Politician
A politician is an individual involved in politics.
In Western democracies, the term is generally restricted to those involved in election campaigns, rather than members of the state bureaucracy. Such a distinction is less clear in non-democratic forms of government.
In a state, individual politicians compose the executive branch of government and the office of Head of State (unless the head of state is a non-political figure, such as a king) as well as the legislative branch, and regional and local levels of government. Other organs of government such as the judicial branch, law enforcement, and the military are not usually regarded as being composed of politicians, despite the fact that the men and women involved do government work.
Sometimes political scientists are also refered to as politicians.
The Australian slang term for politicians is pollies.
Some common offices for politicians can include:
- Congressman
- Councillor
- Governor
- Mayor
- Member of Parliament
- Minister
- Premier
- President
- Prime Minister
- School board member
- Senator
Some examples of famous politicians:
- Kofi Annan - United Nations Secretary-General
- Lazaro Cardenas - President of Mexico
- Winston Churchill - wartime Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- Mohandas Gandhi - Nationalist leader of India
- Adolf Hitler - Dictator of Germany
- Rudy Giuliani - Mayor of New York City
- Thomas Jefferson - Founding Father of the United States
- Petra Kelly - Founder of the Green Party
- Romano Prodi - President of the European Commission
- Sun Yat-sen - Kuomintang leader, Revolutionary leader of the Republic of China
- Al Gore - Vice President of the United States of America
See List of Japanese politicians, List of British politicians, List of New Zealand politicians
See also
- Corruption
- Political entrepreneur
- Richest American politicians
- Political party