Congress

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In politics, a congress ("a gathering of people") is the name of the main legislative body in a state that operates under a congressional system of government. In non-political usage congress is a term applied to a large national or international grouping of people meeting together with common interests or concerns, e.g. an academic conference.

Contents 1 Political congress 1.1 Legislative congress 1.2 Political party 1.3 Political gatherings 1.4 Party congress 2 Non-political congress 2.1 Scientific congress 2.2 Chess congress 3 See also

[edit] Political congress

[edit] Legislative congress

Countries with Congresses within a presidential system:

• The United States Congress heads the constitutional legislative branch of the United States federal government.
• The Congress of Mexico (Spanish: Congreso de la Unión) is the legislative branch of Mexican government.
• The Congress of the Republic of Peru (Spanish: Congreso de la República) is the unicameral legislature of Peru.
• The Congress of the Argentine Nation (Spanish: Congreso de la Nación Argentina) is the legislative branch of the government of Argentina.
• The Congress of the Philippines (Filipino: Kongreso ng Pilipinas) is the legislative branch of the Philippine government.
• The National Congress of Brazil (Portuguese: Congresso Nacional) is Brazil's legislature.
• The National Congress of Chile (Spanish: Congreso Nacional) is the legislative branch of the government of Chile.
• The National Congress of Ecuador is the unicameral legislature of Ecuador.
• In France, the congrès is a formal and exceptional joint meeting of both houses of Parliament in order to ratify an amendment to the Constitution.

Other Countries with Congresses:

• The legislature of the People's Republic of China is known in English as the National People's Congress. The PRC is nevertheless not a congressional system.
• Congress of Guatemala
• Congress of Honduras
• Congress of Panama
• Congress of Paraguay
• Congress of Micronesia
• Congress of the Dominican Republic
• National Congress of American Indians
• National Congress of Belgium
• National Congress of Bolivia
• National Congress of Fiji
• National Congress of the Canaries
• National Congress (Sudan)
• Spanish Congress of Deputies (Spanish: Congreso de los Diputados), the lower house of the Cortes Generales, Spain's legislative branch
• The Congress of Council of Europe (Strasbourg, abbrev.CLRAE), an institution of the Council of Europe, similar to its Parliamentary Assembly (not to be confused with the European Parliament); 46 member states in the European region +Armenia, Cyprus & Turkey.

[edit] Political party

Congress is included in the name of several political parties, especially those in former British colonies:

• The People's National Congress of Guyana
• The Indian National Congress of India
• The Nationalist Congress Party of India
• The Nationalist Trinamool Congress of India
• The Tamil Maanila Congress of India
• The Basotho Congress Party of Lesotho
• The Lesotho Congress for Democracy of Lesotho
• The Lesotho Peoples' Congress of Lesotho
• The Malawi Congress Party of Malawi
• The Malaysian Indian Congress of Malaysia
• The Congress of Democrats of Namibia
• The Nepali Congress of Nepal
• The All People's Congress of Sierra Leone
• The African National Congress of South Africa
• The Pan-Africanist Congress of South Africa
• The All Ceylon Tamil Congress of Sri Lanka
• The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress of Sri Lanka
• The Ngwane National Liberatory Congress of Swaziland
• The United National Congress of Trinidad and Tobago
• The Ugandan People's Congress of Uganda

[edit] Political gatherings

Congress has also been used to describe certain historical gatherings, such as

• the Congress of Gniezno (1000)
• the Congress of Vienna (1815), reorganizing Europe after the Napoleon wars,
• the Congress of Berlin (1877-78), reorganizing conditions in the Balkans,
• the Congress of Tucumán (1816) and Congress of Panama (1826) to become independent of Spain.

It has been used for meetings of independence-minded nationalists or revolutionaries:

• The United States Continental Congress
• The Indian National Congress
• The Iraqi National Congress
• The African National Congress

(Note, the political parties mentioned above also began as groups of this type).

Congress is also part of the name of certain international bodies, such as

• The Congress of the Council of Europe.

[edit] Party congress

Many political parties also have a Party Congress which is held every few years to make decisions for the party and elected governing bodies. These are sometimes called political conventions.

[edit] Non-political congress

[edit] Scientific congress

Congress is an alternative name for a large national or international academic conference.

[edit] Chess congress

A Chess congress is a chess tournament, in one city, where a large number of contestants gather to play competitive chess over a limited period of time; typically one day to one week.

[edit] See also

• List of democracy and elections-related topics
• Wikipedia articles "Congress"
• List of African Union member states by political system
• Congressional Country Club
• Congress Poland, Congress Bundestag
• Doctor's Guide Congress Resource Center