South Africa: Labor and taxation: …federations include the Black consciousness-rooted National Council of Trade Unions and the mainly white Federation of South African Labour.

Kate Sheppard: …1896 Sheppard helped establish the National Council of Women (NCW) and became its first president. Among the issues she supported were greater equality in marriage and the right of women to run for Parliament. Although poor health forced her to step down as president of the NCW in 1903, she…

John Brennan: …the organization that became the National Counterterrorism Center, which he led as interim director before retiring from the CIA in 2005.

the Nationals, Australian political party that for most of its history has held office as a result of its customary alliance with the Liberal Party of Australia. It often acted as a margin in the balance of power, but its own power declined over the years. In 1934 it could command 16 percent of the

Scots Confession: The Second Scots Confession, also called the King’s Confession and the National Covenant (1581), was a supplement to the First Scots Confession. It was a strongly antipapal statement adopted by the king, council, and court and by all the Scottish people in 1581. It was also…

National Covenant, solemn agreement inaugurated by Scottish churchmen on Feb. 28, 1638, in the Greyfriars’ churchyard, Edinburgh. It rejected the attempt by King Charles I and William Laud, archbishop of Canterbury, to force the Scottish church to conform to English liturgical practice and church

Oklahoma: The arts: The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, at Oklahoma City, is noted for its Western art and its exhibits of cowboy paraphernalia. The Will Rogers Memorial Museum, in Claremore, features exhibits depicting early Oklahoma and Rogers’s career as a cowboy, humorist, and actor.

cricket: The Cricket Council and the ECB: …County Cricket Board (TCCB), the National Cricket Association (NCA), and the MCC, was the result of these efforts. The TCCB, which amalgamated the Advisory County Cricket Committee and the Board of Control of Test Matches at Home, had responsibility for all first-class and minor-counties cricket in England and for overseas…

police: Computerization: In the United States the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) was established in 1967; police records were subsequently computerized and made available to police agencies throughout the country. The NCIC’s database enables local police departments to apprehend offenders who might otherwise evade capture. The database contains fingerprints, a registry of…

Jacques d’Amboise: …became director of the nonprofit National Dance Institute (NDI), which he founded (1976) in order to take the teaching of dance into an ever-widening circle of public schools. The NDI, which was based in New York City, later became involved with a number of associate organizations across the country. D’Amboise’s…

National Day, holiday celebrated on October 1 to mark the formation of the People’s Republic of China. The holiday is also celebrated by China’s two special administrative regions: Hong Kong and Macau. Traditionally, the festivities begin with the ceremonial raising of the Chinese national flag in

Switzerland: Daily life and social customs: August 1 is National Day (German: Bundesfeier; French: Fête Nationale; and Italian: Festa Nazionale), which commemorates the agreement between representatives of the Alpine cantons of Uri, Schwyz, and Nidwalden, who signed an oath of confederation in 1291. The holiday itself, however, dates only from 1891, and it became…

history of Latin America: Debt crisis: …full service on its foreign debt, which had grown to dangerously high levels. Both Mexico and Venezuela, as major petroleum exporters, benefited from rising international oil prices during the 1970s, but, instead of concluding that foreign credit was no longer necessary, they assumed that any amount of indebtedness would be…

Narodna Odbrana, Serbian nationalist organization, founded in 1908, that gathered recruits from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, and Croatia and tried to foment an anti-Habsburg revolution in Bosnia. Although it officially transformed itself into a cultural society in 1909, it continued its clandestine

international trade: National defense: …argument is fairly clear: the national-defense argument is frequently a red herring, an attempt to “wrap oneself in the flag,” and insofar as an industry is essential, the tariff is a dubious means of ensuring its survival. Economists say instead that essential industries ought to be given a direct subsidy…

United States: National security: The National Security Act of 1947 created a coordinated command for security and intelligence-gathering activities. The act established the National Security Council (NSC) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the latter under the authority of the NSC and responsible for foreign intelligence. The National Security Agency,…

Mike Lee: He notably voted against the National Defense Authorization Act of 2014, which allowed the government to detain without trial anyone—including U.S. citizens—suspected of fighting with al-Qaeda and other forces hostile to the United States. Lee also supported the government shutdown of 2013, along with many members of his party, but…

Cooperative Threat Reduction: …Nunn and Lugar cosponsored the National Defense Authorization Act. The act originally provided U.S. funding for either the elimination of Soviet nuclear weapons or their removal to carefully guarded sites, storage of nuclear material obtained from decommissioned missiles, and efforts to prevent the sale or illegal dispersal of destructive weapons.…

Kim Jong-Un: Childhood and rise to power: …a post on the powerful National Defense Commission (NDC); the chairmanship of the NDC, defined in the constitution as the country’s highest office, was held by Kim Jong Il. By mid-2009 Kim Jong-Un was being referred to within the country by the title “Brilliant Comrade,” and in June it was…

Serbia: Security: …the other republics, established a National Defense Council, which in time of war “or any other peril” could assume sweeping police powers—even making its own determination that such a situation exists. As a result, a small number of military officers held a considerable amount of power. The council invoked its…

National Defense Education Act (NDEA), U.S. federal legislation passed by Congress and signed into law by Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower on September 2, 1958, that provided funding to improve American schools and to promote postsecondary education. The goal of the legislation was to enable the

Vannevar Bush: Architect of the military-industrial complex: …about forming an organization, the National Defense Research Committee (NDRC), to organize research of interest to the military and to inform the armed services about new technologies. The NDRC was formed with Bush as its chairman on June 27, 1940. One year later, the Office of Scientific Research and Development…

National Defense University (NDU), American graduate-level institution of higher education for members of the U.S. military and allied countries’ militaries that was designed to prepare military and civilian leaders to face present and emerging security threats through education in military

Poland: Accommodation with the ruling governments: …Democratic movement originated with a Polish League organized in Switzerland; by 1893 the organization had transformed into the clandestine National League, based in Warsaw. It stressed its all-Polish character, rejected loyalism, and promoted national resistance, even uprisings, when opportune. Its nationalist ideology tinged with populism gradually evolved into “integral” nationalism,…

National Democratic Alliance (NDA), alliance of right-leaning political parties in India, led by the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) held power first from 1999 until 2004 under the leadership of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and again from 2014

Grenada: Independence of Grenada: …in March 1990, Braithwaite, whose National Democratic Congress (NDC) fell one seat shy of a parliamentary majority, was appointed prime minister by Scoon.

John Mahama: …Ghanaian politician affiliated with the National Democratic Congress (NCD) political party who became vice president of Ghana in 2009. After the death of Pres. John Evans Atta Mills in July 2012, Mahama ascended to the presidency. He was elected president later that year and served until 2017. He was reelected…

Jamaica: The independent country: …(creating a third party, the National Democratic Movement). The start of disengagement by the political parties from gang leaders and the establishment of the Electoral Commission contributed significantly to a decrease in political violence.

Suriname: Suriname since independence: …served as president of the National Democratic Party (Nationale Democratische Partij; NDP) and was widely viewed as the real power behind Jules Wijdenbosch, who was elected president of the country in 1996. In 1997 the government of the Netherlands issued an arrest warrant for Bouterse on charges of drug smuggling,…

Joshua Nkomo: …in 1960 and founded the National Democratic Party (NDP); in 1961, when the NDP was banned in turn, he founded ZAPU. The white-minority government of Rhodesia held Nkomo in detention from 1964 until 1974. After his release he traveled widely in Africa and Europe to promote ZAPU’s goal of Black…

Egypt: The Mubarak regime: His National Democratic Party (NDP) continued to increase its majority of delegates in the People’s Assembly in the elections held every five years. The Muslim Brotherhood, unofficially allowed to revive under Sadat but never authorized to become a political party, threw its popular support to the…

Democratic Action (AD), social-democratic political party of Venezuela. Democratic Action was founded in 1936–37 as the National Democratic Party during a period when Venezuela’s government had relaxed its restrictive laws regulating political organizations. By the end of 1937, however, the

Samuel Ladoke Akintola: He formed the Nigerian National Democratic Party but was never able to win the votes of the majority of the region. His blatantly rigged election in 1965 was undoubtedly an immediate cause of the January 1966 coup in which he was slain.

National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD), right-wing German nationalist party that called for German unification during the Cold War and advocated law and order as well as an end to German “guilt” for World War II. The party’s founders included many former supporters of the Nazis. In the 1950s,

Algeria: Constitutional referendum and the election of Abdelaziz Bouteflika: …a new government party, the National Democratic Rally (Rassemblement National et Démocratique; RND), was formed. Benefiting from unlimited government support, including the use of official buildings and funds, the RND quickly gained power. In the June elections for the National People’s Assembly, the RND won 156 out of 380 seats,…

Barack Obama: Life after the presidency of Barack Obama: …indicated his support for the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, an organization led by former attorney general Eric Holder that was focused on executing a comprehensive redistricting strategy to counter what it saw as the abuses of Republican gerrymandering.

North Macedonia: Independence of North Macedonia: …seats, and the newly formed National Democratic Revival (RK), with about 3 percent and 2 seats. This proved to be a period of extensive political turmoil, which included a prolonged boycott of the parliament by the SDSM.

Russia: Russification policies: …course illegal, political parties appeared—the National Democrats and the Polish Socialist Party, both fundamentally anti-Russian.

dentistry: Organizations: In addition, the National Dental Association exists to represent ethnic minorities in dentistry in the United States. The National Dental Association was formed in 1932 by African American dentists, who were experiencing racial discrimination and were prevented from becoming members of organized dental societies. Today the American Dental…

education: Education and civil society: …Meyer and Michael Hannan in National Development and the World System: Educational, Economic, and Political Change, 1950–1970 (1979), formal systems of education not only represent the means by which nation-states have modernized and prospered economically but are also the surest route to enhancing the talents of individuals. As a requirement…

Raila Odinga: Early life and political activity: …left FORD–K and joined the National Development Party (NDP).

National Dialogue Quartet, coalition of Tunisian civil society organizations—the Tunisian General Labour Union (Union Générale Tunisienne du Travail; UGTT), the Tunisian Order of Lawyers (Ordre National des Avocats de Tunisie), the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts (Union

Angola: Resources and power: The National Diamond Enterprise of Angola, a parastatal company, is responsible for approving diamond concessions, and it also licenses buyers. In 1992–94 most Angolan diamonds on the market were mined and smuggled from regions controlled by UNITA. The Angolan government gained control of this area in…

Sierra Leone: Resources and power: The National Diamond Mining Company (Diminco) also mined diamonds until 1995. Mining methods range from mechanical grab lines with washing and separator plants to crude hand digging and panning. Many diamonds are found in river gravels, especially along the Sewa-Bafi river system. Official exports of diamonds…

National Diet Library, the national library of Japan, formed at Tokyo in 1948 and combining the libraries of the upper and lower houses of the Diet (national legislature) with the collections of the former Imperial Library (established 1872). The library’s building opened in 1961, adjacent to the

Library of Congress: …library is also leading the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program, a collaborative effort mandated in 2000 by Congress to preserve the country’s digital assets.

Library of Congress: …Library of Congress launched the National Digital Library Program (NDLP), making freely available on the Internet high-quality electronic versions of American historical material from the library’s special collections. By the end of the library’s bicentennial year in 2000, more than five million items (manuscripts, films, sound recordings, and photographs) had…

drug use: National controls: …to the creation of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). The ONDCP establishes drug-control policy and sets national goals for reducing the illicit use and trafficking of drugs. It is also responsible for producing the National Drug Control Strategy (NDCS). The NDCS is designed to facilitate effective drug-control…

drug use: National controls: …also responsible for producing the National Drug Control Strategy (NDCS). The NDCS is designed to facilitate effective drug-control measures at local levels by providing information on drugs and drug abuse for community members and by making various resources for drug control available to local officials.

duckpins: …it is governed by the National Duck Pin Bowling Congress (founded Sept. 8, 1927). The game was introduced in 1900 at a bowling alley owned by professional baseball players Wilbert Robinson and John J. McGraw.

economic planning: Origins of planning: …1961, to set up a National Economic Development Council to draft a five-year economic plan that would emphasize much more rapid economic growth. The Netherlands, which had been very successful since the war in achieving balanced economic growth, initiated five-year plans in 1963 through the medium of the Central Planning…

economic system: Centralized states: Very little is known of the origin of the second of the great systems of social coordination—namely, the creation of a central apparatus of command and rulership. From ancient clusters of population, impressive civilizations emerged in Egypt, China, and India during the 3rd…

National Education Association (NEA), American voluntary association of teachers, administrators, and other educators associated with elementary and secondary schools and colleges and universities. It is the world’s largest professional organization. Its headquarters are in Washington, D.C. The

Wales: Cultural institutions: …annually in August at the National Eisteddfod of Wales, a competitive and highly individualized festival held alternately in North and South Wales. The Eisteddfod consists of competitions in all aspects of music, literature, drama, and art, together with a series of dramatic performances and concerts, all in the Welsh language.…

Voter News Service: …service was replaced by the National Election Pool (NEP).

Reginald Aubrey Fessenden: …Pittsburgh financiers in organizing the National Electric Signaling Company to manufacture his inventions, which they intended to sell to customers such as the U.S. Navy or shipping companies whose far-flung operations would benefit from wireless telegraph communication. The company was also interested in competing with Guglielmo Marconi in transmitting across…

Saab AB: …purchased by the start-up company National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS).

Endesa: …and the Italian energy company Enel. Two years later Enel purchased Acciona’s stake, thereby taking full control of Endesa.

National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), an independent agency of the U.S. government that supports the creation, dissemination, and performance of the arts. It was created by the U.S. Congress in the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965. The agency funds a variety of

National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), an independent agency of the U.S. government that supports research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities. It was created by the U.S. Congress in the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965. The

Canada: Second premiership: …was the basis of the National Energy Program (NEP), introduced in the fall of 1980, which was designed to speed up the “Canadianization” of the energy industry and vastly increase Ottawa’s share of energy revenues. The NEP created a fierce conflict between the central government and the energy-producing provinces (particularly…

National Enquirer, American weekly newspaper best known for its celebrity gossip, crime news, and investigative reporting. The Enquirer is commonly termed a “supermarket tabloid” because of its wide availability at grocery-store checkout counters. It is also sold on newsstands and through

National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the first major U.S. environmental law. Enacted in 1969 and signed into law in 1970 by President Richard M. Nixon, NEPA requires all federal agencies to go through a formal process before taking any action anticipated to have substantial impact on the

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration:

John Mercer Langston: …1864 he helped organize the National Equal Rights League, of which he was the first president.

Robert Owen: Leadership of the trade union movement: …to the formation of the National Equitable Labour Exchange, which applied the principle that labour is the source of all wealth.

Gamaliel Bailey: …1847 Bailey became editor of The National Era, established in Washington, D.C., by the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society. With its considerable circulation, this paper exerted a strong political and moral influence. Among its contributors were Nathaniel Hawthorne, John Greenleaf Whittier, and Theodore Parker; in its pages Harriet Beecher Stowe’s…

National Etruscan Museum, museum in Rome devoted principally to antiquities of the pre-Roman period from ancient Umbria, Latium, and southern Etruria. Since 1889 the museum has been housed in the Villa Giulia, or Villa di Papa Giulio (Pope Julius), which was built in the mid-16th century for Pope

Labour Party: Policy and structure: …conference is to elect the National Executive Committee (NEC), which oversees the party’s day-to-day affairs. Twelve members of the NEC are elected by trade union delegates, seven by CLPs, five by women delegates, one by youth delegates, and one by delegates from affiliated socialist societies.

Berlin: Transportation: The Bundesautobahn (National Expressway) in Berlin is part of a national superhighway network inaugurated before World War II. The system is linked with the Berliner Ring, a circle of autobahns around the city with Berlin in the centre of access spokes. Even before 1990, both Germanys…

Chile: New political groupings: …their party to form the National Falange (Falange Nacional). In 1957 the National Falange fused with the Social Christian Party (which had also seceded from the Conservatives) to form the Christian Democratic Party, whose program tended toward serious reforms in the archaic economic and social structures. The Communist Party regained…

United Farm Workers (UFW), U.S. labour union founded in 1962 as the National Farm Workers Association by the labour leaders and activists Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta. It seeks to empower migrant farmworkers and to improve their wages and working conditions. The union also works to promote

Louis Sullivan: Later work of Louis Sullivan: …Midwestern towns, beginning with the National Farmers’ (now Security) Bank in Owatonna, Minnesota. Sullivan’s work habits had become erratic, and it is known that this particular design is primarily the work of Elmslie. It has a simple cube form pierced on two sides by large arched windows. Its walls of…

Fascist Party (PNF), political party formed by Benito Mussolini in November 1921 and dissolved in 1943 after he was deposed. It served as the political instrument for the Italian fascist movement and Mussolini, its leader. From 1922 to 1943, a period referred to as the ventennio fascista (“twenty

Lena Madesin Phillips: …at which was formed the National Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs, and from then until 1923 she was executive secretary of the federation. While traveling widely to foster the establishment of local clubs, she helped found the federation’s journal, Independent Woman, in 1920. In 1923, after receiving a…

Christian fundamentalism: The late 19th to the mid-20th century: …of Baptists calling themselves the National Federation of Fundamentalists began holding annual preconvention conferences on Baptist fundamentals. When their attempts to carry their views into the convention failed to make immediate progress, the more militant among them founded the Baptist Bible Union. Eventually the militants left the denomination to form…

National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the largest political advocacy organization in the United States that represents small and independent businesses. NFIB was founded in 1943, and it provides resources to small business owners and managers and works to influence national and state

Affordable Care Act cases: Certiorari petitions: …expansion) and two new cases, National Federation of Independent Business et al. v. Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, et al. (severability) and Department of Health and Human Services et al. v. Florida et al. (the individual mandate and the Anti-Injunction Act). By that time the court had…

Phyllis Schlafly: …for the presidency of the National Federation of Republican Women (for which she had served, since 1965, as first vice president), Schlafly began publishing The Phyllis Schlafly Report, a monthly newsletter intended to mobilize her supporters and inform them about political issues and candidates. In a 1972 issue of the…

basketball: The early years: …during the same year the National Federation of State High School Associations likewise assumed the task of establishing separate playing rules for the high schools. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Rules Committee for men is a 12-member board representing all three NCAA divisions. It has six members from Division…

history of the blind: The organization of the blind in the United States: …in 1940 to charter the National Federation of the Blind (NFB). The NFB organized affiliates across the United States to become the largest advocacy group of blind people. The NFB began publishing the Braille Monitor in 1957 and produced a number of leaders in the “blind movement” who advanced the…

Fiji: History of Fiji: In 1987, however, the Indian-dominated National Federation Party joined in coalition with the new Labour Party (led by a Fijian, Timoci Bavadra), which had strong support from Fijian and Indian trade unionists. The coalition was successful in elections held in April. The new government, which had a majority of Indian…

Sam Brownback: …the state president of the Future Farmers of America in high school, where his passion for politics began. He graduated from Kansas State University (where he was student body president) in 1978 and received a law degree from the University of Kansas in 1982. After graduating from law school, Brownback…

archery: History: In 1939 the National Field Archery Association of the United States was established to promote hunting, roving, and field archery. The number of archers around the world increased phenomenally after 1930, led by remarkable growth in the United States. By the late 20th century there were probably more…

National Film Board of Canada (NFB), Canadian department of film production. It was established in 1939 and directed by John Grierson (1898–1972), who developed the studio into a leading producer of documentaries, including the World War II propaganda series Canada Carries On and The World in

National Film Registry, list of movies selected for preservation by the U.S. Library of Congress, in consultation with its National Film Preservation Board, the public, and LOC film curators. Every year, 25 films that have been deemed “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant” to

Trevor Brazile: He first qualified for the NFR—the rodeo season’s final event, in which only the best cowboys compete—in 1998 in team roping, which involves two participants: the header, who ropes the steer’s head, and the heeler, who ropes the legs.

Flag Day, in the United States, a day honouring the national flag, observed on June 14. The holiday commemorates the date in 1777 when the United States approved the design for its first national flag. The idea to set aside a day to honour the national flag came from several sources. Bernard J.

National Football League (NFL), major American professional football organization, founded in 1920 in Canton, Ohio, as the American Professional Football Association. Its first president was Jim Thorpe, an outstanding American athlete who was also a player in the league. The NFL’s present name was

Canton: …in organizing the sport, the Pro Football Hall of Fame was established there in 1963.

Gene Upshaw: In 1994 he helped launch National Football League Players, Inc., an association that greatly increased the marketing and licensing power of NFL players. Upshaw was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1987.

national forest, in the United States, any of numerous forest areas set aside under federal supervision for the purposes of conserving water, timber, wildlife, fish, and other renewable resources and providing recreational areas for the public. The national forests are administered by the U.S.

March of Dimes Foundation, American charitable organization dedicated to preventing childhood diseases, birth defects, and premature births and to reducing infant mortality. It was founded as the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis in 1938 by U.S. Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt, who envisioned

National Endowment for the Arts: Congress in the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965. The agency funds a variety of projects in literature, music, theatre, film, dance, fine arts, sculpture, and crafts. It also manages the awarding of the National Medal of Arts. This medal is presented by…

Inkatha Freedom Party: …Inkatha in 2011, forming the National Freedom Party, which further diluted Inkatha’s support. In the 2014 national and provincial elections, Inkatha won little more than 2 percent of the national vote, netting 10 seats in the National Assembly, and came in third in KwaZulu-Natal. The party saw a slight improvement…

Hayward: The National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame, which maintains records of the largest freshwater fish caught in the world, exhibits hundreds of fishing artifacts as well as a four-and-a-half-story fibreglass likeness of a muskellunge (musky; a type of pike), complete with an observation deck in…

National Rally, far right French political party founded in 1972 by François Duprat and François Brigneau. It is most commonly associated with Jean-Marie Le Pen, who was its leader from 1972 to 2011, and his daughter Marine Le Pen, who succeeded her father in 2011 and led the party until 2022.

Tunisia: Domestic development: The National Front, an alliance of the Destourian Socialist Party and the trade union movement, swept all 136 parliamentary seats, a result received with cynicism and dismay by the opposition. Meanwhile, an Islamist opposition was developing around the Islamic Tendency Movement (Mouvement de la Tendance Islamique…

Malaysia: Political process: …the late 2010s by the National Front (Barisan Nasional; BN), a broad coalition of ethnically oriented parties. Among the oldest and strongest of these parties are the United Malays National Organization (UMNO; long the driving force of the National Front), the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC),…

V.P. Singh: …nationwide opposition coalition called the National Front (NF), which contested the general parliamentary elections of November 1989. After that election, Singh, as the NF leader, was able to form a coalition government in alliance with two other major opposition parties. He was sworn in as India’s prime minister on December…