Teaching Comparative Government

The speaker of the House of Commons, the present one was chosen by the Conservatives, has a great deal of power, but it is mostly used in traditional ways. Not so, the other day. Boris Johnson, the foreign minister, has a lot of power and a lack of inhibition. Boris Johnson’s ‘sexist’ behavior swiftly shut down in the House of Commons British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has a habit of putting his foot in his mouth He once described Hillary Clinton as “a sadistic nurse in a mental hospital” with “dyed blond hair and pouty lips, and a steely blue stare.”… In an on-camera interview, he somewhat nonsensically compared the European Union to a “gigantic lobster. With butter sauce.”… And in Parliament on Tuesday, he referred to Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary for the opposition Labour Party, as Lady Nugee. Nugee is the last name of Thornberry's husband, Christopher. Johnson appeared to be disparaging Thornberry for asking whether the government is prepared to take R...

President Buhari is quiet about his intentions for the 2019 election. Political opponents have called for him to step down. His Vice President has begun campaigning. Now his party is campaigning. Is there any doubt that he'll run? APC Plotting To Ensure Buhari Is The Sole Presidential Candidate In 2019, Says PDP Nigeria’s main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of plotting a ‘grand scheme’ to ensure that President Muhammadu Buhari is the sole presidential candidate on the ballot in the 2019 presidential election. PDP said this while reacting to comments by Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed that it should be deregistered by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Sunday. The Minister had called on INEC to withdraw the registration certificate of PDP because of the party’s alleged politicization of the abduction and release Dapchi school girls… But in its response, PDP said the...

Iranian officials mocked for using foreign products It began with a televised address in Iran in celebration of Persian New Year on Tuesday, when Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei urged Iranians to support local products rather than importing from abroad. Soon afterwards, photos began to emerge on social media of some officials purportedly failing to follow that advice - including Khamenei himself. A photo of the Supreme Leader apparently getting out of a BMW was liked more than 1,200 times, with some people reposting the image alongside a picture of pre-Islamic Republic Prime Minister Amir-Abbas Hoveyda driving the first Iranian-made Paykan car in the 1960s. This tweet reads: "The PM of the corrupt Pahlavi regime driving a domestically made car, but the spiritual Leader of Muslims around the world riding on the unbelievers' hundred-million [dollar] car, the Republic of mottos." Some people defended Khamenei over the photo, with one person suggesting that the car may have belon...

Instead of Whack-a-mole it seems that the Mexican government is "playing" Whack-a-cartel. Rise of new cartel leading to more violence, USD study shows Mexico’s strategy of targeting top organized crime figures, or kingpins, for arrest and extradition has led to the spread of a new crime syndicate and driven up homicide numbers in many parts of the country, according to a new policy brief by the University of San Diego’s Justice in Mexico project. The report, titled “The New Generation: Mexico’s Emerging Organized Crime Threat,” focuses on the rise of the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación (New Generation Cartel Jalisco), commonly known as CJNG. The group’s recent and rapid expansion across Mexico has been accompanied by high levels of violence, the report states, with a countrywide record of 29,000 homicides in 2017… Authors Lucy La Rosa…  [and] professor David Shirk, the Justice Project’s principal investigator, say that the Guadalajara-based CJNG has benefited from the weake...