Questions tagged [history]
Questions on the history of politics, political action and political debate, as well as historical political figures, heads of state etc. Also including any historical political actions and situations which may be of relevance to modern-day scenarios. Consider before posting whether your question is better suited to History.SE.
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Do/did non-dictatorial Communist societies exist?
I've often heard the following two points of view:
Communism is a failed philosophy, and it has always failed (e.g. USSR, China, Cuba etc...). Therefore it's simply wrong.
Communism has never been ...
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Why do some countries recognise Taiwan as the sole legitimate government of China?
There are some countries that recognise Taiwan (Republic of China) as the sole legitimate government of China instead of the People's Republic of China.
Recently, just a few days ago, São Tomé and ...
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Why doesn't Russia join NATO and what would happen if it tried?
So, I'm likely demonstrating my own stupidity here, but I'm wondering what I'm missing.
Russia claims that it's afraid of NATO and feels like it might attack it. So... what if it joined NATO? I know, ...
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How often a post WWII US president said publicly that the leader of another country must go? (e.g. "For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power")
US President Biden concluded his March 27, 2022 speech in Poland with the words
For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.
(e.g. CBS News's video Biden says Putin "cannot remain in power&...
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Why is changing the size of the Supreme Court considered dangerous today, when it has been done in the past?
Recently, there has been a lot of talk about "court packing", the process of increasing the size of the Supreme Court, thereby creating openings to be filled with new justices. A common ...
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Historically, why is the filibuster allowed?
As an European, I find it very strange for a modern democracy to allow someone to obstruct the functioning of a democratically-elected political organisation. So, is there a historical (or other) ...
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Why is Biden's "(Putin) ...cannot remain in power" widely considered a gaffe to be walked back while previous US presidents have said similar?
Together, answers to How often a post WWII US president said publicly that the leader of another country must go? (e.g. "For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power") have listed perhaps ...
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Are there any proposed systems of running the government like a corporation?
Has there ever been a legitimately proposed system whereby either the entire government or the executive branch of it was run the way a corporation is usually supposed to - more specifically, with set ...
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What is a Republic?
The question "What is a Republic?" has been half-asked more than once
on this website (see this question, this one and last but not least this other one). However, it seems it has never been answered ...
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Has a Nobel Peace laureate ever been accused of war crimes?
Nobel Prizes aren't without controversy, and I was wondering if a Nobel Peace laureate has ever been accused of war crimes.
For the purpose of this question, I will accept accusations of war crimes ...
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Difference between nationalism and patriotism
Nowadays, nationalism has a strong negative connotation attached to it. This stigma doesn't apply to patriotism.
What's the difference between them?
If there is a difference to what extent could ...
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Is it true that Jim Crow laws were primarily promoted by the Democratic Party?
I've been told that the laws had received widespread support amongst the Democrats of the time. This seems at odds with the current posture of the Democrat Party; is this true?
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What caused a massive shift in Republican ideological trajectories in the late '70s?
On a post on Skeptics.SE I saw recently, there was a chart showing the ideological position of the political parties over time:
(source)
As you can see, both parties were drifting more liberal ...
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How does Israel teach the displacement of the Arab population in 1948 (Nakba)?
How do Israeli educational institutions go about teaching the Nakba? According to Wikipedia it can be summarized as following:
The Nakba ("catastrophe", or "cataclysm"'), also ...
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What was the reason for extending NATO in the 1990s?
I know there are questions that might sound similar, but this is a completely different one. Firstly, I am using the word extending and not expanding. Secondly, the question is limited to a time ...
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Are there any wars other than the 2023 Israel-Hamas War that are named after a country and a political party?
Background
The 2023 Israel–Hamas war is referred to in the Western media as "the Israel-Hamas war". All Western commentators I've seen, including military experts, journalists, and political ...
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Did past presidential impeachment inquiries have basic defendant's rights?
In a recent letter on behalf of the president to the House committees on impeachment, the president's counsel Pat A. Cipollone wrote:
I write on behalf of President Donald J. Trump in response to ...
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Are/were there any countries where rich people have more votes?
Are/were there any countries where richer people have more active votes than poorer people? For example: someone with an income of $5,000/month would have 5x more votes than a person with an income of ...
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What has been the historical trend of U.S. congresspeople voting as blocks?
It feels as though every time I've looked at voting records from the U.S. congress, I notice that virtually everyone votes with their party; that is, for any given bill, every Republican votes the ...
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Why does Russia bother to justify the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact?
According to this Guardian article, Russia is trying to justify the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact which is a very complex matter that was not even recognized until the end of the Soviet Union:
Eighty ...
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What is the current internationally accepted way of resisting an external power that invades a country?
As is common in modern history, the last few decades have seen superpowers and great powers invading sovereign countries in the Middle East, Africa, South America and Central Asia under various ...
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Have permanent US residents ever before been subjected to restrictions based on their origin country?
President Trump's recent executive order temporarily barring nationals of 7 countries from entering the U.S. included those who originated from one of those countries, are not citizens of the U.S., ...
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If the countervailing ideology to Progressivism is Conservatism, what is the countervailing ideology to Reactionary movements?
Background
In the United States, Progressivism has been associated with sets of (normally left leaning relative to the political spectrum of the time) political reforms whose number and societal ...
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Are there prior examples when a US president was strongly at odds with the grassroots of his party over a foreign policy issue?
Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, Nov 15:
More than two-thirds of Americans support a ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll whose results were released on ...
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Has there ever been an independence movement with the goal to split off an underperforming part of a nation?
There have been many independence movements in history. The Wikipedia category of independence movements alone lists 145 articles about mostly distinct independence / seperationist / liberation ...
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In the United States, why aren't both legislative chambers involved in the Supreme Court confirmation process?
I'm following the situation around the recent Supreme Court vacancy left by the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. As a non-American, what's strange to me is that confirming a new SCOTUS Justice ...
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Where did all the Confederate Statues come from?
Why are there so many Confederate Statues in the United States? The Confederate States LOST the Civil War so why are there so many statues to people who tried to break up the country and lost?
I've ...
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The politicization of the supreme court
It seems that both the Republican and Democratic parties look at the appointment of a Supreme Court Justice as a political move. Optimally, a judge has no part in politics. Their personal opinion ...
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To what does US Army Lt. General H. R. McMaster refer saying that Germany's Social Democratic Party has a 'deep and unnatural affinity' for Russia?
CNN's March 3, 2022 video H.R. McMaster on how NATO is holding up against Vladimir Putin's stress test includes the following statements by United States Army lieutenant general, Senior Fellow at the ...
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Did Soviet Union ever apologize for its alliance with Germany before 1941?
Inspired by the similar question about Poland.
We all know what Soviet Union and Nazi Germany became deadly enemies, but this is after A. Hitler broke all agreements and invaded.
Looks like before ...
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Has the ICC ever ordered to arrest any Western or pro-Western politician?
Referring to this question, it appears as if the ICC is biased in favor of the West, since all the people it has punished were enemies of the West. But since crimes which can be prosecuted by the ICC ...
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Why has Vermont been so reliably blue since 1992, despite being so white and rural?
Vermont used to be solidly red, but flipped to solidly blue in 1992. Why?
I'm getting conflicting answers from different sources. Wikipedia talks about ethnic coalitions: white of French descent vote ...
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Has there ever been a national meritocracy?
Has there ever been a meritocracy at the scale of a nation? By meritocracy I mean a system of government in which the citizen's vote is weighted based upon the merit of the individual casting that ...
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Why did Aristotle refuse democracy?
I've read a book about antique political systems and I read that Aristotle refused democracy because he didn't support the idea of the rule of the poor. Here's my two explanations of this statement:
...
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How did United Kingdom responsibility for the defence of the British Channel Islands originate?
The government of the United Kingdom is responsible for the defence of, and foreign relations of, the Channel Islands - i.e. the Bailiwicks of Guernsey and Jersey. How did this arrangement come about?
...
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Has a recount ever changed the winner of a state during a presidential election?
The Trump campaign stated that they'll ask for a recount in Wisconsin (and it wouldn't surprise me when either of the candidates will ask for one in other states). I'm wondering how often a recount ...
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Was there any war Russia has ignited that was NOT explained by its "support" of a newly-created bogus puppet state (e.g. "People's Republic")?
History
This excerpt of a Russian newspaper says:
[…] On December 4 {1939}, comrade Molotov has telegraphed to Avenol. In his answer, he stated that there are no reasons for raising "Finnish ...
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Is there historical precedent for the US Senate to confirm a SCOTUS nominee from a POTUS of their own party in an election year?
There is debate over whether it is right for Donald Trump to try to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the SCOTUS now, because the election is coming up. Republican Senator Mitt Romney said he will still ...
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What sources imply that the office of President was deliberately excluded from the 14th amendment?
The Fourteenth Amendment, as passed by Congress and ratified by the states says:
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any ...
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Has there ever been a presidential election where every state voted the same way as in the midterms?
Has there ever been a presidential election where every state voted for the same party as in the House elections in the previous midterm? If so, when was it? And, if there has never been as of writing,...
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Are there precedents for Congresspersons going in uninvited to closed-doors committee proceedings?
According to CNN:
Roughly two-dozen House Republicans on Wednesday stormed a closed-door deposition in secure House Intelligence Committee spaces to rail against the Democratic-led impeachment ...
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Why do some muslim countries ban polygamy?
Islam allows men to have up to 4 wives (simultaneously). Why would an overwhelmingly Muslim country, such as Turkey or Tunisia, ban polygamy?
Not banning it would of course not prevent most people to ...
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Why won't UK Prime Ministers formally apologise for the Amritsar massacre?
A BBC article today recalls the trapping and shooting to death of 379 - 1000 Indian protesters by British troops in 1919.
While Winston Churchill called it "monstrous" in 1920, David Cameron paid his ...
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Has a law or amendment been passed without a vote in Parliament because there were no tellers before?
If the breaking news is correct,
MPs started voting on Stephen Kinnock’s amendment 6. But then, a few minutes into voting, Lindsay Hoyle, announced that the division had been called off because the ...
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Could Bill Clinton have won a third term?
This may straddle the line between politics and history at this point, but if we didn't have the 22nd Amendment, which limits Presidents to two terms, could Bill Clinton have won a third term?
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Have any politicians been elected to the government of two different countries during their career?
After the recent elections in Czech Republic it became apparent that Andrej Babiš is going to become the next Prime Minister of the country. The curious thing about him is that he holds dual Czech-...
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Why does the US Supreme Court work this way?
Sorry for the non-descriptive title, but while I was typing a more descriptive one I realized it was going to be overly long.
My understanding of the USSC appointments is that
they are for life
only ...
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What state/country, given the right, refused to reelect any previous governor/president the most consecutive times?
In Brazil, mayors, governors and president have the right of one consecutive reelection since 1998. (Such right is being reviewed at Congress right now, but it is not relevant to this question).
As ...
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How do today's Germans perceive the Nazis
I am curious about the perceptions of Germans today with regard to their country's past? What do they generally have to say about Hitler and the events of the holocaust?
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Is the dispute over the naming of Macedonia unique in recent history?
The dispute between Greece and Macedonia over who gets to keep the name "Macedonia" has been ongoing for 20 years now. Is this a unique dispute or have there been any other similar disputes in recent ...