Politics
Faultlines:
conservative - progressive
left - rightRelated anarchism - black pride - capitalism - censorship - civil rights - communism - democracy - discrimination - fascism - gay pride - group - liberalism - libertarianism - Marxism - Nazism - racism - political correctness - power - radical politics - revolution - sexism
Essays: art and politics - politicization of power -Walter Benjamin
map of the African slave trade
Che Guevara poster by Jim Fitzpatrick (1968)
Paris May 1968 revolt
Definition
Politics is the process by which groups make decisions. Although the term is generally applied to behavior within governments, politics is observed in all human (and many non-human) group interactions, including corporate, academic, and religious institutions.
Political science (also political studies) is the study of political behavior and examines the acquisition and application of power.--http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics [Aug 2006]
Political cinema
Political cinema in the narrow sense of the term is a cinema which portrays current or historical events or social conditions in a partisan way in order to inform or to agitate the spectator. Political cinema exists in different forms such as documentaries, feature films, or even animated and experimental films. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_cinema [Aug 2006]
Superpowers in history
image sourced here.
Although the term superpower is a recent one, the word has been retrospectively applied to previous military powers. The oldest superpower on the planet, and one which maintained this at various points in history, were the civilizations in Mesopotamia, with their unrivaled wealth, antiquity and cultural domination of Asia and beyond. The Roman Empire covered most of Europe, North Africa & Asia Minor. Imperial China once had the world's largest navy, a record not broken until early 19th century. The Mongol Empire spanned from southeast Asia to Eastern Europe. In 16th and 17th centuries the Ottoman Empire stretched from the Straits of Gibraltar to the Persian Gulf and challenged the nations of Europe in its advances along its southeastern border. At its peak in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the British Empire covered a quarter of the Earth's land area and comprised a third of its population. It was said "The sun never sets on the British Empire." During its Siglo de Oro, Spain had possession of Italy, Germany, The Netherlands and many colonies in the Americas. After gaining independence from Spain the Dutch Empire had territories all over the globe. At various times during its history France had the largest military in the world, with colonies in western Africa, North and South America and southeast Asia. Not as clearly in this category are nations that gained unquestioned hegemony over a large neighborhood at a time before global travel was a reality. Nations such as ancient Egypt, the Aztec Empire, the Persian Empire, and the short lived Greek/Macedonian empire under Alexander the Great could in one sense be considered early superpowers, at least for a time when an understanding of what is meant by "the world" was much smaller than it is today. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superpower#Superpowers_in_history [May 2005]