Octavio Paz was a Mexican poet, writer, and diplomat, recognized as one of the major Latin American writers of the 20th century. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1990. (See Nobel Lecture: “In Search of the Present.”) Paz’s family was ruined financially by the Mexican Civil War, and he

Pazardzhik, town, west-central Bulgaria. It lies along the upper Maritsa River, between the Rhodope Mountains to the south and the Sredna Mountains to the north. It is a rail junction and an industrial centre, specializing in textiles, rubber, furniture, engineering, and the processing of

Pazardzhik, town, west-central Bulgaria. It lies along the upper Maritsa River, between the Rhodope Mountains to the south and the Sredna Mountains to the north. It is a rail junction and an industrial centre, specializing in textiles, rubber, furniture, engineering, and the processing of

Pazardzhik, town, west-central Bulgaria. It lies along the upper Maritsa River, between the Rhodope Mountains to the south and the Sredna Mountains to the north. It is a rail junction and an industrial centre, specializing in textiles, rubber, furniture, engineering, and the processing of

Guangzhou: Other districts: …the first phase of the Guangzhou International Convention and Exhibition Center (Pazhou Complex) on Pazhou Island in the Pearl River. One of the largest such venues in the world, it hosts Guangzhou’s major trade shows (including the Guangzhou Trade Fair) and has spurred rapid development of Haizhu’s commerce and tourism-related…

Hungarian literature: Effects of the Counter-Reformation: A Jesuit cardinal, Péter Pázmány, a master of Hungarian prose, was outstanding as an orator and essayist. His writing was characterized by a vigorous and clear, though far from simple, style, use of popular expressions, and solid argument. His Isteni igazságra vezérlő kalauz (1613; “Guide to Divine Truth”)…

Emilia, condesa de Pardo Bazán: …and most representative novels are The House of Ulloa (originally in Spanish, Los pazos de Ulloa, 1886) and its sequel, La madre naturaleza (1887; “Mother Nature”)—studies of physical and moral ruin among the Galician squirearchy, set against a beautiful natural background and a moral background of corrupting power. Insolación (“Sunstroke”)…

Pazuzu, in Mesopotamian religion, the king of wind demons, son of Hanpa and brother of Humbaba (Huwawa). Adherents believed Pazuzu helped humans ward off other demons, and, thus, representations of his face served as popular apotropaic amulets in the 1st millennium bce in the Middle East. The

Pazyryk, Scythian burial site in a dry valley opening on the Bolshoy Ulagan River valley in Kazakhstan. The site, which consists of five large and nine smaller burial mounds and dates from about the 5th to the 3rd century bc, was excavated in 1929 and 1947–49. It is perhaps the richest source of

Desiderio da Settignano: …the tondi for Filippo Brunelleschi’s Pazzi Chapel in Florence sometime after 1451 and completed the marble Altar of the Sacrament in San Lorenzo, Florence (1461), which is considered to be one of the decorative masterpieces of the 15th century.

Pazzi conspiracy, (April 26, 1478), unsuccessful plot to overthrow the Medici rulers of Florence; the most dramatic of all political opposition to the Medici family. The conspiracy was led by the rival Pazzi family of Florence. In league with the Pazzi were Pope Sixtus IV and his nephew Girolamo

Filippo Brunelleschi: Architectural career: …and influential Florentine family, the Pazzi, commissioned Brunelleschi to design a chapel adjacent to the monastic Church of Santa Croce that was intended to be a chapter house (a place of assembly for monks to conduct business). Work probably did not begin before 1442; the building still was not complete…

Italian literature: Fiction at the turn of the 21st century: Conscientiously constructed are Roberto Pazzi’s pseudo-historical novels Cercando l’imperatore (1985; Searching for the Emperor) and La principessa e il drago (1986; The Princess and the Dragon).

Italy: Florence of Italy: Yet the “War of the Pazzi” (1478–80) that followed, with Florence pitted against a papacy allied to Naples, proved dangerous and expensive, and Lorenzo emerged from it only with great difficulty.

lead (Pb), a soft, silvery white or grayish metal in Group 14 (IVa) of the periodic table. Lead is very malleable, ductile, and dense and is a poor conductor of electricity. Known in antiquity and believed by the alchemists to be the oldest of metals, lead is highly durable and resistant to

polybutylene terephthalate: Pipe made with PBT (so-called polybutylene pipe, or PB pipe) was formerly popular for residential plumbing as a low-cost and easily handled substitute for copper, but it was found to degrade after prolonged contact with oxidizing chemicals such as chlorine in municipal water supplies, so it is no longer used.…

Don Carter: …and first president of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA; founded in 1958). He began bowling as a boy while working as a pinsetter. He built his own lane in the basement of the family home, and in 1953 he joined the St. Louis Budweiser team. Carter was bowler of the…

biomonitoring: Studies and surveillance programs: …that human milk levels of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), chemicals used as flame retardants in many consumer products, had doubled every five years. Other studies detected these chemicals in breast milk from women in Japan, Germany, the United States, and Canada, as well as in killer whales and polar bears…

Songkran, splashy and water-filled New Year festival in Thailand, and, by other names, in Cambodia, Myanmar (Burma), and Laos as well as in parts of India and China. Songkran is celebrated approximately April 13–15 and marks the entrance of the sun into the astrological sign of Mesha (“ram,” or

Carl Shipp Marvel: …during the 1960s, Marvel synthesized polybenzimidazoles (PBIs), a type of polyimide that is resistant to temperatures as high as 600 °C (1,100 °F) and is used in suits for astronauts and firefighters. In 1980 PBIs became the first man-made fibres to be produced commercially in almost a decade. Marvel continued…

protein-bound iodine test, laboratory test that indirectly assesses thyroid function by measuring the concentration of iodine bound to proteins circulating in the bloodstream. Thyroid hormones are formed by the addition of iodine to the amino acid tyrosine and are normally transported in the

combinatorics: PBIB (partially balanced incomplete block) designs: Given υ objects 1, 2, · · ·, υ, a relation satisfying the following conditions is said to be an m-class partially balanced association scheme:

planetary boundary layer (PBL), the region of the lower troposphere where Earth’s surface strongly influences temperature, moisture, and wind through the turbulent transfer of air mass. As a result of surface friction, winds in the PBL are usually weaker than above and tend to blow toward areas of

China: Finance: …and financial control are the People’s Bank of China and the Ministry of Finance, both subject to the authority of the State Council. The People’s Bank, which replaced the Central Bank of China in 1950 and gradually took over private banks, fulfills many of the functions of Western central and…

MRSA: Mechanisms of resistance: This gene encodes a unique penicillin-binding protein (PBP) that binds methicillin and thereby promotes bacterial survival by preventing the antibiotic from inhibiting cell wall synthesis. Numerous variants of MRSA have evolved, including two strains of epidemic MRSA (EMRSA), which first appeared in the early 1990s—their emergence corresponding to the dramatic…

Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), private, nonprofit American corporation whose members are the public television stations of the United States and its unincorporated territories. PBS provides its member stations with programming in cultural, educational, and scientific areas, in children’s fare,

Public Broadcasting Service: …MacNeil and Jim Lehrer; now PBS NewsHour), Live from Lincoln Center (begun 1976), Live from the Metropolitan Opera (later titled The Metropolitan Opera Presents; 1977–2006), This Old House (begun 1979), Mystery! (begun 1980; later subsumed into Masterpiece), Nature (begun 1982), American Playhouse (1982–93), Frontline (begun 1983), The Frugal Gourmet (1983–95;…

polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), a strong and highly crystalline synthetic resin, produced by the polymerization of butanediol and terephthalic acid. PBT is similar in structure to polyethylene terephthalate (PET)—the difference being in the number of methylene (CH2) groups present in the

polycarbonate (PC), a tough, transparent synthetic resin employed in safety glass, eyeglass lenses, and compact discs, among other applications. PC is a special type of polyester used as an engineering plastic owing to its exceptional impact resistance, tensile strength, ductility, dimensional

political correctness (PC), term used to refer to language that seems intended to give the least amount of offense, especially when describing groups identified by external markers such as race, gender, culture, or sexual orientation. The concept has been discussed, disputed, criticized, and

personal computer (PC), a digital computer designed for use by only one person at a time. A typical personal computer assemblage consists of a central processing unit (CPU), which contains the computer’s arithmetic, logic, and control circuitry on an integrated circuit; two types of computer

propositional calculus, in logic, symbolic system of treating compound and complex propositions and their logical relationships. As opposed to the predicate calculus, the propositional calculus employs simple, unanalyzed propositions rather than terms or noun expressions as its atomic units; and,

Dell, global company that designs, develops, and manufactures personal computers (PCs) and a variety of computer-related products. The company is one of the world’s leading computer brands and suppliers of PCs. Dell is headquartered in Round Rock, Texas. The company, first called PC’s Limited, was

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), U.S. Protestant denomination formed on June 10, 1983, in the merger of the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (headquartered in New York City) and the Presbyterian Church in the United States (headquartered in Atlanta). The merger ended a North-South split among

personal computer: IBM PC: IBM Corporation, the world’s dominant computer maker, did not enter the new market until 1981, when it introduced the IBM Personal Computer, or IBM PC. The IBM PC was significantly faster than rival machines, had about 10 times their memory capacity, and was…

Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), theologically conservative U.S. evangelical Presbyterian denomination founded in 1973. In the first quarter of the 21st century, the denomination claimed more than 340,000 members and 1,400 churches, making it the second largest Presbyterian denomination in the

chess: The world championship and FIDE: …of a new organization, the Professional Chess Association (PCA). Before Kasparov defeated Short in London in late 1993 in the first PCA championship, FIDE disqualified Kasparov and organized its own world championship match, won by Karpov.

polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB), any of a class of organohalogen compounds prepared by the reaction of chlorine with biphenyl. A typical mixture of PCBs may contain over 100 compounds and is a colourless, viscous liquid. The mixture is relatively insoluble in water, is stable at high temperatures,

aldehyde: Synthesis of aldehydes: …have been used, most notably pyridinium chlorochromate, PCC.

Communist Party of Cuba, Cuban communist party organized by Fidel Castro and others in 1965 but historically dating from communist activity begun in Cuba in 1923. Under the constitution of 1976 it became the only party permitted to function in Cuba, and in the revised constitution of 1992 it was

FARC: …the military wing of the Colombian Communist Party (Partido Comunista de Colombia; PCC), the FARC is the largest of Colombia’s rebel groups, estimated to possess some 10,000 armed soldiers and thousands of supporters, largely drawn from Colombia’s rural areas. The FARC supports a redistribution of wealth from the wealthy to…

Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches of North America (PCCNA), fellowship of Pentecostal and charismatic Christian churches and denominations in North America. It seeks to provide “a framework for fellowship, dialogue, and cooperation” between such churches, denominations, and ministries, which share a

Communist Party of Spain (PCE), Spanish political party founded in 1921 by dissident members of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE). In April 1920 youth members of the PSOE split from the party, and the following year the PCE was formed when these former socialists united with the Spanish

rabies: …human diploid cell vaccine (HDCV), purified chick embryo cell culture (PCEC), and rabies vaccine adsorbed (RVA). With older vaccines, at least 16 injections were required, whereas with HDCV, PCEC, or RVA, 5 are usually sufficient. Persons at risk of rabies by virtue of occupation (e.g., veterinarians) or travel to endemic…

French Communist Party, French political party that espouses a communist ideology and has joined coalition governments with the French Socialist Party. Founded in 1920 by the left wing of the French Socialist Party and affiliated with the Soviet-run Communist International, the PCF did not gain

Pentecostal Church of God (PCG), Pentecostal denomination that was organized in Chicago in 1919. It had 960 churches in the United States as of 2024 and is a member of the Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches of North America (PCCNA). The Pentecostal Church of God (PCG) was founded as the Pentecostal

Democrats of the Left, former Italian political party and historically western Europe’s largest communist party. The party was originally founded in January 1921 as the Italian Communist Party (Partito Comunista Italiano; PCI) by dissidents of the extreme left wing of the Italian Socialist Party

Truong Chinh: …career within the recently formed Indochinese Communist Party (PCI). While editing a Communist Party newspaper in Hanoi, he was arrested by the French in 1932 and spent the next four years in prison. Paroled in 1936, he was a well-qualified candidate for command in the PCI, most of whose earlier…

AGP: …processing unit) and system memory—unlike PCI (peripheral component interconnect), an earlier graphics card standard on which AGP was based. In graphics-intense applications, this direct channel gave AGP a performance advantage over PCI, which had been used for graphics cards, network cards, and countless other devices.

AGP: …graphics technology about 2010 by PCI Express, a high-speed version of PCI that replaced both PCI and AGP.

major industrial polymers: Degradable polyesters: … (PLA), poly-2-hydroxy butyrate (PHB), and polycaprolactone (PCL), as well as their copolymers:

modulation: Pulse modulation: In pulse modulation, a series of on-off pulses serve as the carrier wave that is subsequently modulated. In pulse-coded modulation (PCM), the information signal converts the carrier into a series of constant-amplitude pulses spaced in such a manner that the desired intelligence is…

machine tool: Photochemical machining (PCM): PCM is an extension of CHM that uses a series of photographic and chemical etching techniques to produce components and devices in a wide range of metals, especially stainless steel.

El Salvador: Military dictatorships: …dismantled and replaced by the National Conciliation Party (Partido de Conciliación Nacional; PCN), which would control the national government for the next 18 years. Under the banner of the Alliance for Progress, Rivera advanced programs aimed at economic growth and diversification, which enabled El Salvador to take advantage of the…

Nicaragua: Political process: … (Partido Liberal Constitucionalista; PLC), the Conservative Party of Nicaragua (Partido Conservador de Nicaragua; PCN), and the Sandinista National Liberation Front (Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional; FSLN). The FSLN was established in the early 1960s as a guerrilla group dedicated to the overthrow of the Somoza family. They governed Nicaragua from…

Stein-Leventhal syndrome, disorder in women that is characterized by an elevated level of male hormones (androgens) and infrequent or absent ovulation (anovulation). About 5 percent of women are affected by Stein-Leventhal syndrome, which is responsible for a substantial proportion of cases of

PCP, hallucinogenic drug with anesthetic properties, having the chemical name 1-(1-phenylcyclohexyl)piperidine. PCP was first developed in 1956 by Parke Davis Laboratories of Detroit for use as an anesthetic in veterinary medicine, though it is no longer used in this capacity. Used for a brief time

pipeline: Capsule pipelines: …gas, the technology is called pneumatic capsule pipeline (PCP), and, when water or another liquid is used, it is termed hydraulic capsule pipeline (HCP). Owing to the low density of air, capsules in PCP cannot be suspended by air at ordinary speeds. Instead, the capsules are wheeled vehicles rolling through…

full-cell process: …creosote, oil-based chemicals such as pentachlorophenol (PCP), and aqueous solutions of compounds such as chromated copper arsenate (CCA), ammoniacal copper zinc arsenate (ACZA), and copper azole (CA-B). Creosote, PCP, and CCA are used on heavy structural members such as railroad ties, utility poles, marine pilings, and bridge timbers; ACZA and…

polymerase chain reaction ( PCR), a technique used to make numerous copies of a specific segment of DNA quickly and accurately. The polymerase chain reaction enables investigators to obtain the large quantities of DNA that are required for various experiments and procedures in molecular biology,

Vladimir Voronin: …Moldavian Communist Party as the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova (PCRM), becoming its president a year later. In 2001 the PCRM won parliamentary elections with slightly more than 50 percent of the vote, ending a decade of rule by a reformist government. Elected president by parliament in…

telephone: Personal communication systems: In a number of countries throughout the world, a wireless service called the personal communication system (PCS) is available. In the broadest sense, PCS includes all forms of wireless communication that are interconnected with the public switched telephone network, including mobile telephone…

Republic of the Congo: Political process: …the most active are the Congolese Labour Party (Parti Congolais du Travail; PCT), the Congolese Movement for Democracy and Integral Development (Mouvement Congolais pour la Démocratie et le Développement Intégral; MCDDI), the Pan-African Union for Social Development (Union Panafricaine pour la Démocratie Sociale; UPADS), Rally for Democracy and Social Progress…

polychlorotrifluoroethylene (PCTFE), synthetic resin formed by the polymerization of chlorotrifluoroethylene. It is a moldable, temperature-resistant, and chemical-resistant plastic that finds specialty applications in the chemical, electrical, and aerospace industries. PCTFE can be prepared as a

Romania: New constitution: …coalition of parties, including the Democratic Party (Partidul Democrat; PD), whose Traian Băsescu was elected president.

Tadeusz Mazowiecki: …2005 he helped found the Democratic Party (Partia Demokratyczna [PD]; not to be confused with Poland’s other Democratic Party, Stronnictwo Demokratyczne [SD], founded in 1939). From 1992 to 1995 Mazowiecki represented the former Yugoslavia as a special reporter to the United Nations Human Rights Commission.

palladium (Pd), chemical element, the least dense and lowest-melting of the platinum metals of Groups 8–10 (VIIIb), Periods 5 and 6, of the periodic table, used especially as a catalyst (a substance that speeds up chemical reactions without changing their products) and in alloys. A precious

immune system: Immunity against cancer: …immune regulatory protein known as programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1), which occurs on the surface of T cells, led to the development of highly effective anti-PD-1 cancer immunotherapies.

PDA, an electronic handheld organizer used in the 1990s and 2000s to store contact information, manage calendars, communicate by e-mail, and handle documents and spreadsheets, usually in communication with the user’s personal computer (PC). The first PDAs were developed in the early 1990s as

Christian Democratic People’s Party, Swiss centre-right political party that endorses Christian democratic principles. With FDP. The Liberals, the Social Democratic Party, and the Swiss People’s Party, the Christian Democratic People’s Party (CVP) has governed Switzerland as part of a grand

Panama: Transitions to democracy and sovereignty: …of the largest party, the Christian Democrats (Partido Demócrata Cristiano; PDC), led by Vice President Ricardo Arias Calderón. This left the administration without a legislative majority and allowed the remnants of Noriega’s Democratic Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario Democrático; PRD) to regain some political power. As a result, accomplishments were meagre…

José Napoleon Duarte: …a founder of the centrist Christian Democratic Party (Partido Demócrata Cristiano; PDC), which opposed the ruling National Conciliation Party (Partido de Conciliación Nacional; PCN). While he was mayor of San Salvador (1964–70), his administration was instrumental in building new schools and providing such basic services as street lighting, sewerage systems,…

Félix Houphouët-Boigny: …year he also founded the Democratic Party of Côte d’Ivoire (PDCI); this party was affiliated with the French Communist Party and was an important component of the interterritorial French West African Federation party, the African Democratic Rally, of which he was also president.

planetary defense: …planetary defense programs into the Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO). In addition to searching for dangerous asteroids, the PDCO would also notify other federal agencies about the approach or possible impact of such objects and work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in case an asteroid impact is unavoidable.

pervasive developmental disorder (PDD), term historically used in reference to any of a group of conditions characterized by early-childhood onset and varying degrees of impairment of language acquisition, communication, social behavior, and motor function. In 2013 pervasive developmental disorders

dementia with Lewy bodies: …Lewy bodies is related to Parkinson disease dementia (PDD), in that both are associated with the accumulation of so-called Lewy bodies—abnormal deposits of a protein known as alpha-synuclein—in the brain. Lewy bodies are named for German physician Friedrich Heinrich Lewy, who first described them (1912), in the context of Parkinson…

pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS), condition characterized by impairment in the ability to interact with others and by atypical communication or behavior patterns and interests. In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV (1994; DSM-IV),

PDE-5 inhibitor, category of drugs that relieve erectile dysfunction (impotence) in men. Two common commercially produced PDE-5 inhibitors are sildenafil (sold as Viagra) and vardenafil (Levitra). PDE-5 inhibitors work by blocking, or inhibiting, the action of phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE-5), an enzyme

PDF, universally readable format for electronic documents. PDF files (generally called PDFs) are widely used because documents converted into PDFs retain all their features, regardless of the application originally used to create them. PDFs can be viewed on any operating system with a PDF-viewer

probability density function (PDF), in statistics, a function whose integral is calculated to find probabilities associated with a continuous random variable (see continuity; probability theory). Its graph is a curve above the horizontal axis that defines a total area, between itself and the axis,

Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), one of several organizations associated with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO); it engaged in acts of terrorism in the 1970s and ’80s and originally maintained a Marxist-Leninist orientation, believing the peasants and the working

Gabon: Constitutional framework: …was amended to give the Gabonese Democratic Party (Parti Démocratique Gabonais; PDG), the only legal party after 1968, roles in the executive and legislative processes. In May 1990, following a national conference that was called in response to the upheaval of the previous four months, the constitution was amended to…

Guinea: Constitutional framework: …one-party state ruled by the Democratic Party of Guinea (Parti Démocratique de Guinée; PDG). In April 1984, after Touré’s death, a military group led by Lansana Conté abolished the PDG and all associated revolutionary committees and replaced them with the Military Committee for National Recovery (Comité Militaire de Redressement National;…

Equatorial Guinea: Political process: …in Equatorial Guinea is the Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (Partido Democrático de Guinea Ecuatorial; PDGE), formed in 1987. It was the only political party until 1991, when a new constitution allowing opposition parties was adopted. Since then several other parties have formed, including the Convergence for Social Democracy (Convergencia…

Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle: …and two opposition parties, the Indonesian Democratic Party (later the PDI-P) and the United Development Party. The Indonesian Democratic Party was created from three nationalist groups and two Christian-based parties: the Indonesian Nationalist Party, the Movement for the Defense of Indonesian Independence, the People’s Party, the Catholic Party, and the…

Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), political party in Indonesia formed in 1973 through the forced merger of five non-Islamic political parties. In the final three decades of the 20th century, it was one of two opposition parties officially recognized by the government. Although it

Kosovo: Self-declared independence: …Minister Hashim Thaçi of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (Partia Demokratike e Kosovës; PDK), prompting the dissolution of the body and the scheduling of elections. The fall of the government followed the September resignation of Pres. Fatmir Sejdiu, who in October withdrew his Democratic League of Kosovo (Lidhja Demokratike e…

Italy: Shifting power: …new party known as the People of Freedom (Popolo della Libertà; PdL)—clinched a third term as prime minister.

Romania: New constitution: …the leftist PSD and the Democratic Liberal Party (Partidul Democrat-Liberal; PDL), Băsescu’s new centrist party; the two parties formed a centre-left coalition government that December. This government lasted only until October 2009, when the PSD left the coalition in protest over the dismissal of a PSD member from a ministerial…

modulation: …frequency, phase, pulse sequence, and pulse duration.

Pakistan: The government of Imran Khan: …a coalition, known as the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), which sought to increase the independence of civilian government from the military establishment. The PDM staged protests and rallies—some addressed by Nawaz Sharif, calling by video from exile. With opposition sustained into the following year, Khan sought a vote of confidence…

climate change: Decadal variation: One such variation is the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), also referred to as the Pacific Decadal Variability (PDV), which involves changing sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in the North Pacific Ocean. The SSTs influence the strength and position of the Aleutian Low, which in turn strongly affects precipitation patterns along the…

Digital Equipment Corporation: Digital’s first computer, the Programmed Data Processor, or PDP-1, was sold in November 1960. Eventually 50 PDP-1s would be sold, nearly half to International Telephone and Telegraph for message switching systems.

television: Plasma display panels: Plasma display panels (PDPs) overcome some of the disadvantages of both CRTs and LCDs. They can be manufactured easily in large sizes (up to 125 cm, or 50 inches, in diagonal size), are less than 10 cm (4 inches) thick, and have…

People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Nigerian political party founded in August 1998 by members of numerous groups and organizations, including the groups known as G-18 and G-34. The party, which has a broad political base, supports economic deregulation, human rights, and greater funding for health

Afghanistan: Mohammad Zahir Shah (1933–73): …such group was the Marxist People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), the major leftist organization in the country. Founded in 1965, the party soon split into two factions, known as the People’s (Khalq) and Banner (Parcham) parties. Another was a conservative religious organization known as the Islamic Society (Jamʿiyyat-e Eslāmī),…

Abdoulaye Wade: In 1974 Wade founded the Senegalese Democratic Party (Parti Démocratique Sénégalais; PDS) as an opposition party to Pres. Léopold Senghor’s Senegalese Progressive Union (Union Progressiste Sénégalaise; UPS), which was known as the Socialist Party (Parti Socialiste; PS) after 1976. The PDS became the centre of a fledgling opposition movement in…

Germany: The reunification of Germany: …the SED, now renamed the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), suffered a crushing defeat. The eastern counterpart of Kohl’s CDU, which had pledged a speedy reunification of Germany, emerged as the largest political party in East Germany’s first democratically elected People’s Chamber. A new East German government headed by Lothar…

North Macedonia: Independence of North Macedonia: …also made their mark: the Democratic Party of Albanians (PDSh), with almost 6 percent of the vote and 8 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…

Romania: The revolution of 1989: …and Iliescu’s supporters formed the Democratic National Salvation Front (DNSF). The party maintained its political dominance, as evidenced by its successes in parliamentary and presidential elections held in September and October 1992, in which Iliescu was reelected and his party emerged as the largest in the parliament. A loose coalition…