Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Comparative case study

The situations are remarkably similar. The government and politics are also similar. A research project should compare the politics of the situations, the capacities of the states, the leadership (in government and in the populist response) in each country, the political cultures, the effectiveness of political participation, and…

A Familiar Anger Begins to Boil Again in Mexico

The fate of 43 college students missing and presumed killed and burned to ashes in a mass abduction in September has bred ire and indignation in many corners of Mexico…

And social media has lit up with related hashtags, including #YaMeCansedelMiedo (“I am tired of fear”), a play on a remark by the attorney general who cut off a question at the end of an hourlong news conference on the students’ case by saying, “Ya me cansé” — “I’m tired now.” …

Mexico has seen these convulsions over sensational crimes before, with only modest changes in their wake…

“The political parties are paralyzed,” said Ernesto López Portillo, director of Insyde, a security think tank in Mexico City, who has long advocated better training and accountability for local and state police forces. “Social frustration has grown, and this is expressed peacefully for the most part, but political power has not transformed.”

Chibok abductions: Will Nigerian schoolgirls ever be freed?

Six months since militant Islamist group Boko Haram sparked global outrage by abducting more than 200 girls from Chibok town in north-eastern Nigeria, the government has still failed to secure their release. The BBC's Will Ross spoke to the parents of some of the girls about their ordeal.

In the remote farming community of Chibok, the agony is only getting worse. The parents and other relatives of the missing 219 school girls complain that they have been left to rely on a diet of rumour from the media and a long list of unfulfilled promises from the politicians…

Over the last six months, beyond the pledges to rescue them, there have been no official statements whatsoever about what has happened to the girls in captivity, just plenty of speculation…

President Goodluck Jonathan and his government have often promised that all is being done to get the girls home but not everyone believes the politicians are focused on the Chibok girls and the wider conflict in north-eastern Nigeria.

"I think the government is more concerned about politics now. We don't hear about our girls any more. We only hear about political campaigns going on. That is what they are concerned about," Mr Yahaya told the BBC…

Nigeria army 'retakes Chibok' from Boko Haram

The Nigerian army says it has recaptured the north-eastern town of Chibok, which was seized by Boko Haram militants on Thursday.

Boko Haram fighters kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls from the village in April, sparking global outrage…

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