Since its inception over 2500 years ago, politics has been one of the most divisive concepts humans have ever created. This got me thinking, what are some cool facts about politics? Here they are!
Unfortunately, none of these facts center around particular political beliefs, such as liberalism, conservatism, socialism/communism etc. Instead, these are just facts about politics as a concept, that you can use to amaze your friends!
15. Oldest Republic
The first republics were city states in what is now Ancient Greece. Over time, these crumbled, but gave way to the rise of the Roman Republic, who spread across Western Europe before collapsing in the sixth century.
Fast forward to today and republics are the most common form of governance around the world. Roughly 100 of the world’s 194 recognized countries are currently republics of some kind.
In September 301 AD, a Christian stonemason called Marinus Rab fled the Christian persecutions of the then-pagan Rome. Here, he fled to a mountain in the Alps called Monte Titano, where he built a small church.
This essentially formed the state of San Marino as we know it today. Unlike other states, San Marino was governed by a constitution, rather than a monarch, emperor or duke. The current constitution was written in 1600!
14. Female Suffrage
Today, it is a common fact that New Zealand was the first country to give women the right to vote. This would be followed by the overwhelming majority of countries over the course of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.
Prior to that, no woman could vote in any capacity.
However, this isn’t strictly true. In many countries, including the UK, votes were originally allocated to the homeowner, this allowed certain wealthy widows to be eligible to vote, which they often did.
You see, in most countries at the time, only men could own property. Any property a woman owned, would be in either her father or her husband’s name. However, if her husband and father both died, she could own property.
Most commonly, this was in place of a son who was a minor, but not always. Regardless, the woman technically had the right to vote, which she often did, usually without much trouble.
13. First Female Politician
If you were to try and find out who was the first female politician, you’ll likely come across a number of different names. This is because many of them were the first woman to become a politician… in some way, at least.
You see, women have played an important role in politics for hundreds of years. However, this was often behind powerful male politicians- usually their husbands.
Technically speaking, most countries didn’t have any law that prevented females from running. However, it was a social taboo, as women were expected to stay at home and raise their children, not lead their country.
With that being said, some women did try. By most accounts the first modern female politician was Serbia’s Katarina Ivanović, who was made the Education and Art advisor to the Prince (later King) Milan I, in 1870.
12. Election Songs?
To many, it seems as though politicians would do literally anything, in order to get a few extra votes. This sees them host a number of rallies, give TV interviews, do meet-and-greets and more!
Historically speaking, politicians would also create election songs. These would most often be used by the politicians and their political parties to show their support/opposition for a particular issue.
As a general rule, these songs were clever reworks of famous patriotic songs, with the most common song being the national anthem. With that being said, some were drawn up from scratch!
Unfortunately, this hasn’t really carried over to today. Generally, politicians don’t create election songs due to the difficulties (and costs!) involved with it. But maybe future politicians may bring it back…
11. Dead Cats
Political rallies have been one of the few things that have stayed constant throughout politics. Just as they are common today, Ancient Greek and Roman politicians, would give fiery speeches to whip up their base.
This continued when the first parliaments were established in Europe in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. Here, the first “modern” politicians would similarly hold rallies and give fiery speeches, to get the votes they needed.
As with everything in politcis, however, some peple disagreed with what the politician was saying. To show this, they’d throw a dead animals at the poltician, primairly cats and dogs.
If those weren’t available, then stones, moldy food and even feces were used. Yuck!
Today this has morphed into the flour-throwing that we know today. Whilst uncommon in the US, the practice is quite common in Western Europe, and is something that Downing Street has seen a lot of in recent years…
10. Origins of “Left” And “Right” Wing
If you know anything about politics, you’ll probably have heard of the terms “Left wing” and “Right wing” to describe two opposing political ideologies.
Generally, left wingers believe in complete social equality and the redistribution of wealth. Right wingers on the other hand, often believe in the complete opposite, with both sides believing their way is correct.
However, prior to the 1780’s, the terms “Left wing” and “Right wing” had not been coined. The term originates from France, during the gathering of the Estates General.
At the gathering, there was a very particular seating arrangement. Those how sat on the left, opposed the ideas of the monarchy and upper classes, whilst those who sat on the right, agreed with them.
Fast forward to today, and left wingers still oppose the ideas of the upper class, whilst right wingers support them!
9. Most Number of Governments?
As of the time of writing, Bolivia currently holds the record for highest number of government turnovers. To date, the country has had well over 200 different governments, since declaring its independence in 1825.
Primarily, this has been down to a large number of coups that have happened in the country. To date, having around 200 coups, although this number does also include counter-coups too!
Italy is also closing this gap at a rather alarming rate too. Since 1946, Italy has had 68 different governments, resulting in 59 different prime ministers. To date, the prime minister with the shortest time in office is only 16 days!
By comparison, there have been 28 British governments, with a total of 16 prime ministers. The shortest tenure of a prime minister during this time was Sir Alec Douglas-Home’s 364 days.
8. Joke Parties
Since the first democracy in Ancient Athens, there have always been two factions that run the show. Generally speaking, these are the two main parties that have the best chance of getting into power.
Naturally there are a number of people who dislike this system, often because the parties don’t run on issues they personally care about. They would vote third party, but they don’t have an actual chance at winning.
In 1982, a British man known as “Screaming Lord Sutch” founded what he called the Monster Raving Loony Party. Lord Sutch then ran for Parliament in the Bermondsey constituency in London.
Lord Sutch did this to bring to light the fact that neither of the three major parties at the time- Conservative, Liberal or Labour, ran on “issues that mattered”.
Inadvertently, this led to the creation of hundreds of other joke political parties around the world.
7. Origins of Democracy
Today, pretty much every country on Earth is a democracy of some kind. As of the time of writing, there are only a handful of non-democratic states, the majority of whom are absolute monarchies (with a few dictatorships!)
Democracy itself actually has a rather interesting history. It was coined well over 2500 years ago, in the Ancient Greek city-state of Athens, who allowed all land-owning males to vote in city elections.
And this is where democracy itself gets its name from! The English term “Democracy” comes from the Greek term “Dēmokratiā,” itself a compound word of “Demos” (meaning “People”) and “Kratia” “meaning “Rule”).
Over time, Europe became overwhelming monarchial, who often opposed the idea of a modern democracy. Fast forward 500 years to today (and many revolutions later!) and every state in Europe (minus the Vatican) is democratic!
This has subsequently spread throughout the world!
6. Convict For President?
In many countries, people in prison are prevented from voting for a number of reasons. Primarily, this is due to the belief that, if you commit a crime, you should lose the right to choose your country’s future.
The same is true in the US, having been the case since the 1860’s/70’s. However, whilst they wrote that convicts can’t vote, lawmakers never placed a clause that prevented convicts for running for office.
Odd, I know.
Throughout the early 1900’s, Socialist Party candidate, Eugene V. Debbs, ran for President a total of five times. During WWI, Debbs opposed any US involvement in the war.
When the US entered the war in 1917, Debbs urged people to resist the draft, and gave fiery speeches denouncing President Wilson. After multiple warnings, Debbs was arrested and sentenced to federal prison in 1918.
Two years later, Debbs ran for president once again, whilst still in prison. Naturally, Debbs lost, but did gain a total of 900,000 votes. This caused a number of countries to rewrite their laws to prevent this from happening again.
5. Pottery Politics
When you think of items that are used to promote a particular candidate / issue, you probably think of things like flags, armbands and pins. Ask your grandparents, however, and they may also include “pottery” in that list too…
You see, universal women’s suffrage was a contentious issue at the time. For most people, you either supported it, or you didn’t. With this, a number of ploys were used in order to try to get more people to support/oppose the issue.
Whilst not the only way, pottery, in particular, ceramics, were used in the US and UK. Here, they were used to either promote women’s suffrage, or more commonly, turn it into a cheap joke.
The use of ceramics in politics would continue until WWII, where ceramics would be used for the war effort. Following the war, ceramics would not re-enter politics. Surprising, the right to vote ceramics are actually worth quite a bit today!
4. Origins of “Prime Minister”
As of the time of writing, roughly half of the world’s recognized countries have a prime minister of some kind. In some places, they are the country’s leader, whilst in others, they are the president’s second-in-command.
In pretty much every country, being prime minister is seen as a rather honorable profession, even if you get a lot of hate for it. Originally, however, the term “Prime Minister” was meant as an insult!
You see, the term originated in the UK. Here, politicians would rise up through the ranks of the Royal Court after years of hard work, proving to whichever monarch, that they deserved to be a close friend and advisor.
With that being said, those from politically strong families often skipped much of the hard work, and entered the Royal Court in a matter of months. These were known as “Prime Ministers” as many didn’t believe that they deserved their position…
3. Origins of “President”
If you were to look at the titles held by the leader of every recognized country on Earth, you’ll find that many of them hold the title of “President”. Indeed, the most famous of them is the US President.
Looking at the etymology (history) of the word “President,” you’ll find that it is of Latin origin, coming from the Latin word “Praesidens,” meaning “Leader” or more accurately: “He who presides over…”
If you were to look the etymology of “Praesidens,” you’d find that it comes from the Amharic word סָרְכִ֣ין (Sarkin), which most scholars agree is likely of Persian origin.
Apparently, George Washington chose to call himself “President” because it was a lot more humbling than other titles presented to him. Following Washington’s example, a number of other countries would similarly get their own “presidents”!
2. Dictator = Good?
Today, the term “Dictator” has rather negative connotations. We often hear about dictators in third world countries, stealing from their own people, or violating human rights and just generally being a vile human being.
However, in Ancient Rome, where the term originates, “Dictator” actually had positive connotations!
You see, the Roman people elected two leaders, rather than one. These leaders were known as Consuls, who had usually worked their way up through the Roman social and military ranks.
However, in times of crisis, say, a war or an invasion, the Roman Senate, not the Roman people, would elect one leader. This leader would be known as a “Dictator” and would have absolute power for the duration of the crisis.
Once the crisis had ended, however, the “Dictator” would voluntarily give up his power. An immediate public vote would later be held to vote in the next Consuls, with the “Dictator” becoming a public hero.
1. Pre-Private Voting
When you go to vote today, you cast you vote in a private booth, where nobody else can who you vote for. This is meant to make politics as fair as it can possibly be, and prevent voter fraud.
As you can probably imagine, this hasn’t always been the case.
In a modern context, prior to 1900, most countries has an open voting system, where people entered an open hall with tables, and marked down who they wanted to vote for.
Then, they would walk over to a series of boxes, each box had the name of the party/candidate on them, and you’d place your vote in the correct box.
However, some people hated particular politicians/parties. In order to prevent you from voting for them, intimidating-looking men were placed in front of those boxes, who would stop you from casting your ballot!
Which are your favorite facts about politics? Tell me in the comments!
Featured image courtesy of Reizigerin via Flickr.