Comparative constitutions
The Monkey Cage, a blog I've read for years, recently was adopted by
The Washington Post. This recent post offers a source for creating some wonderful activities for comparing constitutions.
And as a follow-up to constitutional comparisons, students should find out how closely the regimes actually follow their constitutions.
This site lets you explore nearly every single constitution in the world
A very neat new Web site — Constitute — allows you to search the constitutions of almost all the independent states in the world, with more constitutions on the way. You can find search by country and by topic. Interested in which constitutions have provisions for the right to bear arms? Or gender equality? Or free speech? You can look for it.
The Web site… was seeded with a grant from Google Ideas…
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Labels: comparative methodology, concepts, constitution, theory
China's "one child" bonanza
It seems that provincial and local governments have been using the so-called "one child" policy as a revenue source as well as a way to limit population growth.
The tiny Christian minority in China has been at the forefront of criticism of the family planning program there, especially the use of abortion.
Chinese Provinces Collected Billions in Family-Planning Fines, Lawyer Says
Nineteen province-level governments in China last year collected a total of $2.7 billion in fines from parents who had violated family-planning laws… a lawyer who had requested the data said Thursday…
“We want to shed light on how the current family planning policy works,” Mr. Wu Youshui, of Zhejiang Province said in a telephone interview. “Many are debating reform of the family planning policy. Learning how it works may help with that debate.”
Mr. Wu’s findings were first published Thursday by Beijing News. Mr. Wu opposes China’s one-child policy and has written on his microblog that he is a Christian…
The family planning regulations are prone to abuse because local officials are often evaluated by their superiors based on how well they keep down the population of their areas…
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Labels: China, dissent, policy, politics
Mexican growth
Can legitimate economic growth overcome the power and wealth of organized crime? Will it change politics? Will Mexican society become multi-cultural?
For Migrants, New Land of Opportunity Is Mexico
Mexico, whose economic woes have pushed millions of people north, is increasingly becoming an immigrant destination. The country’s documented foreign-born population nearly doubled between 2000 and 2010…
Rising wages in China and higher transportation costs have made Mexican manufacturing highly competitive again, with some projections suggesting it is already cheaper than China for many industries serving the American market. Europe is sputtering, pushing workers away. And while Mexico’s economy is far from trouble free, its growth easily outpaced the giants of the hemisphere..
But the effect of that opening varies widely. Many economists, demographers and Mexican officials see the growing foreign presence as an indicator that global trends have been breaking Mexico’s way… but there are plenty of obstacles threatening to scuttle Mexico’s moment.
Inequality remains a huge problem, and in many Mexican states education is still a mess and criminals rule. Many local companies that could be benefiting from Mexico’s rise also remain isolated from the export economy and its benefits, with credit hard to come by and little confidence that the country’s window of opportunity will stay open for long…
But the most significant changes can be found in central Mexico. More and more American consultants helping businesses move production from China… In Guanajuato, Germans are moving in and car-pooling with Mexicans heading to a new Volkswagen factory … and sushi can now be found at hotel breakfasts because of all the Japanese executives preparing for a new Honda plant opening nearby.
Mexico’s immigrant population is still relatively small. Some officials estimate that four million foreigners have lived in Mexico over the past few years, but the 2010 census counted about one million… Many Mexicans, especially among the poor, see foreigners as novel and unfamiliar invaders.
Race, ethnicity and nationality matter. Most of the immigrants who have the resources or corporate sponsorship to gain legal residency here come from the United States and Europe. The thousands of Central American immigrants coming to Mexico without visas — to work on farms or in cities, or to get to the United States — are often greeted with beatings by the Mexican police or intense pressure to work for drug cartels. Koreans also say they often hear the xenophobic refrain, “Go back to your own country.” …
See also:
Migration to Mexico
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Exhibiting political leadership in Britain
Steven Erlanger and Stephen Castle, writing in
The New York Times, think that Labour's leader, Ed Milliband, like the Tory and Lib Dem leaders, is unpopular and ineffective. How does Milliband compare to other opposition leaders?
Labour Party Finding Fault With Its Leader
Ed Miliband, the leader of the opposition Labour Party, appeared to have Prime Minister David Cameron on the ropes. Mr. Cameron had just lost a vote in Parliament on a nonbinding motion to consider military action in Syria…
 |
| Ed Miliband |
But Mr. Miliband, whose own position on the issue kept shifting, did not seize the moment, neither that night, Aug. 29, nor in the next days. He neither spoke convincingly to the nation about the nature of its alliances, its foreign policy or its values, nor did he attack Mr. Cameron effectively for mismanaging the entire issue. In a sense, both major party leaders showed themselves unable to master their own restive parties.
After three years as head of Labour, Mr. Miliband, just 43, has not managed to convince the British public that he is prime ministerial material…
John Curtice, professor of politics at Strathclyde University in Glasgow, said… that polling shows that “Mr. Miliband is clearly not a help to his party and he may well be a hindrance.” The coalition government of the Conservative Mr. Cameron and the Liberal Democrat Nick Clegg is unpopular, Mr. Curtice said, but there are deep doubts among voters about whether Mr. Miliband believes in anything very strongly…
Mr. Cameron and Mr. Clegg are not themselves especially popular. Mr. Clegg is considered to have sacrificed crucial elements of his electoral agenda to get his party into the governing coalition, and is clearly the junior player to Mr. Cameron.
Mr. Cameron has overseen tough years of economic austerity and recession, and he is being outflanked on the right by an anti-European party known as the United Kingdom Independence Party, or UKIP.
Mr. Curtice thinks that Labour should be significantly farther ahead in the polls than now; its lead over the Tories has shrunk considerably since early summer. Still, he said, given an electoral system that favors Labour because of the distribution of its voters, the unpopularity of the Liberal Democrats and slippage of Conservative votes to UKIP, “the Labour Party might win by default.”
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Democratic centralism comes to West Africa
It's probably a sign of how serious the party divisions are in Nigeria. It's difficult to imagine
democratic centralism working in a country where there is already significant political competition.
Party Discipline - PDP to Adopt Chinese Model
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said it would be adopting the model of party discipline used in the Chinese communist party to ensure discipline within the PDP.
PDP national chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, who received leaders of the National Peoples Congress of China yesterday in Abuja, said the two parties have a lot to learn from each other…
He said the PDP admires the sense of patriotism in the Chinese party noting that such sense of patriotism cannot come without discipline which he said would be imbibed by the PDP…
Bamanga said the PDP has equally taken note of the unequalled powers vested on Party leaders in the Chinese Communist party, and would strive to copy it…
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Rocky road to privatization in Nigeria
The theory is that private companies will do a better job of maintaining the power grid and relieve the government of the costs of upkeep and new development. But getting there is not easy. This article is from
ThisDay in Lagos.
NDPHC - 10 NIPPs for Sale to Serious Investors
The Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) has said 10 of its power generation plants built under the National Integrated Power Projects (NIPP) will be sold to only serious investors and not just anybody…
However, it was gathered that some of the bidders… stated their desire for an extension of the deadline… but Chairman of the Technical Committee of the National Council on Privatisation (NCP), Mr. Peterside Atedo, immediately deflated any hopes for such extension, saying it was usual of unserious investors…
He… congratulated those who met the submission deadline, adding that the deal was not mandatory and as such, those who missed the deadline should bid farewell to the process…
On the status of the power plants before their handover to successful bidders, [Managing Director of NDPHC, Mr. James Olotu] said: "The important thing is that no power plant will be handed over to any successful bidder without it being completed in the manner in which we said it must be completed. No power plant will be handed over before it is completed and acceptable for hand over. No contractor will be relieved of any portion of its work before handing over. Every power plant will be fit for the purpose in line with how the contract guideline outlined. So, that's the way its going to be…
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Another voice from Iran
As the new president makes comforting sounds toward the outside world, another voice in Iran speaks.
Iranian Revolutionary Guard warns of dealing with U.S.
Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard has warned the country’s diplomats over diplomatically engaging with the United States, according to a statement at the weekend…
“Historical experiences make it necessary for the diplomatic apparatus of our country to carefully and skeptically monitor the behavior of White House officials so that the righteous demands of our nation are recognized and respected by those who favor interaction,” a statement from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said, published by Iran’s Tasnim news agency on Saturday.
The statement added IRGC would support initiatives that were in line with national interests and strategies set forth by Iran’s theocratic leader and highest authority, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei…
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Analysis of a new president's message
Max Fisher's op-ed pieces in the
Washington Post are thoughtful and informed. This one deals with international relations much more than comparative politics, but it contains some background that might be informative.
Two great signs and a dubious one from Iranian President Rouhani’s first Western interview
One and a half months into his tenure, and just one week before he addresses the U.N. General Assembly in New York, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani sat down with NBC News on Wednesday. It was his first interview with the Western media since taking office, and it appears to be the latest move in his not-so-subtle campaign signaling to the United States that he's interested in ending decades of enmity…
Here are three important take-aways from the parts of the interview… The first two are great, positive signs… The third is a bit more complicated.
1. He's got the supreme leader's okay to cut a nuclear deal… If true, then for Khamenei to hand Rouhani that power would be a remarkably positive step just in itself, a sign of institutional weight shifting toward compromise and diplomacy.
2. He's pen pals with Obama. A few days ago, Obama revealed that he had written to Rouhani after his election… Rouhani didn't say much when asked about the letter, but his tone was positive and he did reveal that he wrote back to Obama…
3. He denied that Iran will ever build a nuclear weapon. This is the one point that's gotten a lot of positive attention but about which I'm a touch less sanguine…
It also strains credulity a bit. Western intelligence agencies tend to believe that Iran has not decided to build a nuclear weapon. But there are lots of signs that it is at least trying to give itself that option…
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Clarifying things
Kevin James, who teaches at Albany High School in California, posted a link on
his blog to a
Deutsche Welle article that does a wonderfully clear job of explaining current party politics in Nigeria.
If you and your students read this, it might be an appropriate time to review Richard Joseph's idea: prebendalism. (You could also check out Richard Joseph's recent blog post,
Prebenalism and dysfunctionality in Nigeria.)
Nigeria's governing party in crisis
Nigeria’s governing PDP party appears to be disintegrating. Several leading officials have left and founded a new party. They are opposed to President Jonathan running for re-election in 2015…
The PDP has been in power continuously since the end of the military dictatorship in 1998. Now it appears to be falling apart and the influence of President Goodluck Jonathan is dwindling. The reason is the upcoming presidential elections in the oil-rich West African nation, due in 2015, for which major players are moving into position…
The seven rebels [who stormed out of a party convention at the end of August and set up their own party] are, with one exception, governors of federal states in the predominantly Muslim north. Together they represent just over 20 percent of the Nigerian electorate and are, therefore, an important electoral factor for President Jonathan.
The rebels accuse the president of not sticking to the rules. Under an unwritten law, top political positions alternate every other legislature period between the mainly Muslim north and the mainly Christian south. Jonathan comes from the south. He became president in 2010 after the unexpected death of President Umar Yar'Adua, a northerner. One year later an election confirmed Jonathan in office. That means he is coming to the end of his second term, say his opponents…
A Nigerian professor, Dr Abdul Raufu Mustapha, who lectures on African politics at Oxford University, warns that this is just the tip of the iceberg. Many other governors and members of parliament support the anti-Jonathan course, he says, but they have not yet gone public, fearing they would come under pressure from Jonathan…
The rebellion against Jonathan has nothing to do with a religious conflict between Christians and Muslims, say both Garba Umar Kari from the University of Abuja and Mustapha. It is more a conflict of interests between Jonathan and his opponents within the party. There is considerable dissatisfaction with Jonathan's leadership style. As Kari sees it, "He has not yet been able to tackle a single one of Nigeria's fundamental social, political and economic problems. In fact, things have gotten worse." …
In addition to the new PDP, a strengthened opposition bloc could add to Jonathan's woes. In February this year four opposition parties joined together to form an alliance, the All Progressive Congress (APC)…
See:
Overcoming cleavages in NIgeria
See also:
Nigerian politicians brawl in parliament over PDP split
"Nigerian politicians have exchanged punches after a splinter group from the governing People's Democratic Party (PDP) tried to address parliament.
"The lower house had just reconvened after a seven-week break - during which the new PDP faction was formed.
"But a BBC reporter says MPs loyal to President Goodluck Jonathan began shouting and jeering, which upset their rivals and scuffles broke out..."
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Resistance to change
We often think of right wing politicians as conservatives. How can it be then, that the leftists in Mexico are opposing change (being conservative)?
Mexico's left wages campaign to derail Peña Nieto's agenda
They have taken to the streets by the thousands, generating headlines and dramatically disrupting the day-to-day rhythms of the hemisphere's largest city.
But do the Mexicans opposing the government's proposed reforms have any real political stroke?
That is the question dogging the forces of the Mexican left. They hope that a wave of demonstrations will derail President Enrique Peña Nieto's ambitious policy agenda, which includes what he calls "transformational" changes to the federal tax structure, the education system and the state-run oil company…
While the protesters dominate the streets, the reformers have the upper hand in government: Peña Nieto's centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, holds majorities in both chambers of Congress. The leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution, or PRD, controls only about 20% of each house.
As a result, while the protesting teachers commandeered the media spotlight this week, lawmakers managed to pass the teacher evaluation portion of the education reform package, which also includes measures to curtail union power…
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Everyday Nigeria
Nigerian Helon Habila now teaches at George Mason University in Virginia. He commented that when [he] looks at American newspapers, magazines or Web sites, the photos he sees give at best only a partial view of the Nigeria he knows. Most photographers come to the country either to show poverty or political violence, he said, with “predetermination about what they want to find."
When we study government and politics in a country, we similarly restrict the image of the country. There is a lot of everyday life and non-political action.
I always appreciate a chance to "see" more. Mr. Habila helped choose photos for an
Instgram feed, "Everyday Africa." They definitely offer views that can help us gain a broader perspective on Nigeria.
The New York Times blog "Lens" recently featured some of the photos from "Everyday Nigeria." They are worth a look and perhaps discussion.
Everyday Nigeria — Not Idealized, Not Debased
“They showed people just being people, without the intention, without the politics, without the biases — whether it’s positive bias or negative bias.
“It’s just people as they are, and I think that’s the way people should be seen, wherever they come from. Not idealized, not debased, but just people.”
-Helon Habila
Photo by Jane Hahn. A computer lesson remains on the blackboard of the Ali Al Yaskari primary school in Maduguri. The school, which already lacked desks and supplies, was attacked by Boko Haram in late March.
Photo by Andrew Eseibo. There are parks in Lagos, even if they are under bridges.
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Voting below the line
It was election day recently in Australia, and even Australians away from home got to vote. Absentee balloting was not the only choice. Expeditioners at the four Australian research stations in Antarctica got to vote at their work places.
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| Photo credit to Rich Y. at Davis Station |
The caption on
this photo from the
Davis Station made me curious.: "Tensions rise as Bob votes below the line."
(To be honest, the guy in shorts and a t-shirt made me curious too. It must have been a mild late-winter day.)
Okay, voting "below the line" slowed things down, but I'd never run into that phrase before. I suspected it had something to do with proportional elections. It really has to do with ranked choice voting.
The official
FAQs from the Australian government say,
How do I mark my Senate ballot paper correctly?
On the Senate ballot paper you may vote in one of two ways:
- you may vote for a political party by putting the number 1 in any of the boxes above the black line. Put the number 1 in one box only.
OR
- put the numbers 1,2,3,4 and so on in the boxes to the left of the individual candidates' names in the order of your choice. You must put a number in every box if you mark your vote below the black line.
And here's a properly filled out sample ballot on which a voter voted "below the line." It's from Western Australia (the state where my cousin lives).
As far as I know, none of the AP6 countries use this kind of ranked choice voting. But, it's an example of another alternative to the plurality (first past the post) system that's so familiar to Americans and Brits. So, as you teach about proportional voting systems in Russia and Mexico and the majority voting in Iran, you could mention ranked choice voting as well.
How about a four-sided debate among groups advocating majority, plurality, proportional, and ranked-choice voting systems?
And, yes, voting in Australia is
compulsory.
(Maybe that's why voters at Davis Station lined up outside in Antarctic winter. Other stations did vote indoors.)
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Labels: concepts, elections
Nigerian party reshuffle looks serious
The divisions within the PDP that surfaced a couple weeks ago, seem to more serious now.
Nigeria's Goodluck Jonathan sacks ministers amid PDP splits
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| Jonathan |
Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan has sacked nine cabinet ministers amid serious divisions in the governing party.
Two weeks ago, seven of the country's powerful state governors and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar formed a splinter-group in the PDP.
They were angry after their allies were disqualified from party elections.
BBC Nigeria analyst Naziru Mikailu says the factions are jockeying for power ahead of 2015 polls.
The People's Democratic Party (PDP) has won every national election since the end of military rule in 1999, so the party's presidential candidate would be in a strong position to become Nigeria's next leader…
No official reason has been given for the reshuffle, while a presidential spokesman said there would be no rush to replace the sacked officials…
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The end of Thatcherism?
The British Social Attitudes survey suggests that political culture is changing. Only time will tell if the changes are significant.
British Social Attitudes Report finds softening attitudes to benefits
The annual British Social Attitudes Report - which questioned more than 3,000 people for more than an hour - found 51% said benefits were too high in 2012, down from 62% in 2011.
The survey also showed a fall in support for Scottish independence, from 30% in 2006 to 23% in 2012…
The British Social Attitudes Report has been running for 30 years…
The proportion of people found to be supportive of extra spending on benefits rose to 34% in 2012, compared with 28% in 2011.
Other the key findings include:
- For the first time in 30 years, more people said they were interested in politics…
- Some 18% said they trusted the government to regularly place the country's needs above their own party's interests, compared with 38% in 1987
- The reputation of the monarchy has been enhanced recently…
- The survey suggests that Britain has become significantly more tolerant of same-sex relationships…
- Nine out of 10 people trusted banks when the survey began in 1983 - that has fallen to just two out of 10
The report's authors wrote that their data indicated that "austerity and the experience of cuts to social security may be changing public attitudes towards a more sympathetic view of benefit claimants".
But Ms Park stressed it was clear the public was "very divided in their views".
"It remains to be seen what impact the coalition government's welfare reform agenda will have on public attitudes, and whether the small recent upturn in sympathy marks the beginning of a longer term trend," she said…
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Proposing more change in Mexico
President Peña Nieto wants to build on his successes. He sounds like he wants the PRI to be a party of 21st century revolution.
Mexican president proposes sweeping social changes
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto proposed sweeping changes to the country's social programs Sunday, laying out a plan for Mexico's first nationwide pensions, unemployment insurance and capital-gains taxes.
Some Mexican local governments, and particularly Mexico City, have experimented with small supplementary payments to the unemployed and people older than 70, but the country as a whole has not had unemployment insurance and only has a patchwork of pension plans…
The changes are part of a series of ambitious reforms that Pena Nieto hopes to push through in his first year in office. Some, like educational reforms that introduce teacher evaluations, have sailed through congress, but others face an uphill fight…
Pena Nieto did not provide specifics of the social program plans or tax changes, but said that "those who have more income will pay more."…
The proposals must be approved by both houses of congress and a majority of state legislatures because they involve constitutional changes.
Few had expected the president, whose centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party is known for its close ties to business, to go so far.
Indeed, some had expected him to push the widely unpopular idea of extending the sales tax to food and medicines. Such a tax would have likely further angered protesters who have recently demonstrated, in a country where 45 percent of the population of 112 million lives in poverty.
Pena Nieto said he didn't adopt that approach because it would hurt the poorest Mexicans, but said he would follow through with periodic increases in gasoline prices, which is aimed at phasing out fuel subsidies in Mexico…
Alternatively, the financial reporters focused on the taxations, not the social welfare reforms.
Peña Nieto waters down Mexico tax reforms
Mexico's faster-than-expected economic slowdown forced Enrique Peña Nieto, the country’s president, to dilute key tax reform plans, shying away from slapping a widely expected sales tax on food and medicine that could have intensified a wave of popular protests.
But the president said the reform package, which he unveiled on Sunday night flanked by opposition parties, nonetheless included green taxes on fuel, a fat tax on sugary drinks and a stock market gains tax. The reform package has been presented as a decisive step towards funding universal social security and making the tax system fairer and clearer…
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Killing Mr. Badger
Interest group action on the local level in the UK. (A special installment from the shores of Lake Yellowstone in Yellowstone National Park)
Badger cull sets off a fight in Britain
In the magical world of “The Wind in the Willows,” Mr. Badger was a cuddly curmudgeon with the wardrobe of a proper country squire. But in the real world, farmers here say, his kind have bred like ill-tempered, supercharged rabbits since becoming a protected species in 1973.
As badgers now run amok, they are spreading a plague of tuberculosis among cattle herds that has cost farmers and the British government a small fortune. A cull, advocates claim, is the only real solution.
 |
| Badger fans not from Wisconsin |
But the notion of Mr. Badger at the wrong end of a shotgun has touched a fascinatingly deep nerve in this green and pleasant land, where the English maintain a near-obsessive attachment to their picture-postcard countryside long celebrated by poets, authors and master painters…
In the current cull zone of western England, the operation is turning neighbor against neighbor, while drawing bands of volunteers from cities into “Badger Patrols” going out each evening. Wearing yellow vests to warn off stray bullets and occasionally packing night-vision lenses, the patrols are searching out vantage points where suspected hunters gather. They then let rip a barrage of blowing whistles and flashing strobe lights into the valleys, warning badgers back into their dens and trying to break the concentration of hunters…
Yet to the likes of Adam Quinney, vice president of the National Farmers Union and whose family has ranched cattle in England since the 16th century, the fierce opposition to the cull is a classic case of city-dwellers with a romanticized view of the country.
Last year, more than 28,000 head of cattle in Britain had to be sold to the government at reduced prices because of bovine tuberculosis, which officials say is being spread by badgers…
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Labels: interest groups, politics, protest, UK
Confidence from Mexico
Mexico's president seems to have stood up to a powerful former ally.
Mexico leader celebrates education reform victory
 |
| Enrique Pena Nieto |
President Enrique Pena Nieto used his first state-of-the-nation address Monday to push an aggressive reform agenda that seemed to be on the ropes last week, as protesting teachers attempted to block his plan for mandatory evaluations.
Pena Nieto opened the speech praising a midnight vote by the lower house of Congress to set up a competitive examination system for hiring teachers and to require them to pass regular evaluations in order to remain in the classroom.
The education bill still must be approved by the Senate, and protesting teachers who blocked Mexico City's main freeway and access to its airport last week continue to occupy the capital's main plaza.
"Resistance is a natural consequence when you are pushing a transformation," he said of the protesters, who also caused him to change the date and location of his speech. "Our dilemma had been whether to continue to stagnate or to allow the state to recover the leadership and transform and improve the quality of education."…
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More prosecution or power struggle?
Superficially, this looks like part of the campaign against corruption. I'd be inclined to guess that it's also part of politics within the Central Committee.
Jiang Jiemin: China sacks former energy chief
Jiang Jiemin was removed from office due to "suspected serious disciplinary violations", state-run news agency Xinhua said, citing authorities.
 |
| Jiang Jiemin |
The term is commonly used to refer to corruption. Mr Jiang has not commented publicly on the allegations…
Mr Jiang was head of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (Sasac).
Formerly, he headed the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC). Four CNPC executives are also under investigation for corruption.
Mr Jiang is the first member of the current 205-strong Communist Party Central Committee to face such charges and state media is presenting it as proof of the new leadership's resolve to clean up public life, the BBC's John Sudworth in Shanghai reports.
However some observers suggest that, whether guilty of corruption or not, there may be a political edge to Jiang Jiemin's downfall, as vested interests in state-owned industries have long been seen as opposed to economic reform, our correspondent adds…
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Sovereign parliament in the UK
Thanks to Susan Ikenberry, who teaches in Washington, D.C., for spotting this analysis. It would be a good teaching tool.
James Hallwood, of the Constitution Society, offers this interpretation of the meaning of Commons' vote to oppose military involvement in Syria. This is domestic sovereignty and it's not the same as the external sovereignty of a country.
The Syria vote was a triumph of parliamentary sovereignty
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| Commons in session |
There are several significant angles to [the] Commons vote on Syria…
[E]asily obscured by the more obvious issues of the day, is a seismic shift in the British constitution, an evolution that has crept up quietly but which serves to empower Parliament and constrain the executive.
While the Prime Minister officially retains the Royal Prerogative to declare war, it is clear that this power is now tempered by the convention that Parliament must vote on the matter beforehand.
The fact that Cameron… has now changed course so dramatically – while retaining the right to declare war - shows that votes like this are not simply rubber stamps but have become a binding convention that can change the foreign policy of a government.
Ironically, by calling an unprecedented vote on Iraq, Tony Blair, the most presidential of prime ministers, set in place an innovation that created a precedent largely devolving 'war powers' from the executive to the legislature.
Frustrating for many, our uncodified constitution is nevertheless pragmatic and far from conventions being ignored (as many fear has increasingly happened) a new one that curtails government power has clearly entrenched itself…
Whether one agrees with the outcome or not, the vote was a reassertion of Parliamentary sovereignty – a message to the executive, but also to the United States, that in the United Kingdom it is with Parliament, not the Prime Minister, that ultimate power resides…
Cameron's… deference to the Commons and his claim to have listened further entrenches the precedent that any future Prime Minister would have to call a similar vote on military action…
The British constitution is something that has grown organically over the last thousand years. It has survived because it has evolved; its imperfections have been mitigated by its flexibility. This latest stage in its evolution has something to say of our present and of our past. It speaks to a country disillusioned with foreign interventions, war-weary and cautious of unknown consequences. But fundamentally it also reasserts an ancient British principle: Parliament is sovereign.
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Labels: constitution, legislature, regime, sovereignty, UK
Comparative thinking
Beverley Clinch, who is now teaching at the
American Nicaraguan School, sent me a link to this TED talk. In this 20-minute lecture, Eric X Li, a venture capitalist and political scientist, argues that the universality of the claims of Western democratic systems is going to be "morally challenged" by China.
It is a fantastic demonstration of comparative thinking.
I can imagine interrupting Li's talk every time he makes an assertion and asking students to explain and assess it. I didn't count, but I think there are at least half a dozen of those assertions in the presentation.
And don't neglect the question session at the end. Li makes another assertion in answer to a question. He claims that civil society in China is very unlike civil society in the West. He says that Westerners probably can't even recognize Chinese civil society. That's a topic worthy (if you teach the course second semester) of a post-exam class research project.
A Tale of two political systems
It's a standard assumption in the West: As a society progresses, it eventually becomes a capitalist, multi-party democracy. Right?
Eric X. Li, a Chinese investor and political scientist, begs to differ. In this provocative, boundary-pushing talk, he asks his audience to consider that there's more than one way to run a successful modern nation.
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Labels: China, civil society, concepts, politics, theory
Capitalism and rule of law
Few make the case for the relationships between capitalism and rule of law better than Simon Denyer, writing in
The Washington Post.
Chinese entrepreneurs, unsettled, speak out for reform
When Chinese property magnate Zeng Chengjie was executed for fraud in July, it sent a chill through the business community here. Zeng’s real misstep, according to associates and supporters, was not the crime he was charged with — defaulting on loans from ordinary citizens — but backing the wrong political horse: When his patron, a provincial governor, was jailed for corruption, Zeng found himself stranded, they say, a victim of China’s shifting political sands.
If the country’s economic miracle is to be sustained, its private entrepreneurs will have to do more to foster growth and innovation. But many business leaders say the economic playing field is tilted sharply against them and in favor of the country’s mammoth state-owned enterprises, while the political climate remains treacherous. Although many are undoubtedly still making huge amounts of money, some have begun to complain that they survive only at the whim of a distrustful Communist Party…
Within China, most business leaders try to keep their heads down, concentrating on maximizing returns to shareholders and investors. A small but growing group, however, says the time has come to speak out for political reform, for the rule of law and a judiciary independent of the Communist Party, and for the protection of private property and civil rights…
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| Liu Chuanzhi |
Wang Ying had formed a reading group with about 100… members to discuss “Robert’s Rules of Order,” a 19th-century American handbook of parliamentary procedure, but was indirectly admonished last month when Liu Chuanzhi, founder of the enormous and politically well-connected computer maker Lenovo, told members they should stay out of politics and talk only about business.
That, say Wang Ying and others, is simply impossible in modern China, where every business needs a political patron and to demand that people not talk about politics is itself to take a political position…
Among the problems facing private entrepreneurs in China is the Party’s stranglehold on the nation’s vast household savings and the way it funnels those savings in the form of cheap credit through the nation’s banking system to state-owned enterprises. That leaves private-sector businesses often short of the loans they need to expand, or driven to break the law by borrowing directly from ordinary people, as Zeng did. Many owners also say they are forced to bribe local Party officials to gain patronage and political protection…
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Labels: China, corruption, economics, politics
Party Politics in Nigeria
A new opposition party has been formed. Now, the PDP appears to be splitting up. All in preparation for the 2015 elections. We'll eventually see whether the power and money available to those in power will be enough glue to hold the PDP together.
When I first saw this story on Reuters, I hadn't seen anything else about it. But, a report in
Vanguard (Lagos) has similar information. Even with the time zone differences, this just happened Saturday.
Nigeria's ruling party splinters, in threat to Jonathan
Seven Nigerian ruling party governors and a former presidential candidate formed a splinter group opposed to President Goodluck Jonathan on Saturday, in the most explicit internal threat yet to his assumed bid to run for another term in office.
Nigeria's ruling People's Democratic Party has been in power since shortly after the end of military rule in 1998, but it is increasingly riven by internal squabbles, centered around Jonathan's alleged intention to run again in 2015…
Many northerners say Jonathan's running again would violate an unwritten rule within the PDP that power should rotate between the largely Muslim north and mostly Christian south every two terms.
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| Rotimi Amaechi |
But the president has also made powerful enemies elsewhere, including the governor of Rivers state Rotimi Amaechi, who is from Jonathan's own oil producing Niger Delta region.
Amaechi was on the list of governors joining the "new" PDP, along with six other governors from northern states…
The open rebellion against Jonathan in his party could lead to more instability as the poll approaches. Violence, always high at election time, may worsen, as rivals use unemployed youth militia to settle scores.
It could also mean that Jonathan's loyalists will be forced to use state funds to pay off rivals, draining the treasury in a pattern that often sees the country's savings depleted and debt soar around election time…
Convention shocker: PDP Splits!
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| Atiku Abubakar |
Exactly 15 years after its formal launch, the lingering crisis in the ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP, degenerated, yesterday, when former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and seven governors broke away, formed a faction and named new national officers for it…
The governors and their teeming supporters had earlier stormed out … of the PDP Special Convention, after they alleged that the list of delegates for the election of national officers of the party... had been manipulated by the leadership to usher in their preferred candidates…
The embittered governors, some senators and House of Representatives members as well as other statutory delegates from their respective states later converged at the Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja, where they unfolded the agenda and the names of the national officers of their faction…
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Labels: cleavages, elections, Nigeria, parties, politics
