Here’s the man who made the world shudder, with his attack on Ukraine. Russia’s current president, Vladimir Putin is one of the strongest leaders in the world.
He was born in Leningrad, the city now named as St. Petersburg. After graduating in law in 1975, he joined the KGB, the dreaded secret service of the Soviet Union. He was further trained at the Yuri Andropov Red Banner Institute in Moscow, and then worked in East Germany under the pretence of being a translator. He left the KGB following the coup against Mikhail Gorbachev, which he did not agree with.
Putin then sought a career in politics and was quite successful in it. He reached the highest position in Russia in 2000. Among all the current presidents in Europe, Putin is the second longest serving – behind only Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus. In fact, the Russian constitution allowed a person to serve as president only for two terms. To get around this problem, a shrewd Putin chose to be the prime minister in 2008, swapping places with the then prime minister Dimitri Medvedev. Putin was re-elected as president in 2018, for the fourth time. In April 2021, he changed the constitution so as to allow him to be elected as president for two more terms. This would enable him to remain as president until 2036.
Putin’s rule of Russia is characterized by a shift to authoritarianism. His government is also accused of gross human rights abuses. Most recently, the attack on Ukraine has added to his image as a ruthless ruler.
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The parliament or the Central Legislature of India consists of the President and the two Houses: The Rajya Sabha (the Upper House) and The Lok Sabha (the Lower House).
The Labour Party grew out of the trade union movement and socialist political parties of the 19th century before the First World War. Although after 1825, workers were allowed to form associations, they could not strike for their cause, and unions were not protected by law. However, after 1850, with the entry of mass production techniques, the Industrial Revolution entered a new phase. The number of unions grew, even in towns. New political ideas emerged, due to Socialism, which stressed on equality among men. The 1874 elections saw two workers entering parliament, and slowly, their numbers rose in the coming years.
The members of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) founded by Mrs. Pankhurst in 1904 were called Suffragettes. This was formed to fight for women’s right to vote and for equal status with men. The suffragettes at first, tried peaceful means, through speeches, pamphlets and demonstrations. Upon getting no attention from the parliament, they resorted to more extreme measures like breaking windows, burning empty houses and even chaining themselves to the railings of Hyde Park. However during the First World War in 1914, the suffragettes abandoned their campaign to actively support the war effort. These acts persuaded the government to allow women over thirty to vote in 1918, and later in 1928, women were given equal status with men, and could vote at the age of 21. 
The Lords always posed difficulties, whenever the Liberals tried to pass a bill to reform legislation. It got so bad that, at one point, the government decided to put an end to this. The Parliament Bill was thus a weapon to limit the powers of the Lords, especially in matters pertaining to finance and its prominence in legislation. When the Lords attempted to stop this bill’s passage, the then Prime Minister Asquith appealed to King George V for help. The king promised the PM, that if necessary, he would create enough new Liberal peers to vote for the approval of the bill. The Lords of course, took a tough stance. The PM again went to the polls in December 1910, and won a clear majority. The king’s promise was made public, and the Lords had to concede. On August 10th, 1911, the Parliament Bill became law.
Between 1832 and 1918, the British electoral system was transformed. Each electoral reform, by itself, may not seem very dramatic, but taken together, the series of reforms passed during the period was surely revolutionary. One reform led to another. After the First and Second Reform Acts, an act was passed in 1883 to limit the expenses of election candidates. In 1884, the vote was extended to all householders in the counties. Standing for election, and voting at elections, was no longer the privilege of the rich. By 1918, three-quarters of the adult population could vote, and vote freely, for a range of candidates. This meant that politicians had to work harder to win votes. They had to travel around the country, meeting ordinary people to ask for their votes. Parliament had at last, become truly democratic.
The 1867 Reform Act was the second major attempt to reform Britain’s electoral process. By this time, party names had changed. The Tories were now called the Conservative Party, and the Whigs changed their name to the Liberal Party. It was the Conservatives under Benjamin Disraeli who promoted the Second Reform Act, believing that it would help to win the support of the middle classes.
Till 1778, the common man did not know much about what happened inside parliament. However, that changed when journalists were allowed into the House of Commons in 1778. From 1783, newspapers began to print reports of the debates in parliament. This was a very important development, as Englishmen could now know what exactly their lawmakers were up to. If they read that parliament was not acting in their best interests, they could complain and take action. Parliament thus became more responsible to the people, and the newspapers also became more powerful as they played a role in moulding public opinion. 
George III ascended the throne in 1760, upon the sudden death of his grandfather, Georg II. He was a member of the House of Hanover, a noble German family that succeeded to the British throne in 1714. George wanted to play an active role in the government- and he wanted to get rid of the Whigs, who had become very corrupt. The Tory party, after an Long exile from power, was now rapidly gaining ground. George III took advantage of these conditions, and, putting himself at the head of the Tories, attempted to become the real master in English politics. He chose new ministers- but soon found that he needed the support of the House of Commons to carry out his policies. To get this support, he had to bribe the members- and so finally, George III, who wanted to fight corruption, ended up by using bribery and corruption to get what he wanted! In fact, in the purchase of seats in the Commons for his favorites he outdid the Whigs in the worst days of their corruption.
In England, the king always had a small body of advisors or a council to help him to carry out his duties. This was known as the Privy Council. During the reign of Queen Anne, a new council emerged. It consisted of a group of men each of whom was entrusted with the responsibility of running one of the government departments. This was called the Cabinet Council. The Cabinet Council became the real source of power as time passed and it is the fore runner of the modern cabinet.
On 12 June 1701, the English Parliament passed an act to lay down the conditions for the succession to the throne of Great Britain. This has often been called the Act of Settlement or the Act of Settlement 1701. It was also extended to cover Scotland. Do you know why this act was passed?
In 1688, parliament brought about the deposition of James II, and invited William III and Mary II of Orange to the English throne as joint sovereigns. This is known as the Glorious or Bloodless Revolution. After this revolution, Parliament became very powerful, but the monarch could still reject legislation brought up by parliament by exercising what was called the royal veto. The word ‘veto’ is Latin for ‘I forbid’ and William used it on four occasions. Although, in theory, the royal veto still exists, it was used for the last time in 1708, by Queen Anne.
The history of the civil list dates from the reign of William and Mary in 18th century England. Before this, there had been no distinction between the expenses of government in time of peace and the personal expenses of the king. The civil list is the grant made by parliament for the monarch’s personal support, and for that of the royal household.
Charles I went to war against the parliament in 1642, and England was plunged into a Civil War for the next three years. The parliamentary army of about 14,000, led by Sir Thomas Fairfax, defeated about 8,000 Royalists, commanded by King Charles I, near the North amptonshire village of Naseby. The Royalists lost nearly all their arms and artillery, and thousands of their men were taken prisoner. One year after Naseby, Charles surrendered to Scotland, who in turn, handed Charles over to the English Parliament.
The Long Parliament was first called by King Charles I on 3rd November 1640, six months after the dissolution of the Short Parliament, and within weeks of the defeat of the English against Scotland. The king was reluctant to summon another parliament, but the expense of the wars had left him desperately short of money and in urgent need of parliamentary subsidies. The Long Parliament met from 1640 to 1653 and from 1659 to 1660. 
After eleven years of ruling without a parliament, Charles was forced to call the parliament in April 1640, as he needed money desperately to pay his troops. Parliament however, refused to cooperate with him, until he settled all its grievances. An angry king dissolved the parliament in just three weeks. Since it met for such a short time, this parliament is referred to as ‘The Short Parliament’. 
Charles I became King of England in 1625. He had problems with Parliament from the very beginning, because, his wife was French, and parliament resented his support of France. When parliament refused to grant him the money he wanted, he dissolved it and started collecting taxes illegally. Those who refused to pay were thrown into prison.
During the 1630’s, Charles I experimented with a number of ways to raise money without calling the parliament. One of this ways was to insist on Ship Money. This was a system by which English ports were forced to build and equip warships – or pay an equivalent amount of money as tax. However, when Charles tried to extend the practice to inland towns as well, there was an uproar, which finally led to a court battle. 
Do you know what a monopoly is? It is an exclusive right given to an individual or company to trade in a particular commodity. Traditionally, monarchs sold these monopolies or exclusive rights, and the sale of monopolies provided them with a lot of money.
During Elizabeth’s reign, the House of Commons became increasingly confident and assertive. Soon after Elizabeth became queen of England, the Protestants gained full control of parliament. It now became very important to parliament that Elizabeth marry. The Queen did not like it when they tried to discuss her personal life, but the House of Commons insisted that it had the right to do so, because, its members were guaranteed freedom of speech.
The mid sixteenth century was a time of religious upheaval in England. Henry VIII had broken away from the Catholic Church in Rome, and established the Church of England. The break with Rome, known as the Reformation, changed the country forever, and also left Henry’s children with an England deeply divided over religion.
Puritanism was a form of Christianity that came to England around 1563 AD. The Puritans believed that God wanted them to lead quiet, simple, serious lives. They spent a lot of their time praying, reading the Bible, and listening to sermons. They did not, have parties, listen to music, or dance. They did not celebrate holidays, not even Christmas or Easter. The growing numbers of Puritans in the house of Commons caused Elizabeth I a lot of trouble. 
Sir Thomas More was an advisor to King Henry VIII. He disapproved of the king divorcing his first wife Catherine of Aragon in order to marry Anne Boleyn, without the approval of the Pope. Moore was a devout Catholic, and believed deeply in the supremacy of the Pope. In 1532, when he saw that King Henry was determined to marry Anne Boleyn and that divorce was in the air, he claimed ill health and retired, rather than stay in the king’s cabinet.
Henry VII’s son, Henry VIII demanded enormous sums of money from parliament to renew the wars with France. The House of Commons refused, and finally, after much debate, Henry got only half of what he asked for. This proved that the Commons was still in control of taxation, even during the reign of a powerful monarch. Henry also had to work closely with parliament, in order to lead England away from the Catholic Church which had refused to grant him a divorce from his wife Catherine.
was to restore royal authority while England recovered from the War of the Roses. His biggest problem was that there were too many nobles in England, and he needed to check their power. To do this, he used the parliament to pass an act called the Star Chamber Act. This act set up a special court to try the wealthy and the powerful for offences, since ordinary courts be afraid to punish them.
The Palace of Westminster is the seat of Britain’s two houses of parliament, the House of Lords, and the House of Commons, and so it is more commonly known as the House of Parliament. It is located on the left bank of the River Thames in the borough of Westminster, London. The building, now considered one of the finest gothic structures in the world, has had a turbulent history which has included destruction by fire and bombing.
Edward IV became King of England with the support of parliament. He is respected for bringing stability back to government after a decade of civil strife during the initial Wars of the Roses. Since the war with France was also over, Edward IV had gained many estates, and he was a very rich man indeed. As a result, he began to become more and more independent of parliament. In fact, during the twenty two years of his reign, parliament was called only seven times.
The Wars of the Roses were a series of battles that were fought in England between two great houses or families. They were the House of Lancaster, whose supporters were called Lancastrians, and the House of York, whose supporters were the Yorkists. The battles were called the Wars of the Roses because the Yorkists were represented by a white rose and the Lancastrians by a red rose. This long civil war lasted from AD 1455-1485. Almost all the rich people in England chose sides, and during the wars, parliament kept changing sides.
Henry Bolingbroke, son of John Gaunt, became Henry IV, King of England after deposing, Richard II. Parliament played an important role in making him the king, and so, Henry IV was willing to agree to its many demands. One of these demands was that the members of parliament be given the freedom to discuss, and speak on any matter without fear of arrest. In effect, the House of Commons was asking for freedom of speech, and Henry agreed to this request. So, the reign of Henry IV saw the foundation laid for one of the most scared privileges of democracy today- freedom of speech. 
Following the death of his grandfather, Edward Ill in June, 1377, Richard II was crowned King of England at the age of ten. At that time, his uncle John Gaunt was involved in a tussle for power with parliament. As he grew older, Richard, like his uncle and grandfather before him, wanted to rule without being controlled by the parliament. This angered the members of the House of Commons. To make matters worse, Richard granted favours generously to his friends and supporters. The House of Commons disapproved of this, and in 1386, it wanted to impeach both the Chancellor and Treasurer.
Sir Peter de Ia Mare was an English politician who is best remembered as the Presiding Officer of the House of Commons during the Good Parliament of 1376. Soon after parliament was called, its members chose Sir Peter to be their spokesman. He thus became the first man to be recognized as Speaker of the House of Commons.
Edward II succeeded to the throne upon his father’s death in 1307. His reign was one of constant struggle with the barons. In this struggle, Edward was defeated, and thrown into prison. The question now became what to do with him. The simplest solution was to have Edward put to death. The problem was that the execution of Edward II would necessitate a trial. While there was general agreement that Edward had not paid proper attention to the needs of his subjects, his actions were not considered treas on. The situation was further complicated by the fact that legal power and the ability to set royal policy still rested with Edward even though he was in jail!
Edward Ill came to the throne in 1327, and from that point, the representatives of the counties who were called the knights of the shire and of the towns who were the burgesses, became a permanent part of parliament.
Edward I, Henry III’s son, made the meeting of parliament a more frequent event and over the course of his reign of 35 years, he summoned it on 46 occasions. He was not a democrat, but he saw that parliament was necessary if he was to raise enough money to carry out his policies and to conduct his war with France.
During the thirteenth century, in England, the word ‘parliament’ often referred to the assemblies that were summoned by the king. These assemblies acted as a session of the nobility. However, when Simon de Montfort came to power, he needed the support of all the people. He summoned the Great Council more frequently. In 1265, in addition to the Lords, he also included burgesses from the towns. The burgesses were the representatives of the ordinary people.
Simon de Montfort was a Frenchman who married King Henry III’s sister. He owned land in England, and became the Earl of Leicester. Simon considered Henry unfit to rule, and led a group of barons who forced the Provisions of Oxford on the king. When Henry refused to rule according to the Provisions, Simon ultimately led a baronial rebellion. He managed to capture the king at the Battle of Lewes. He then governed England as a military dictator for a short time. 
Henry III was a 13th century English king who came to the throne at an early age. His reign was marked by strife with barons, led by Simon de Montfort. By 1258, the situation had worsened, and Henry was forced to agree to the Provisions of Oxford. This was a document out-lining reforms to English Common Law. The reforms reinforced and refined many of the principles laid down in the Magna Carta, paving the way for greater rights and freedoms for the common man. 
The 13th century saw many changes in the English way of life. The feudal system began slowly breaking up. Trade and industry grew by leaps and bounds, and the towns were also becoming bigger and more prosperous.
King John was a very unpopular monarch who came to the throne of England in 1199. The lords of England hated John, because he taxed everyone heavily, and was generally a weak and nasty ruler. By 1215, the English lords had enough of his misrule, and they got together an army and marched to London. John was forced to sign the paper they put in front of him, which is known as The Magna Carta. Did you know that Magna Carta means ‘Great Letter’ in Latin? The Magna Carta is one of the most important documents in history. It guaranteed the people certain rights, and bound the king to certain laws. To begin with, the king had to obey the law, like other people. Moreover, if the king broke the law, the lords had the right to remove that king. In particular, the king could not collect new taxes. After writing the document, these nobles forced King John to sign it, on the threat of civil war. Their intention was only to protect the rights of nobles. Nevertheless, in time, the rights established by the Magna Carta were also extended to commoners. The Magna Carta was signed at Runnymede, Surrey, and South England in 1215.
Henry II, who came to the throne of England in 1154, was one of the most effective of all England’s monarchs. He ruled over an empire that included half of France as well as England, Wales and Scotland. This meant that he had to travel a lot, and while he was away, he wanted a government that would function well in his absence.
After the last Anglo-Saxon king died in England, several people claimed the throne. One was the late king’s cousin, William, Duke of Normandy. He invaded England, and at the Battle of Hastings in 1066, William defeated another rival for the throne. William was then crowned King of England.
The Althing in Iceland, founded in the year AD 930, is usually given the credit of being the world’s oldest parliament. At the beginning it was a general assembly of freemen to vote and discuss issues of common concern. The Althing was suspended from 1800 to 1845.The world’s oldest continuous parliament is a title claimed by the Tynwald in the Isle of Man, which dates back to AD 979. But actually, lots of civilizations throughout history, like the Mesopotamian and Indus civilizations, have also claimed to have had parliaments. 
Though the first modern parliament can be traced back to the Curia Regis in 13th century England, the origins of parliament go back to the sixth century when England was ruled by Anglo Saxon tribes. In each of the Anglo Saxon kingdoms, an assembly called the Witenagemot existed. It was composed of important churchmen, earls, and other members of the nobility.
The beginning of the modern parliament can be traced back to the 13th century when a council, known as the Curia Regis, or Great Council, advised the king. The Curia Regis was made up of noblemen and church officials. It was in fact, an English court, and it assumed this name during the reign of Henry II. It was called Curia or Aula Regis because it was held in the great hall of the king’s palace.
The British Parliament was once described as the ‘mother of parliaments’ by the nineteenth century radical John Bright. It is one of the models of democratic government followed by many countries throughout the world, and is result of over 800 years of development and honoured tradition. During its first 400 years, Parliament developed from being the royal debating chamber or, the King’s Great Council, to becoming one of the nation’s key political institutions.
You all know that India is a democracy, but do you know what a democracy is? Democracy, in Greek, means the rule of the people. In a democracy, the government is run by the people, and the citizens make their own laws. The earliest democracy in the world began in Athens in 510 BC.