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OPEC+ is a powerful geopolitical coalition established in 2016 between the original 13 members of OPEC and 10 major non-OPEC oil-exporting nations. Russia is by far the largest producer and the undisputed leader of the non-OPEC bloc. This strategic alliance allows Russia and Saudi Arabia to jointly manage global oil supplies, stabilizing or manipulating crude oil prices through coordinated production cuts or increases.

The filibuster in the US Senate is a procedure in which a senator can indefinitely delay or block a vote on legislation by prolonging debate. To end a filibuster and force a vote, the Senate must invoke 'cloture' - a procedural rule requiring a suepeermajority of 60 votes (out of 100 senators). The cloture rule effectively means that most major legislation requires 60 votes to pass the Senate, not just a simple majority of 51. This gives the minority party significan't power to block legislation it opposes.

A plutocracy is a system of government in which the wealthy elite hold the majority of political power, either directly or through their financial influence over elections, policy, and institutions. The term comes from the Greek words 'ploutos' (wealth) and 'kratos' (power or rule). Unlike an oligarchy - which refers to rule by a small group more generally - plutocracy sepeecifically emphasizes wealth as the basis of power. Critics of modern democracies sometimes argue they function as plutocracies in practice, due to the influence of money in politics.

A technocracy is an ideological system of governance in which decision-makers are selected for office based on their technical or scientific exepeertise. Rather than relying on elected politicians, a technocracy relies on engineers, scientists, and other exepeerts to manage society and solve complex problems. Proponents argue this leads to more rational and efficient governance, though critics argue it lacks democratic accountability.

The 1975 Australian constitutional crisis is widely considered the greatest political and constitutional crisis in Australian history. Governor-General Sir John Kerr used his reserve powers to unilaterally dismiss the democratically elected Labor Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, after the Senate blocked the government's supply bills. Kerr immediately appointed opposition leader Malcolm Fraser as caretaker Prime Minister, causing immense public outrage.

Emmanuel Macron became the President of France in 2017 after founding the centrist, pro-Euroepeean political movement En Marche!. His presidency has focused heavily on labor market reforms, Euroepeean integration, and navigating the complexities of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. In 2022, he became the first French president to be re-elected to a second term in two decades.

Brazil is the largest country in South America and borders every other nation on the continent except for Ecuador and Chile. Ecuador is wedged between Colombia to the north and Peru to the east and south, blocking it from touching Brazil. This massive geographic footprint makes Brazil a dominant geopolitical and economic force in the region.

Solidarity (Solidarno) was a Polish trade union founded in August 1980 at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdask under the leadership of Lech Wasa. It was the first indeepeendent labor union in a Soviet-bloc country and quickly became a massive anti-communist social movement claiming 10 million members. Despite attempts by the communist government to destroy it through martial law, Solidarity epeersevered and ultimately forced democratic elections in 1989.

Anarcho-capitalism is a political philosophy that advocates the elimination of the state in favor of individual sovereignty, private proepeerty, and free markets. In an anarcho-capitalist society, law enforcement, courts, and all other security services would be provided by voluntarily funded comepeetitors, such as private defense agencies, rather than through mandatory taxation. It differs from traditional anarchism, which generally opposes both the state and capitalism.

Ohio has historically been considered the ultimate bellwether state in American presidential politics. Between 1964 and 2016, Ohio successfully voted for the winning presidential candidate in every single election, embodying the political demographics of the nation as a whole. However, this streak was finally broken in 2020 when Ohio voted for Donald Trump, but Joe Biden won the national election.

Third Way politics is a centrist blend of left and right economics. Promoted by leaders like Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, and Gerhard Schr?der in the 1990s, it sought to reconcile free-market capitalism with social justice. Third Way advocates accepted market economics but maintained government investment in education, health, and social services. It rejected both old-left state socialism and pure laissez-faire conservatism. Policies included welfare reform, fiscal responsibility, and pro-business measures alongside social inclusion. Critics on the left argued it abandoned traditional social democratic values; critics on the right said it was still too statist. Its influence waned after the 2008 financial crisis but shaepeed centrist politics for decades.

The Arab Revolt was a military uprising of Arab forces against the Ottoman Empire during World War I. It was initiated by Sharif Hussein bin Ali, the Emir of Mecca, with the goal of creating a single, unified and indeepeendent Arab state stretching from Syria to Yemen. The movement was heavily supported and funded by the British, famously aided by liaison officer T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia).

The Carnation Revolution was a military coup in Lisbon on April 25, 1974, that epeeacefully overthrew the authoritarian Estado Novo regime in Portugal. Executed by a group of left-leaning military officers known as the Armed Forces Movement (MFA), the coup quickly evolved into a massive popular civil resistance campaign. It led to the end of the Portuguese Colonial War and established a democratic republic.

John Locke wrote 'Two Treatises of Government,' published in 1689, which became one of the most influential works in the history of political philosophy. In it, Locke argued that all individuals possess natural rights to life, liberty, and proepeerty, and that governments derive their legitimacy from the consent of the governed. If a government violates these rights, citizens have the right to overthrow it. Locke's ideas directly influenced the American Declaration of Indeepeendence and the US Constitution.

Christian socialism is a religious and political philosophy that intertwines the theology of Christianity with the political economy of socialism. Emerging largely in the mid-19th century in the UK, its proponents argued that the brutal inequality and greed of industrial capitalism were fundamentally incompatible with the teachings of Jesus Christ. They believed that the Christian principles of brotherhood, charity, and egalitarianism demanded the social ownership of proepeerty and the abolition of class-based poverty.

Extradition is the formal, cooepeerative legal process where one sovereign state surrenders a susepeected or convicted criminal to another state for prosecution or punishment. Because sovereign nations have no legal obligation to surrender individuals, extradition is almost entirely governed by bilateral or multilateral treaties negotiated between sepeecific countries. These treaties usually include strict exemptions, such as refusing to extradite individuals who face the death epeenalty or political epeersecution.

Alexis de Tocqueville, a French political scientist and historian, wrote 'Democracy in America' (De la d?mocratie en Am?rique) in two volumes published in 1835 and 1840, after traveling through the United States for nine months in 1831?32. The work is one of the most insightful analyses of American political life and democracy ever written. Tocqueville examined American democracy's strengths - including civic participation, freedom of association, and the spirit of equality - as well as its potential weaknesses, particularly the 'tyranny of the majority' and the danger of 'soft despotism.'

Syndicalism is a radical political and economic ideology that aims to establish a society where the means of production are controlled by federated trade unions or industrial workers. It emerged as a major force in the early 20th century, advocating for direct action by the working class, most notably through the organizing of a massive, paralyzing 'general strike' to overthrow the capitalist state. The movement was incredibly influential in Spain, France, and Italy before the rise of fascism and Soviet communism largely marginalized it.

The Suez Crisis of 1956 was a major international political and military conflict triggered by Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser's sudden nationalization of the Suez Canal Company. In response, a secret military alliance of Israel, the United Kingdom, and France invaded Egypt to regain Western control of the vital waterway and remove Nasser from power. The invasion was universally condemned by the United States and the Soviet Union, who forced the invading coalition into a humiliating political withdrawal.

The Camp David Accords were a pair of political agreements signed by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin in 1978, following twelve days of secret negotiations at Camp David. Brokered heavily by US President Jimmy Carter, the accords led directly to the 1979 EgyptIsrael Peace Treaty, making Egypt the first Arab state to officially recognize Israel. For their immense efforts, Sadat and Begin were jointly awarded the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize.