Teaching Comparative Government

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...

Is this a sign that the economic elite in Mexico no longer control government expenditures? Mexico's incoming president says he'll cancel partially built $13-billion airport Buoyed by the results of a controversial nationwide referendum, Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Monday that his administration will cancel construction of a partially completed, $13-billion international airport and instead move forward with plans for a less expensive alternative. Texcoco airport project “The decision is to abide by the mandate of citizens,” the president-elect, who assumes office on Dec. 1, said at a news conference. “This is democracy.” The revised plan, he said, would save Mexican taxpayers the equivalent of more than $5 billion. But abandoning the new airport in the Texcoco area northeast of Mexico City also means the loss of some $5 billion that already has been spent on the project. The airport in Texcoco, which would have been the third largest commercial air...

Re-education was a popular theme during the Cultural Revolution in China. Will it work in Xinjiang now? China 'legalises' internment camps for million Uighurs China’s far north-western region of Xinjiang has retroactively legitimised the use of internment camps where up to one million Muslims are being held… Chinese authorities deny that the internment camps exist but say petty criminals are sent to vocational “training centres”. Former detainees say they were forced to denounce Islam and profess loyalty to the Communist party in what they describe as political indoctrination camps… “It’s a retrospective justification for the mass detainment of Uighurs, Kazakhs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang,” said James Leibold, a scholar of Chinese ethnic policies at Melbourne’s La Trobe University… The revisions, published on Tuesday, say government agencies at the county level and above “may establish occupational skills education and training centres, education transformation...

Oxfam (Oxfam?) identifies Nigeria as most unequal nation — again. Nigeria Again Ranked Highest On Inequality Index From " Daily Trust " For the second time, Nigeria has been ranked the country with the highest inequality among its citizens by OXFAM. OXFAM, a global civil society body that fights against injustice, and its partners indicate that Nigeria's social spending (on health, education and social protection) is shamefully low, which is reflected in very poor social outcomes for its citizens. "One in 10 children in Nigeria does not reach their fifth birthday, and more than 10 million children do not go to school. Sixty percent of these are girls," the report said. The index, released yesterday at the Annual International Monetary Fund and World Bank Meetings in Bali, Indonesia… showed that in the past year, Nigeria recorded increase in the number of labour rights violations. Its minimum wage has not increased since 2011 and social spending has stagnated. T...

Can an unexpected challenger break into the cycle of "big men" in Nigeria? Oby Ezekwesili to stand for president Nigeria's presidential election was shaping up to be a contest between two veteran male politicians, but the candidacy of Oby Ezekwesili could change that. Ezekwesili Women have run for the presidency before but she is the most prominent Nigerian woman to challenge for the top job… Ms Ezekwesili is well known for leading the #BringBackOurGirls campaign to help free the 276 girls kidnapped from Chibok, northern Nigeria, in 2014. She has also served as the country's education minister and vice-president of the World Bank. But come February's vote it will be a tough challenge to unseat incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari, 75, or beat the main opposition candidate, Atiku Abubakar, 72, who both have formidable party machines behind them… At the weekend, President Buhari was nominated by his All Progressives Congress (APC) and Mr Abubakar beat a field of ...

Can the people in Nigeria overcome culture, ethnicity, and economics to become Nigerians? Most news reports about the conflicts between farmers and herders in Nigeria's Middle Belt come from southern sources and seem to describe the herders as evil invaders. This report seems more balanced. Nigerian Herders Face Threat From Farmers Competing for Land Across parts of Nigeria, conflicts that mirror the 20th Century range wars in the American West have broken out between farmers and herdsmen vying for land, leading to bloody battles. In the first six months of this year, these clashes killed an estimated 1,300 people –- six times the number who died in the war with the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram in the same period, the International Crisis Group says. About 300,000 people have been forced from their homes because of violence between farmers and herders, conflicts that are often exacerbated by religion, ethnicity and even the erratic weather patterns that accompany climate ch...

The scholars at The Monkey Cage offer this analysis of one aspect of Russian politics. Two Moscow teens were released from jail after thousands protested in the streets. Here are 5 things you need to know. On Aug. 15, thousands of protesters took to Moscow’s streets for the “March of the Mothers,” armed with stuffed animals, seeking the release of teens who were jailed in March. The parents allege that Russian officials entrapped their children, detaining them on false charges of plotting to overthrow the government. What’s going on? 1. Russia has been cracking down on what it calls extremists since 2002 When in 2002 Russia’s Duma first passed anti-extremism laws that banned stopping any religious group from asserting it was superior to any other… [T]he Duma steadily expanded the laws’ scope over the years: in 2014 to track “extremist” bloggers, and in 2015 to include “liking” social media posts the government considers extremist… 2. Russian youths have taken on a growing role in o...

The conflicts and politics in Nigeria finally made the NYT front page. Does that make it more real? How many Americans will read it? Deadly Lack of Security Plagues Nigeria as Buhari Seeks Re-election Nigeria is beleaguered by security threats. In the northeast, Islamist extremists from Boko Haram and its splinter groups are waging increasingly complex attacks on military forces and civilians. In the middle part of the country, more than 1,300 people have been killed in increasingly vicious land disputes between cattle herders and farmers. Farther to the south, violence spikes from time to time in the Biafra region, where separatists are pushing to secede. And in various pockets throughout the country, like a major highway between Kaduna and Abuja, kidnappings of prominent figures and regular Nigerians alike have become common. The threats are becoming a major issue for President Muhammadu Buhari as he tries for a second term in February. Increasingly, critics, and even allies, compla...

This is a great article that identifies cleavages and causes of conflict. Where are the conflicts happening? What are the causes? What factors limiting the government? Nigeria’s Farmers and Herders Fight a Deadly Battle for Scarce Resources Clashes between armed herdsmen and farmers in Nigeria are escalating to increasingly violent episodes as a battle for scarce resources stirs long-held tensions over religion and ethnicity… On Friday and Saturday night dozens of suspected armed herders, who are Muslim and of the Fulani ethnicity, descended from surrounding hills into several villages, opening fire, burning homes and shooting to death some people, most of them Christian and of the Berom ethnicity, as they slept. The killings immediately triggered reprisals as young people from the villages set up road blocks and killed anyone suspected of being Muslim and Fulani. One police commissioner in the area said at least five people died at checkpoints. Conflict between herders and farmers ov...

Fifty years ago, Nigeria nearly dissolved in war. Some people still wish for dissolution. Biafra shutdown cripples Nigerian cities A stay-at-home protest by Biafran separatists in Nigeria has crippled cities and towns in the south-east. Streets are empty and markets, banks and schools are closed to mark the abortive attempt in 1967 to gain independence for the region. It led to a bitter three-year civil war in which more than one million people were killed. The authorities have warned the secessionists against street protests and security forces are on patrol. South-eastern Nigeria is mainly inhabited by the ethnic Igbo community, who often complain of marginalisation - accusing successive governments of failing to develop their areas… The BBC Igbo service says there has been a total shutdown in the Igbo heartland of Enugu and Anambra states… People have been sending in photos to BBC Igbo of deserted streets, including one of the iconic Niger River Bridge in Onitsha, known as the ga...

In the early 1990s, Ken Saro-Wiwa led the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) trying to get recognition of the destruction of the environment in "Ogoniland," a terribly polluted region of southeast Nigeria. His execution/murder in 1995 focused attention on the corrupt and authoritarian government of military ruler Sani Abacha. The movement and the struggle Saro-Wiwa started continue. This report comes from Al Jazeera . The video is about 3 minutes long. Nigeria's Ogoniland: Desperate for clean water In the Ogoni region, 90 percent of the underground water is not fit for human use because of oil pollution. A big clean-up is under way in Ogoniland, but local communities say they have already become victims of water contamination. Al Jazeera's Ahmed Idris reports from Bodo, Nigeria. Teaching Comparative blog entries are indexed. Use the search box to look for country names or concept labels attached to each entry. Just The Facts! 2nd edition is a co...

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.

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...

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...