Teaching Comparative Government

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 ...