Government, Law, and Politics

The political system by which a country or community is administered and regulated. Most of the key words commonly used to describe governments—words such as monarchy, oligarchy,...

• ʿAbbās I

  shah of Persia from 1588 to 1629, who strengthened the Ṣafavid dynasty by expelling Ottoman and Uzbek troops from Persian soil and by creating a standing army. He also made Eṣfahān the capital of Persia and fostered commerce and the arts, so that Persian...

• ʿAbbāsid dynasty

  second of the two great dynasties of the Muslim Empire of the Caliphate. It overthrew the Umayyad caliphate in ad 750 and reigned as the ʿAbbāsid caliphate until destroyed by the Mongol invasion in 1258. The name is derived from that of the uncle of...

• ʿAbd al-Muʾmin

  Berber caliph of the Almohad dynasty (reigned 1130–63), who conquered the North African Maghrib from the Almoravids and brought all the Berbers under one rule. Life ʿAbd al-Muʾmin came from a humble family: his father had been a potter. He seems to have...

• ʿAbd al-Raḥmān III

  first caliph and greatest ruler of the Umayyad Arab Muslim dynasty of Spain. He reigned as hereditary emir (“prince”) of Córdoba from October 912 and took the title of caliph in 929. Accession as emir ʿAbd al-Raḥmān succeeded his grandfather ʿAbd Allāh...

• Abdelkader

  amīr of Mascara (from 1832), the military and religious leader who founded the Algerian state and led the Algerians in their 19th-century struggle against French domination (1840–46). Early career His physical handsomeness and the qualities of his mind...

• Abdullah, Sheikh Muhammad

  a prominent figure in India’s struggle for independence from British rule, who fought for the rights of the Kashmir region and won a semiautonomous status for Jammu and Kashmir state within independent India. Abdullah was educated at the Prince of Wales...

• Achaemenian dynasty

  (559–330 bc), ancient Iranian dynasty whose kings founded and ruled the Achaemenian Empire. Achaemenes (Persian Hakhamanish), the Achaemenians’ eponymous ancestor, is presumed to have lived early in the 7th century bc, but little is known of his life....

• Acheson, Dean

  U.S. secretary of state (1949–53) and adviser to four presidents, who became the principal creator of U.S. foreign policy in the Cold War period following World War II; he helped to create the Western alliance in opposition to the Soviet Union and other...

• Adams family

  Massachusetts family with deep roots in American history whose members made major contributions to the nation’s political and intellectual life for more than 150 years. Established in America by Henry Adams, who emigrated from England to Massachusetts...

• Adams, Gerry

  president of Sinn Féin, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), one of the chief architects of Sinn Féin’s shift to a policy of seeking a peaceful settlement to sectarian violence in Northern Ireland. He was elected several times to the...

• Addison, Christopher Addison, 1st Viscount

  British surgeon and statesman who was prominent in both Liberal and Labour governments between the wars and after World War II. Addison was educated at Trinity College, Harrogate, Yorkshire, and at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical College, London....

• Addison, Joseph

  English essayist, poet, and dramatist, who, with Richard Steele, was a leading contributor to and guiding spirit of the periodicals The Tatler and The Spectator. His writing skill led to his holding important posts in government while the Whigs were...

• administrative law

  the legal framework within which public administration is carried out. It derives from the need to create and develop a system of public administration under law, a concept that may be compared with the much older notion of justice under law. Since administration...

• Adorno family

  Genoese family prominent in the politics of that city’s “popular” (democratic) dogeship (1339–1528), when the old aristocracy was exiled and new families seized power. Branches of the family became prominent in Flanders and Spain. They acceded to real...

• Aeschines

  Athenian orator who advocated peace with Philip II of Macedonia and who was a bitter political opponent of the statesman Demosthenes. Aeschines was brought up in humble circumstances, and in the early part of his career he worked as a tragic actor and...

• Āl Bū Saʿīd dynasty

  Muslim dynasty of Oman, in southeastern Arabia (c. 1749 to the present), and of Zanzibar, in East Africa (c. 1749–1964). Aḥmad ibn Saʿīd, who had been governor of Ṣuḥār, Oman, in the 1740s under the Persian Yaʿrubids, managed to displace the Yaʿrubids...

• Alaungpaya Dynasty

  the last ruling dynasty (1752–1885) of Myanmar (Burma). The dynasty’s collapse in the face of British imperial might marked the end of Myanmar sovereignty for more than 60 years. (Some authorities limit the name Konbaung dynasty to the period beginning...

• Albert, Carl

  American politician who served as a representative from Oklahoma (1947–77) in the U.S. House of Representatives and as speaker of the House (1971–76). Because of his short stature (5 feet 4 inches [1.62 metres]) and the area of Oklahoma he represented,...

• Alessandro

  the first duke of Florence (1532–37). Alessandro was born to unmarried parents. His paternity is ascribed either to Lorenzo de’ Medici (1492–1519), duke of Urbino, or, with more likelihood, to Giulio de’ Medici, nephew of Lorenzo the Magnificent. Giulio...

• Algirdas

  grand duke of Lithuania from 1345 to 1377, who made Lithuania one of the largest European states of his day. His son Jogaila became Władysław II Jagiełło, king of united Poland and Lithuania. Algirdas was one of the sons of the country’s ruler, Gediminas,...