Activities

The Identification Division has on file the largest collection of fingerprints in the world. As a result, the FBI serves as a national center for criminal identification data and identification data on missing persons. The FBI Laboratory employs specialists trained in many branches of science and in scientific methods of crime detection. They examine and analyze specimens of evidence. The training program educates FBI agents in the techniques of scientific investigation and crime detection. The National Academy trains police instructors and administrators. The FBI also serves as a national center for crime statistics and issues the Uniform Crime Reports Bulletin to law enforcement officials.

Federal Government, or federalism, form of government whereby political power is divided between a central or national authority and smaller, locally autonomous units such as provinces or states. A federal government, or federation, is usually formed through the political union of two or more formerly independent states under one sovereign government that does not arrogate the individual powers of those states. In a federal nation, the central government has full sovereignty in external affairs and is preeminent with respect to internal administration within its allotted powers.

A federation is distinguished from a confederation, which is an alliance of autonomous countries for the purpose of joint action or cooperation on specific matters. It is also distinguished from a so-called unitary system, in which the central government holds the principal power over administrative units that are virtually agencies of the central government. Britain has a unitary system of parliamentary government.

After some experience as a confederation, the United States adopted the federal form of government in 1789. The Constitution of the United States has served as a model of federal government for many countries.

Federalism is a union of two or more sovereign political units, such as states or provinces, under a single government of limited powers.

Filibustering ['fIlI"bAstqrIN] is a method sometimes used by lawmakers to block or delay passage of a proposed bill. One legislator, or a group of legislators, makes long speeches or demands unnecessary roll calls to use up time and keep the bill from coming to a vote.

Geopolitics, term used to designate the determining influence of the environment (including geographical features, social and cultural forces, and economic resources) on the politics of a nation. A sovereign state occupies a particular territory with physical features that partly determine viable forms of economic, social, political, and military organization. Geopolitics also considers the geographical location of a state in relation to that of other states, each possessing unique geopolitical qualities.

Geopolitics became important in Germany during the period of National Socialism, providing a rationale to justify that nation's territorial expansion. Many scholars have looked to geopolitics to understand the structure of power relations between states. To explain the rivalry between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), geopolitical theorists have looked for the roots of foreign policy imperatives in the domestic conditions of each country.

Gerrymander, ['dZerImxndq] (передвиборчі махінації) = apportionment of electoral districts in such a way as to give the political party in power an advantage in elections. Gerrymandering is usually accomplished by spreading out the favored party's electorate in order for it to win by a light majority in many districts. This device often produces electoral districts of curious shapes. The term gerrymander originated in 1812, when Republican governor Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts signed a bill giving his party such an advantage. One electoral district was shaped so fantastically that it was compared to a salamander, and from that the term gerrymander was coined. In 1985 the Supreme Court of the United States ruled unconstitutional the manipulation of electoral district lines so as to give any party an advantage over others.

Government, political organization comprising individuals and institutions authorized to formulate public policies and conduct affairs of state. Governments are empowered to establish and regulate the interrelationships of people within specific communities, the relations of people with the community as a whole, and the dealings of the community with other political entities. Government applies in this sense both to the governments of national states and to the governments of subdivisions of national states.