Teaching Comparative Government

It might look like reform, but the changes appear also to be closing a loophole in the legal system. By the way, do you know what the headline writer means by "China's top legislature?" China's top legislature in session, Criminal Procedure Law to be amended China's top legislature began its bimonthly session on Wednesday, with amending the Criminal Procedure Law and several other pieces of legislation on the agenda. Li Zhanshu (left) Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, presided over the meeting, which was attended by 169 committee members. A highlight of the session is the draft revision to the Criminal Procedure Law. Shen Chunyao, chairman of the Commission for Legislative Affairs of the NPC Standing Committee, said the revision would codify default judgment… The default judgment, for example, will be used against suspects and defendants in corruption or bribery cases who have fled abroad as authorities step up t...

If China is intent on using soft power to expand its influence, Iran wants to use hard power. At least some of the leadership does. And some does not. Senior military official says Revolutionary Guards will not stay within Iran’s borders Although President Hassan Rouhani said few days ago while marking Iran’s Army Day that Iran wants brotherly and strong relations with neighboring countries and rejects interfering in other countries’ internal affairs and noted that “dialogue is the only means towards peace in the region,” the Iranian Revolutionary Guards has contradicted him by stating that it will not commit to staying within Iran’s borders. … Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi, the commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Navy, said the Revolutionary Guards’ activities “are not limited to Iran,” noting that the guards’ forces are currently fighting thousands of kilometers away from Iranian borders. Fadavi added that this military apparatus’ actual name is the “Islamic Revolutionary Gua...

Here's one to test out in class. Are there examples of these influences to be seen today? Five ways China's past has shaped its present To understand today's headlines about China's approach to issues such as trade, foreign policy or internet censorship, turn to its past. The country is perhaps more aware of its own history than any other major society on earth. That remembering is certainly partial - events like Mao's Cultural Revolution are still very difficult to discuss within China itself. But it is striking how many echoes of the past can be found in its present. Trade : China remembers a time when it was forced to trade against its will. Today it regards Western efforts to open its markets as a reminder of that unhappy period. Trouble with the neighbours : China has always been concerned to keep states on its borders pacified. That's part of the reason it deals so warily with an unpredictable North Korea today. Information flow : Today China's intern...

This was originally posted by Dave Kruiswyk at the Facebook group, AP Comparative Government and Politics Teacher Page. The report comes from VICE News which is an international reporting organization. It employs over 100 reporters in 35 offices around the world. (See VICE News on Wikipedia I don't know enough about VICE News to have a handle on its editorial biases, but this report seems to be more adventurous than mainstream media. Financing comes from its UTube channel and sales of its reports to various cable networks. This report looks accurate and realistic to me, who has never been there. There are a couple profane expletives that you might want to preview before using this in class. Teaching Comparative blog entries are indexed. Use the search box to look for country names or concept labels attached to each entry. What You Need to Know 7th edition is ready to help. Order the book HERE Amazon's customers gave this book a 4-star rating.

Back in 2010, The Independent published an article that considered a claim by Nick Clegg that it took 15 years for the EU to define chocolate. Now the court arguments are about the shape of chocolate bars. Claim: "The European Union ... is a club that took 15 years to define chocolate in a chocolate directive." (Nick Clegg) Fact: An EU directive introduced in 1973 defined what could be in products labelled "chocolate". However, the definition didn't include the chocolate produced by British manufacturers until 27 years later. The delay was due to the amount of cocoa butter and milk in chocolate in different countries. Britain and Ireland produce chocolate with higher milk content than on the continent, and use other vegetable fats as substitutes for cocoa butter. There was a failed attempt to include these products in the definition in 1984, but it wasn't until 2000 that other European nations accepted that this could be also be called chocolate. It is c...

Who knew how important the mace was? ( Check out the British version .) Senate resumes plenary with replacement mace The Senate has resumed plenary about an hour after thugs stole its symbol of authority, the mace. The lawmakers appear to have secured a replacement mace which is being used for the plenary. The theft The thugs, who stormed the Senate chamber on Wednesday morning, are believed to have been led by a suspended lawmaker Ovie Omo-Agege… After the thugs left, the Senate went into an executive session after which it announced it was starting plenary. The plenary is being presided by Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu. Sabi Abdullahi, the senate spokesperson, in a statement sent to PREMIUM TIMES said “The Senate has mandated the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Idris Kpotum Ibrahim and Director General of the State Security Services (SSS), Mallam Lawan Daura, to retrieve the mace stolen by the hoodlums within 24 hours.” “At the moment, some House of Representives mem...

There may be a constitutional issue facing the government and the legislature in Nigeria. [ See Nigeria's constitution (search for "electoral" to learn what powers the constitution gives to the Independent National Electoral Commission.)] Why Nigeria’s battle over the order of the 2019 elections matters As politicians start announcing their candidacies and parties begin devising their platforms ahead of Nigeria’s 2019 general elections, a few crucial details remain in the air. Due to a political tug of war in Abuja, it is still unclear when exactly voters will go to the ballot and in what order they will be held. Nigerian polling place In January, Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) released its election timetable. It announced that the presidential and National Assembly polls would be held on 16 February, with the governorship and state assembly elections to take place on 2 March. But in February, Nigeria’s National Assembly – comprised of the Sen...

If Nigeria now has the seventh largest population and will be third largest by 2050, what country's populations will it surpass by 2050 ? NPC Puts Nigerian Population at 198m, Seventh Largest in the World The National Population Commission (NPC) has put Nigeria’s current population at 198 million people with urban population growing at an average annual growth rate of about 6.5 per cent… Eze Duruiheoma Chairman of NPC, Mr. Eze Duruiheoma… “Nigeria remains the most populous in Africa, the seventh globally with an estimated population of over 198 million. “The recent World Population Prospects report predicts that by 2050, Nigeria will become the third most populated country in the world… In terms of demographics, he noted that the class of the population mostly engaged in urbanisation and migration were young people, adolescent girls and boys, women of child bearing age and the working age population. He said existing urbanisation trends, coupled with internally displaced persons ...

If a government mismanages an economy, how is its legitimacy affected? Steep Slide in Currency Threatens Iran’s Economy All this week panicked Iranians have gathered in throngs outside banks and other financial businesses hoping to buy dollars, as the government seeks to head off a collapse in the rial, the national currency. But they have met with nothing but frustration, told there were no dollars or other currencies for them to buy at the official government rate… Forex rates in Iran Long on a downward path, the rial plunged this week, losing 35 percent of its value against the dollar and hitting what has been widely described as a record low. The government is seeking to impose an exchange rate of 42,000 to the dollar, but in Tehran’s black-market exchanges this week the going rate was 60,000… In an effort to squelch currency speculation, the government sent riot police into the bazaars on Wednesday, where they arrested several money changers… However, many of those changing m...

A candidate without a party might upset Mexican presidential election. Mexico adds fifth name to presidential ballot despite fake signatures Mexico’s electoral tribunal has included a colourful independent candidate on the ballot for this July’s presidential election, despite the fact 58% of the signatures supporting his nomination were invalidated. Jaime Rodríguez In a midnight ruling on Monday, the tribunal found in favour of Jaime Rodríguez, a cowboy turned state governor better known as “El Bronco”, allowing him to become the fifth candidate in the election. Analysts said that his inclusion in the race, potentially pulls votes from the current frontrunner, Andrés Manuel López Obrador – a leftwing populist who courts the same anti-system voters as Rodríguez… Three candidates achieved the 866,593 signatures – or 1% of the voters’ list – necessary to register. Two of them were disqualified for turning in signatures deemed fake or otherwise inadmissible. Left off the ballot was María...

Politics can be a deadly business in Mexico — especially for local candidates Widespread killings of candidates cast shadow over Mexican elections Authorities have confirmed the slayings of at least 30 candidates, according to Alfonso Navarrete, Mexico's interior secretary. Some reports indicate the toll since last year may be almost twice as high. The killings — mostly of local candidates in provincial areas far from the Mexican capital — form a chilling backdrop to the July 1 elections, which include races for president, Congress and local posts across the country. In all, more than 3,000 offices are up for grabs, the most ever on a single day. The slain candidates represented a range of political affiliations and movements, suggesting that the killings are more about local power grabs and gang rivalries than national conflicts among parties… Most of the killings have garnered little attention from national news outlets, which are heavily focused on the presidential contenders,...

By now you know that Ireland is not part of the UK. Northern Ireland is. You should also know that the conflict between Ireland and the UK (Northern Ireland) was long and bloody. The first time I went to London (30 years ago), there were signs everywhere alerting people to avoid and report unaccompanied packages, since there was an IRA campaign of bombing going on. The conflict had been going on for at least a couple generations before that. The Good Friday Agreement brought an end to the violence. What is the Good Friday Agreement? The Good Friday Agreement, The Belfast Agreement. An agreement that can't even agree on its own name - the irony. Northern Ireland has lived with this agreement for 20 years and its name (in whatever form) is never far from the tips of our politicians' tongues. But do younger people, who have never experienced life without it, even know what it is? "The talks that ended the Troubles... I think." That was among the responses offered cauti...

In Nigeria, the presidential election campaign is now underway, even though Buhari is the only announced candidate so far. Since political parties are fluid and non-ideological, what opposition is Buhari likely to face? Nigeria's Buhari to run in 2019 elections Buhari Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari will be seeking a second term in office in elections due next year, his office has said. It ends months of speculation about whether the 74-year-old leader plans to run for re-election. His first term has been beset by poor health, which saw him spend months in the UK last year receiving treatment [for an unidentified ailment]. Mr Buhari defeated former President Goodluck Jonathan in the 2015 election. He was the first opposition leader to defeat an incumbent in Nigeria… Mr Buhari was on "medical leave" in the UK for three months early last year. He revealed after his return to Nigeria that "I have never been so sick", but did not disclose what he was suffering ...

China encourages students to study in the USA and Europe. The big problem is that many of those students don't come back to China. The State Council has said they want to encourage more young people to return. What incentives ae they offering? This report comes from Xinhua , the Chinese news agency. China will intensify efforts to encourage return of overseas talent China will roll out more incentives for overseas Chinese students to return for starting their own businesses and making innovation, a State Council executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang decided… Measures will be introduced to simplify the certification requirements and procedures at local levels and to make it easier for overseas Chinese students to obtain hukou , the government system of household registration for urban residency. Favorable policies concerning the schooling of returnees' children will be implemented without delay, according to a decision at the meeting… Between 1978 and 2017, 83.73 per...

You might want to pencil in some edits to your textbook's chapter on Russia. This is from The Washington Post Opinion section. Is Russia all out of oligarchs? It says it is. Newly announced U.S. sanctions on Russia aim to target not only its political elite but also its financial elite: the “oligarchs.” “Russian oligarchs and elites who profit from this corrupt system will no longer be insulated from the consequences of their government’s destabilizing activities,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said… But what if Russia doesn't have oligarchs? That may seem like a radical position, but that's the apparent stance of the Russian government. “There are no oligarchs in Russia,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters… The term that the Russian presidential spokesman said he would prefer was “representatives of big business.” … Such remarks may cause many in the West to scoff, but there is a kernel of truth to the idea. The term “oligarch” first came to be used in R...

In a unitary regime, street crime becomes a national issue. 'McMafia gangs' behind London crime wave - David Lammy Tottenham MP Lammy Drug gangs controlled by Eastern European criminals are fuelling the rising tide of violent crime in London, a Labour MP has claimed. Tottenham MP David Lammy said drugs were as "prolific as ordering a pizza", comparing the situation to McMafia, a BBC drama about Russian gangsters. The MP said political leaders were doing nothing about it. The Metropolitan Police is now investigating more than 50 suspected murders this year. Police patrols have been stepped up and officers are using stop-and-search powers to seize weapons after the increase in violence. Mr Lammy said violent crime in his part of London, where there have been four murders, was the worst he had seen in 18 years as an MP. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme there was "no single cause" for it but "turf wars" between drug gangs was a major factor. ...

The presidential election in Mexico will be held July 1, 2018. This year, you'll know something about what the results mean when you read about them during the first week in July. Mexican leftist has 18-point lead as campaign kicks off - poll Mexican left-wing presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has an 18-point lead ahead of the July 1 election, according to a poll published on Monday that showed him with a growing advantage at the start of formal campaigning. Lopez Obrador Lopez Obrador, who launched his campaign on Sunday, holds 38 percent of the vote, according to the poll by Parametria, published by Reuters… A Lopez Obrador victory could usher in a Mexican government less accommodating toward the United States… Neither second-place Ricardo Anaya nor third-place Jose Antonio Meade showed any sign of catching up with former Mexico City mayor Lopez Obrador… Anaya, running for the right-left “For Mexico in Front” coalition, holds 20 percent of vote preferences… ...

The primary source of this story comes from Al Arabiya .  The protests in Iran are taking place in the province of Khuzestan, located in the southwest part of the country adjoining the Persian Gulf. The province is the heart of Iran's oil wealth. A problem is that Khuzestan is also home to most of Iran's Arab minority (about 2% of the country's population). Ahwaz is a region in Khuzestan. We haven't heard much about this region because it's been repeatedly suppressed by Iranian regimes (pre- and post-revolutionary). It is a reminder that political cleavages often persist even after major political changes. Security forces suppress Iran’s Ahwaz protests as they reach fourth day Iranian security forces, backed by units of anti-riot police and the Revolutionary Guard, suppressed night demonstrations on the fourth day of protests by Arab citizens in the center of the city on Saturday… Videos and images shared on social media and local Ahwaz TV channels showed protester...

The complications involved in the progress toward Brexit keep growing. Did Brexit campaigners cheat? And if they did, what does that mean? Sanni If he knocked on your door, Shahmir Sanni might not be what you would expect of a campaigner for Brexit… Sanni is a young, hip, gay Muslim, a Pakistani Briton who studied economics at his university, loves fashion and is an American-style libertarian, a committed “euroskeptic.”… Once an anonymous college-age volunteer, Sanni is now front-page news in Britain, as a whistleblower who alleges that pro-Brexit campaigners in 2016 “cheated” — specifically that a prominent group run by top Tories, including now-Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, broke election law by coordinating campaigns among allied organizations to circumvent spending caps. The political firm at the center of the controversy is Aggregate IQ, a tiny Canadian firm closely connected to Cambridge Analytica… The week-long controversy over who did what and how in the 2016 Brexit vote...

Traffic in Lagos is so crowded that crossing the city can take hours. Traffic is referred to as "go slows." See . Entrepreneurs waltz through the traffic jams selling merchandise and motorcycles are just about the only ways that deliveries can be made. But, when the president comes to town, the city government closes busy roads for him. And declare a holiday. Lagos to Shut Roads for Buhari's Two-Day Visit, Declares Tomorrow Work-Free Day Lagos State Government has said that some roads will be shut during President Muhammadu Buhari's two-day visit to Lagos. The President, who is expected to be in Lagos… would commission the newly-built Ikeja Bus Terminal, attend the colloquium to mark Asiwaju Bola Tinubu's birthday as well as the flag-off of the construction of the Lekki Deep Sea port. Lagos "go slow" However, the state government has declared tomorrow… as work-free day in the state. The state Commissioner of Police, Imohimi Edgal… said the closure bec...