HIATUS
HIATUS
hi·a·tus /haɪˈeɪtəs/ Pronunciation[hahy-ey-tuhs]
–noun, plural -tus·es, -tus.
- a break or interruption in the continuity of a work, series, action, etc.
- any gap or opening.
- an indefinite period of time when most schools in the US are not in session and during which the primary contributor to this blog takes a break from posting while joining family in observance of the solstice, religious holidays, and the beginning of the new year.
[Origin: 1555–65; L hiātus opening, gap, equiv. to hiā(re) to gape, open + -tus suffix of v. action]
Source: hiatus. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Retrieved July 15, 2008, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hiatus
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Talk about internalization
President Xi has called for a harmonization of law and virtue. In other words, perfect socialization. People would do what is right and that would be legal. And vice versa. How does he expect to get universal agreement about either?
Xi stresses integrating law, virtue in state governance
Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, has underscored governing the country by both law and virtue, so as to modernize the state governance system and capability.
Xi made the remarks Friday at a group study attended by members of the Political Bureau…
Zhu Yong, professor from China University of Political Science and Law, expounded on the subject, and members of the Political Bureau held discussion.
Noting that "law is virtue put down in words, and virtue is law borne in people's hearts," Xi said law and virtue both possess due status in state governance, as both play the role of regulating social behavior, adjusting social relations and maintaining social order…
The rule of law should be made an important part of education in virtue, Xi said, suggesting fostering a belief in law, the rule of law and rules, and guiding people to voluntarily assume their statutory duties, as well as responsibilities for society and family…
Xi stressed the importance of education for all in the rule of law and virtue, voicing the hope that through the education, all people will grow to firmly believe in, abide by and uphold the socialist rule of law, as well as exercise socialist core values.
Leading officials play a "crucial" role in governing the country by law and virtue, Xi said, urging them to serve as examples in studying and observing the law, and in practicing virtue.
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Labels: China, rule of law, socialization
Political economics of football in Nigeria
You have to know that there are serious economic problems when the African champion team from Nigeria has to protest to get paid.
Nigeria Super Falcons march on parliament to demand bonuses
Nigeria's victorious women's football team have protested outside parliament in Abuja over unpaid win bonuses…
They have refused to leave a nearby hotel until they receive win bonuses of $17,150 each (£13,500)…
However the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has so far paid them less than $2,000 each.
The NFF is also understood to have promised to pay allowances for qualifying for the tournament.
But the organisation, which receives direct funding from government, is in dire straits after Nigeria slipped into recession in August for the first time in more than a decade…
Nigerian teams have frequently been affected by pay disputes, with coaches regularly going unpaid and players boycotting training during qualifiers or at tournaments over unpaid bonuses…
Two days later
Govt Releases N471.8 Million for Payment of Super Eagles, Falcons
The Office of the Accountant General of the Federation has released the mandate to Central Bank of Nigeria for payment of naira equivalent of US$1,173,820.00... to Nigeria Football Federation to pay outstanding winning bonuses for Super Eagles in the 2018 World Cup Qualifying Matches and for the Super Falcons' participation in the 10th Women's Africa nations Cup...
The payment came after members of Super Falcons demonstrated in Abuja demanding payment of their outstanding bonuses.
President Muhammadu Buhari later authorised the payment within 24 hours.sum of N358 million, was paid by Central bank of Nigeria on Thursday...
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Labels: economics, Nigeria, politics
Violence and governance in Mexico
Is the Mexican government capable of governing? The wars among drug gangs suggest not. Can the government and/or the regime survive?
Mexico Grapples With a Surge in Violence
By the end of October, at least 96 people had been killed in the border city of Ciudad Juárez. It was the highest monthly tally since 2012…
In the last year, the number of homicides around Mexico has soared to levels not seen in several years…
The relapse in security has unnerved Mexico and led many to wonder whether the country is on the brink of a bloody, all-out war between criminal groups…
The surge in violence around Mexico reflects an increasingly volatile criminal landscape and the limitations of North America’s counternarcotics strategy, and it has contributed to the plummeting approval ratings of President Enrique Peña Nieto.
A longstanding cornerstone of the Mexican government’s fight against organized crime — backed by hundreds of millions of dollars in American aid — has been to aim at the kingpins, on the theory that cutting off the head will wither the body. But the tactic has helped to fragment monolithic, hierarchical criminal enterprises into an array of groups that are more violent and uncontrollable, analysts said.
Though the clashes between remnant drug groups are widely thought to be a significant cause in the rising violence, analysts and government officials also point to other factors, including changes in political control of state and municipal governments after recent elections.
As old political power structures make way for new ones, cooperation between the corrupt authorities and criminal groups fall apart, analysts said…
Even while acknowledging the increase in homicides, officials have apparently sought to play it down…
Officials have also denied that the problem is widespread…
The responses have left many analysts to conclude that the administration lacks a coherent strategy to address the problem…
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Labels: corruption, Mexico, state capacity
The merger of domestic and international politics
Far right-wing Americans praising Putin? Russian operatives promoting Trump's campaign? What's going on?
Russian propaganda is state-of-the-art again
FOR much of post-Soviet history Russia was seen as an outlier whose politics would inevitably move towards those of the West. After the Brexit vote and the election of Donald Trump in America, it appears the opposite is taking place: the style of politics practised by Vladimir Putin’s regime is working its way westward.
From the Mediterranean to the Pacific, Mr Putin is hailed as an example by nationalists, populists and dictators. “My favourite hero is Putin,” said Rodrigo Duterte, the brutal president of the Philippines. Mr Trump called Mr Putin “a leader far more than our president.”…
“Putin enjoys a cult status with all holding a grudge against the West.” Nowhere is that status greater than with the nationalists of America’s “alt-right”. Matthew Heimbach, the founder of the Traditionalist Worker Party and a crusader against “anti-Christian degeneracy”, told the New York Times he sees Mr Putin as “the leader of the free world.”…
The last time Russia had such a role in crystallising anti-establishment ideas was in the 1920s and 1930s, after the Bolshevik revolution…
Today, 25 years after the Soviet collapse, Russia is again seen as an emblem—this time of a nationalist imperial order. And just as in the 1930s, its isolationism does not prevent it from being involved in the global populist, anti-establishment trend. The Kremlin’s bet on marginal right-wing parties has paid off as they have moved into the mainstream. It has pumped out disinformation and propaganda both through its official media channels, such as the RT and Sputnik news networks, and through thousands of paid internet trolls. Its cyber-attacks against Western countries produced troves of emails and documents which it dumped into the hands of foreign media, disrupting America’s presidential elections to the benefit of Mr Trump.
Unlike the Socialists of the 1930s, the Kremlin and its friends today are driven not so much by ideology as by opportunism (and, in Russia’s case, corruption). Mr Putin’s primary goal is not to present an alternative political model but to undermine Western democracies whose models present an existential threat to his rule at home. Having lived through the Soviet collapse, he is well aware that the attraction of the prosperous, value-based West helped defeat communism. The retreat of that liberal democratic idea allows Russian propagandists to claim a victory…
The Kremlin “counters ethnic nationalism with its own version of state nationalism,” Alexander Verkhovsky, an expert on Russian nationalism, writes—one based on wars and other state achievements, not on ethnic identity. In Mr Putin’s view the nation must consolidate around events, figures and ideas provided by the Kremlin…
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Labels: international relations, politics, Russia
Economic change in China
China is changing from an industrial economy to a service economy (not long after changing from an agricultural economy to an industrial one). Service economies grown more slowly than industrial ones, but the political leaders are counting on continued rapid growth. Will political change follow the economic changes?
China has gained hugely from globalisation
Factory workers in America and Europe often blame China for stealing their jobs. There is no doubt that China has benefited enormously from its vast pool of people… who are willing to work for a fraction of what Western counterparts might earn…
Yet many of the worries that have recently animated Western voters are common in China, too. Working-class Chinese, as well as members of the new middle class, fret about rising inequality, the impact of mass migration from the countryside into cities and job losses…
[T]he government has sensed the danger of rising public anger created by the divide between rich and poor (in the 1980s China was among the most equal societies in the world; now it is one of the least so). A decade ago it switched its “chief task” from “economic construction” to establishing a “harmonious society”—ie, one with a more even distribution of wealth (as well as a beefed-up police force to keep malcontents in check)…
But many people feel that inequality and social mobility are getting worse in other respects. For example, members of the fast-growing middle class complain about the emergence of a new plutocracy. They say that the wealthiest owe their fortunes to corruption and personal relationships [guanxi], not hard work…
Among blue-collar workers, a structural shift in China’s economy, from labour-intensive manufacturing to higher-tech industries and services, is fuelling job insecurity. In 2013, for the first time, the contribution to GDP from services, such as transport, shops, restaurants and finance, pulled ahead of industry, including manufacturing, mining and construction (see chart)…
Millions more jobs are threatened by efforts to reduce overcapacity in bloated and heavily indebted state-owned enterprises (SOEs), such as steelmakers and mining companies. Nervous officials often prefer to prop up such businesses rather than risk an explosion of unrest among laid-off urban-born workers…
Many of those who used to work in factories… are ill-equipped to find new jobs in service industries. Official data show that more than two-thirds of workers laid off in recent years were poorly educated and around half were aged 40 or older. Those are big handicaps…
As anxieties grow, migrants are likely to suffer. Like those in the West who resent foreign immigrants, Chinese urbanites often blame their cities’ problems on outsiders, albeit on people from other parts of the country (who often speak very different dialects and lack “civilised” city ways). The 280m such migrants in urban China feel marginalised and resented…
Anti-elite sentiment, such as Britain and America are experiencing, is the party’s worst fear. Mr Xi is a member of the party’s upper class: his father was Mao’s deputy prime minister until he was purged. Many of his closest allies are also “princelings”, as offspring of the party’s grandees are often called. [See guanxi.] That is why he has tried hard to portray himself as a “common man”, highlighting his experiences of living in a cave and working in the fields during Mao’s Cultural Revolution. He is appealing to popular nationalism, too, with talk of the country’s “great rejuvenation” and the “Chinese dream” (shades of Mr Trump’s “Make America Great Again”).
China does not have the complication of free elections, much less referendums. But the party feels that it needs to appear responsive to popular opinion in order to stay in power. That is becoming more difficult as economic growth slows and the main public demand—for greater wealth—becomes harder to satisfy…
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Labels: China, cleavages, economics, politics
A firm hand by Iran
By its own account the Iranian government is going to great lengths to control social media. Especially social media used by younger people. Can it work there better than it does in China?
Iran bans 14 thousand websites and accounts weekly
Iranian Prosecutor Ahmad Ali Montazeri, who presides the Internet censorship Committee in the country, has banned and closed 14 thousand websites and social networking accounts in Iran.
In an interview with al-Khabar Iranian channel on Tuesday, Montazeri stressed that the main reason behind this decision was the content of these websites and pages that was “against the religion and ethics.”
Montazeri added: “we are under an attack targeting our religious and national values by foreign channels and hostile networks.”…
Security forces announced the arrest of young active men and women who were spotted by the “internet army” as organizing online catwalks on Instagram.
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Labels: censorship, Iran, social media
Mistakes by autocrats?
If the system makes one mistake, how many others aren't discovered? And can the power elite maintain the loyalty of the people and its own legitimacy?
This would be a good time to review the inquisitorial judicial system in China. [See:
Not Guilty Until Arrested]
China Exonerates Man It Executed for Murder in 1995
China’s Supreme Court on Friday exonerated a man who had been executed for murder in 1995, in a dramatic example of the inequities in the country’s legal system and the authorities’ halting attempts to come to grips with them.
The man, Nie Shubin, was 20 when he was convicted of killing Kang Juhua, a woman who was raped and murdered in the northern province of Hebei in the summer of 1994. The local police arrested Mr. Nie soon after her body was found, and he confessed to the killing after days in detention. He was executed by gunshot in April 1995.
In 2005, another man, Wang Shujin, confessed to murdering Ms. Kang. But it took Mr. Nie’s family 11 more years of campaigning to clear his name before the Supreme Court did so on Friday. The court ruled that there had not been enough evidence to convict Mr. Nie and cast doubt on the authenticity of his confession.
Mr. Nie is not the first person to be posthumously exonerated by a Chinese court years after execution, but it is impossible to estimate how many have been wrongly put to death…
Under President Xi Jinping, the government has been making efforts to overhaul the criminal justice system, with the overturning of wrongful convictions a key part of that effort. Prosecutors in China almost always secure a conviction, and confessions are often made under duress…
The Hebei High Court, which had upheld Mr. Nie’s murder conviction, expressed “sincere apologies” to his parents Friday… said it would begin the process of awarding compensation to the parents.
Legal experts say that despite some improvements in China’s criminal justice system, the underlying problem is that the system is not independent but controlled by the Communist Party.
Xu Xin, a lawyer and scholar in Beijing who studies capital punishment, said that meant that rulings were often made for political reasons…
Even as the Chinese authorities work to assure people that the courts are becoming more fair, the means for people to publicize injustices and bring them to court are being hobbled by a nationwide crackdown on lawyers who take up the causes of the powerless…
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Labels: China, judiciary
Another by-election
The Conservatives hold a seat in another by-election. Judging by the results, there was never any real doubt about the outcome. Labour's loss to the Lib-Dems is embarrassing. And the Loony party candidate did get 200 votes.
Labour MPs blame lack of clarity on Brexit for byelection resu
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Origins of Iran's Basij
The stories that inspire loyalty and obedience. It's part of socialization.
The Making of the Basij - Basij Mostazafan - attack dogs of the Iranian regime
The Basij - Basij Mostazafan – or “mobilisation of the oppressed”, is an Iranian militia group that is fanatically loyal to the Iranian clerical leadership, and is often seen rolling out onto the streets of Iranian towns and cities on motorbikes, beating innocent street protestors with clubs and wooden staves, and often using snipers to pick off the ringleaders of such demonstrations, shooting them dead.
The Basij comes under the umbrella of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, and is often used by them to carry out vicious attacks against the populace, of the type that the Guards themselves would rather not dirty their hands with, as they have always looked upon themselves as the protectors of the people, and liked to be respected rather than reviled by their fellow Iranians…
But when it comes to understanding the fanatical devotion of the Iranian Basij, to their clerical masters leading the regime, you need to return to the Basij militia’s baptism of fire during the Iran/Iraq War.
In September 1980, at the start of the war, with Khomeini’s troops facing Saddam Hussein’s professional, well-armed military battalions, the situation looked dire for IRGC forces, and so… a suicidal band of zealots in the form of the Basij - seemed to be the perfect answer.
The Basij is made up of boys aged 12 to 17, as well as middle aged men not suitable for standard military service…
As far as their absolute devotion to their religious leader Ayatollah Khomeini was concerned, it was proven beyond doubt during the Iran/Iraq War, when minefields along the front line were becoming a direct obstacle for advancing Iranian troops, and a swift method was needed to eradicate this threat…
[H]eavily indoctrinated with Khomeini’s radical ideology, into carrying out acts of insane martyrdom, they were sent in their thousands to march across minefields laid by Iraqi troops, which were hampering the advance of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, and in droves these youngsters were blown to smithereens…
So this was the birth of the Basij, a militia contingent that revels in its past glories, and thinks nothing about sacrificing life on earth for their Supreme Leader. Even though suicide was against the teachings of the Quran, in the minds of these fanatical zealots, such sacrifice would take them through an open door straight into paradise.
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Labels: Iran, military, socialization
World's tiniest legislature
The Chinese Politburo (the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee) a small legislature and its "legislation" is often reactive (responding to things that have already happened). (Who didn't move out of his office upon retirement? Who traveled through Beijing in a multi-car caravan at rush hour? Who hired relatives for an over-sized staff? Can the Politburo enforce the new rules?
CPC leadership adopts rules standardizing Party, state leaders' benefits
The top leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Wednesday adopted a document to standardize the benefits of CPC and state leaders, such as their offices, housing and staff.
 |
| The Politburo |
The document was passed at a meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee presided over by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee…
Party and state leaders should vacate their offices in a timely manner after retiring, the statement said.
They should "travel without pomp" and minimize impact on public life…
Leaders should have the right size of staff as stipulated. They must step up education and management of their staff and strictly constrain their relatives and personnel…
The Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee will be first to follow the new rules.
The statement said the new rules are of significant importance to the improvement of the party's working style, showing that the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core is leading by example…
"The strict governance of the Party should start from officials, especially senior ones," [the document] said. "Whatever you demand others to do, you should do yourself first; whatever you forbid others to do, you should firmly forbid to yourself."
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Labels: China, Communist Party, corruption, leadership, Politburo
Talking like an insider
While reading an article this morning, I came across a bit of obscure trivia that reminded me of the detail expected of students of AP U.S. Government and Politics.
I came to know this trivia because I taught the Comparative course for 20 years and learned lots of trivia that never was relevant for AP exams. Maybe it's a good footnote to Parliamentary procedure.
In an article about a motion in the UK Parliament to investigate former PM Tony Blair for lying to Parliament (in order to get approval to join the US-led coalition to invade Iraq) reporter Jessica Elgot mentions, "There is only a one-line whip on attendance by Labour MPs but those who turn up are expected to vote against the motion. At a private meeting of Labour MPs on Monday night, backbenchers voted almost unanimously to urge the shadow cabinet to mandate a three-line whip against the motion, which was overruled by the leadership… "
One line whip? How about a two line whip? or a three line whip?
The term the whip was derived from hunting terminology. The whipper-in is defined as ‘a huntsman's assistant who keeps the hounds from straying by driving them back with the whip into the main body of the pack.'
"A Member of Parliament, who is a member of a political party, will usually receive the weekly circular or 'whip' each week traditionally by post and these days by email. It is an A4 size of paper listing under each day the business of the House with one, two or three lines drawn underneath.
"One line means that that the business is not deemed very important or that the Opposition are not opposing it so it can pass through the House unimpeded and the member is not required to attend.
"Two lines means that the a vote might be expected but the Government is unlikely to lose that vote. Loyalist MP's will most likely still attend to ingratiate themselves with the party leadership (front benchers).
"Three lines is a specific instruction to attend and vote with the Government 'line' or policy.
"Not to vote on a three line whip is a potentially disciplinary matter… "
Source: Politics of the United Kingdom: What is a "three-line whip"?
There are whips in the U.S. Congress as well. They are usually assistants to the party leaders whose job is to inform party members of the party position and get them to attend and vote appropriately.
See also
Whips, from the Parliament's web site.
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Labels: leadership, parliament, parties, UK
The role of the judiciary in Iran's regime
Does the description of events here match what your textbook says about Iran's judciary?
Iranian judicial authorities attempt arrest of MP
Judicial authorities in Iran have attempted to arrest a parliamentarian despite his legislative immunity because of the MP’s scrutiny of the judiciary chief’s personal financial conduct.
 |
| Sadeghi |
Mahmoud Sadeghi, an MP close to the reformist camp… in the Iranian parliament, Majlis, was confronted on Sunday by security officials who had gathered in front of his house to arrest him.
Sadeghi’s supporters were angered by the move, and a group of students, activists and parliamentary colleagues assembled near his house to prevent officials from detaining him. It ultimately led to the authorities reversing their decision.
 |
| Larijani |
Earlier this month, Sadeghi had questioned the justice minister over
allegations that the head of the judiciary, Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani, possessed 63 personal bank accounts filled with public funds.
Amadnews, an account run by an anonymous group on the social network Telegram, recently claimed that more than £50m was transferred to the ayatollah’s personal bank accounts annually from public funds…
The judiciary is one of Iran’s three parallel political institutions; the other two are the government led by the president, Hassan Rouhani, and the parliament. The judiciary acts independently of Rouhani’s government and its chief is appointed directly by the supreme leader…
Khamenei’s oversight on the judiciary means that the hands of the MPs and the government are tied; parliament, which along with the government is an elected body, is not able to summon the judiciary chief… It puts the judiciary in a position of great influence, unchecked by the public.
Sadeq Larijani belongs to a family whose other members also hold senior political positions. One of his brothers, Ali Larijani, is the parliamentary speaker, and Mohammad-Javad Larijani is the head of the state-run human rights council…
Prior to such allegations, Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani was considered a serious potential candidate to become Iran’s next supreme leader when Khamenei dies but many analysts believe those claims have scuppered his chances…
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Labels: Iran, judiciary, politics, regime
The other branch of Mexico's regime
A democratic regime is made up of executive, legislative, and judicial branches. And in Mexico there's another branch: the cartels.
'The only two powerful cartels left': rivals clash in Mexico's murder capital
Manzanillo and the surrounding state of Colima were once best known for their black sand beaches, lime groves and a smoldering volcano that erupts every century or so.
But over the past year, the region has claimed a new title: murder capital of Mexico…
Local officials blame the killings on outsiders or describe it as score-settling between petty criminals.
But analysts of the drug war say the violence is part of a nationwide realignment of organized crime – and a bitter struggle to control the port of Manzanillo, one of the biggest on Mexico’s Pacific coast.
Ten years of a militarised campaign against the cartels has not ended the trade in drugs, or helped enforce rule of law in Mexico. It has, however, weakened or splintered several crime factions, leaving a handful of powerful survivors fighting for the spoils.
Colima is currently the setting for a confrontation between two of the most formidable: the Sinaloa Federation – led by imprisoned capo Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán – and the Jalisco New Generation cartel, known by its Spanish initials as the CJNG.
The CJNG – based in the neighbouring state of Jalisco – has already established a reputation as one of the country’s fastest-growing and most aggressive groups…
“The CJNG is gaining ground, but doesn’t have anywhere near the power of the Sinaloa cartel,” said Miguel Ángel Vega, a reporter with the Sinaloa-based news organization Ríodoce…
Local journalists say that much of the violence stems from the lack of a strong boss to control the “plaza” – the local turf or trafficking routes. Others suggested that the conflict was triggered by defections from CJNG to Sinaloa.
“It’s a war over the local market,” said one longtime reporter, asking for anonymity for security reasons. “Cartel de Jalisco sells ice [methamphetamine], while Sinaloa sells cocaine.”
But few local residents expect either side to win a victory by force – they believe that the solution will come from a political deal.
Some believe the violence will continue until one of the cartels gains control with help from the government…
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Labels: corruption, Mexico, violence
More on parties in the UK
The Liberal Democrats' candidate won big in a London by-election. Does it portend greater successes in the future?
Election in London, Seen as Gauge of ‘Brexit’ Zeal, Jolts British Government
An election just contested here was supposed to be a referendum on the expansion of Heathrow Airport, and only of local interest. But it turned into something far more profound: a referendum on the referendum for Britain to quit the European Union, and its results sent tremors through the Conservative government of Prime Minister Theresa May and made the Labour Party look irrelevant.
 |
| Sarah Olney |
The race for a seat in Parliament was won on Thursday by the candidate of the diminished Liberal Democratic Party, which is calling for another referendum on the terms of Britain’s departure from Europe… Sarah Olney, defeated Zac Goldsmith, who had held the seat representing the London borough of Richmond for the Conservatives since 2010.
It was not just that Ms. Olney won, but how. She defeated Mr. Goldsmith by about 2,000 votes out of 41,367 votes cast, after Mr. Goldsmith had a 23,000-vote margin in the previous election.
The Labour candidate drew so few votes, around 1,500, that the party was forced to forfeit a deposit of 500 pounds…
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Labels: elections, parties, UK
UKIP Manifesto
Bring back smoking in pubs and restaurants? Restoring the death penalty? Abolishing the National Health Service?
In regards to the recent post titled
Party Realignment in the UK, Alan Carter wrote from Oxford, noting that the UKIP manifesto (platform, for us Yanks) calls for some unusual items.
Alan Carter:
"I suppose being pro-EU ( it has problems and may collapse anyway) I'm bound to be disappointed - with UKIP, what interests is the policies apart from Brexit that they might favour -
- bringing back smoking in bars & restaurants
- destroying the National Health Service
- and restoring the death penalty
- which has the added bonus of ejecting the UK from the Council of Europe ( 51 countries incl. Russia and Turkey) an thereby abrogating UK signature to the 1951 European Convention on Human Rights"
It turns out that UKIP membership thinks the decline in the number of people drinking in pubs and in the number of pubs could be mitigated by allowing pubs and restaurants a choice about being smoke free. No mention of consolidation of brewers and changes in society.
You can find a Power Point presentation of the most recent party manifesto online at the party's web site: 2015 UKIP Manifesto.
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The Comparative Government and Politics Review Checklist.
Two pages summarizing the course requirements to help you review and study for the final and for the big exam in May. . It contains a description of comparative methods, a list of commonly used theories
, a list of vital concepts, thumbnail descriptions of the AP6,
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a description of the AP exam format
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Labels: parties, UK
Party realignment in the UK?
The major parties in the UK have histories and have provided stability to the electoral system for decades. But changes have shaken the foundations of that system. The Liberal Democrats went from partners in government to an afterthought. Labour has been diminished in the last decade to helpless opposition. And UKIP has risen to be nearly a competitive force. What changes come next?
Paul Nuttall elected as UKIP leader
Paul Nuttall has been elected leader of the UK Independence Party, replacing Nigel Farage.
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| Nuttall and Farage |
The 39-year-old Member of the European Parliament, who served as UKIP's deputy leader for six years, won 62.6% of support among party members.
He promised to "put the great back into Britain" and force the government to "give us a real Brexit"…
In his acceptance speech, Mr Nuttall, a former history lecturer… said: "The country needs a strong UKIP more than ever before. If UKIP is to be an electoral force, there will be an impetus on Theresa May and her government to give us a real Brexit."
He added: "I want to replace the Labour Party and make UKIP the patriotic voice of working people."
Speaking on BBC Two's Daily Politics, Mr Nuttall said the party would be "speaking the language of ordinary working people... we're going to move into the areas the Labour Party has neglected"…
He said: "We will be focusing on the issues that really matter to working-class people on doorsteps - immigration, crime, defence, foreign aid, ensuring that British people are put to the top of the queue in the job market."…
Analysis - Norman Smith, BBC assistant political editor
This was a commanding, thumping win for Paul Nuttall. The scale of his victory matters. His pitch was that he was the only person able to bring the party together and heal its divisions and this gives him a mandate to do so.
His approach will be different from that of Nigel Farage, whose focus was on appealing to Tory voters. Mr Nuttall wants UKIP to become the authentic voice of the working class by talking about issues that Labour finds problematic…
But first he will have to deal with the huge tensions and personal animosities in the party. He will take comfort from Mr Farage's insistence he won't be a back-seat driver…
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Labels: leadership, parties, politics, UK
Economic instability
At a time when those in power want stability, economics is not a friend. Growth has slowed and now there's labor unrest.
Strikes in China over foreign employers selling out to local companies
Coca-Cola workers in three Chinese cities have gone on strike after the US soft drinks company announced it was selling its bottling interests in the country…
The company has announced it is selling all its bottling assets in mainland China to Hong Kong conglomerate Swire Pacific and Cofco Corporation, one of China’s state-owned food giants…
Workers at three Coca-Cola plants called co-ordinated strikes on Monday, with pictures posted online appearing to show workers outside a factory in Chongqing with a banner that read: “We worked hard for over a decade but were sold in less than a second. Compensate! Compensate! Compensate!”…
The Coca-Cola bottling plant workers feared they would lose their jobs or pay under the state-owned employer, said one striking employee.
“We are demanding the company disclose details of the refranchising and plans during the transitional period,” he said.
“We request the company give workers economic compensation before they decide to sign the contract with Cofco.”
Separately, workers at a Sony factory in the southern city of Guangzhou downed tools in protest at the sale of the Sony Electronics Huanan subsidiary, which managed the site, to a Chinese company.
Production at the smartphone camera parts facility, which employs 4,000 people, was halted for two weeks after Sony announced it had been sold to Shenzhen O-Film Tech…
Labour protests have erupted in China with economic growth slowing and factory closures often leaving workers with unpaid wages and no redundancy [unemployment] pay.
Hong Kong-based rights group China Labour Bulletin (CLB) said there were 2,774 strikes and labour protests across the country in 2015 – more than the previous four years put together – with unpaid wages the most common grievance.
Independent trade unions are banned in China, with only the official All-China Federation of Trade Unions legally recognised. But critics say it often fails to assist workers in disputes…
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The Comparative Government and Politics Review Checklist.
Two pages summarizing the course requirements to help you review and study for the final and for the big exam in May. . It contains a description of comparative methods, a list of commonly used theories
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a description of the AP exam format
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Labels: China, economy, politics, unions
