One of the two major political parties in the United States, owing its origin to a split in the Democratic-Republican Party under Andrew Jackson in 1828. the Democratic Party one of the two main political parties of the US the Republican Party. One of the two major political parties in the U.S., historically the party of labour, minorities, and progressive reformers. In the 1790s a group of Thomas Jefferson's supporters called themselves "Democratic Republicans" or "Jeffersonian Republicans" to demonstrate their belief in the principle of popular government and their opposition to monarchism. The party adopted its present name in the 1830s, during the presidency of Andrew Jackson. Democrats won nearly every presidential election in the years 1836-60, but the issue of slavery split the party. The Southern Democrats called for the protection of slavery in the new territories, whereas the Northern Democrats, led by Stephen A. Douglas, advocated allowing each territory to decide by popular sovereignty whether to accept slavery within its borders. As a result, in 1860 the new antislavery Republican Party won its first national victory under Abraham Lincoln. From 1861 to 1913 the only Democratic president was Grover Cleveland; in these years the party was basically conservative and agrarian-oriented, and its members were opposed to protective tariffs. It returned to power under Woodrow Wilson, instituting greater federal regulation of banking and industry, but the Republicans' frank embrace of big business drew voters amid the prosperity of the 1920s. Democrats became dominant again in 1932, electing Franklin D. Roosevelt. A coalition of urban workers, small farmers, liberals, and others sustained Democrats in office until 1953, and the party regained the presidency with the election of John F. Kennedy in 1960. In the 1970s and '80s the Democrats held the presidency only during the single term of Jimmy Carter (1976-81) but retained majority control of the House of Representatives. They regained the presidency in 1992 with the election of Bill Clinton but lost control of both the House and the Senate in 1994. In the presidential election of 2000, Clinton's vice president, Al Gore, was defeated by Republican George W. Bush. In 2004 the party's presidential nominee, John Kerry, was defeated by Bush, and the Democrats lost seats in both houses of Congress. The modern Democratic Party generally supports a strong federal government with powers to regulate business and industry in the public interest; federally financed social services and benefits for the poor, the unemployed, the aged, and other groups; and the protection of civil rights
one of two of the largest political parties in the U.S. (the more leftist party)
or Kadet Russian political party advocating a radical change in Russian government toward a constitutional monarchy like Britain's. It was founded in October 1905 by the Union of Liberation and other liberals associated with the zemstvos. Its members, called Kadets, dominated the first Duma in 1906 but were less successful thereafter. After the Bolsheviks seized power in 1917, the party was outlawed and ceased to function
German centrist political party that advocates individualism and free economic competition. It was formed in 1948 by liberal delegates in the U.S., British, and French zones of occupation. Though relatively small, the party has made and broken governments by forming coalitions with larger parties, including the Christian Democratic Union and the Social Democratic Party
Japan's largest political party, which held power almost continuously from its formation in 1955 until 1993. It was created through the amalgamation and transformation of various factions of the prewar Rikken Seiykai and Minseit parties. The conservative LDP appeared threatened in the 1970s but survived; the end of the 1980s boom years (the "bubble economy"), financial crises, and political scandals finally caused the party to lose its majority in the Diet in 1993. It came back to power in a coalition government in 1994, and since then LDP prime ministers have included Obuchi Keiz and Koizumi Jun'ichir
a political party in Canada which has fairly left wing ideas. Canadian democratic socialist political party. Formed in 1961 from the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, it favours a mixed public-private economy, broadened social benefits, and an internationalist foreign policy. It formed governments in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and British Columbia intermittently from the 1940s to the 1990s, in the Yukon Territory from the 1980s, and in Ontario in the 1990s. At the national level, however, it has enjoyed only marginal success. The NDP draws much of its support from the farmers of Manitoba and Saskatchewan and the urban workers of British Columbia and Ontario
Marxist revolutionary party that preceded the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Founded in Minsk in 1898, it held that Russia could achieve socialism only after developing a bourgeois society with an urban proletariat. The party split in 1903 because of the argument between the Bolshevik wing, led by Vladimir Ilich Lenin, and the Menshevik wing, led by L. Martov, over Lenin's proposals for a party composed of professional revolutionaries. Party members were active in the Russian Revolution of 1905. In the turmoil of the Russian Revolution of 1917, the Bolsheviks broke completely with the Mensheviks and changed their name to "Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik)
German political party. Formed in 1875 as the Socialist Workers' Party and renamed in 1890, it is Germany's oldest and largest single party. Its influence grew until World War I, when centrists led by Karl Kautsky formed the Independent Social Democrats and leftists led by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht formed the Spartacists. Its right wing under Friedrich Ebert helped crush the Soviet-style uprisings in Germany in 1918 and won 37% of the vote in the 1919 elections. The government's acceptance of the Treaty of Versailles and Germany's severe economic problems caused a drop in support in the 1920s. Outlawed by the Nazis in 1933, the party revived after World War II in West Germany and grew steadily, receiving almost 46% of the vote in the 1972 elections. It formed coalition governments with the Christian Democratic Union (1966-69) and the Free Democratic Party (1969-82). In 1990 it reunited with a newly independent SPD from the former East Germany, and in 1998 it returned to power under Gerhard Schröder as the senior partner in a coalition government with the Green Party
a Protestant political party in Northern Ireland. Its members are loyalists who believe very strongly that Northern Ireland should remain part of the UK, and are opposed to Roman Catholic parties having any political power
a former major political party in the United States in the early 19th century; opposed the old Federalist party; favored a strict interpretation of the constitution in order to limit the powers of the federal government
a political party in Germany and Britain (and elsewhere) founded in late 19th century; originally Marxist; now advocates the gradual transformation of capitalism into democratic socialism