
Churchill was born into the aristocratic family of the Dukes of Marlborough. His father, Lord Randolph Churchill, was a charismatic politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer; his mother, Jenny Jerome, was an American socialite. As a young army officer, he saw action in British India, the Sudan, and the Second Boer War. He gained fame as a war correspondent and wrote books about his campaigns.
wn.com/Winston_Churchill
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Federalism For Dummies
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 27:18
- Updated: 01 Dec 2012
For the discerning dummy and smart smart people, this video is designed for AP American Government students, College students lost in the wilderness in a political science course and just crazy people on the internet with nothing better to do.
http://wn.com/Federalism_For_Dummies
For the discerning dummy and smart smart people, this video is designed for AP American Government students, College students lost in the wilderness in a political science course and just crazy people on the internet with nothing better to do.
FEDERALISM - Cram for the Exam
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:33
- Updated: 05 Nov 2012
Listen to the 2 Teachers as they talk about FEDERALISM. Listen and Cram for the Exam.
http://wn.com/FEDERALISM_Cram_for_the_Exam
Listen to the 2 Teachers as they talk about FEDERALISM. Listen and Cram for the Exam.
- published: 08 Apr 2011
- views: 9145
- author: MyCitizenU
Federalism
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:08
- Updated: 16 Oct 2012
This is a video presentation which gives a very brief overview of Federalism insomuch as it pertains to the US Constitution.
http://wn.com/Federalism
This is a video presentation which gives a very brief overview of Federalism insomuch as it pertains to the US Constitution.
- published: 02 Jul 2011
- views: 5373
- author: fra0diavolo
Saylor POLSC231: Federalism I
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 35:55
- Updated: 05 Sep 2012
This video is a lecture used in POLSC231 as part of our Political Science area of study on www.saylor.org The material above has been reposted by the kind permission of Patrick Scott from Missouri State University, and can be viewed in its original form here - http Please note that this material is under copyright and cannot be reproduced in any capacity without explicit permission from the copyright holder.
http://wn.com/Saylor_POLSC231_Federalism_I
This video is a lecture used in POLSC231 as part of our Political Science area of study on www.saylor.org The material above has been reposted by the kind permission of Patrick Scott from Missouri State University, and can be viewed in its original form here - http Please note that this material is under copyright and cannot be reproduced in any capacity without explicit permission from the copyright holder.
- published: 11 Mar 2011
- views: 353
- author: saylorfoundation
Fred on Federalism
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:51
- Updated: 12 Nov 2012
Fred Thompson talks about the importance of federalism.
http://wn.com/Fred_on_Federalism
Fred Thompson talks about the importance of federalism.
- published: 08 Aug 2007
- views: 31167
- author: freddthompson
Federalism and You
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:49
- Updated: 12 Nov 2012
A short film teaching of Federalism
http://wn.com/Federalism_and_You
A short film teaching of Federalism
- published: 05 Nov 2006
- views: 20976
- author: Aarowned
Constitution Lectures 5: Federalism vs. Nationalism (HD version)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:44
- Updated: 29 Nov 2012
While the Constitution was framed, debate was split over whether we should have a federalist or a nationalist government. This lecture covers the controversy and how it was resolved in the Constitution.
http://wn.com/Constitution_Lectures_5_Federalism_vs_Nationalism_HD_version
While the Constitution was framed, debate was split over whether we should have a federalist or a nationalist government. This lecture covers the controversy and how it was resolved in the Constitution.
- published: 25 Feb 2010
- views: 7658
- author: Shane Killian
Federal Powers vs. State Powers
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:26
- Updated: 04 Dec 2012
Are you ready to watch Federal Powers Man do battle with States' Rights Man? Will Concurrent Powers Woman save the day? Bam! Pow! Zap!
http://wn.com/Federal_Powers_vs_State_Powers
Are you ready to watch Federal Powers Man do battle with States' Rights Man? Will Concurrent Powers Woman save the day? Bam! Pow! Zap!
- published: 06 Nov 2006
- views: 65189
- author: ignitelearning
- published: 22 Jun 2009
- views: 9265
- author: mypoliscilab
Facts of Congress - Federalism
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:06
- Updated: 01 Oct 2012
A brief description of federalism as practiced in the United States. Appropriate for classroom use, middle school students and above.
http://wn.com/Facts_of_Congress_Federalism
A brief description of federalism as practiced in the United States. Appropriate for classroom use, middle school students and above.
- published: 06 Feb 2009
- views: 14501
- author: TheCenteronCongress
Carol Berkin on the Federalists and Antifederalists
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:06
- Updated: 13 Oct 2012
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, www.gilderlehrman.org presents historian Carol Berkin on the role of the Federalists and the Antifederalists in the Founding Era.
http://wn.com/Carol_Berkin_on_the_Federalists_and_Antifederalists
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, www.gilderlehrman.org presents historian Carol Berkin on the role of the Federalists and the Antifederalists in the Founding Era.
- published: 16 Apr 2009
- views: 6818
- author: gilderlehrman
The Roots of Federalism
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:44
- Updated: 26 Sep 2012
WEBSITE: www.teachertube.com The Roots of Federalism
http://wn.com/The_Roots_of_Federalism
WEBSITE: www.teachertube.com The Roots of Federalism
- published: 20 Oct 2009
- views: 9648
- author: teachertubeMS
Video Glossary: Federalism
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:56
- Updated: 29 Aug 2012
Federalism
http://wn.com/Video_Glossary_Federalism
Federalism
- published: 24 Mar 2011
- views: 641
- author: mypoliscilab
Federalism in Education Made Simple
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:07
- Updated: 30 Nov 2012
Learn how the federal government is involved in the education system, and how the government's role in the public school impacts the effectiveness of educating the American children.
http://wn.com/Federalism_in_Education_Made_Simple
Learn how the federal government is involved in the education system, and how the government's role in the public school impacts the effectiveness of educating the American children.
- published: 29 Jun 2011
- views: 10657
- author: HeritageFoundation
American FEDERALISM
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:01
- Updated: 15 Oct 2012
Looking at American FEDERALISM, one word at a time. Stop and reflect on each word. When finished, the American government will be more tenable.
http://wn.com/American_FEDERALISM
Looking at American FEDERALISM, one word at a time. Stop and reflect on each word. When finished, the American government will be more tenable.
- published: 08 Apr 2011
- views: 1280
- author: MyCitizenU
American Federalism Panel - Constitution Day Celebration 2011
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 87:07
- Updated: 12 Nov 2012
A panel of distinguished guests speaks on, "American Federalism in Theory and Practice" at Hillsdale College's Constitution Day Celebration on September 18, 2011. The panel chair is the Honorable John Shadegg. The panelists are: Dr. Paul Moreno, Dr. Martha Derthick, and Dr. Thomas G. West. This Constitution Day Celebration was held at the Washington Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, DC
http://wn.com/American_Federalism_Panel_Constitution_Day_Celebration_2011
A panel of distinguished guests speaks on, "American Federalism in Theory and Practice" at Hillsdale College's Constitution Day Celebration on September 18, 2011. The panel chair is the Honorable John Shadegg. The panelists are: Dr. Paul Moreno, Dr. Martha Derthick, and Dr. Thomas G. West. This Constitution Day Celebration was held at the Washington Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, DC
- published: 30 Sep 2011
- views: 5669
- author: hillsdalecollege
Federalism 001
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 18:38
- Updated: 19 Nov 2012
What is federalism?, its key features, its type, power mention in constitution
http://wn.com/Federalism_001
What is federalism?, its key features, its type, power mention in constitution
- published: 06 Jun 2011
- views: 2424
- author: Edu Networking
Federalism and the Energy Revolution 11-17-12
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 91:29
- Updated: 20 Nov 2012
The Environmental Law & Property Rights Practice Group presented this panel during the Federalist Society's 2012 National Lawyers Convention. --Mr. Joel R. Burcat, Saul Ewing LLP --Mr. Jason B. Hutt, Partner, Bracewell & Giuliani LLP --Prof. James R. May, Environmental Law Center, Widener University School of Law --Mr. Craig Segall, Associate Attorney, Sierra Club Environmental Law Program --Moderator: Hon. Timothy M. Tymkovich, US Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit
http://wn.com/Federalism_and_the_Energy_Revolution_11-17-12
The Environmental Law & Property Rights Practice Group presented this panel during the Federalist Society's 2012 National Lawyers Convention. --Mr. Joel R. Burcat, Saul Ewing LLP --Mr. Jason B. Hutt, Partner, Bracewell & Giuliani LLP --Prof. James R. May, Environmental Law Center, Widener University School of Law --Mr. Craig Segall, Associate Attorney, Sierra Club Environmental Law Program --Moderator: Hon. Timothy M. Tymkovich, US Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit
- published: 20 Nov 2012
- views: 24
- author: TheFederalistSociety
The Federalists and Republicans in Early America
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:12
- Updated: 03 Dec 2012
I talk about the Federalists, Anti-Federalists, Republicans, and various other political parties in early America Check out my other history videos if you're interested-- they're generally on American or Roman history All images and audio I used were from the public domain
http://wn.com/The_Federalists_and_Republicans_in_Early_America
I talk about the Federalists, Anti-Federalists, Republicans, and various other political parties in early America Check out my other history videos if you're interested-- they're generally on American or Roman history All images and audio I used were from the public domain
- published: 03 Nov 2011
- views: 2209
- author: TheHumanFiction
Lecture on Early Federalism United States History: Regents
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:53
- Updated: 25 Nov 2012
Aimed at the heart of the NY state regents exams. Early Federal Government concepts.
http://wn.com/Lecture_on_Early_Federalism_United_States_History_Regents
Aimed at the heart of the NY state regents exams. Early Federal Government concepts.
- published: 21 Apr 2008
- views: 11465
- author: hughesDV
Federalism, Freedom and the Constitution
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:53
- Updated: 06 Oct 2012
www.tenthamendmentcenter.com Anyone who desires a constitutionally limited federal government should remember and celebrate that its limitations would necessarily cut both ways. Because if federal policy actually adhered to the letter of the Constitution, no single ideological camp could wield sufficient power to impose a set of beliefs on the entire country. Which was exactly the point of our federalist system, and of the 10th Amendment. Beyond specific, enumerated federal powers, an infinite number of issues were intentionally left to the authority of the people through their state governments. And it is to the states that liberals, conservatives, and even libertarians must address all questions extending beyond the constitutional purview of federal authority. Read full article here www.tenthamendmentcenter.com
http://wn.com/Federalism,_Freedom_and_the_Constitution
www.tenthamendmentcenter.com Anyone who desires a constitutionally limited federal government should remember and celebrate that its limitations would necessarily cut both ways. Because if federal policy actually adhered to the letter of the Constitution, no single ideological camp could wield sufficient power to impose a set of beliefs on the entire country. Which was exactly the point of our federalist system, and of the 10th Amendment. Beyond specific, enumerated federal powers, an infinite number of issues were intentionally left to the authority of the people through their state governments. And it is to the states that liberals, conservatives, and even libertarians must address all questions extending beyond the constitutional purview of federal authority. Read full article here www.tenthamendmentcenter.com
- published: 01 Oct 2009
- views: 18984
- author: TenthAmendmentCenter
Promote Federalism and Replicate the Success of Welfare Reform with Medicaid Block Grants
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:31
- Updated: 12 Nov 2012
The Medicaid program imposes high costs while generating poor results. This Center for Freedom and Prosperity Foundation video explains how block grants, such as the one proposed by Congressman Paul Ryan, will save money and improve healthcare by giving states the freedom to innovate and compete.
http://wn.com/Promote_Federalism_and_Replicate_the_Success_of_Welfare_Reform_with_Medicaid_Block_Grants
The Medicaid program imposes high costs while generating poor results. This Center for Freedom and Prosperity Foundation video explains how block grants, such as the one proposed by Congressman Paul Ryan, will save money and improve healthcare by giving states the freedom to innovate and compete.
- published: 26 Jun 2011
- views: 15687
- author: afq2007
Concept of Federalism
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:00
- Updated: 13 Sep 2012
The video describes the Concept of federalism through Real Life Examples. Enjoy! :) Alina Pavlenco Kremers
http://wn.com/Concept_of_Federalism
The video describes the Concept of federalism through Real Life Examples. Enjoy! :) Alina Pavlenco Kremers
- published: 12 Aug 2009
- views: 3984
- author: ProfPetriStudents
photo: AP / Bassem Tellawi
04 Dec 2012
WASHINGTON (AP) â President Barack Obama warned Syria on Monday that the use of chemical weapons would be "totally unacceptable" and that the country's leaders would be held accountable ... Obama stopped short of detailing those consequences....(size: 6.7Kb)
photo: UN / Shareef Sarhan
02 Dec 2012
Article by WN.com Guest Writer Gilad Atzmon. Israel suffered a humiliating defeat at The UN recently. The nations of the world stood up and said NO to the Jewish state - NO to Israeli occupation, NO to Israeli human rights abuse, NO to Jewish racism. In effect, they stood up and confessed to serious Zio-fatigue ... This is a very good news indeed. But interestingly, this united opposition to Israel is not in response to Israeli strength ... ....(size: 2.6Kb)
photo: USAF / Senior Airman Patrice Clarke
02 Dec 2012
There have been "multiple explosions" near an airfield at a US base in eastern Afghanistan, Nato has said. Afghan intelligence officials told the BBC seven suicide attackers targeted the base in Jalalabad, and witnesses said that gunfire was heard ... Counter claims ... There were no Nato casualties in the attack, officials said ... ....(size: 1.7Kb)
photo: AP / Anja Niedringhaus
03 Dec 2012
UNITED NATIONS. UN leader Ban Ki-moon warned Sunday that if Israel implemented its latest plan for new settlements it would deal an “almost fatal blow” to any prospects for peace with the Palestinians. Israel’s announcement about the 3,000 Jewish settler homes, whose planned location was not revealed, came in the wake of a historic vote by the United Nations General Assembly to upgrade Palestine’s diplomatic status ... ....(size: 4.2Kb)
photo: AP / Patrick Semansky
02 Dec 2012
Article by WN.com Correspondent Dallas Darling. Much like the United States, the Vikings were a paradoxical and duplicitous civilization. Not only were they highly skilled shipbuilders and tremendous explorers, not to mention their expertise in the fishing, farming and trading industries, but they helped establish and contribute to the nation-states of France, England, Ireland, Germany, Russia, and Iceland ... This came to mind when Pfc....(size: 5.5Kb)
Yahoo Daily News
05 Dec 2012
SACRAMENTO (Reuters) - California's attorney general said on Tuesday that state and local law enforcement agencies were not required to honor federal immigration detention requests, a declaration welcomed by immigrant rights activists. Attorney General Kamala Harris, the state's top law enforcement official, said complying with the federal program that helped deport a record 400,000 illegal immigrants last year is voluntary....(size: 2.6Kb)
The Examiner
05 Dec 2012
Department of Agriculture to investigate an incident in which an 8-year old girl from Georgia was bitten while feeding a dolphin at the theme park, stating that they want SeaWorld “held accountable for endangering both the dolphin and the public in violation of the federal Animal Welfare Act." ... public in violation of the federal Animal Welfare Act."....(size: 2.3Kb)
Entertainment Weekly
05 Dec 2012
The Federal Trade Commission announced Tuesday that it has granted Disney an early termination of the statutory antitrust waiting period for all major company acquisitions ... Star Wars movies), since the deal has not been completed ... ....(size: 1.1Kb)
Star Tribune
05 Dec 2012
TULSA, Okla. - Tulsa has fired its athletic director a week after he was named in a federal investigation into an alleged bookie in Oklahoma City ... ....(size: 1.0Kb)
Reuters
05 Dec 2012
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Striking harbor clerks agreed with management at the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to federal mediation on Tuesday in a bid to end a week-old labor clash that has idled most of America's biggest cargo-shipping complex ... But the National Retail Federation asked President Barack Obama last week to intervene, warning that a prolonged strike could have a "devastating impact on the U.S....(size: 6.0Kb)
Crunch
05 Dec 2012
PeopleBrowsr Says “Twitter Changed Position On Eve of Discovery Battle”, Twitter Wants Federal Jurisdiction ... Twitter filed a ‘Notice of Removal’ to Federal Court on the eve of the December 4 discovery hearing, claiming this is a federal antitrust case and should be decided in Federal Court ... Twitter’s inconsistent representations to the State and Federal Courts reinforce our case....(size: 11.7Kb)
Reuters
05 Dec 2012
LOS ANGELES, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Striking harbor clerks agreed with management at the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to federal mediation on Tuesday in a bid to end a week-old labor clash that has idled most of America's biggest cargo-shipping complex ... But the National Retail Federation asked President Barack Obama last week to intervene, warning that a prolonged strike could have a "devastating impact on the U.S....(size: 6.1Kb)
Kansas City Star
05 Dec 2012
New York Daily News
05 Dec 2012
WASHINGTON — New York’s congressional members Tuesday announced they have gotten $200 million in Sandy recovery money from the feds — a first step toward the billions being sought ... ....(size: 1.0Kb)
San Francisco Chronicle
05 Dec 2012
PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona's medical marijuana law is constitutional and federal drug laws don't stand in the way of public officials implementing it, a judge said Tuesday in a ruling that sets the stage for the opening of the state's first pot dispensary ... It grew to include the larger legal question of whether federal drug laws pre-empt Arizona's medical marijuana law....(size: 4.6Kb)
San Francisco Chronicle
05 Dec 2012
Mead rolled out his budget recommendations on Friday, advocating against accepting $50 million in federal funds to expand the low-income health care program. The expansion proposal is a cornerstone of the federal Affordable Care Act ... The Wyoming program currently costs about $500 million a year, split evenly between the state and federal governments....(size: 3.5Kb)
Kansas City Star
05 Dec 2012
Whatever you call them — fiscal cliff, austerity bomb, Debtpocalypse—the impending automatic federal spending cuts are likely to endanger the nation’s short-term economic recovery ... For starters, federal financial aid, without which many students couldn’t attend college, stands to be cut. At our universities, tens of thousands of students receive some sort of federal financial aid....(size: 3.0Kb)
Bloomberg
05 Dec 2012
An Arizona voter-approved law that decriminalizes the possession and sale of marijuana for medical purposes isn’t pre-empted by the federal Controlled Substances Act and, as such, isn’t unconstitutional, a state judge said ... obstacle to federal enforcement,” Gordon said....(size: 1.5Kb)
This article is about the political concept. For theological federalism, see Covenant Theology.
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Federalism is a political concept in which a group of members are bound together by covenant (Latin: foedus, covenant) with a governing representative head. The term "federalism" is also used to describe a system of the government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a central governing authority and constituent political units (such as states or provinces). Federalism is a system based upon democratic rules and institutions in which the power to govern is shared between national and provincial/state governments, creating what is often called a federation. Proponents are often called federalists.
In Europe, "federalist" is sometimes used to describe those who favor a common federal government, with distributed power at regional, national and supranational levels. Most European federalists want this development to continue within the European Union. European federalism originated in post-war Europe; one of the more important initiatives was Winston Churchill's speech in Zurich in 1946.[1]
In Canada, federalism typically implies opposition to sovereigntist movements (most commonly Quebec separatism).
The governments of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, India and Mexico, among others, are also organized along federalist principles.
Federalism may encompass as few as two or three internal divisions, as is the case in Belgium or Bosnia and Herzegovina. In general, two extremes of federalism can be distinguished: at one extreme, the strong federal state is almost completely unitary, with few powers reserved for local governments; while at the other extreme, the national government may be a federal state in name only, being a confederation in actuality.
In 1999, the Government of Canada established the Forum of Federations as an international network for exchange of best practices among federal and federalizing countries. Headquartered in Ottawa, the Forum of Federations partner governments include Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ethiopia, Germany, India, Mexico, Nigeria and Switzerland.
Some Christian denominations are organized on federalist principles; in these churches this is known as ecclesiastic or theological federalism.
Examples of federalism[link]
[edit] Federalism in Europe
Several federal systems exist in Europe, such as in Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the European Union. Germany and the EU are the only examples in the world where members of the federal upper houses, (the Bundesrat and the Council), are neither elected nor appointed but are composed of the governments of their constituents.
In Germany, federalism was abolished only during Nazism (1933–1945) and in East Germany during most of its existence (1952–1990). Adolf Hitler viewed federalism as an obstacle to his goals. As he wrote in Mein Kampf, "National Socialism must claim the right to impose its principles on the whole German nation, without regard to what were hitherto the confines of federal states."[page needed] Therefore the idea of a strong, centralized government has negative associations in German politics, although prior to 1919 or 1933, many social democrats and liberals favored centralization in principle.[citation needed]
Since earlier in Britain, an Imperial Federation was once seen as a method of solving the Home Rule problem in Ireland, federalism has long been proposed as a solution to the "Irish Problem", and more lately, the "West Lothian question".[2]
European Union[link]
Following the end of World War II, several movements began advocating a European federation, such as the Union of European Federalists or the European Movement, founded in 1948. Those organizations were influential in the European unification process, but never in a decisive way.[citation needed]
Although federalism was mentioned both in the drafts of the Maastricht treaty and the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, it was never adopted by the representatives of the member countries, all of whom would have to agree to the term. The strongest advocates of European federalism have been Germany, Italy, Belgium and Luxembourg while those historically most strongly opposed have been the United Kingdom and France; while other countries that have never campaigned specifically for a particular means of governance in Europe are considered as federalists.[citation needed] Some would consider this to be the case with states such as Spain, Portugal, Greece, and Hungary. It is also remarkable that in recent times the French government has become increasingly pro-European Union, while countries like the Czech Republic have taken on the roles of primary opponents to a stronger EU.[citation needed]
Those uncomfortable using the “F” word in the EU context should feel free to refer to it as a quasi-federal or federal-like system. Nevertheless, for the purposes of the analysis here, the EU has the necessary attributes of a federal system. It is striking that while many scholars of the EU continue to resist analyzing it as a federation, most contemporary students of federalism view the EU as a federal system (See for instance, Bednar, Filippov et al., McKay, Kelemen, Defigueido and Weingast). (R. Daniel Kelemen)[3]
Australia[link]
Main article: Federalism in Australia
On January 1, 1901 the Australian nation emerged as a federation. The Australian continent was colonized by the United Kingdom in 1788, who subsequently established six self-governing colonies there. In the 1890s the governments of these colonies all held referendums on becoming a unified, independent nation. When all the colonies voted in favour of federation, the Federation of Australia commenced, resulting in the establishment of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901. Whilst the Federation of Australia emerged in 1901, the States of Australia remained colonies of Britain until 1986 when the UK and Australia passed the Australia Acts. The model of Australian federalism adheres closely to the original model of the United States of America, though through a Westminster system.
Brazil[link]
See also: States of Brazil
In Brazil, the fall of the monarchy in 1889 by a military coup d'état led to the rise of the presidential system, headed by Deodoro da Fonseca. Aided by well-known jurist Ruy Barbosa, Fonseca established federalism in Brazil by decree, but this system of government would be confirmed by every Brazilian constitution since 1891, although some of them would distort some of the federalist principles. The 1937 Constitution, for example, granted the federal government the authority to appoint State Governors (called interventors) at will, thus centralizing power in the hands of President Getúlio Vargas. Brazil also uses the Fonseca system to regulate interstate trade.
The Brazilian Constitution of 1988 introduced a new component to the ideas of federalism, including municipalities as federal entities. Brazilian municipalities are now invested with some of the traditional powers usually granted to states in federalism, and although they are not allowed to have a Constitution, they are structured by an organic law.
Canada[link]
Main article: Canadian federalism
In Canada, the system of federalism is described by the division of powers between the federal parliament and the country's provincial governments. Under the Constitution Act (previously known as the British North America Act) of 1867, specific powers of legislation are allotted. Section 91 of the constitution gives rise to federal authority for legislation, whereas section 92 gives rise to provincial powers.
For matters not directly dealt with in the constitution, the federal government retains residual powers; however, conflict between the two levels of government, relating to which level has legislative jurisdiction over various matters, has been a longstanding and evolving issue. Areas of contest include legislation with respect to regulation of the economy, taxation, and natural resources.
Venezuela[link]
The Federal War ended in 1863 with the signing of the Treaty of Coche by both the centralist government of the time and the Federal Forces. The United States of Venezuela were subsequently incorporated under a "Federation of Sovereign States" upon principles borrowed from the Articles of Confederation of the United States of America. In this Federation, each State had a "President" of its own that controlled almost every issue, even the creation of "State Armies," while the Federal Army was required to obtain presidential permission to enter any given state.
However, more than 140 years later, the original system has gradually evolved into a quasi-centralist form of government. While the 1999 Constitution still defines Venezuela as a Federal Republic, it abolished the Senate, transferred competences of the States to the Federal Government and granted the President of the Republic vast powers to intervene in the States and Municipalities.
India[link]
Main article: Federalism in India
The Government of India (referred to as the Union Government) was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of a federal union of 28 states and 7 union territories.
The governance of India is based on a tiered system, where in the Constitution of India appropriates the subjects on which each tier of government has executive powers. The Constitution uses the Seventh Schedule to delimit the subjects under three categories, namely the Union list, the State list and the Concurrent list.
Asymmetric federalism[link]
A distinguishing aspect of Indian federalism is that unlike many other forms of federalism, it is asymmetric.[4] Article 370 makes special provisions for the state of Jammu and Kashmir as per its Instrument of Accession. Article 371 makes special provisions for the states of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Goa, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Sikkim as per their accession or state-hood deals. Also one more aspect of Indian federalism is system of President's Rule in which the central government (through its appointed Governor) takes control of state's administration for certain months when no party can form a government in the state or there is violent disturbance in the state.
Coalition politics[link]
Although the Constitution does not say so, India is now a multilingual federation.[5] India has a multi-party system,with political allegiances frequently based on linguistic, regional and caste identities,[6] necessitating coalition politics, especially at the Union level.Coalition politics have created a balance in the legislatures.
Russian Federation[link]
Main article: Russian federalism
The post-Imperial nature of Russian subdivision of government changed towards a generally autonomous model which began with the establishment of the USSR (of which Russia was governed as part). It was liberalized in the aftermath of the Soviet Union, with the reforms under Boris Yeltsin preserving much of the Soviet structure while applying increasingly liberal reforms to the governance of the constituent republics and subjects (while also coming into conflict with Chechen secessionist rebels during the Chechen War). Some of the reforms under Yeltsin were scaled back by Vladimir Putin.
All of Russia's subdivisional entities are known as subjects, with some smaller entities, such as the republics enjoying more autonomy than other subjects on account of having an extant presence of a culturally non-Russian ethnic minority.
United States[link]
Main article: Federalism in the United States
United States census statistical areas by state, district, or territory
AS
MP
GU
VI
Federalism in the United States is the evolving relationship between state governments and the federal government of the United States. American government has evolved from a system of dual federalism to one of associative federalism. In "Federalist No. 46," James Madison asserted that the states and national government "are in fact but different agents and trustees of the people, constituted with different powers." Alexander Hamilton, writing in "Federalist No. 28," suggested that both levels of government would exercise authority to the citizens' benefit: "If their [the peoples'] rights are invaded by either, they can make use of the other as the instrument of redress." (1)
Because the states were preexisting political entities, the U.S. Constitution did not need to define or explain federalism in any one section. However, it contains numerous mentions of the rights and responsibilities of state governments and state officials vis-à-vis the federal government. The federal government has certain express powers (also called enumerated powers) which are powers spelled out in the Constitution, including the right to levy taxes, declare war, and regulate interstate and foreign commerce. In addition, the Necessary and Proper Clause gives the federal government the implied power to pass any law "necessary and proper" for the execution of its express powers. Other powers—the reserved powers—are reserved to the people or the states.[7] The power delegated to the federal government was significantly expanded by the Supreme Court decision in McCulloch v. Maryland (1819), amendments to the Constitution following the Civil War, and by some later amendments—as well as the overall claim of the Civil War, that the states were legally subject to the final dictates of the federal government.
The Federalist party of the United States were opposed by the Democratic-Republicans, including powerful figures such as Thomas Jefferson. The Democratic-Republicans mainly believed that:
a) The Legislative had too much power (mainly because of the Necessary and Proper Clause) and that they were unchecked.
b) The Executive branch had too much power, and that there was no check on him. A dictator would arise.
c) A bill of rights should be coupled with the constitution to prevent a dictator (then believed to eventually be the president) from exploiting citizens. The federalists, on the other hand, argued that it was impossible to list all the rights, and those that were not listed could be easily overlooked because they were not in the official bill of rights. Rather, rights in specific cases were to be decided by the judicial system of courts.
Decades after the Civil War, the federal government increased greatly in size and influence, in terms of its influence on everyday life and its size relative to the state governments. Reasons included the need to regulate businesses and industries that span state borders, attempts to secure civil rights, and the provision of social services. The federal government acquired no substantial new powers until the acceptance by the Supreme Court of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.
Many people[who?] believe that the federal government has grown beyond the bounds permitted by the express powers. From 1938 until 1995, the U.S. Supreme Court did not invalidate any federal statute as exceeding Congress' power under the Commerce Clause for over fifty years until United States v. Lopez overturned the power of the Federal government under the Commerce Clause (see also, challenging the Gun-Free School Zones Act). However, most actions by the federal government can find some legal support among the express powers, such as the Commerce Clause. The Commerce Clause is used by Congress to justify certain federal laws, but its applicability has been narrowed by the Supreme Court in recent years. For example, the Supreme Court rejected the Gun-Free School Zones Act in the aforementioned Lopez decision, and they also rejected the civil remedy portion of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 in the United States v. Morrison decision. Recently, the Commerce Clause was interpreted to include marijuana laws in the Gonzales v. Raich decision.
Dual federalism holds that the federal government and the state governments are co-equals, each sovereign. In this theory, parts of the Constitution are interpreted narrowly, such as the Tenth Amendment, the Supremacy Clause, the Necessary and Proper Clause, and the Commerce Clause. Under this narrow interpretation, the federal government has jurisdiction only if the Constitution clearly grants such. In this case, there is a large group of powers belonging to the states or the people, and the federal government is limited to only those powers explicitly listed in the Constitution.[8]
However, since the Civil War Era, the national courts often interpret the federal government as the final judge of its own powers under dual federalism. The establishment of Native American governments (which are separate and distinct from state and federal government) exercising limited powers of sovereignty, has given rise to the concept of "bi-federalism."
Federalism with two components[link]
Belgium[link]
 |
This section contains information which may be of unclear or questionable importance or relevance to the article's subject matter. Please help improve this article by clarifying or removing superfluous information. (September 2009) |
- Main articles: Belgian federal government, Belgian federal parliament and Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium
Federalism in the Kingdom of Belgium is an evolving system. Belgian federalism reflects both the linguistic communities (French and Dutch, and to a lesser extent German) and the economic regions (Brussels, Flanders and Wallonia). These correspond to the language areas in Belgium. Although officially there are three language areas, for all practical purposes only two languages are relevant on the federal level, Dutch and French:
- Brussels is officially a bilingual area, but it has a French-speaking majority.[9]
- Flanders is the region associated with the Belgium's Dutch-speaking majority, i.e. the Flemish Community.
- Due to its relatively small size (approximately one percent) the German-speaking Community of Belgium does not have much influence on national politics.
- Wallonia is a French-speaking area, except for the East Cantons. French is the second most spoken first language in Belgium, following Dutch. Within the French-speaking Community of Belgium, there is a geographical and political distinction between Wallonia and Brussels for historical and sociological reasons.[10]
On one hand, this means that the Belgian political landscape, generally speaking, consists of only two components: the Dutch-speaking population represented by Dutch-language political parties, and the majority populations of Wallonia and Brussels, represented by their French-speaking parties. The Brussels region emerges as a third component.[11] This specific dual form of federalism, with the special position of Brussels, consequentially has a number of political issues—even minor ones—that are being fought out over the Dutch/French-language political division. With such issues, a final decision is possible only in the form of a compromise. This tendency gives this dual federalism model a number of traits that generally are ascribed to confederalism, and makes the future of Belgian federalism contentious.[12][13]
On the other hand, Belgian federalism is federated with three components. An affirmative resolution concerning Brussels' place in the federal system passed in the parliaments of Wallonia and Brussels.[14][15] These resolutions passed against the desires of Dutch-speaking parties, who are generally in favour of a federal system with two components (i.e. the Dutch and French Communities of Belgium). However, the Flemish representatives in the Parliament of the Brussels Capital-Region voted in favour of the Brussels resolution, with the exception of one party. The chairman of the Walloon Parliament stated on July 17, 2008 that, "Brussels would take an attitude".[16] Brussels' parliament passed the resolution on July 18, 2008:
- The Parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region approves with great majority a resolution claiming the presence of Brussels itself at the negotiations of the reformation of the Belgian State.[15] July 18, 2008
This aspect of Belgian federalism helps to explain the difficulties of partition; Brussels, with its importance, is linked to both Wallonia and Flanders and vice-versa. This situation, however, does not erase the traits of a confederation in the Belgian system.
Other examples[link]
Current examples of two-sided federalism:
- Bosnia and Herzegovina is a federation of two entities: Republika Srpska and Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Historical examples of two-sided federalism include:
- Czechoslovakia, until the Czech Republic and Slovakia separated in 1993.
- The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, from 1992 to 2003 when it became a confederation titled the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro. This confederation expired 2006 as Montenegro declared its independence.
- The 1960 Constitution of Cyprus was based on the same ideas, but the union of Greeks and Turks failed.
- United Republic of Tanzania (formerly United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar), which was the union of Tanganika and Zanzibar.
- Iraq adapted a federal system in 15 October 2005, and formally recognized the Kurdistan Region as the county's first and currently only federal region. See Constitution of Iraq for more information regarding Iraq's method of creating federal entities.
Proposed federalism[link]
It has been proposed in several unitary states to establish a federal system, for various reasons.
China[link]
Main article: Federalism in China
China is the largest unitary state in the world by both population and land area. Although China has had long periods of central rule for centuries, it is often argued that the unitary structure of the Chinese government is far too unwieldy to effectively and equitably manage the country's affairs. On the other hand, Chinese nationalists are suspicious of decentralization as a form of secessionism and a backdoor for national disunity; still others argue that the degree of autonomy given to provincial-level officials in the People's Republic of China amounts to a de facto federalism.
Libya[link]
Shortly after the 2011 Libyan civil war, some in the eastern region of the country (Cyrenaica) began to call for the new regime to be federal, with the traditional three regions of Libya (Cyrenaica, Tripolitania, and Fezzan) being the constituent units. A group calling itself the Cyrenaican Transitional Council issued a declaration of autonomy on 6 March 2012; this move was rejected by the National Transitional Council in Tripoli.[17][18][19][20]
Federalism as the Anarchist Mode of Political Organization[link]
Anarchists are against the State but are not against political organization or "governance" -- so long as it is self-governance utilizing direct democracy. The mode of political organization preferred by anarchists, in general, is federalism or confederalism. However, the anarchist definition of federalism tends to differ from the definition of federalism assumed by pro-state political scientists. The following is a brief description of federalism from section I.5 of An Anarchist FAQ:
- The social and political structure of anarchy is similar to that of the economic structure, i.e., it is based on a voluntary federation of decentralised, directly democratic policy-making bodies. These are the neighbourhood and community assemblies and their confederations. In these grassroots political units, the concept of "self-management" becomes that of "self-government", a form of municipal organisation in which people take back control of their living places from the bureaucratic state and the capitalist class whose interests it serves.
- [...]
- The key to that change, from the anarchist standpoint, is the creation of a network of participatory communities based on self-government through direct, face-to-face democracy in grassroots neighbourhood and community assemblies [meetings for discussion, debate, and decision making].
- [...]
- Since not all issues are local, the neighbourhood and community assemblies will also elect mandated and recallable delegates to the larger-scale units of self-government in order to address issues affecting larger areas, such as urban districts, the city or town as a whole, the county, the bio-region, and ultimately the entire planet. Thus the assemblies will confederate at several levels in order to develop and co-ordinate common policies to deal with common problems.
- [...]
- This need for co-operation does not imply a centralised body. To exercise your autonomy by joining self-managing organisations and, therefore, agreeing to abide by the decisions you help make is not a denial of that autonomy (unlike joining a hierarchical structure, where you forsake autonomy within the organisation). In a centralised system, we must stress, power rests at the top and the role of those below is simply to obey (it matters not if those with the power are elected or not, the principle is the same). In a federal system, power is not delegated into the hands of a few (obviously a "federal" government or state is a centralised system). Decisions in a federal system are made at the base of the organisation and flow upwards so ensuring that power remains decentralised in the hands of all. Working together to solve common problems and organise common efforts to reach common goals is not centralisation and those who confuse the two make a serious error -- they fail to understand the different relations of authority each generates and confuse obedience with co-operation.[21]
Christian Church[link]
Federalism also finds expression in ecclesiology (the doctrine of the church). For example, presbyterian church governance resembles parliamentary republicanism (a form of political federalism) to a large extent. In Presbyterian denominations, the local church is ruled by elected elders, some of which are ministerial. Each church then sends representatives or commissioners to presbyteries and further to a general assembly. Each greater level of assembly has ruling authority over its constituent members. In this governmental structure, each component has some level of sovereignty over itself. As in political federalism, in presbyterian ecclesiology there is shared sovereignty.
Other ecclesiologies also have significant representational and federalistic components, including the more anarchic congregational ecclesiology, and even in more hierarchical episcopal ecclesiology.
Some Christians argue that the earliest source of political federalism (or federalism in human institutions; in contrast to theological federalism) is the ecclesiastical federalism found in the Bible. They point to the structure of the early Christian Church as described (and to many, prescribed) in the New Testament. This is particularly demonstrated in the Council of Jerusalem, described in Acts chapter 15, where the Apostles and elders gathered together to govern the Church; the Apostles being representatives of the universal Church, and elders being such for the local church. To this day, elements of federalism can be found in almost every Christian denomination, some more than others.
Constitutional structure[link]
Division of powers[link]
Not to be confused with Separation of powers.
In a federation, the division of power between federal and regional governments is usually outlined in the constitution. It is in this way that the right to self-government of the component states is usually constitutionally entrenched. Component states often also possess their own constitutions which they may amend as they see fit, although in the event of conflict the federal constitution usually takes precedence.
In almost all federations the central government enjoys the powers of foreign policy and national defense. Were this not the case a federation would not be a single sovereign state, per the UN definition. Notably, the states of Germany retain the right to act on their own behalf at an international level, a condition originally granted in exchange for the Kingdom of Bavaria's agreement to join the German Empire in 1871. Beyond this the precise division of power varies from one nation to another. The constitutions of Germany and the United States provide that all powers not specifically granted to the federal government are retained by the states. The Constitution of some countries like Canada and India, on the other hand, state that powers not explicitly granted to the provincial governments are retained by the federal government. Much like the US system, the Australian Constitution allocates to the Federal government (the Commonwealth of Australia) the power to make laws about certain specified matters which were considered too difficult for the States to manage, so that the States retain all other areas of responsibility. Under the division of powers of the European Union in the Lisbon Treaty, powers which are not either exclusively of European competence or shared between EU and state are retained by the constituent states.
Where every component state of a federation possesses the same powers, we are said to find 'symmetric federalism'. Asymmetric federalism exists where states are granted different powers, or some possess greater autonomy than others do. This is often done in recognition of the existence of a distinct culture in a particular region or regions. In Spain, "historical communities" such as Navarre, Galicia, Catalonia, and the Basque Country have more powers than other autonomous communities, partly to deal with their distinctness and to appease nationalist leanings, partly out of respect of privileges granted earlier in history.
It is common that during the historical evolution of a federation there is a gradual movement of power from the component states to the centre, as the federal government acquires additional powers, sometimes to deal with unforeseen circumstances. The acquisition of new powers by a federal government may occur through formal constitutional amendment or simply through a broadening of the interpretation of a government's existing constitutional powers given by the courts.
Usually, a federation is formed at two levels: the central government and the regions (states, provinces, territories), and little to nothing is said about second or third level administrative political entities. Brazil is an exception, because the 1988 Constitution included the municipalities as autonomous political entities making the federation tripartite, encompassing the Union, the States, and the municipalities. Each state is divided into municipalities (municípios) with their own legislative council (câmara de vereadores) and a mayor (prefeito), which are partly autonomous from both Federal and State Government. Each municipality has a "little constitution", called "organic law" (lei orgânica). Mexico is an intermediate case, in that municipalities are granted full-autonomy by the federal constitution and their existence as autonomous entities (municipio libre, "free municipality") is established by the federal government and cannot be revoked by the states' constitutions. Moreover, the federal constitution determines which powers and competencies belong exclusively to the municipalities and not to the constituent states. However, municipalities do not have an elected legislative assembly.
Federations often employ the paradox of being a union of states, while still being states (or having aspects of statehood) in themselves. For example, James Madison (author of the US Constitution) wrote in Federalist Paper No. 39 that the US Constitution "is in strictness neither a national nor a federal constitution; but a composition of both. In its foundation, it is federal, not national; in the sources from which the ordinary powers of the Government are drawn, it is partly federal, and partly national..." This stems from the fact that states in a federation maintain all sovereignty that they do not yield to the federation by their own consent. This was reaffirmed by the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which reserves all powers and rights that are not delegated to the Federal Government as left to the States and to the people.
Organs of government[link]
The structures of most federal governments incorporate mechanisms to protect the rights of component states. One method, known as 'intrastate federalism', is to directly represent the governments of component states in federal political institutions. Where a federation has a bicameral legislature the upper house is often used to represent the component states while the lower house represents the people of the nation as a whole. A federal upper house may be based on a special scheme of apportionment, as is the case in the senates of the United States and Australia, where each state is represented by an equal number of senators irrespective of the size of its population.
Alternatively, or in addition to this practice, the members of an upper house may be indirectly elected by the government or legislature of the component states, as occurred in the United States prior to 1913, or be actual members or delegates of the state governments, as, for example, is the case in the German Bundesrat and in the Council of the European Union. The lower house of a federal legislature is usually directly elected, with apportionment in proportion to population, although states may sometimes still be guaranteed a certain minimum number of seats.
In Canada, the provincial governments represent regional interests and negotiate directly with the central government. A First Ministers conference of the prime minister and the provincial premiers is the de facto highest political forum in the land, although it is not mentioned in the constitution.
Federations often have special procedures for amendment of the federal constitution. As well as reflecting the federal structure of the state this may guarantee that the self-governing status of the component states cannot be abolished without their consent. An amendment to the constitution of the United States must be ratified by three-quarters of either the state legislatures, or of constitutional conventions specially elected in each of the states, before it can come into effect. In referendums to amend the constitutions of Australia and Switzerland it is required that a proposal be endorsed not just by an overall majority of the electorate in the nation as a whole, but also by separate majorities in each of a majority of the states or cantons. In Australia, this latter requirement is known as a double majority.
Some federal constitutions also provide that certain constitutional amendments cannot occur without the unanimous consent of all states or of a particular state. The US constitution provides that no state may be deprived of equal representation in the senate without its consent. In Australia, if a proposed amendment will specifically impact one or more states, then it must be endorsed in the referendum held in each of those states. Any amendment to the Canadian constitution that would modify the role of the monarchy would require unanimous consent of the provinces. The German Basic Law provides that no amendment is admissible at all that would abolish the federal system.
Other technical terms[link]
- Fiscal federalism – federalism involving the transfer of funds between different levels of government.
- Formal federalism (or 'constitutional federalism') – the delineation of powers is specified in a written constitution.
- Executive federalism (also known as 'administrative federalism').
Federalism as a political philosophy[link]
Main articles: Federalism and Federalist
The meaning of federalism, as a political movement, and of what constitutes a 'federalist', varies with country and historical context.[citation needed] Movements associated with the establishment or development of federations can be either centralising or decentralising.[citation needed] For example, at the time those nations were being established, factions known as 'federalists' in the United States and Australia were those who advocated the creation of strong central government. Similarly, in European Union politics, federalists are mostly those who seek greater EU integration. In contrast, in Spain and post-war Germany, federal movements have sought decentralisation: the transfer of power from central authorities to local units. In Canada, where Quebec separatism has been a political force for several decades, the 'federalist' force is dedicated to keeping Quebec inside Canada.
See also[link]
- Federal republic
- Asymmetric federalism
- Federacy
- Anti-Federalism
- Federal Union
- Confederation
- Consociationalism
- Federalist
- Federalist Society
- Federation
- Pillarisation
- Subsidiarity principle
- Layer cake federalism
- States' rights
- Cooperative Federalism
- Union of Utrecht
- Democratic World Federalists
- World Federalist Movement
References[link]
- ^ Winston Churchill's speech in Zurich in 1946
- ^ "UK Politics: Talking Politics The West Lothian Question". BBC News. 1 June 1998. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/talking_politics/82358.stm.
- ^ Kelemen, R. Daniel (September 2005). "Built to Last? The durability of EU federalism" (pdf). Princeton University. http://www.princeton.edu/~smeunier/Kelemen%20Memo.pdf. Retrieved 2011-11-28.
- ^ Indian Constitution at Work The Philosophy of the Constitution, NCERT, Pg. 232.
- ^ Indian Constitution at Work The Philosophy of the Constitution, NCERT, Pg. 233.
- ^ Johnson, A "Federalism: The Indian Experience ", HSRC Press,1996, Pg 3, ISBN
- ^ "THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA With Explanatory Notes". U.S. Department of State's Bureau of International Information Programs. http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/constitution/supreme.htm.
- ^ "Constitutional Topic: Federalism". The U.S. Constitution Online. http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_fedr.html.
- ^ (Dutch)”Taalgebruik in Brussel en de plaats van het Nederlands. Enkele recente bevindingen”, Rudi Janssens, Brussels Studies, Nummer 13, 7 January 2008 (see page 4).
- ^ Historically, the Walloons were for a federalism with three components and the Flemings for two. (See: Witte, Els & Craeybeckx, Jan. Politieke geschiedenis van België. Antwerpen, SWU, pp. 455, 459-460.) This difference is one of the elements which makes the Belgian issue so complicated. The Flemings wanted to defend their language while the Walloons wanted to defend their economy: It is true that the Walloon movement, which has never stopped affirming that Wallonia is part of the French cultural area, has never made this cultural struggle a priority, being more concerned to struggle against its status as a political minority and the economic decline which was only a corollary to it. (Wallonia today - The search for an identity without nationalist mania - (1995)
- ^ Charles Picqué, Minister-President of the Brussels-Capital Region said in a September, 2008 declaration in Namur at the National Walloon Feast : It is, besides, impossible to have a debate about the institutions of Belgium in which Brussels would be excluded. (French Il n'est d'ailleurs, pas question d'imaginer un débat institutionnel dont Bruxelles serait exclu. [1]) The Brussels-Capital Region has claimed and obtained a special place in the current negotiations about the reformation of the Belgian state. (French Pendant 18 ans, Bruxelles est demeurée sans statut (...) L'absence de statut pour Bruxelles s'expliquait par la différence de vision que partis flamands et partis francophones en avaient: [les partis flamands étaient] allergiques à la notion de Région (...) les francophones (...) considéraient que Bruxelles devait devenir une Région à part entière (...) Les partis flamands ont accepté [en 1988] la création d'une troisième Région et l'exercice par celle-ci des mêmes compétences que celles des deux autres... C.E. Lagasse, Les nouvelles institutions politiques de la Belgique et de l'Europe, Erasme, Namur, 2003, pp. 177- 178 ISBN )
- ^ "Brussels". Encyclopædia Britannica. http://concise.britannica.com/dday/print?articleId=106096&fullArticle=true&tocId=9680.
- ^ "Bruxelles dans l'oeil du cyclone" (in French). France 2. http://info.france2.fr/dossiers/europe/34025346-fr.php?page=2.
- ^ La Libre Belgique 17 juillet 2008
- ^ a b La Libre Belgique, 19 juillet 2008
- ^ Le Vif
- ^ "Eastern Libya declares autonomy". Russia Today. 6 March 2012. http://rt.com/news/libya-split-cyrenaica-autonomy-971/. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
- ^ "Eastern Libya declares semiautonomous region". Google News. The Associated Press. 6 March 2012. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iklOh4sVKKczlfYNiqahD915lANQ?docId=0b4e6704e5574d8bba64dc44571b9b21. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
- ^ http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/09/us-libya-east-autonomy-idUSBRE82814020120309
- ^ http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/libyan-leader-says-autonomy-call-a-foreign-plot/
- ^ Anarchist Writers. "I.5 What could the social structure of anarchy look like?" An Anarchist FAQ. http://www.infoshop.org/page/AnarchistFAQSectionI5
In Literature[link]
- In the futurist story On Deception Watch: A World Federation Novel by David H. Spielberg, a plausible high-tech path is created to an economic-based new paradigm for the legitimacy of governance. Leveraged off the successful development of laser fusion energy, the United States and The People's Republic of China join forces to change the world.
External links[link]
 |
Look up federalism in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
- P.-J. Proudhon, The Principle of Federation, 1863.
- A Comparative Bibliography: Regulatory Competition on Corporate Law
- A Rhetoric for Ratification: The Argument of the Federalist and its Impact on Constitutional Interpretation
- National
- Teaching about Federalism in the United States - From the Education Resources Information Center Clearinghouse for Social Studies/Social Science Education Bloomington, Indiana.
- An Ottawa, Canada-based international organization for federal countries that share best practices among countries with that system of government
- Tenth Amendment Center Federalism and States Rights in the U.S.
- BackStory Radio episode on the origins and current status of Federalism
- Constitutional law scholar Hester Lessard discusses Vancouver's Downtown Eastside and jurisdictional justice McGill University, 2011
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