Editing Human (section)

=== Government and politics ===
{{Main|Government|Politics|||}}
[[File:United Nations Headquarters in New York City, view from Roosevelt Island.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Headquarters of the United Nations|United Nations headquarters]] (left) in New York City, which houses one of the world's largest political organizations]]
As farming populations gathered in larger and denser communities, interactions between these different groups increased. This led to the development of governance within and between the communities.<ref>{{cite book| vauthors = Christian D |url=https://archive.org/details/mapsoftimeintrod00chri|title=Maps of Time|date=2004|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-24476-4|url-access=registration}}</ref> Humans have evolved the ability to change affiliation with various social groups relatively easily, including previously strong political alliances, if doing so is seen as providing personal advantages.<ref>{{cite web|vauthors=Cronk L, Leech BL|date=20 September 2017|title=How Did Humans Get So Good at Politics?|url=https://www.sapiens.org/evolution/human-evolution-politics/|access-date=24 October 2020|website=SAPIENS|language=en-US|archive-date=7 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807003627/https://www.sapiens.org/evolution/human-evolution-politics/|url-status=live}}</ref> This [[cognitive flexibility]] allows individual humans to change their political ideologies, with those with higher flexibility less likely to support authoritarian and nationalistic stances.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Zmigrod L, Rentfrow PJ, Robbins TW | title = Cognitive underpinnings of nationalistic ideology in the context of Brexit | journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America | volume = 115 | issue = 19 | pages = E4532–E4540 | date = May 2018 | pmid = 29674447 | pmc = 5948950 | doi = 10.1073/pnas.1708960115 | bibcode = 2018PNAS..115E4532Z | s2cid = 4993139 | doi-access = free }}</ref>

Governments create [[law]]s and [[policies]] that affect the citizens that they govern. There have been [[List of forms of government|many forms of government]] throughout human history, each having various means of obtaining power and the ability to exert diverse controls on the population.<ref>{{cite web|date=14 February 2011|vauthors=Melina R|title=What Are the Different Types of Governments?|url=https://www.livescience.com/33027-what-are-the-different-types-of-governments.html|access-date=24 October 2020|website=livescience.com|language=en|archive-date=1 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210201203345/https://www.livescience.com/33027-what-are-the-different-types-of-governments.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Approximately 47% of humans live in some form of a [[democracy]], 17% in a [[hybrid regime]], and 37% in an [[authoritarian regime]].<ref>{{cite web|work=[[The Economist Democracy Index]]|title=Democracy Index 2021: less than half the world lives in a democracy|date=10 February 2022|publisher=[[Economist Intelligence Unit]]|url=https://www.eiu.com/n/democracy-index-2021-less-than-half-the-world-lives-in-a-democracy/}}</ref> Many countries belong to [[international organization]]s and [[alliances]]; the largest of these is the [[United Nations]], with [[Member states of the United Nations|193 member states]].<ref>{{cite web|author=Jeannie Evers|date=23 December 2012|title=international organization|url=https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/international-organization/|access-date=24 October 2020|website=National Geographic Society|language=en|archive-date=27 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170427195211/http://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/international-organization/|url-status=live}}</ref>