Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Suzuki, Zenko, 1911–2004, Japanese politican. A founder of the ruling Liberal Democratic party (1955), he became prime minister on the death of Masayoshi Ohira (1980). Criticism from within the part...

(Encyclopedia) Bettel, Xavier, 1973–, Luxembourg political leader. A lawyer, he entered politics in 1999 as a member of both Luxembourg City's communal council and the Chamber of Deputies. In 2011 he was elected m...

(Encyclopedia) Liu Shaoqi or Liu Shao-ch'i both: lyo͞o shou-chē [key], 1898?–1969, Chinese Communist political leader. Liu joined (1920) a Comintern organization in Shanghai, where he studied Russian. While in M...

(Encyclopedia) Malan, Daniel François dänyĕlˈ fräNswäˈ məlänˈ [key], 1874–1959, South African political leader. A minister of the Dutch Reformed Church, he left the pulpit after the outbreak of World War...

(Encyclopedia) Ashdown, Paddy (Jeremy John Durham Ashdown, Baron Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon), 1941–2018, British political leader and diplomat, b. New Delhi, British India, where his father was an army officer. ...

(Encyclopedia) Nehru, Motilal nāˈro͞o, nĕˈ– [key], 1861–1931, Indian political leader, father of Jawaharlal Nehru. A successful attorney, he joined the Indian National Congress and served as its president ...

(Encyclopedia) Niyazov, Saparmurat säpärˈmo͞orätˌ nēyäˈzôf [key], 1940–2006, Soviet and Turkmen political leader, president of Turkmenistan (1991–2006). An engineer and member of the Communist party, h...

(Encyclopedia) Doriot, Jacques zhäk dôryōˈ [key], 1888–1945?, French collaborator during the German occupation of France in World War II. For many years he served as the mayor of Saint-Denis, a Paris suburb. H...

(Encyclopedia) Hunkers, conservative faction of the Democratic party in New York state in the 1840s, so named because they were supposed to “hanker” or “hunker” after office. In opposition to them stood the ...

(Encyclopedia) Iliescu, Ion, 1930–, Romanian political leader, president of Romania (1990–96, 2000–2004). A member of the Communist party from 1953, he held a series of party posts before he was elected a memb...