Ready for retirement
Not only is Premier Wen ready for retirement, his family is set for at least a couple generations to come.
By the way, when this
New York Times article went online, the
Chinese government quickly blocked access to the Times from within China.
Billions in Hidden Riches for Family of Chinese Leader
 |
| Premier Wen |
Many relatives of Wen Jiabao, including his son, daughter, younger brother and brother-in-law, have become extraordinarily wealthy during his leadership, an investigation by The New York Times shows. A review of corporate and regulatory records indicates that the prime minister’s relatives, some of whom have a knack for aggressive deal-making, including his wife, have controlled assets worth at least $2.7 billion…
As prime minister in an economy that remains heavily state-driven, Mr. Wen, who is best known for his simple ways and common touch, more importantly has broad authority over the major industries where his relatives have made their fortunes…
While Communist Party regulations call for top officials to disclose their wealth and that of their immediate family members, no law or regulation prohibits relatives of even the most senior officials from becoming deal-makers or major investors — a loophole that effectively allows them to trade on their family name. Some Chinese argue that permitting the families of Communist Party leaders to profit from the country’s long economic boom has been important to ensuring elite support for market-oriented reforms…
As prime minister, Mr. Wen has staked out a position as a populist and a reformer, someone whom the state-run media has nicknamed “the People’s Premier” and “Grandpa Wen” because of his frequent outings to meet ordinary people, especially in moments of crisis like natural disasters...
While it is unclear how much the prime minister knows about his family’s wealth, State Department documents released by the WikiLeaks organization in 2010 included a cable that suggested Mr. Wen was aware of his relatives’ business dealings and unhappy about them…
Teaching Comparative blog
entries are indexed.
The First Edition of What You Need to Know: Teaching Tools is now available from the publisher
The Fourth Edition of What You Need to Know is available from the publisher (where shipping is always FREE).
Labels: China, corruption, economy, leadership
The old is new; the new is old
Russia is a huge, multi-ethnic country. What unites its people and diverse regions? Putinism?
The new Putinism: Nationalism fused with conservative Christianity
Two recent stories offer a revealing — and, to some, unsettling — view of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s emerging state ideology. The new Putinism, you might call it, seems to be a fusion of two older Russian ideas: nationalism, sometimes with an anti-Western tinge, and conservative interpretations of Orthodox Christianity…
The Financial Times’ Charles Clover… cites recent censorship of classic Russian works by Vladimir Nabokov and Sergei Rachmaninoff, as well as new law that forbids “yelping” and “stomping” at night, possibly aimed at curbing protests…
In Moscow, Claire Bigg of Radio Free Europe finds indications of a Kremlin effort to institutionalize the new emphasis on nationalism: an entirely new government agency for “promoting patriotism” and safeguarding “the spiritual and moral foundations of Russian society.” It’s hard not to be reminded of Iran’s infamous censorship body, the “Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance,” although Russia’s Directorate for Social Projects appears more about cultivating friendly public sentiments than blocking outlawed ones.
Bigg and analysts she spoke with portrayed the agency as an outgrowth of Putin’s “deepening hostility” toward foreign organizations, even comparing it to the Soviet-era propaganda department…
Russia’s search for an ideology is a big deal for the populous, ethnically diverse country. This campaign’s propagandistic and anti-liberal overtones aside, it does at least seem to address this issue… Russian nationalism has at times carried ethnic overtones. About 80 percent of the country’s citizens are ethnic Russian, and, with birth rates below replacement and the population aging, the Russian economy relies heavily on immigrating minority groups. Widespread harassment of migrant workers is already a problem in Russia.
“Putin feels the coming of a catastrophe, of the domination of liberal forces which threaten him with the fate of Muammer Gaddafi,” a far-right Russian newspaper editor told the Financial Times. “He is fighting back by restoring the balance between the various ideological groups. In this way, he supports us.”
Teaching Comparative blog
entries are indexed.
The First Edition of What You Need to Know: Teaching Tools is now available from the publisher
The Fourth Edition of What You Need to Know is available from the publisher (where shipping is always FREE).
Labels: ideology, leadership, political integration, politics, Russia
More protests in China, part 2
The Chinese government announced changes that seemed designed to placate protesters about a new petrochemical factory. Why? Is this an early sign of post-materialism in China?
China steps carefully with protesting middle class
A victory by protesters against the expansion of a chemical plant proves the new rule in China: The authoritarian government is scared of middle-class rebellion and will give in if the demonstrators’ aims are limited and not openly political.
It’s far from a revolution. China’s nascent middle class, the product of the past decade’s economic boom, is looking for better government, not a different one…
Given that pressure and the fact that many Ningbo officials also have middle-class concerns about air pollution and other quality-of-life issues, the local government found it easier to back off, Peking University sociologist Liu Neng said.
‘‘The government would need lots of courage to insist on keeping this project. The cost would be too high if the protest escalated to another level,’’ Liu said. ‘‘Since the 18th party congress is around the corner, it is very important to maintain stability.’’
The protests underscore the challenge the incoming leaders face in governing an increasingly wealthy — and wired — population who are growing more assertive about issues they care about. Democratic movements in places such as South Korea and Taiwan started with the middle class, and in Taiwan’s case environmental issues featured prominently…
In the compromises of recent years, the outlines of an unspoken protest compact have emerged: Keep the demonstrations peaceful and focus largely on local issues, and the backlash will be minimal.
The crowds in the Ningbo protests carried smartphones and had mobile Internet connections. Though they often displayed a large dose of skepticism about the party’s official rhetoric, they also urged fellow protesters to stay calm and not fight back against police…
Teaching Comparative blog
entries are indexed.
The First Edition of What You Need to Know: Teaching Tools is now available from the publisher
The Fourth Edition of What You Need to Know is available from the publisher (where shipping is always FREE).
Labels: China, cleavages, dissent, politics
Reform? How?
The Economist offers some details about the extent of corruption in Nigeria's oil industry and reasons why reform is doubtful.
A desperate need for reform
IN AUGUST Nigeria announced that oil production had reached a record 2.7m barrels a day but few experts believed it. Oil is also being stolen at a record rate and traders’ figures show output at well below the government’s figures. Information about Africa’s biggest oil industry is an opaque myriad of numbers. No one knows which ones are accurate; no one knows how much oil Nigeria actually produces. If there were an authoritative figure, the truly horrifying scope of corruption would be exposed.
 |
| Okonjo-Iweala |
The finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a genuine reformer, has estimated that 400,000 barrels of oil a day were stolen in April. But different government ministries give conflicting figures on how much oil Nigeria is producing, suggesting that they cannot agree or they just do not know. Nigeria could measure how much it produces, say experts: it has some of the most advanced technology in the world to do so, but chooses not to.
A former senior World Banker, Oby Ezekwesili, reckons that $400 billion of Nigeria’s oil revenue has been stolen or misspent since the country’s independence in 1960…
A report in May exposed a fraud amounting to $6.8 billion over a subsidy for petrol imports. Since then, Mrs Okonjo-Iweala has brought to book several fuel marketers for overcharging the government for refined products they never delivered. Naming and shaming them has worked: some are now paying up. But so far the crackdowns have not affected fraudulent politicians…
Regulatory uncertainty, among other things, has helped make Nigeria’s oil industry stagnant… A Petroleum Industry Bill has been in the works for 15 years, intended to overhaul the industry, make it more transparent, improve regulatory institutions and fiscal policies, and bring everything up to global standards. But the law has been stuck between government and parliament for five years, holding back many billions of dollars in investment…
The bill, signed and sealed by Mr Jonathan and his cabinet, is back in parliament; the president wants it speedily passed, though its original aims have been watered down, and many oil companies say its monetary terms will deter investment…
Meanwhile, the environmental devastation in Nigeria’s oil-producing delta persists unchecked. Pipeline sabotage now accounts for more than half of the spills in the region…
Worst of all, the oil wealth that should have benefited the people has barely trickled down. More than half the country’s 160m souls still have less than $2 a day. Can Mr Jonathan or Mrs Okonjo-Iweala make a difference?…
Teaching Comparative blog
entries are indexed.
The First Edition of What You Need to Know: Teaching Tools is now available from the publisher
The Fourth Edition of What You Need to Know is available from the publisher (where shipping is always FREE).
Labels: corruption, Nigeria, politics, reform
More protests in China
By most accounts, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of protests like this in China each year. Not many of them make the world news.
Protests Against Expansion of China Chemical Plant Turn Violent
A week of protests against the planned expansion of a petrochemical plant in the port city of Ningbo turned violent … when demonstrators attacked police cars and tossed bricks and water bottles at officers, according to accounts from participants posted on the Internet…
In recent years, educated urbanites have harnessed social media to stage street protests against the construction or expansion of factories, mines and refineries…
Teaching Comparative blog
entries are indexed.
The First Edition of What You Need to Know: Teaching Tools is now available from the publisher
The Fourth Edition of What You Need to Know is available from the publisher (where shipping is always FREE).
Labels: China, dissent, politics
Democratic centralism at work
Based on the headline, I expected to read about how the Party in China was going to change its constitution. Nope. All I learned was that there will be amendments.
How many elements of democratic centralism can your students identify? And what are the "Three Represents?" And what is the "Scientific Outlook on Development?"
[BTW: in this context, to "table" a document or topic means to introduce it not to delay action on it (as in
Robert's Rules of Orders).]
CPC to amend Party Constitution
The Communist Party of China (CPC) is going to amend the Party Constitution at its upcoming 18th National Congress scheduled for Nov. 8, according to a meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on Monday.
The Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee decided to submit a draft amendment to the CPC Constitution to the 7th Plenum of the 17th CPC Central Committee for further discussion on Nov. 1, before it is tabled with the national congress…
The meeting heard two reports, respectively on the suggestions collected from CPC members to the draft amendment to the CPC Constitution and the suggestions solicited from CPC members and non-Party personages to the draft report to the 18th CPC National Congress.
The meeting will modify the two draft amendments based on Monday's discussion before submitting these documents to the 7th Plenum of the 17th CPC Central Committee for deliberation.
The Party will make a draft report to the 18th CPC national congress that complies with the common aspirations of the CPC and people of all ethnic backgrounds, meets the development needs of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and adapts to "new situations" and "new tasks," according to an official statement issued after Monday's meeting…
The 18th CPC National Congress… carries high significance in inspiring CPC members and people of all ethnic groups to continue to forge ahead with the building of a moderately prosperous society, the modernization drive, as well as the development of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
The whole Party should hold high the banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics, be guided by Deng Xiaoping Theory and the important thoughts of the "Three Represents," and thoroughly carry out the Scientific Outlook on Development, according to the statement…
Teaching Comparative blog
entries are indexed.
The First Edition of What You Need to Know: Teaching Tools is now available from the publisher
The Fourth Edition of What You Need to Know is available from the publisher (where shipping is always FREE).
Labels: China, ideology, politics
The president can't even visit (and other fights)
It seems to be a sign of how little power the Iranian president has these days and how much conflict there is in the hierarchy. Stress caused by sanctions?
Iran President Ahmadinejad barred from visiting prison
Iranian judicial officials have blocked President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from visiting Evin prison in the capital, Tehran.
Mr Ahmadinejad had asked to visit soon after a close aide of his was imprisoned there while the president was in New York last month.
But a judicial official said the visit was not appropriate at a time when Iran faced pressing economic problems.
The refusal is seen as an indication of Mr Ahmadinejad's waning authority…
Iran's judiciary is controlled by conservative hard-liners close to the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei…
Iran’s Political Infighting Erupts in Full View
A long and bitter rivalry between Iran’s president and an influential band of brothers in the political hierarchy exploded into the open on Monday, signaling new fractures in the facade of unity as the country confronts worsening economic conditions and isolation over the disputed Iranian nuclear program.
In a letter published by Iranian news sites, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused the head of the powerful judiciary, Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani, of protecting “certain individuals” from prosecution for economic corruption who are widely understood to be high officials, including Ayatollah Larijani’s oldest brother.
Mr. Ahmadinejad also demanded access to Tehran’s Evin prison, to visit one of his aides who has been held for nearly a month. In order to build his case, Mr. Ahmadinejad referred to a range of articles in the Iranian Constitution that explain the powers of the president...
Both Mr. Ahmadinejad’s government and his opponents have been trying to cast each other as responsible for double-digit inflation, high unemployment and a devaluation of the national currency. These economic indicators have worsened in recent months with the bite of antinuclear sanctions, which have constricted Iran’s ability to sell oil and do routine banking transactions.
The hostility expressed between the country’s highest leaders, at a time of increasing Western pressure, comes despite repeated calls for political unity by Ayatollah Khamenei...
Teaching Comparative blog
entries are indexed.
The First Edition of What You Need to Know: Teaching Tools is now available from the publisher
The Fourth Edition of What You Need to Know is available from the publisher (where shipping is always FREE).
Labels: Iran, politics
Not just in Greece
A large protest in London demonstrated the dissatisfaction with the government's austerity plans for the country. At the same time, a new £33 million safety net program was announced in Scotland.
Protesters march on London to speak out against austerity measures
 |
| London protesters |
Tens of thousands of demonstrators descended on the British capital Saturday in a noisy but peaceful protest at a government austerity drive aimed at slashing the nation’s debt.
Unions, anti-war campaigners, left-wing leaders, community groups and other activists poured down London’s streets in a demonstration against reductions to public sector spending which officials are pushing through in order to rein in the Britain’s debt, which stands at more than £1-trillion ($1.6-trillion)…
Brendan Barber, whose Trades Union Congress helped organize the march, said that the message of Saturday’s protest was that “austerity is simply failing.”
“The government is making life desperately hard for millions of people because of pay cuts for workers, while the rich are given tax cuts,” he said…
But the right-leaning government did little to endear itself with ordinary Britons when it reduced income taxes for the country’s wealthiest citizens earlier this year. And its leadership has struggled to fight perceptions of elitism which rankle many in this class-conscious country…
Official crowd estimates were not immediately available, although Associated Press journalists at the scene said the protesters were tens of thousands strong. Organizers said that more than 250 buses were booked to bring people to London.
Similar protests were also held in Belfast, Northern Ireland’s capital, and Glasgow, Scotland’s biggest city.
SNP conference 2012: Nicola Sturgeon announces £33m fund to help poor
Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's deputy first minister has announced a £33m welfare fund to help the country's most vulnerable people…
 |
| Sturgeon |
She also called on UK Chancellor George Osborne to use his autumn budget to aid economic recovery by boosting capital spending, which pays for projects like roads, schools and hospitals.
Ms Sturgeon said: "I have a very direct message for the chancellor today, a message on behalf of every construction firm clinging on by their fingertips, on behalf of every unemployed person desperate for some light at the end of the tunnel.
"Our economy needs a capital stimulus and it needs it now…"
Teaching Comparative blog
entries are indexed.
The First Edition of What You Need to Know: Teaching Tools is now available from the publisher
The Fourth Edition of What You Need to Know is available from the publisher (where shipping is always FREE).
Labels: economics, politics, protest, UK
Tribal Tories
This is sort of "inside baseball" details about the Conservative Party, but it helps make sense out of why the coalition with the Lib Dems is shaky.
Tribes of Tories
The Conservative Party increasingly resembles a patchwork of pressure groups: That is a bad sign for its leader
Pressure groups of Tory politicians and activists are multiplying. Conservative Voice, launched in September to champion traditional policies on crime, immigration and jobs, now claims thousands of supporters. Bright Blue campaigns for “progressive conservatism” and pushes causes such as environmentalism and international development. MPs representing marginal constituencies last year formed The Forty to devise strategies for the 2015 election. And so on…
Five strains of thought can be detected. First come the two, subtly different, varieties of David Cameron’s “modernising” project, which seeks to anchor the party in the electorally decisive centre ground…
Three other strains are less influential. The pitiful remnants of the party’s once-strong left wing, economically interventionist and relaxed about Europe, huddle around the Tory Reform Group. Better represented among the party grassroots are the social conservatives and the libertarians…
The Tory tribes are particularly vivid and noisy these days. Public disagreement between Conservatives and Liberal Democrats at the heart of the coalition government, as well as a widespread belief among Tory MPs that Lib Dems are steering the ship, has made dissent seem more acceptable…
The broadly loyal culture of the party means its tribes are not nearly as dangerous as they might seem. Whereas Labour periodically breaks into warring dogmatic factions, Conservatives are generally united by a broad set of common principles—including a sceptical attitude to grand political schemes…
Teaching Comparative blog
entries are indexed.
The First Edition of What You Need to Know: Teaching Tools is now available from the publisher
The Fourth Edition of What You Need to Know is available from the publisher (where shipping is always FREE).
Labels: leadership, parties, politics, UK
World's biggest men's club
Mao Zedong is often quoted as saying that "Women hold up half the sky." They don't now, nor ever have, held up half the power in China.
Chinese elite politics: It's still a man's world
With a once-a-decade leadership transition set to kick off Nov. 8, many now are waiting to see if another ambitious Chinese female, State Councilor Liu Yandong, can win one of the nine spots at the apex of Chinese power.
 |
| Liu |
Liu is a smiley 67-year-old with a degree in chemical engineering and a penchant for pearls and red lipstick. Her portfolios include education, sports and cultural affairs. Experts say she is well-connected and state media paints her as a diligent civil servant with a human touch…
This year, Liu is the only female with an outside chance of landing a position at the top, and if she does, she will have made history…
Since the founding of Communist China in 1949, no woman has ever served on the Politburo Standing Committee, the topmost leadership clique where major policy is set. Only two women have served as provincial party secretaries, powerful positions seen as stepping stones to national leadership posts.
Former Vice Premier Wu Yi, known as the ‘Iron Lady’ for her tough negotiating skills and ranked by Forbes as the second most powerful woman in the world in 2007, failed to advance past the Politburo…
‘‘To become a mayor of a big city or a governor of a province you have to be sort of one of the boys, you have to drink a lot and maybe womanize a bit and also be reasonably corrupt,’’ [Willy Lam, a historian at Chinese University of Hong Kong] said. ‘‘There’s no lack of corrupt women in China, but this to-be-one-of-the-boys phenomenon, I think, is holding some promising female cadres back.’’
[Feng Yuan], the Beijing rights advocate, has run training workshops on women’s rights around China. She says aspiring female politicians complain to her about the ‘‘drinking culture’’ in Chinese politics but many say sexual politics also holds them back…
Though China’s communists have done much to improve women’s lives by increasing their access to education, health care and jobs once reserved for men, they have failed to meaningfully increase women’s political participation.
Since the 1970’s the number of women serving in China’s parliament has actually fallen, and less than a quarter of the Communist Party’s members are women…
Liu is seen as a long shot for the Standing Committee but there are a few other women competing for posts on the Politburo, including corruption watchdog Ma Wen and Fujian Party Secretary Sun Chunlan — only the second woman since 1949 to head a province as party secretary…
Teaching Comparative blog
entries are indexed.
The First Edition of What You Need to Know: Teaching Tools is now available from the publisher
The Fourth Edition of What You Need to Know is available from the publisher (where shipping is always FREE).
Labels: China, gender, leadership, politics, women
Independence, not devolution
The Scottish National Party won the last election in Scotland. Now First Minister Alex Salmond and PM David Cameron have signed an agreement for a referendum on independence for Scotland.
Scottish independence: Cameron and Salmond strike referendum deal
A deal setting out terms for a Scottish independence referendum has been signed by Prime Minister David Cameron and First Minister Alex Salmond.
 |
| Salmond and Cameron |
The agreement, struck in Edinburgh, has paved the way for a vote in autumn 2014, with a single Yes/No question on Scotland leaving the UK.
It will also allow 16 and 17-year-olds to take part in the ballot…
The deal will also commit both governments to working together constructively in the best interests of the people of Scotland, whatever the outcome of the referendum…
Speaking after the deal was signed at the headquarters of the Scottish government, St Andrew's House, the prime minister told BBC News: "This is the right decision for Scotland, but it's also right for the United Kingdom that there is going to be one, simple, straightforward question about whether Scotland wants to stay in the United Kingdom or separate itself from the United Kingdom, and that referendum has to be held before the end of 2014.
"I always wanted to show respect to the people of Scotland - they voted for a party that wanted to have a referendum, I've made that referendum possible and made sure that it is decisive, it is legal and it is fair."
Mr Salmond said the Edinburgh Agreement marked a "significant step in Scotland's Home Rule journey".
He added: "Importantly, it will ensure that the biggest decision the people of our country will make for many generations is made here in Scotland for the benefit of all of those that live and work here… "
Teaching Comparative blog
entries are indexed.
The First Edition of What You Need to Know: Teaching Tools is now available from the publisher
The Fourth Edition of What You Need to Know is available from the publisher (where shipping is always FREE).
Labels: change, cleavages, constitution, UK
Networking and change
William Wan and Zhang Jie, writing in the
Washington Post, put a lot of their emphasis on that old bogeyman,
guanxi (China's version of networking, which is nothing new). What seems at least equally important is the goal of maintaining Communist Party power while adapting the official ideology to structural change in the economy and globalization.
Can a party with an official version of reality (ideology) be flexible enough to maintain power in the 21st century?
China’s mid-level party officials spend professional training time cultivating allies
For decades, professors at the Central Party School have safeguarded the ideology of China’s Communist Party, indoctrinating each generation of officials in the teachings of Marx, Lenin and Mao.
 |
| Central Party School |
The school has persevered in its mission despite massive changes in society and the economy…
The students — largely middle-age government officials looking for promotion — no longer see their mandatory time at the school as a chance to immerse themselves in the wisdom of communism. Instead, it’s become a prime place to cultivate allies with whom they can trade future favors and backdoor deals to further their careers and wealth…
To counter such pressures, the school has strived in recent years to modernize its Marxist theories, overhaul its curriculum and enact stronger controls over students…
At stake, some teachers at the school believe, is nothing less than the ideological soul and future of the Communist Party…
The students are mostly in their early 40s to late 50s. And campus life sometimes resembles a communist reality show gone awry — middle-aged men shoved into campus dorms, largely confined to campus and forced to discuss their ideological forebears.
The most elite students at the central school are those officials handpicked for their potential to fill the country’s highest offices. Enrolled in a year-long program, they are carefully assessed by party representatives, who often live among them and sit in on their classes…
[L]eaders in recent years have strived to overhaul the schools’ curriculum.
While Marx’s Das Kapital still appears on most reading lists, officials now spend much more time on subjects such as international monetary policy, management theory and even the realms of leadership style, psychology and the importance of personal health amid the pressures of governing.
Teaching methods have also changed drastically.
“The old way used to consist entirely of you lecturing from a platform,” said one frequent guest speaker. “It’s much more dynamic now. Students get case studies. They bring in problems from their own provinces for study.”…
“Modern knowledge is taught in the hope that it will be useful to maintaining party rule,” said Alan P. Liu of the University of California at Santa Barbara…
Teaching Comparative blog
entries are indexed.
The First Edition of What You Need to Know: Teaching Tools is now available from the publisher
The Fourth Edition of What You Need to Know is available from the publisher (where shipping is always FREE).
Labels: China, Communist Party, ideology, leadership, political socialization, recruitment
Limits on the state
Will Ross, a BBC reporter, describes the production end of the oil bunkering business in the Niger Delta. The limited capacity of the state, corruption, and the desperate poverty of the Ogoni people all contribute to the survival of this illegal business.
There is also a good video in which Ross offers a guided tour of one of the primitive oil "refineries" in the delta.
Nigeria's booming illegal oil refineries
Will Ross got a rare look at an illegal oil refinery in Nigeria
 |
| Illegal refinery |
"Here is our business place," a man, who did not want to give his real name but asked to be called Edward, told me as we walked around a remote, heavily polluted palm-tree fringed creek in Ogoniland in the Niger Delta.
"We use these to go and collect our natural resources - our crude oil," he said, pointing to a locally carved boat lying on its side.
In the middle of the night, to avoid detection, they break into the multinational oil companies' pipelines and help themselves…
Dotted along the creek were dozens of large drums used for boiling up the crude oil.
They had pipes protruding from them leading to troughs into which the products are collected; kerosene and petrol for the local market and diesel which is taken away on barges or inland on trucks by traders.
Next to each home-made refinery are pits full of bitumen which is sold to road construction companies.
"Almost 400 people work here and every night we produce around 11,000 litres of diesel," said 32-year-old Edward, adding that his elder brothers had learnt all about the business in Bakassi, near the Cameroonian border with Nigeria…
The military is supposed to be stopping all this and some operations have been disrupted but the effort is seriously hampered by the desire to get in on the action.
"We settle with the army people. If they see money in your hand they will take that," Edward said.
"If not they will take products from you. If we have 10 drums we will give them two," he said, adding, "It's very normal." …
Teaching Comparative blog
entries are indexed.
The First Edition of What You Need to Know: Teaching Tools is now available from the publisher
The Fourth Edition of What You Need to Know is available from the publisher (where shipping is always FREE).
Labels: capacity, corruption, economics, environment, Nigeria
To no one's surprise
Election results are in from Russia.(Under the 1993 version of the Russian constitution, none of these elections would have counted. Originally, the constitution required 50%+ of eligible voters to participate to be valid.)
Putin’s Party Dominates Russian Regional Elections
Candidates from the pro-Kremlin party United Russia won nearly all of the municipal and regional elections held across the country, according to results released on Monday, though analysts said the party’s success owed much to low voter turnout…
Voter turnout in most regions was around 25 percent. A reporter for Komsomolskaya Pravda, a generally pro-government tabloid, spent all day at a polling place in the city of Voskresensk and described a quietness that verged on stagnation…
“People are reconciled to the fact that politics does not matter,” said Masha Lipman, a political analyst at the Carnegie Moscow Center. This had traditionally been true until the fall of last year, when young urbanites abruptly mobilized — but that civic awakening has ended, she said, and it is not clear what comes next.
“If we describe it as mass political rallies, of rejoicing people who suddenly realized that they are many and can make some difference — yes, it is over,” she said. “The pervasive sense is of disillusionment.”
Teaching Comparative blog
entries are indexed.
The First Edition of What You Need to Know: Teaching Tools is now available from the publisher
The Fourth Edition of What You Need to Know is available from the publisher (where shipping is always FREE).
Labels: elections, parties, politics, Russia
Classic Reruns: Testing Hypotheses
Several years ago, I pointed out some ideas from Jeffrey Sachs. These involve self-fulfilling prophecies. I suggested then and do again that these ideas can be the basis for research by students. Iran seems the most likely subject, but I can imagine using Russia, Mexico, Nigeria, China, or even the UK (although examples there would probably be more subtle).
Testing Hypotheses
Jeffrey D. Sachs is the Director of The Earth Institute, a professor at Columbia University, Director of the UN Millennium Project, Special Advisor to United Nations Secretary-General on the Millennium Development Goals. Sachs is also President and Co-Founder of Millennium Promise Alliance, a nonprofit organization aimed at ending extreme global poverty…
In… Scientific American, Sachs wrote a little op-ed piece. It contains some interesting hypotheses that students could evaluate by doing some research on case studies…
For nations in a deep crisis, the greatest danger is a self-fulfilling prophecy of disaster...
When the public thinks that a newly elected national government will succeed, local leaders throw their support behind it. Expectations of the government's longevity rise. Individuals and companies become much more likely to pay their taxes, because they assume that the government will have the police power to enforce the tax laws.
A virtuous circle is created…
When the public believes that a government will fail, the same process runs in reverse. Pessimism splinters political forces. Tax payments and budget revenues wane. The police and other public officials go unpaid. The currency weakens. Banks face a withdrawal of deposits and the risk of banking panics. Disaster feeds more pessimism…
Teaching Comparative blog
entries are indexed.
The First Edition of What You Need to Know: Teaching Tools is now available from the publisher
The Fourth Edition of What You Need to Know is available from the publisher (where shipping is always FREE).
Labels: comparative methodology, concepts, theory
Political conflict over Europe continues
It seems that the issue of how European the UK should become is always on the table in Britain. This time it's not monetary union, but law enforcement union.
If you read enough of the entries here, you have heard about the differences between
adversarial justice systems and
inquisitorial systems. It's probably not crucial, but there's another difference involved in this issue:
the differences between common law systems and civil law systems. If your students are conversant in all those concepts, they'll be better able to write free responses.
The guns of war: Plans to opt out of EU criminal-justice measures will prompt a fight over Britain’s role in Europe
 |
| Cameron |
Prime Minister David Cameron told reporters his country would be exercising its right to opt out of a mass of European policing and crime measures…
At issue are about 130 criminal-justice arrangements… access to police databases, membership of Europol and Eurojust… and prisoner transfers. The Lisbon treaty, which came into effect in 2009, converts them from non-binding agreements into mainstream laws enforceable by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) after November 2014… Britain and Ireland, common-law countries in a sea of civil law, got the right to opt out…
Many in Europe find the government’s reluctance to sign on the dotted line incomprehensible. But there is widespread unease in Britain over how some arrangements are working… Local courts have little discretion in executing other countries’ arrest warrants, even when varying standards of procedural fairness and respect for human rights make nonsense of the mutual recognition that underpins the system…
What of the domestic audience? Tory Eurosceptics are pressing for an in-out referendum on EU membership. To Mr Cameron, who does not want one, tossing them the opt-out may appeal as a placatory gesture…
But opting out would enrage the Tories’ Lib Dem coalition partners, who fought the 2010 election on a pledge to keep Britain “fully engaged” in EU crime policies and are sick of reneging on their promises. Parliament is guaranteed a vote and should get it about a year before the next election. By then the coalition partners could well be at daggers drawn, and the Lib Dems join Labour against an opt-out, in a sign of allegiances to come.
Teaching Comparative blog
entries are indexed.
The First Edition of What You Need to Know: Teaching Tools is now available from the publisher
The Fourth Edition of What You Need to Know is available from the publisher (where shipping is always FREE).
Labels: concepts, EU, judiciary, rule-of-law, UK
The tip of the iceberg
Icebergs are foreign to Nigeria. Unlike corruption. Sani Abacha has the reputation of being the most corrupt and most brutal of Nigeria's heads of state.
A recent burglary brought his name up again.
The final paragraph is the key one for students of comparative politics.
Nigerian police recover part of Sani Abacha's $4.3bn hoard from robbers
Officials in arid Kano, in northern Nigeria, said four men swiped $125,000 (£77,000) of jewellery last year – a staggering 20m naira in local currency, or 100 years' income for the average Nigerian – after raiding one of many sprawling, lavish homes of the former military ruler Sani Abacha.
"We are still investigating. Not all the stolen jewellery has even been recovered," said a Kano police inspector, Ibrahim Idris, as officials displayed a glittering pile that included two dozen gold necklaces and some 40 pairs of gold earrings.
 |
| Abacha |
The greed of Abacha, who ruled for five years after a 1993 coup, shocked even Nigerians used to plundering on a grand scale. He is believed to have stolen $4.3bn while in office. In one case, he was accused of gutting a $500m state-owned steel plant. The tradition has continued as Nigeria's oil wealth continues to be looted. In April, James Ibori, an influential governor, was jailed in the UK for looting $250m over eight years…
A push to recover $4bn squirrelled away into the [Abacha] family's private accounts in Switzerland forced the tax haven to relax banking secrecy regulations after landmark rulings. In 2006, the Swiss authorities returned $500m to Nigeria – the first time European banks had returned looted money to an African country.
Nigeria's anti-corruption agency estimates about $400bn has been siphoned off from the oil-rich country into private pockets since 1960. Globally, developing countries lose up to $40bn a year through corruption, according to the World Bank.
One of the problems is the endemic nature of corruption.
Nigeria anti-fraud EFCC agents jailed for taking bribes
Two anti-corruption agents in Nigeria have been given five-year prison terms for accepting bribes.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission said its officers had been found guilty of asking for about $630 (£390) from a politician to stop a supposed investigation.
He informed the EFCC which organised a sting operation to catch the agents...
BBC Nigeria correspondent Will Ross says that, to many Nigerians this is yet another case to prove that when it comes to corruption, only relatively minor cases are ever dealt with.
After all what is $630 compared to the billions of dollars that are believed to have been stolen in a fuel subsidy scam, he says...
Teaching Comparative blog
entries are indexed.
The First Edition of What You Need to Know: Teaching Tools is now available from the publisher
The Fourth Edition of What You Need to Know is available from the publisher (where shipping is always FREE).
Labels: corruption, Nigeria, politics
Classic reruns: Breaking with old ideas
Back in 2006, I came across this YouTube video that looked good. I just looked at a couple segments and it's still good.
It's a 1975 feature film about the Cultural Revolution. "It shows," says the label, "the continuation of class struggle under socialism."
On YouTube, the film is divided into 15 segments so you choose small excerpts for viewing and discussion.
Cultural Revolution film
Answers.com quotes Hal Erickson's All Movie Guide about the film, "Breaking With Old Ideas is thought-provoking fare from the People's Republic of China. Filmed during the twilight of Mao's cultural revolution, the film explores the challenge of "re-educating" a populace ruled by centuries-old tradition. A remote rural community, representing a microcosm of thought and behavior patterns, is scrutinized. Government representatives construct a state-of-the-art college, where the peasants are to be redoctrinated. Obviously slanted in favor of the Red party line, Breaking With Old Ideas is nonetheless a fascinating cultural capsule."
Teaching Comparative blog
entries are indexed.
The First Edition of What You Need to Know: Teaching Tools is now available from the publisher
The Fourth Edition of What You Need to Know is available from the publisher (where shipping is always FREE).
Labels: change, China, history, ideology, politics
Classic reruns: Potemkin villages
While the reality of their existence is lost in the span of history, I've found the metaphor of Potemkin Villages useful in explaining some of the internal contradictions of Russian government and politics. For example, look at Putin's explanations for why he's reversing some of Medvedev's reforms. And sometimes it's possible to stretch the idea to explain things in other regimes. (A couple of these examples are out of date, but you can come up with your own examples.)
Potemkin "villages"
All five of these things may be trivia, but they were interesting to me. The examples come from the UK, Russia, and China. It is possible that some of these examples will be more than trivia and more substantial than "Potemkin" events in the future. Keep your eyes open for developments.
- Potemkin crisis
- Potemkin reform
- Potemkin Square
- Potemkin Democracy
- Potemkin reform (again)
Teaching Comparative blog
entries are indexed.
The First Edition of What You Need to Know: Teaching Tools is now available from the publisher
The Fourth Edition of What You Need to Know is available from the publisher (where shipping is always FREE).
Labels: concepts, methodology, Russia, theory
Boko Haram briefing
The Economist offers a good briefing on Boko Haram and the violence in Nigeria to supplement what's in your textbook.
A threat to the entire country: Who and what is Boko Haram, the Muslim extremist group that is terrorising northern Nigeria?
Could the central government ever come to terms with Boko Haram? So far the group’s aims—among other things, greater equality for the Muslim north and a sterner application of sharia law—are fairly vague. The radicals among them may want to break up Nigeria and drive Christians out of the north. If the likes of [Sambo Dasuki, a northerner recently appointed by the president as his national security adviser] have their way, the federal government will seek to peel the more flexible of Boko Haram’s people away from the ultras and negotiate a better deal, especially on the economic front, for northerners. But that eventuality seems miserably far off.
See also
a 9-minute interview with Africa expert Lizzy Donnelly about Boko Haram.
Teaching Comparative blog
entries are indexed.
The First Edition of What You Need to Know: Teaching Tools is now available from the publisher
The Fourth Edition of What You Need to Know is available from the publisher (where shipping is always FREE).
Labels: cleavages, dissent, Nigeria, politics
It's not just pidgin
What do your students make of this conversation?
"How bodi?"
"Wetin? I no sabi."
"Why you dey give me wahala? Comot! Dem send you?"
"I wan chop."
"Abeg! No waste my time! Make you no vex me!"
It's the best examples I can make of pidgin English from the
"Beginners Guide to Nigerian pidgin English."
Outsiders have little chance of understanding pidgin unless they've been in the country for a long time and made efforts to learn the lingo. Pidgin is extremely popular in most parts of Africa… and has been accepted as the de-facto language of blue collar trade and merchants. Some of Lagos' most popular radio stations use pidgin exclusively. Pidgin remains the “great” equalizer.
With roughly 250 tribes speaking 521 languages and dialects, English is the country’s official business language.
For citizens without easy access to higher education and white collar jobs, picking up a few words of English and mixing it with elements of their native tongues has been the default way of communicating across tribal cultures.
But, even the use of English in the media can often cause me to scratch my head and rely on interpreters like the BBC.
Take for example this article from
Leadership (Abuja), a prominent newspaper in the capital. While the words used can technically be accurate, several of them require me to think and read and translate carefully to understand the article. It's almost as though the journalist or the vice president consulted a thesaurus to find words that would offer more authoritativeness. I think of refugees when I hear "evacuation." And "arrest" to me has something to do with law enforcement. Not in this article.
This is one of my excuses for citing sources from outside of Nigeria more often than sources from within the country.
Sambo Orders Speedy Evacuation of Generated Electricity
 |
| Sambo |
Vice President Namadi Sambo on Friday directed the Federal Ministry of Power to ensure speedy evacuation of power generated to ensure constant electricity supply across the country…
The vice president expressed delight with the current 4,200 megawatts of electricity generated by various power plants in the country.
He, however, decried the lack of integrity and associated problems of the transmission and distribution lines to evacuate the generated power.
Sambo directed the Ministry of Power and the NDPHC to ensure speedy completion of the transmission lines and the injection substation for the delivery of constant and stable electricity to Nigerians.
Earlier, the Minister of State for Power, Mr Darius Ishaku, said the country generates more than 4,200 megawatts of electricity.
He said the transmission and distribution network had integrity issues affecting the adequate evacuation of the generated power.
Ishaku assured the meeting that the ministry was doing everything possible to arrest the issue…
Teaching Comparative blog
entries are indexed.
The First Edition of What You Need to Know: Teaching Tools is now available from the publisher
The Fourth Edition of What You Need to Know is available from the publisher (where shipping is always FREE).
Labels: cleavages, Nigeria, pidgin, political integration
Co-opt the opposition
The Russian government demonstrates another method of control.
Your students do know what "
nomenklatura" refers to, don't they? What does that say about Morozov? How do the Kremlin's efforts compare to the screening process in Iran? (And, what's the Kremlin? What does it mean in this context?)
And what does all this have to do with political legitimacy?
Not in Script for Kremlin: A Real Race for Governor
A funny thing happened during the elections… for governor in the Russian region of Ryazan: for a few weeks, no one knew who would win.
An insurgent appeared from within the local nomenklatura, and it looked as if he might beat the bland former construction engineer whom the Kremlin appointed governor in 2008. Igor N. Morozov, a former intelligence officer, was so convincing that local officials began abandoning the incumbent, knowing that they risked their careers by doing so. Here was a case of actual political competition.
That is what Dmitri A. Medvedev promised in December when… he reinstated the direct election of governors… But the Kremlin has hollowed out that promise. Voters in five Russian regions will cast votes for governor on Oct. 14, but the contests have been micromanaged from Moscow, which imposed strict screening of candidates to avoid any uncertainty in the outcome…
Just as experts were beginning to point to a real horse race, Mr. Morozov was summoned for urgent consultations with Kremlin officials. The next day he appeared at an awkward news conference and said he was dropping out. His campaign, he explained, had created the “threat of a split in society.” In return, it seemed, he would be named a senator…
This summer, as Russia’s political class fell into lock step around Mr. Putin… races for governor still promised a bit of intrigue…
Mr. Putin was the first to warn that these would not be wholly free elections, and that he envisioned a “presidential filter” to exclude candidates with criminal backing. By the time that idea had been enshrined in law, it had become a “municipal filter.” Any candidate wishing to run for governor had to first win the endorsement of 10 percent of the region’s municipal lawmakers…
For his part, Vladimir Y. Krymsky, of A Just Russia, is so angry that... “I am ready to say to the president, ‘Vladimir Vladimirovich, please return the procedure of direct appointment — it would be honest,’”... “But when they thrust this person on us and tell us, ‘You will vote for him,’ and then the day after the elections he wakes up and says, ‘I am the person who has been chosen by the people’ — well, that’s nonsense, it’s a nightmare, it’s cynicism.”...
Teaching Comparative blog
entries are indexed.
The First Edition of What You Need to Know: Teaching Tools is now available from the publisher
The Fourth Edition of What You Need to Know is available from the publisher (where shipping is always FREE).
Labels: co-opting, elections, legitimacy, politics, Russia
Reform or more of the same old?
Mexico's president elect is working with the incumbent to bring some reform to labor laws. The PRD and the "
dinosaurios" in the PRI oppose the changes (for very different reasons). Will the incoming president take office with a victory or a failure?
Mexico workers protest labor overhaul bill
 |
| Peña Nieto |
[I]ncoming… President-elect Enrique Peña Nieto… promised broad reforms to stimulate the economy but… may encounter in the workers and their unions an insurmountable challenge.
Many workers say they fear that the so-called labor reform law would be abused to curtail the few protections they have. And the dinosaurian, notoriously undemocratic unions have long had a cozy, mutually beneficial relationship with Peña Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, and they will resist change that could cut into their power…
[A]lready there were signs that the PRI wants to water down efforts to reform the unions, and leftist politicians oppose several parts of the bill that they said would weaken workers' rights…
If consensus is not reached, the bill could go down in flames, an embarrassing setback for Calderon but especially for Peña Nieto, who would already have failed in a key campaign promise before he takes office…
There is broad agreement in Mexico for the need for some kind of labor reform. Experts say unwieldy unions, like those representing workers from the state oil conglomerate, end up holding back the economy and stunting Mexico's ability to compete as many employees toil for substandard wages or are driven into a vast, informal workplace with little protection…
Teaching Comparative blog
entries are indexed.
The First Edition of What You Need to Know: Teaching Tools is now available from the publisher
The Fourth Edition of What You Need to Know is available from the publisher (where shipping is always FREE).
Labels: Mexico, politics
The politics of economics and the economics of politics
Making sense out of the Chinese example or similar case studies from Mexico or the UK require that your students have some basic understanding of macroeconomics. You might have to give them an assessment to find out what you need to teach.
China Politics Stall Overhaul for Economy
When it comes to confronting economic slowdowns, the Chinese government has not been shy about making bold moves. Faced with the contagion of global recession four years ago, policy makers created a $585 billion stimulus package that helped inoculate the nation against the economic malaise still sapping the United States and Europe.
But today, even as China’s vaunted export manufacturing juggernaut loses force… the Communist Party appears so distracted by its politically tangled once-a-decade leadership transition that it is unwilling or unable to pursue the more ambitious agenda that many economists say is necessary to head off a far more serious crisis in the future…
[M]any analysts question whether the incoming leadership has the political will to overcome the resistance of the so-called princelings and other well-connected families that have prospered under the current system.
 |
| Deng |
Since the death of Deng Xiaoping, the wily leader who steamrollered his conservative opponents to introduce market reforms in the 1980s and ’90s, China’s political system has increasingly operated through consensus. The horse-trading, involving a dozen or so men who negotiate in secrecy, has dimmed the prospect of significant political or economic change…
Prime Minister Wen Jiabao is a vocal advocate of what many experts see as the kind of change China needs: breaking up state-owned monopolies, encouraging more consumer spending and reducing reliance on investment in real estate and heavy industry. But he has already been rendered something of a lame duck because of his planned retirement in March…
“The system is so opaque and the new guys are such unknown entities that no one really knows what to expect,” said Alistair Thornton, senior China economist at IHS Global Insight.
 |
| Xi |
Supporters of Xi Jinping, the man expected to be China’s next president, and Li Keqiang, who is all but certain to replace Mr. Wen as prime minister, have been quietly putting out the word that the new team plans to introduce a more far-reaching agenda once the incoming leaders are secure in their new posts…
But so far, Mr. Xi has offered almost no clues as to where he stands on overhauling the economy, while Mr. Li’s track record during his time as a provincial governor and party secretary suggests he is more of a risk-averse technocrat than a reformer…
Teaching Comparative blog
entries are indexed.
The First Edition of What You Need to Know: Teaching Tools is now available from the publisher
The Fourth Edition of What You Need to Know is available from the publisher (where shipping is always FREE).
Labels: China, economics, leadership, politics
Democracy by protest?
Was the unrest at a Chinese factory the result of a system that denies people legitimate ways of reaching their goals?
Oh, and did your students recognize the reference to another cleavage in China?
Riot at Foxconn Factory Underscores Rift in China
The images and video began to appear on Chinese social networking sites... buildings with shattered windows, overturned police cars, huge crowds of young people milling about in the dark and riot police in formation.
The online postings were from a disturbance... that shut down a manufacturing facility in Taiyuan in north China, where 79,000 workers were employed.
State-run news media said 5,000 police officers had to be called in to quell a riot that began as a dispute involving a group of workers and security guards at a factory dormitory…
“At first it was a conflict between the security guards and some workers,” said a man who was reached by telephone after he posted images online. The man said he was a Foxconn employee. “But I think the real reason is they were frustrated with life.” …
Disputes involving large groups of migrant workers are common in China. In some cases, workers protest after believing that they have been promised a certain pay package and traveled a long distance to claim it, only to find on arrival that the details were different from what they expected. In other cases, workers from different provinces with different cultural traditions coming together in a single factory have clashed over social issues or perceived slights…
[Geoffrey Crothall, spokesman for the China Labor Bulletin, a nonprofit advocacy group in Hong Kong] said workers in China had become emboldened.
“They’re more willing to stand up for their rights, to stand up to injustice,” he said, adding that damage to factory buildings and equipment still appeared to be unusual, occurring in fewer than 1 in 20 protests.
Teaching Comparative blog
entries are indexed.
The First Edition of What You Need to Know: Teaching Tools is now available from the publisher
The Fourth Edition of What You Need to Know is available from the publisher (where shipping is always FREE).
Labels: China, cleavages, democratization, politics
Chinese Party says, "Let's celebrate the Party!"
October 1 is China's national day. Here's the official word from the Communist Party of China. This press release seems better translated than many of those that show up in
Xinhua.
CPC leads China to prosperity
China is preparing for the 63rd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC), which falls on October 1, amid a joyous atmosphere.
Sixty-three years ago, the Chinese people, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), achieved revolutionary victory and kicked off a great journey for the nation's rejuvenation.
Thanks to diligent construction over six decades, especially during its reform and opening-up period lasting more than 30 years, China has become very vigorous, developing to the extent that it now has the world's No. 2 gross domestic product (GDP) and foreign trade volume. China's per capita GDP exceeds 5,000 U.S. dollars…
At this particular moment of celebration, we can only draw one conclusion: China's achievements during the past 63 years hinge on the CPC's leadership and the unity and innovative spirit of the Chinese people.
The CPC has explored a correct path combining Marxism with the Chinese reality. The Chinese people, under the CPC leadership's, have blazed a socialist trail with Chinese characteristics and formed a system of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
At this particular moment, Chinese are more confidently grasping opportunities and accelerating development, so as to lay solid foundations for building a moderately prosperous society in all respects.
To seek a brighter future for the country, Chinese people are sticking to the "Scientific Outlook on Development." In contemporary China, only development counts, and this calls for pursuing scientific advances…
See also:
Teaching Comparative blog
entries are indexed.
The First Edition of What You Need to Know: Teaching Tools is now available from the publisher
The Fourth Edition of What You Need to Know is available from the publisher (where shipping is always FREE).
Labels: China, Communist Party, political socialization, politics
Whose law?
If law is so complex that people cannot know what is legal, is that really rule of law? Or is this another example of a
Potemkin Village in Russian politics and government?
Fear and loathing: How the Kremlin is using the law for political ends
FOR generations of Russian leaders, the law has been a tool of state power, not a limit on its abuse. In recent months, as Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, and his advisers have navigated an unfamiliar political environment, they too have fallen back on a kind of nominal legalism, in which the law is less for protecting the citizenry than an instrument of power.
As the Kremlin sees it, compared with uglier measures of neutralising dissent, the law is an “efficient and civilised tool”… In practice, that means the law can be deployed selectively against political opponents, or laws can be drafted to solve immediate problems.
 |
| Gudkov |
On September 14th a majority in the Duma voted to strip Gennady Gudkov of his seat in parliament… Mr Gudkov, a deputy with the left-leaning Just Russia party, says he was targeted for being the most outspoken member of a small anti-Kremlin group of lawmakers…
He says that his expulsion shows that not only “is it possible to distort the law as convenient” but that “it’s possible to go entirely beyond the law without consequence.”
The past months have been a busy season for the Russian legal system. In August three women from a punk collective, Pussy Riot, were sentenced to two years each in prison for an anti-Putin stunt… In June a package of new repressive laws… raised fines for unsanctioned demonstrations and required foreign-funded NGOs to register as “foreign agents” (the authorities have just told one of the main sources of such grants, America’s USAID aid agency, to cease operations). Other laws recriminalise libel and create a blacklist of (loosely defined) offensive websites.
Taken together, these new laws are not as likely to be consistently enforced as much as they are meant to intimidate. Above all, the goal is to put the opposition and its supporters in a state of permanent legal jeopardy.
The Russian legal code is a thicket of often contradictory rules and responsibilities. Ella Paneyakh of the Institution for the Rule of Law at the European University of St Petersburg says that owners of small and medium-sized businesses “cannot even keep track of the law, let alone decide whether to follow it.” That leaves them vulnerable to arbitrary predation by law-enforcement bodies.
This sense of opacity and impenetrability gives the authorities the upper hand. The overall impression, says Igor Kalyapin of the Committee Against Torture, is that the “law is the property of those of who enforce it, and written exclusively for them.”…
The danger in using the law to solve short-term political problems, say people inside the Kremlin as well as its critics, is that it risks creating a precedent. Legal sanctions, even when subjectively applied, can take on a momentum of their own…
Teaching Comparative blog
entries are indexed.
The First Edition of What You Need to Know: Teaching Tools is now available from the publisher
The Fourth Edition of What You Need to Know is available from the publisher (where shipping is always FREE).
Labels: concepts, politics, rule-of-law, Russia
