Teaching Comparative Government

And what are the political results of cultures perpetuating female subordination? Why are African women more at risk of violence? Nigeria tells a patriarchal tale As the United Nations launched its 16-day worldwide campaign to combat violence against women on Sunday, I was reminded of how, while it is a global problem, it is one that leaves women in developing countries particularly vulnerable. A UN report shows women in Africa are most at risk of violence. In Nigeria where I grew up, 23% of women have been victims of physical or sexual violence committed by a previous husband… While poverty affects both genders in sub-Saharan Africa, it affects women more: 122 women aged 25 to 34 live in extreme poverty for every 100 men of the same age. For such women, the decision on whether to leave a violent partner would involve practical issues of food and shelter for herself and her children. However, the problem is much more than just economic. I also have friends who are middle-class profes...

State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) account for the majority of Chinese GDP, so the connection between the Communist Party and economic activity has always been close. But how does it make sense for China's richest person to be a member of the Communist Party? Jack Ma, China’s Richest Man, Belongs to the Communist Party. Of Course. Jack Ma, China’s richest man and the guiding force behind its biggest e-commerce company, belongs to an elite club of power brokers, 89 million strong: the Chinese Communist Party… It may sound contradictory that the wealthy Mr. Ma belongs to an organization that got its start calling for the empowerment of the proletariat. But Mr. Ma’s political affiliation came as no surprise to many Chinese and China watchers. Though it still publicly extols the principles of Karl Marx, the Chinese Communist Party largely abandoned collectivist doctrine in the post-Mao era, freeing private entrepreneurs to help build the world’s second-largest economy after the United Sta...

The creative director of the Miss Nigeria pageant is quoted as saying that the contest winner will not be chosen on the basis of "physical attributes alone." She then describes the attributes the winner should possess, but doesn't describe how those things will be assessed. (Sound familiar?) Miss Nigeria - Organisers Say Winner Won't Be Determined By Looks Alone The organisers of 'Miss Nigeria' beauty pageant, Daily Times Nigeria , have said that the 2018 winner will not be chosen based on physical attributes alone. The creative director of Miss Nigeria, Ezinne Akudo- Anyaoha, disclosed this at a media interview held in Lagos on Wednesday. Anyaoha "We are committed to finding a young lady who defies the stereotypical perception of beauty queens as just superficial," Ms Ezinne, who won the Miss Nigeria pageant in 2013 said. "Miss Nigeria 2018 must embody all the attributes of a strong female leader. She must be beautiful, socially conscious and c...

During the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in China, there were study groups in farm fields, factory floors, classrooms, and neighborhoods. The only study materials were Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung , the "little red book." President Xi is updating the ideology study. Courseware on Xi thought launched Courseware on Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era has been launched for free download on several websites including people.com.cn and xinhuanet.com. The courseware, developed by the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the Ministry of Education (MOE), contains 30 subjects that focus on basic spirit, connotations and requirements of the thought. The courseware is aimed at helping officials and the public, especially college teachers and students, to learn, understand and grasp the thought. The CPC Central Committee Publicity Department, the MOE and the working committee of the centra...

President Buhari offers his campaign comment about the military attack. Metele attack: President Buhari speaks of deep shock Nigeria's leader has vowed to close the "loopholes" which allowed militants to reportedly kill dozens of soldiers at a base in north-eastern Borno state. President Muhammadu Buhari addressed last Sunday's attack publicly after the army acknowledged it had taken place. It had been reported that at least 40 soldiers died when an Islamist militant group targeted the base in Metele. But the army refused to confirm the reports until Friday, when they put out a release disputing the death toll… The president - who faces an election in three months time - added no responsible leader "would rest on his oars... to allow terrorists to endanger the lives of its military personnel and other citizens". As a result, he planned to meet with military and intelligence chiefs "in the coming days" to plan their "next steps". Mr Buhar...

Armed warfare in Nigeria As the presidential campaign begins in Nigeria, the warfare in the northeast continues and gets more complex. How will politics reflect this continuing warfare? Nigerian Islamists kill scores of soldiers in military base attack Islamic militants in Nigeria may have killed as many as 100 soldiers in an attack on a military base, according to media reports and security officials. The reported death toll is among the highest since President Muhammadu Buhari came to power in 2015 and comes as the country prepares for elections in three months. The worst losses came when militants overran a military base in the village of Metele in the north-eastern state of Borno on Sunday. The area is the centre of an insurgency waged by Boko Haram, which was founded nine years ago to bring strict Islamic law to swaths of Nigeria, and a second newer group linked to Islamic State. Nigeria’s military and government have repeatedly said they are on the point of defeating the milita...

The official date for campaigning by presidential candidates in Nigeria has come. Here's Buhari's opening speech. Buhari Launches Campaign Manual, Says - Let's Not Set Nigeria Ablaze The president spoke yesterday during the launching of his campaign… at the State House Villa, Abuja. "I am not unmindful that the National Assembly and the presidential campaign starts today… I will implore candidates to go about the campaigns peacefully and decently. We have no other country, let us not set it ablaze because of politics," he said. The occasion was attended by the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Adams Oshiomhole, Secretary to the Government of the Federation Boss Mustapha and other top government officials… Noting that the next four years will be quite significant for the country, Buhari said "Nigeria is faced with a choice to keep building a new Nigeria - making a break from its tainted past which favoured ...

PM May tries to explain why Brexit is a good idea to the association of the UK's top business people at the Confederation of British Industry meeting. Brexit plan will stop EU migrants 'jumping the queue' Theresa May is renewing her efforts to sell her draft Brexit withdrawal agreement - saying it will stop EU migrants "jumping the queue". She said migration would become skills-based, with Europeans no longer prioritised over "engineers from Sydney or software developers from Delhi". The PM also insisted to business leaders at the CBI that the withdrawal deal had been "agreed in full"… There has been widespread criticism of the draft 585-page withdrawal agreement - and the short paper setting out what the UK and EU's future relationship could look like - which are set to be finalised and signed off at an EU summit this weekend. Two of the prime minister's cabinet ministers resigned over the proposed deal, while others are believed to...

This is going to take some fancy explanation. Chinese campus crackdown on young Marxist activists expands in major cities At least 16 of 22 Chinese labour activists – many of them recent graduates from elite universities – who disappeared in five cities over the weekend were still missing early on Wednesday, as authorities widened their crackdown against emerging grass-roots activism led by young Marxists. Students at Peking University (PKU)… have been warned by the university over the past two days – in the presence of their parents and others who appeared to be plain-clothes police – to ignore the weekend purge. But the group, which gave the estimate of the numbers of activists still missing, has vowed to keep fighting for their freedom. The latest purge follows the earlier detention of about 50 activists after a labour rights protest that began in Shenzhen at the end of July… “Many students were told the weekend incident was a law enforcement action by relevant departments targetin...

Keep an eye on this topic. Will Russia (Putin) accept rule of law? Russia Navalny: Strasbourg court condemns detentions of Putin foe Navalny Europe's top human rights court has found that the repeated detention of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was politically motivated. Mr Navalny filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg and was there to hear the ruling on Thursday. The court found that his seven arrests between 2012 and 2014 had been aimed at "suppressing political pluralism". Since then, police have arrested him several times again under protest laws. "We've won," he tweeted after the verdict. "Completely. The government has been thrashed. They recognised Article 18 [of the European Convention on Human Rights]. Hurray!" [Выиграли. Полностью. Правительство разгромлено. 18 статью признали. Ура! https://t.co/V1yeMPLFmT — Alexey Navalny (@navalny) November 15, 2018] Under Article 18, citizens' rights ...

This analysis concentrates on economics, but the questions for CompGov students revolve around the effects of sanctions on Iranian government and politics. Will moderate or hard line forces be strengthened? Can Iran survive sanctions? New tough sanctions targeting Iran's oil sector, imposed by the United States, come into force on Monday [12 November]. The Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, has responded robustly. "There is no doubt that the United States will not achieve success with this new plot against Iran as they are retreating step by step." Iran is heavily dependent on its exports of oil, and renewed sanctions, if effective, would hit the economy hard. Iran has the fourth largest reserves of oil. The EU has proposed supporting companies trading with Iran despite these new sanctions. But will these companies risk being hit by secondary sanctions which would limit their own ability to trade with the US? But other countries, including those of the European Union, ...

Pro-Brexit politicians deny that Britain's economy will be damaged by leaving the EU. Anti-Brexit pols will point to the closing of a Michelin factory in Scotland. Michelin workers' shock at factory closure Dundee Michelin factory workers have spoken of their shock after the company announced its intention to close the plant, with the loss of all 845 jobs. The tyre factory will close by mid-2020 after the French firm deemed it "unsuitable" in the current climate… Michelin Dundee manager John Reid said… "Clearly we have been operating in a very difficult market context for more than a year. "We've had our volume cut three times this year. "This year we actually produced the lowest volume we've ever produced in the factory, so it was clear that something fairly fundamental was happening."… The union Unite has said the closure would be a "hammer-blow" to the city. Michelin said the Dundee site, which opened in 1971 and specialised ...

Is Ernest Osogbue's analysis, published in The Guardian (Abjua), believable? Why? Why not? Why did he neglect to mention how many of the elected presidents were military "dictators" before being elected? Military Hangover And The Nigerian Democracy This year marked the 19th anniversary of civilian rule, albeit democracy in Nigeria. Never in the history of the country has there been such a long uninterrupted rule by ‘bloody civilians’ without the all-knowing Nigerian military stepping in to stem the negative drift. First, it was in January 1966, when a group of Majors… ousted the civilian government… Then in July of the same year a counter coup, that ultimately led to the fratricidal Nigerian civil war which ended in 1970, with the then Head of State Yakubu Gowon declaring that there was no victor and no vanquished. On July 30th 1975, Gowon was overthrown by members of his own government… December 31st 1983 [another coup] swept away the Shehu Shagari administration and b...

Supervision by whom? of whom? Can you identify a "job" in another political system that is analogous to supervision in China? Senior CPC official urges better supervision A senior Communist Party of China (CPC) official has called for better work from resident disciplinary supervisors. Zhao Leji, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and head of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC, made the remarks at a televised work conference on supervision… Zhao Leji It is a distinctive Chinese practice to have disciplinary supervisors stationed at various entities of public office, Zhao said. Resident supervisors must enhance political supervision to ensure the Party organizations under their watch fulfill their political responsibilities of governance, Zhao said. Supervisors should focus on leading officials and strengthen regular supervision as they have the advantage of being around, he added. Zhao urged superv...

During the Cultural Revolution, there was a lot of talk about gender equity and the importance of women's roles. The language has reappeared. BTW, do you know why so many of President Xi's official positions are mentioned in the official Communist newspaper? Xi stresses upholding socialist path with Chinese characteristics for women's development President Xi Jinping on Friday stressed upholding the socialist path with Chinese characteristics for women's development and mobilizing women to make achievements. Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks when meeting the new leadership of the All-China Women's Federation. Underlining the Party's leadership over the work of women's development, Xi said the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation should be the theme of the contemporary women's movement. Efforts should be made to promote gender equality, enable w...

The delay of an annual meeting of Chinese leaders might be due to the U.S. election schedule. ‘The biggest story in Chinese politics right now’ – silence over Communist Party’s autumn meeting As China’s ruling Politburo wrapped up its October meeting on Wednesday, there was still no word on a key autumn meeting of the Communist Party, which according to party convention should be taking place soon… Analysts said the likely delay of the Central Committee meeting – expected to focus on mid to long-term economic policies – might suggest a lack of consensus among the Chinese leadership over how to battle the growing headwinds facing the world’s second-largest economy. The autumn plenum that comes a year after the party’s national congress is largely seen as the most important full meeting of the party’s roughly 400-strong political elite, who gather behind closed doors at least once a year… Many people are watching its slowing economy, faltering stock markets and the dispiriting retreat...

Despite the president's assertions, Boko Haram does not appear to be defeated. Nigeria: 'Villages totally burned' in deadly Boko Haram attacks At least 12 civilians have been killed in multiple Boko Haram attacks targeting two villages and a camp for those displaced by fighting in northeastern Nigeria… Boko Haram fighters arrived in seven trucks late on Wednesday and attacked Bulaburin and Kofa villages, as well as a camp in Dalori village outside Maiduguri… "The terrorists attacked and completely burned Bulaburin and Kofa villages and burnt half the Dalori 2 IDP (internally displaced persons) camp," Babakura Kolo, civilian militia leader, told AFP news agency. The fighters invaded the camp after overrunning troops and the militia and "burnt half the camp" by setting fires and firing rocket-propelled grenades on buildings… The area has been attacked multiple times before by the Boko Haram faction loyal to Abubakar Shekau. Despite government insisten...