CHINA

AP Comparative Government and Politics
Fourth Period
February 25, 2009

WE started the class with going over the Russia Tests. If you have not taken it, please do so before Thursday afternoon; people want them back to study for the timed write on Friday.

CHINA
Communist system – learns from Russia

I. History

~Chinese Communist Party (CCP) formed in 1921 (1917 Bolsheviks Revolution in Russia)
*CCP falls under direct control of Moscow. Orders CCP to merge with Nationalist Party in an attempt to unify the country.

~Nationalist (Kuomintang) Party nominally controls central government but real central government could not control country due to immense size.
*Therefore, WARLORDS (Prerevolutionary Chinese leaders who controlled a region or other relatively small part of the country.) rule groups of followers in geographical regions, they have very little if not no concern for central government nor modernization of China

~Communist Party become major force inside the Nationalist Party
*CCP influence spreads to factories and industries

~April 1927 National party force military attack on Communist allies; thousands of Communists slaughtered “Shanghai Massacre”

~With the spilt CCP is essentially an outlaw party. Runs to the countryside

~Mao Zedong creates a government in the countryside and builds a base of support. He emerges the undisputed leader of the Chinese Communist Party.

~Nationalist Party establish security organizations to exterminate Communist growth in cities using military terror.

~1934 - Communist Part finds themselves surrounded by the Nationalist army. Thanks to a diversion, 100,000 communists break through the lines and further into the countryside.

~LONG MARCH (Retreat by the CCP in the mid-1930s, which turned into one of its strengths in recruiting support.) – Mao’s troops trying to move around country avoiding Nationalists. For about a year there are daily skirmishes and weekly battles.

~Mao treats peasants very well. CCP is fed and supported by peasants (BIG difference between Soviet Communists and Chinese Communists)

~1937 - Japan invades China, Nationalists and Communists join forces to expel Japan in the beginning of WWII

~After WWII, the two parties try to negotiate but full-scale civil war soon erupts, and the Nationalist government flees to Taiwan in 1948

~The People's Republic of China is established October 1949. Communists forge new political structures, with a network of party branches in every village. People are organized in work units that provide employment, health care, housing, and education. China becomes increasingly isolated, but relies on the Soviet Union for loans and industry advisors.

~Rise of Chinese Communist Party mark by three elements
1. Mao and communists politicians weren’t just mobilizing economy but it was including population
2. Principle of MASS LINE (Chinese Communist principle that stressed “learning from the masses.”) China recognize CCP depend on the support of general population (i.e. includes peasants) correct leadership meant communicating with people; not secretive as Soviet Union but does not work as well as planned
3. Given CCP experience in the countryside, they believe in self-reliance and EGALITARIAN

~1949-1957 Mao and Communist Part are generally successful in reaching goals
*Enhance CCP power
*Splits with Russia (basically tells them that Chinese communism is better than Soviet Communism)
*Destroy power of Nationalist Party
*Abolish private ownership of industries and agriculture.
-FIVE YEAR PLAN – 1953 half of investment plans into industries
*Eliminate any vested interest of government officials.

~Mao’s plans bring industrialization and urbanization to Chinese. This brings criticism from Chinese intellects

~1957 – Mao asks the people what they think.
*HUNDRED FLOWERS CAMPAIGN (Reformist Chinese campaign in the mid-1950s.) Mao goes to the masses and says “what do you think”, negative response so he is agree when intellects critics them. Crushes opposites: denounces, arrests and punishes them

~1958 – Breaks with Soviet Union form of Communism.
GREAT LEAP FORWARD (Failed Chinese campaign of the late 1950s to speed up development.) accelerated rate of economic growth. Agriculture and industry modest investment in industry
1. feature all around developments including merging peasants and farms called “people’s communes” unit of local government in rural areas
2. Mass mobilization. Make Chinese people work harder
3. Politics take command. Communists shift decision making over from committees
4. Decentralization – loose government control

~Some initial success then serious problems (weak planning controls, poorly planned projects)

2/23/09 Notes-Russia (last day of notes)

SORRY THEY ARE LATE, I JUST GOT ASSIGNED TO THEM SINCE NO ONE WAS ASSIGNED.

The old S.U. had a constitution and language spelled out that the Comm. Party was leading party.

• Operated a Democratic Centralism (Collective leadership)

-decisions made by consensus, once decision is made all must follow and carry out it, but thats not how it really worked.

1988 Gorbachev tried to change this.

• Introduced the office of President which he took for himself
• Gorb. wasn't trying to bring the Communist system down however.
• 1991 Republic of Russie created the President of Russia which Yesltsin is elected by a direct popular vote. After the collapse of S.U., Russia adopted a revised constitution which took many dieas from Rances mixed system. Makes a strong president and minor prime minister.

Putin interprets the constitution to suit himself but does follow it.

• Rule of Law

-people not paying their taxes, certain amount of lawlessness in Russia.

Executive Branch: Under Gorb. Reforms

• President is elected by the leg. branch (Supreme Soviet)
• President appointed top officials.
• Had cabinet headed by Premier or Vice President who exiseted to have a smooth transition of power in case the President gets his head blown up.
• The cabinet of ministers were the heads of major departments.
• All the cabinet members and Gorb. were also members of the communist party. Gorb. was the general secretary of the community party.

Today Russia's president is Medvedev, but there is no vice president.

• The president is directly elected to a 4 year term, though now this has been changed to a 6 year term for the upcoming elections.
• Two ballot run off happens between the top two vote getters, the first ballot encourages small parties, and the decision is based on the majority which gives higher majority. The second ballot is between the top two vote getters from the first ballot. Unless there is a majority ballot run off which means on the first ballot there was say some candidate that got 90% of the vote, they wouldn't need a second ballot.
• Two term limit (though you can leave for a period of time then come back for another two terms like people think Putin might do)
• President is the head of state
• Executive power is in the hand of the Gov. of Russia headed by the Prime Minister and confirmed by the Duma.
• Putin is our current Prime Minister
• Russian Presidents can issue decrees even on contenscious issues. Which has they force of law. They can be used to overide Parliament.
• President can call state of emergency and impose martial law, grant pardons, call referendums, temporarily paralyze other state institutions if they contradict law/consitution.
• Can be impeached though it is a complicated process.
• President is commander and chief, also heads the Security Council.
• The ministers of government are recommended by the Prime Minister and approved by the President.
• The "Government" can write decrees .
• The President and the "Government" can propose legislation
• W/United Russia domination they get immediate support in legislation passing.

Legislative Branch

• Bicameral Parliament-Federal Assembly

2 Houses- Upper: Federation Council (represents regions)

Lower: State Duma (represents Population/today has full proportional rep.)

• Any party gaining 7% is entitled to a proportional share of seats. It used to be 5 % but that was changed in Dec. as well as their 4 year terms were extended to 5 year terms.

Upper House

• 2 represenatives from 21 autonomous republics and 68 other bodies.
• directly elected by the population of each region
• can only delay passage
• like UK there is a provision of voting a No Confidence

-Party in opposition to majority may circulate a petition asked the Duma to consider a vote of no confid. Take 90 signatures, discussion is held about it and it would take 296 votes to dismess the PM and the cabinet. It would forces the majority party to atleast try and compormise.

• Both houses may establish committees
• Most laws must be approved by both houses.
• To overide a President veto 2/3rds of the Federal Assembly must support the original wording of the bill

Bureacracy

• Patron cliant networks-strong, however during provatisation it shrunk because managers no longer about of the gov.
• When gov. employees move up- bring allies with them.
• Putin gains control over some indust. and it burea. grows a little.

Judiciary

• In old S.U. courts controled by the Comm. Party
• 1991 Yeltsin created the Constitutional Court.
• Its decisions of constitutionality of decrees and legislation were supposed to be binding. Overtime the court was asked to step in and decide who was right in the Yeltsin conflict, they decide with Parliamen so he dispans the court.
• 1993 constitution provided Consti. Courts the power to decide disputes. Took a couple of years to get it opporating in 1995 but it is basically invisible. Provided for jury trials, In 2002 the first jury trial since the Bolshevik Rev. took place. Power still remained in the judges who convict 99.5% of the time. No protection of double jeopardy.
• Supreme Court- severes as a final court of appeal in criminal, civil, and administrative situations.

CHINA day 1

+In 1921 the Chinese Communist party was born

+The nationalist party (current ruler) controlled the central government but the central government didnt have control over the entire country (could not enforce rules to rural parts of china)

+Rather than a central government under nationalists there are warlords (local strong men) controlled rural regions with band of followers. These war lords were not concerned about nationalist party or the central government.

+the communist influence begins to grow in cities among industrial workers and soon becomes a major force inside the nationalist party. As the CP influence grows, tensions between nationalists and CP grows.

+The conflict between nationalist and CP comes to a head in 1927 when nationalist government attacks CP troops and slaughter thousands - the 2 parties split.

+CP is essentially an outlaw with it's leader Mao Ze Dong

+Mao and party take to country-side with the nationalist party chasing after them

+A battle in the country-side between the CP and nationalist troops causes the CP to go deeper into the country-side starting the "long march" (lasted about a year). Mao and CP move around the rural country to avoid the nationalist party.

+As Mao moves through the country he treats the peasants very well. In turn the CP gains a lot of support.

+After WWII 1946 a civil war breaks out. The CP prevails and drives the nationalist party to Taiwan.

+The rise of the CP is marked by 3 elements:

1. Politics was not just managing the economy for them it also was about mobilizing peasants to participate in government

2. "the mass line" a means of leadership where government can make concerns known to people and people would communicate back. The CP relied on support from the general population. This important role by peasants is considered the chief contribution to Marxist thought.

3. Egalitarianism (spelling?). Because of experience in the Long March, CP believed in self- reliance and had strong belief in equality.

1947-57 are years where CP is generally successful on completing their goals:
1. Enhanced CP power
2.Destroyed power of NP
3.Abolish private ownership by means of production by nationalizing agriculture and industry
4. Illimiate any vested interest in other governments

Having reached these goals China ran into criticism from intellectuals.

1958 now Mao is really convinced that China is the supreme communist nation and breaks away from USSR and sets out to establish the movement the "Great Leap Forward" - this movement would be an all-front development of China without leaving any section of the government behind.
1.created peasant-fused farms called "peoples communes"
2.mass mobilization of harder workers
3.took decision making away from local governments
4.decentralization of central government

Great Leap turns out to be a great flop discrediting Mao forcing him to give up his position as chairman and looses influential power

February 24 4th Period

So today we took a test...it was good times. Pretty easy. The next two days are notes on China. We have a timed write on Friday, most likely comparing Britian and Russia. Also, the Russia questions are due Friday as well. So there's more time to do it. Woot-woot.

notes for 2/18 wayyyy late

a. Yeltsin names Putting acting PM, elected preseident in 2000, gets 58% of vote
i. Russian government under Putin brought back censorship of free press that Yeltsin let go
1. Also tried to bring internet under control
ii. Tried to bring Oligarchs under control
1. Drove out two of the most outspoken Oligarchs
a. Boris Berezovsky- really pushed on Yeltsin, had hand in forming Putin’s Unity party, upset Putin
b. Gusinsky- just left coiuntry at risk of getting thrown in prison
2. Let Oligarchs keep the business without hassle provided they stay out of politics
3. Big time oil exec at Yukos (young, rich), Khodorkovsky breaks Putin’s rule and funds an oppoition political party, Yabloko
a. Pro reform party
b. Putin had him arrested and thrown n jail, then charged for fraud and income tax evasion
i. Sentenced to 8 years in prison (September 2005)
ii. Company broken up and sold to friends of Putin’s
iii. Parole denied recently
iii. Duma pssed law allowing private sale of farmland for first time since 1917
1. USSR could not feed itself, big deal since Russia moving further away from communism
2. Fertilizer factories sprung up, tried to spark Russian agriculture
iv. Tried to gain control of electoral system
1. 2003- elections for Parliament- 56% of all the news coverage on a govt. network about Putin or United Russia
2. school children given assignments to estole virtues of United Russia or write something good about a candidate
3. as much as 400 million may have been spent on campaign by United Russia (8.3 million by law)
a. took out advertising contract with supermarket chain, everyone in each market had to wear UR hat and pin
b. ran an issueless campaign, platform is Putin
c. refused to debate, just pushed Putin
4. in 2007, same thing happened, millions of oppisition literature seized, distroyed
a. opposition parties couldn’t campaign, workers detained by police, beat-up
b. candidate for Yabloko party was shot and killed
v. Sept 2004, Putin pushed to restructure political system
1. Goes back after governors, Duma passed law ending popular election of regional governors, instead to be apointed by the President
2. Changed rules on getting seats in Duma
a. Used to be a party had to iwn 5% of overall vote, proportional representation
b. Now percentage went up to 7%, distiguised against small parties
c. Changed electoral system TO proportional representation
vi. Oct 2004, Putin pushed law giving him control over govt agency called Supreme Qualification Collegium
1. National agency tasked with appointing judges to federal courts, even top courts
2. New law allows Putin to name 11 of 21 members of the selection board, majority will be loyal to Putin, so he gains control of who becomes a federal judge
vii. Sept 2005, Duma passed bill requiring existing nongovernmental organizations, NGOs, to reregisster with central government, which then could decide whether they could continue
1. Outside political action prohibited, scared Americans could control NGOs
2. Bill has potential to close down offices in Russia of foreign NGOs
a. Like Human Rights Watch and election overseeing organizations
viii. Managed Democracy- democratic to the sense that the leaders would manage what they had to to keep them selves in power, though they would keep a democratic state.
ix. Illiberal Democracy- concept saying that liberty and democracy are seen hand in hand in the West, but they aren’t necessarily connected, you can have one without the other. They apply it to Russia, and curtailment of Russia may have support of majority of voters
1. After chaos under Yeltsin, people began to value censorship , for fear Amerian style democracy may be wreckless
x. Late 2007, Putin names Dimitri Medvedev as his personal choice for president of Russia and head of United Russia.
1. Won March 2008 election, then named Putin Prime Minister
b. Medvedev and Putin push through amendments, lengthening President’s term to six years, lengthens the Duma’s term to 5 years
i. Amendments required three sep votes in Duma, one in fed council, and regional ratification
ii. Opposition parties complain that the amendments violated 1998 law explaining how constitution may be amended
1. By law, Regional Governments have one year to make decision
2. After regions made ratification it had to go back to Federation Council in next legislative session
3. Amendments pushed through without Federation Council having looked back at it
c. Putin named chairman of United Russia, he can fire any functionary of activity he may not care for
i. Formalizing rules for control so he looks more democratic
ii. Because he can control both houses through UR, and Parliament can fire regional governors and other higher ups, Putin can control indirectly
iii. He also controls the Bureaucracy
iv. He’s not even an official member
d. Political Scientists wondering
i. Quickly amending the contitution may bring criticism of Putin, inflation on the rise, so is unemployment
ii. Putin channeling funds into banking system and provided emergency loans to his Oligarch friends
1. They owe foreign debts
iii. As govt spends millions of dollars, they ignore ordinary Russians who invested in stocks at request of govt.
iv. This downturn undermines Putin after he presented himself as a strong leader when he pushed wide known control of chaos that had occurred uder Gorbachev and Yeltsin

notes for monday the 23rd

Executive branch
Gorbachev:
-kept some reform:
- add a president and VP to exec branch
- president would hold executive power of govt (president was elected by a legislature- called the supreme soviet)
- gorb was not trying to bring communist system down (president was elected by a legislature- called the supreme soviet)
- president appointed other top officers of government or minister
The cabinet of minister in his system is headed by the premier or prime minister – who was responsible to the new president.
The vice president existed to insure a smooth transition of power – gorb. had struggled to find a replacement.
The cabinet of minister (heads of major departments- foreign minister, minister of defense, minister of security)
Just as gorb was both president and general secretary of communist, party all of the council members who were heads of executive departments or had positions in them- they were also members of the communist party.
Who is the president? Gorbachev (nominated himself)
Today Russia has a president, Dmitri medvedev, but no VP
The president is directly elected by the ppl (4yr term but in process of becoming 6 yr term)
The president is chosen in direct election by a two ballot run off between the top two vote getters.
What do you get out of this? They have a bunch of parties, which will make it easier for them and would get rid of all the minor parties in the final vote
Does it encourage or discourage minority parties? encourage bcuzz everyone can have a chance- and if you throw your vote to a third party and they don’t win you can vote again choosing between the two major parties- so your vote isn’t wasted. It also makes sure that the person that is elected president has won by majority, which makes the system have greater legitimacy.
There is a two consecutive term limit- the president is head of state and in Russia, today, if the president becomes incapacitated the PM serves as acting president until elections can be held. In Russia, today, the executive power is in the hands of the government of Russia which is the PM and cabinet.
However, the PM is appointed by the president. And confirmed by the state DUMA. The current PM is Vladimir Putin. The Russian president can issue decrees even on contenscious issues. Which has the force of law. And have on occasion been used to override decisions by parl.
In addition to the authority issue decree, the president also has the right to call the state of emergency.
He can impose martial law.
He can grant pardons.
He can call referendum votes. Temporarily suspend actions by other state institutions- if he feels that they are in contradiction of the constitution or law.
And the president can be impeached but it is complicated.
The president is commanding chief of armed forces and has body called the Security Council- in charge of broad matters in state security ,like the US national security council.
The ministers of govt (cabinet ministers, heads of departments) are recommended by the prime ministers and approved by president. And do not have to be confirmed by legislature.
The govt can issue decrees but it can be over written by president decrees. Legislation can be proposed by president and or the govt.
united Russian is dominating the DUMA (Medvedev and Putin enjoy immediate support in the legislature and can get all their bills passed).
The legislature
The Russian constitution of 1993 revised for a bicameral parliament (known collectively as the federal assembly).
this assembly consists of:
1. Federation council, which is the upper house and represents Russia’s constitutional regions or states. 2. State DUMA.: represents general pop.
Today, the electoral system for the DUMA- THE lower house is a total proportional representation.
Prior to the last election (2007) the system had combined proportional representation with winner take all districts and prior to 2007 half of the 450 desks came from party lists and half came from single member districts.
Any party gaining 7 % of the national vote is entitled to a proportional share of those 450 desks in the DUMA.
Members of the duma currently have a 4 year term but has been extended to 5 years by constitutional amendments in December of 2008. Therefore, the next time elections come up it would be to a 5-year term.
The federation council (upper house) includes 2 representatives from each of Russia’s 21 autonomist’s republics and 68 other bodies. Therefore, 89 in office- 2 rep from each of the 89.
The federation council is directly elected by the pop. of each of the regions.
Like other upper houses the fed coun. They can do little more than delay the passage of legislation. Like the UK there is a provision for a vote of no confidence. It is diff . from GBs vote of no confidence.
In Russia a group in opposition to the majority party may circulate a petition asking that the duma consider a vote of no confidence. Overall it takes 90 signatures of the petition to proceed to the vote of confidence. If the 90 sig, are achieved then the DUMA will open discussion on the petition and proceed towards the vote of confidence.
It would take 226 votes to dismiss the PM and the cabinet. This usually leads to the ruling party negotiating with the minority party before the vote of confidence over the bill that they are objecting to the vote of confidence will not likely result in removal of cab and PM but it will result in some sort of concession to minority parties.
Both houses may establish committees and hold legislative hearings to review draft laws, submitted for concession by the legislators by the govt, PM. And cab or by the president.
Why do we hold legislative hearings? – to review bills or drop laws. Most laws have to be approved by both houses, but decisions of parl. can be vetoed by the president.
To override a president. Veto 2/3 of the members of fed assembly (both houses) must support original wording of the bill. And then also remember that the president can rule by decree. (Sign of strong president)
Bureaucracy
Patron client networks are strong- the bureaucracy slumped as yeltsins privatization kicked in and in particular as govt reduced its role in economic management. The nomenclatural system collapsed- so when govt officials move up in the system the y tend to bring trusted reliable allies that have supported them along with them as they move up.
As Putin moves to regain control of some industries there is growth of bureaucracy once again. There is a cabinet of minister- the Prime minister resides over proceedings of the cabinet. then there’s heads of major departments.
Judiciary
In the old Soviet Union, the court answered directly to and were controlled by the communist party.
The court (the judges) decided whatever the party told them to decide. The courts were not independent.
In 1991 Russia instituted the new office of president, and the constitutional court. This is yeltsins Russia. and the con. court decisions on the constitutionality of legislations and decrees were to be binding and early on even president Yeltsin bowed to the authority of the constitutional court.
Overtime battles heated up between Yeltsin and parliament. And the court was asked to decide whether Yeltsin decrees were constitutional or not and YELTSIN disbanded the constitutional court by decree.
All at the same time, YELTSIN const. of 1993 provided for a conts. Court with the power to adjudicate disputes regarding the compatibility of federal and regional laws with the const. as well as to adjudicate jurisdictional disputes b/t political institutions.
It took a couple years but they go back into operations in 1995 but it is invisible. the future of const. court and law remains to be seen. the constitution of 1993 provided for a Supreme Court serves as final court of appeals in criminal, civil , and administrative cases but does not have judicial review.
The 1993 cons. provided for the use of jury trial by lower courts (took a while in dec. of 2002 that the first jury trial since the Bolshevik rev. took place in Russia).
In the next year in sept 2003 the Moscow city court held its first jury trial. The const of 1993 granted the right to the jury trial – the power remains in the hands of the judges and the Russian judges convict 99.5% of the time. in the Russian courts there is no protection against double jeopardy.
This system could conceivably evolve if they adopt due process of law, or the idea that innocence before proven guilty.
Russia and EU
DO they have a relationship? Not a very good one. Remember at the time the Soviet Union crashes on one side we had w. Europe, US and Canada against soviet union and Warsaw pact . After collapse, nato incites some of the former states in eastern Europe to join NATO and the do much to Russians disgust. Russia never liked NATO and Europe has not come up with a framework to put them on the same side. Russia is involved in the G8- economic group-(US, RUSSIA, BRITAIN, JAPAN etc.)

Norah :D

2/23 notes- period 4

EXECUTIVE BRANCH
President:
Directly elected by the people for a 4 year term
Chosen in a system of a two ballot runoff
2 consecutive term limit
Head of state
If he is incapacitated the prime minister will serve until elections can be held
Can propose legislation
Authority to issue decrees which have the force of law
Right to call a state of emergency
May be impeached
Commander and chief of armed forces
Heads security council

Government:
Can issue decrees
Can be overridden by the president
Can propose legislature

LEGISLATIVE BRANCH
Upper House (Federation Council)
2 representatives from each autonomous republic
Can do little more than delay passage
Bi region vote
Lower House (Duma)
Represents the general population
4 year term

Vote of No Confidence
Opposition to majority creates a petition – 90 signatures
226 votes to dismiss prime minister and cabinet

BUREAUCRACY
Nomenclature system collapsed
Patron client networks strong
Cabinet of ministers: run major executive branch departments

JUDICIAL BRANCH
1991
Russia institutes office of president and Constitutional Court
Task to render decisions on Constitution and decrees
Yeltsin dissolved it when the court had to choose between him and Parliament

1993
Court banned by Yeltsin decree
Established a new court to settle disputes
Provided for a Supreme Court
No judicial review
Provided for use of jury trials
Citizens not protected by double jeopardy

2.18.2009

a.     Yeltsin names Putting acting PM, elected preseident in 2000, gets 58% of vote

                                               i.     Russian government under Putin brought back censorship of free press that Yeltsin let go

1.     Also tried to bring internet under control

                                             ii.     Tried to bring Oligarchs under control

1.     Drove out two of the most outspoken Oligarchs

a.     Boris Berezovsky- really pushed on Yeltsin, had hand in forming Putin’s Unity party, upset Putin

b.     Gusinsky- just left coiuntry at risk of getting thrown in prison

2.     Let Oligarchs keep the business without hassle provided they stay out of politics

3.     Big time oil exec at Yukos (young, rich), Khodorkovsky breaks Putin’s rule and funds an oppoition political party, Yabloko

a.     Pro reform party

b.     Putin had him arrested and thrown n jail, then charged for fraud and income tax evasion

                                                                                                     i.     Sentenced to 8 years in prison (September 2005)

                                                                                                   ii.     Company broken up and sold to friends of Putin’s

                                                                                                  iii.     Parole denied recently

                                            iii.     Duma pssed law allowing private sale of farmland for first time since 1917

1.     USSR could not feed itself, big deal since Russia moving further away from communism

2.     Fertilizer factories sprung up, tried to spark Russian agriculture

                                            iv.     Tried to gain control of electoral system

1.     2003- elections for Parliament- 56% of all the news coverage on a govt. network about Putin or United Russia

2.     school children given assignments to estole virtues of United Russia or write something good about a candidate

3.     as much as 400 million may have been spent on campaign by United Russia (8.3 million by law)

a.     took out advertising contract with supermarket chain, everyone in each market had to wear UR hat and pin

b.     ran an issueless campaign, platform is Putin

c.     refused to debate, just pushed Putin

4.     in 2007, same thing happened, millions of oppisition literature seized, distroyed

a.     opposition parties couldn’t campaign, workers detained by police, beat-up

b.     candidate for Yabloko party was shot and killed

                                             v.     Sept 2004, Putin pushed to restructure political system

1.     Goes back after governors, Duma passed law ending popular election of regional governors, instead to be apointed by the President

2.     Changed rules on getting seats in Duma

a.     Used to be a party had to iwn 5% of overall vote, proportional representation

b.     Now percentage went up to 7%, distiguised against small parties

c.     Changed electoral system TO proportional representation

                                            vi.     Oct 2004, Putin pushed law giving him control over govt agency called Supreme Qualification Collegium

1.     National agency tasked with appointing judges to federal courts, even top courts

2.     New law allows Putin to name 11 of 21 members of the selection board, majority will be loyal to Putin, so he gains control of who becomes a federal judge

                                          vii.     Sept 2005, Duma passed bill requiring existing nongovernmental organizations, NGOs, to reregisster with central government, which then could decide whether they could continue

1.     Outside political action prohibited, scared Americans could control NGOs

2.     Bill has potential to close down offices in Russia of foreign NGOs

a.     Like Human Rights Watch and election overseeing organizations

                                         viii.     Managed Democracy- democratic to the sense that the leaders would manage what they had to to keep them selves in power, though they would keep a democratic state.

                                            ix.     Illiberal Democracy- concept saying that liberty and democracy are seen hand in hand in the West, but they aren’t necessarily connected, you can have one without the other. They apply it to Russia, and curtailment of Russia may have support of majority of voters

1.     After chaos under Yeltsin, people began to value censorship , for fear Amerian style democracy may be wreckless

                                             x.     Late 2007, Putin names Dimitri Medvedev as his personal choice for president of Russia and head of United Russia.

1.     Won March 2008 election, then named Putin Prime Minister

b.     Medvedev and Putin push through amendments, lengthening President’s term to six years, lengthens the Duma’s term to 5 years

                                               i.     Amendments required three sep votes in Duma, one in fed council, and regional ratification

                                             ii.     Opposition parties complain that the amendments violated 1998 law explaining how constitution may be amended

1.     By law, Regional Governments have one year to make decision

2.     After regions made ratification it had to go back to Federation Council in next legislative session

3.     Amendments pushed through without Federation Council having looked back at it

c.     Putin named chairman of United Russia, he can fire any functionary of activity he may not care for

                                               i.     Formalizing rules for control so he looks more democratic

                                             ii.     Because he can control both houses through UR, and Parliament can fire regional governors and other higher ups, Putin can control indirectly

                                            iii.     He also controls the Bureaucracy

                                            iv.     He’s not even an official member

d.     Political Scientists wondering

                                               i.     Quickly amending the contitution may bring criticism of Putin, inflation on the rise, so is unemployment

                                             ii.     Putin channeling funds into banking system and provided emergency loans to his Oligarch friends

1.     They owe foreign debts

                                            iii.     As govt spends millions of dollars, they ignore ordinary Russians who invested in stocks at request of govt.

                                            iv.     This downturn undermines Putin after he presented himself as a strong leader when he pushed wide known control of chaos that had occurred uder Gorbachev and Yeltsin

Friday, Feburary 20th 7th Period

Political Parties

Old Soviet Union

• Decision making and appointments for party positions made at the top levels of government (Politboro)
  
• New parties began to win seats under Yeltsin but also created competition with his own party

Modern Russia

• In 1995 42 parties competed but only 4 won seats
• in 1999 only 26 parties competed
• New party called United Russia formed in 1999 around Putin and won a number of seats
• December 2003 23 parties were competing but Communist Party and United Russia were the only major ones
• A new party called Motherland was approved by Putin and set out to destroy Communist Party as its goal
• The 2003 Duma election resulted in United Russia 37.1%, Communist Party 12.7%, Liberal Democratic Party 11.6%, Motherland 9.1%, and Yabloko 4.3%
• Yabloko didn't win any seats in the Duma because it won less than the 5% needed to capture a seat
• In 2006 Fair Russia is set up by the government with the intent to supress the Communist Party similar to the role of Motherland
  
• In 2007 United Russia won 315 out of 450 seats in the Duma, which gives them the two-thirds majority necessary to ammend the constitiution, Communist Party 57 seats, Liberal Deomocratic Party 40 seats, Fair Russia 38 seats
• 2007 election signlas the end of transisition to western style democracy
• Russia is a "Floating Democracy" meaning that its parties focus on political personalities rather than issues
• In 2007 Putin passed a law that raised the votes required to get a seat in the Duma from 5% to 7% which caused 35 parties to disband soon thereafter
• The Law also required parties to have functioning branches in 45 regions with at least 500 supporters for each, and 50,000 supporters nationwide to run in national elections

Communist Party

• Far left wing party but not really that radical
• Calls for greater state protection of industry
• More social security
• Slower privitization

United Russia

• Led by and completely centered around Putin and support of Putin's policies

Unity

• Formed in 2000 as a regional party
• Labeled as "party of power"
• Formed by the Oligarchs to support their interests

Fatherland-All Russia

• Leaning coalition party

Fair Russia

• Created in 2006 as a junior party and formed from from 3 smaller parties including Motherland
• Set out to destroy Communist Party
• Failed to defeat Communist Party and will therefore not last much longer

Liberal Democrats

• In favor of State control of the economy and other radical ideas
• Leder of party despised seeing the Soviet Union lose its power and influence on the world stage
  
• Became one of Yeltsin's strongest supporters
• Putin's election gave the party a boost after it grew less popular under Yeltsin

Motherland

• Attacked imprisoned Oligrachs
• Very nationalistic
• Set up to support Putin and take votes from Communist Party
  

Friday's Notes

Class Notes for Friday The 2oth

Polictical Parties.
-old S.U-1 party system-communist party
-policy making at highes levels (oligarchy-small group at top= Polit Buro)

Russia
-had weak politcal party systsem
-under Yeltsin:Newly formed parties won seats
-major clashes between them, Yeltsin had to get parliament dissolved
-1995-42 parties trying to get seats in Duma
-oonly four of them got enough percentage to get seats

1999-26 parties competing
-new party named Unity (formed around personality of P.M Putin)
-showed strength, no real platform

2003: disapperence of small democratic parties
-23 parties ran, communist party was the only "real party"
2003:new party: United Russia-merge of Unity and Fatherland All Russia
-was kinda like old Unity party (no real platform)

2003: Motherland appears (Nationalist)
-approved by Putin, tried to split communist vote
-platform attacked oligarchs
-favored re-nationalizing

Only these 4 won seats:
1. United Russia-37% of vote
2. Communist-12.7%
3.Liberal Democractic Party-11.6%
-Zhirinovsky-build aroud him
-party was torn up by loss of stature
4.Motherland
-tolerated by Putin
(Yubloko still around-4.3%-doesnt make five percent cut of vote)

2007-Only four parties make 7%cut
-United Russia 315/450 seats
enough for 2/3rd vote to amend constitution
-Communist Party-57 seats
-Liberal Dem- 40 seats
-Fair Russis (new party, Putin controls) 38 seats

All form around one personality
-when it fades, party fades
because of this called
Floating Party System- parites based on persoanlity come and go.
-party system still weak, floating

Platforms today
1.communist-farthest left
-redirect economic reforms
-more govt protection for industry
-slow down privitazation
-2nd largest
2. United Russia-Putin:lleader
-was product of merge
-had no platform
-unclear future platform, Medvedev Putins choice
-Party of power-existed mainly to keep putin in power
-origin: thought orginal oligarchs Boris. and other were Yeltsin supporters and wanted a party to outlive Yeltsin.
-centers around Putin
3. Fair Russia
-2006 (split comm. party vote)
-Jr. partner with united Russia
-merger of 3 small parties including Motherland
-went after oligarchs
4. Liberal Dems.
-calling for radical changes
-opposed to reforms
-still around not as strong

Constitution
-old S.U had constituion
declared dominant role of comm. party being "leading and guiding force of society"
-operated to principle
-democractic centralism-decisions were to be made by consensus in party after discussion of all other members-accept it and carry it out. but decisions were made at the top
-1988 Gorb. wants to change it by constituion/industrial restructuring
-new political office-President was made

Friday, Feburary 20th 7th Period

Political Parties

Old Soviet Union

• Decision making and appointments for party positions made at the top levels of government (Politboro)
  
• New parties began to win seats under Yeltsin but also created competition with his own party

Modern Russia

• In 1995 42 parties competed but only 4 won seats
• in 1999 only 26 parties competed
• New party called United Russia formed in 1999 around Putin and won a number of seats
• December 2003 23 parties were competing but Communist Party and United Russia were the only major ones
• A new party called Motherland was approved by Putin and set out to destroy Communist Party as its goal
• The 2003 Duma election resulted in United Russia 37.1%, Communist Party 12.7%, Liberal Democratic Party 11.6%, Motherland 9.1%, and Yabloko 4.3%
• Yabloko didn't win any seats in the Duma because it won less than the 5% needed to capture a seat
• In 2006 Fair Russia is set up by the government with the intent to supress the Communist Party similar to the role of Motherland
  
• In 2007 United Russia won 315 out of 450 seats in the Duma, which gives them the two-thirds majority necessary to ammend the constitiution, Communist Party 57 seats, Liberal Deomocratic Party 40 seats, Fair Russia 38 seats
• 2007 election signlas the end of transisition to western style democracy
• Russia is a "Floating Democracy" meaning that its parties focus on political personalities rather than issues
• In 2007 Putin passed a law that raised the votes required to get a seat in the Duma from 5% to 7% which caused 35 parties to disband soon thereafter
• The Law also required parties to have functioning branches in 45 regions with at least 500 supporters for each, and 50,000 supporters nationwide to run in national elections

Communist Party

• Far left wing party but not really that radical
• Calls for greater state protection of industry
• More social security
• Slower privitization

United Russia

• Led by and completely centered around Putin and support of Putin's policies

Unity

• Formed in 2000 as a regional party
• Labeled as "party of power"
• Formed by the Oligarchs to support their interests

Fatherland-All Russia

• Leaning coalition party

Fair Russia

• Created in 2006 as a junior party and formed from from 3 smaller parties including Motherland
• Set out to destroy Communist Party
• Failed to defeat Communist Party and will therefore not last much longer

Liberal Democrats

• In favor of State control of the economy and other radical ideas
• Leder of party despised seeing the Soviet Union lose its power and influence on the world stage
  
• Became one of Yeltsin's strongest supporters
• Putin's election gave the party a boost after it grew less popular under Yeltsin

Motherland

• Attacked imprisoned Oligrachs
• Very nationalistic
• Set up to support Putin and take votes from Communist Party
  

Class notes February 19

In 2004, Putin was reelected with a huge margin. Some of the major changes he incites while in office are,
1. He reigned in the regional governors back to his control. He pushed a law through the Duma that allowed him to not only appoint the governors but also gave him the ability to fire them at his discretion.
2. He restricted the press and television media and brings most of the media under government control. Whereas his predecessor Yeltsin encouraged freedom of the press, Putin acted strongly against it. The internet has come into governmental sights as of late with 25% of Russia's population having internet access compared to 8% in 2002. There have been actions taken to buy out anti-United Russia party blogs and replace them with supportive ones.
3. Putin brought the oligarchs under control by threatening Boris Berezovski and Gusiniski until they left the country. In November of 2003, however, an oligarch by the name of Khodorkovsky was found to be giving money to an opposition party called Yabloko. He is soon arrested for fraud and tax evasion and his oil company is broken up and governmentalized. He remains in prison to this day.
4. In June of 2002, a bill was passed in Duman that allowed the purchase of private farmland in an effort to reduce foreign food dependence. Vast tracks of land were privatized and Russia's agricultural output has increased.
5. Putin brought more control over elections as the government run media outlets ran almost universal support for Putin and his party. Druing the campaign, 56% of all television news was about the United Russian party. They all ran an issueless campaign, lacking any platform or debates aside from agreeing with whatever Putin says. Despite a legal spending limit, it is estimated that over $400 million was spent in 2003 for the United Russian party's campaign. Millions of pieces of opposing party campaign literature was destroyed, campaign workers were detained, an opposition party candidate was assassinated, and even grocery store clerks were required to wear U.R. party clothing. A law was also changed that required 7% of the vote to go to a party in order for them to get any representation in the legislature.
6. In october of 2004, Putin gains control over the Supreme Qualifaction Colegium, the agency that appoints federal judges. He is allowed to name 11 of the 21 members, basically getting a majority in all decisions.
7. In December of 2005, a bill was passed so that Non-Governmental Agencies had to re-register with the central government and all foreign political funding ceased. By doing this, Putin initiated a 'control' interest group system where no NGO can exist without governmental blessing.

Russia became an 'illiberal democracy' wherein it is technically a democracy but citizens have severely restricted liberties.

In late 207, Putin's term ended and Demitri Medvedev became president. His first act was to appoint Putin as the prime minister, leading many to think that Medvedev is only a puppet under Putin's will. In December of 2008, the constitution was ammended, changing the presidential term from 4 years to 6 years and 5 years for the Duma. Opposition parties complain but it is still easily ratified. Putin was appointed to Chairman of the U.R. party which gives him power to remove anyone in the party he so chooses, essentially making him supreme ruler of Russia.

February 17 Notes

• 1989- First contested elections in 60 years were held in Soviet Parliament
• 1990- Soviet Union changed constitution, taking out language that made the communist party the only party

The newly formed groups (like interest groups) begin to act as political parties
Gorbachev issues: 1. Greater autonomy from 15 republics- 15 republics are dominant national groups. Political groups begin the form in the republics, and are known as popular fronts. Popular fronts begin to ask for more authority and freedom 2. Economic policy- Inflation increases, and the economy declines.

• October 19, 1991- Conservative Soviet leaders try to stop Gorbachev reform. Gorbachev is arrested, but the Coup d'etat eventually fails.
• End of 1991- Soviet Union collapses

Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus break off and form the CIS. The other 12 republics declare their independence shortly after, and all 15 former republics are recognized as new nations.

YELTSIN- Yeltsin was popularly elected. He wanted a western style democracy with a market economy.

Russia began to feel pressure from sub national units calling for independence. Yeltsin feels opposition to his reform. Under Yeltsin, all service industries that existed before 1991 are privatized. Big industries to through 'shock therapy'. This means that ownership is taken away from government and put into private hands. Citizens get privatization vouchers, which they can trade in for stocks in any company that they choose. Businesses no longer receive subsidies. Prices are free from central control, and now rely on consumer demand.

Former government managers gain control of the newly privatized industries. Dramatic price increases and runaway inflation occurs because price controls were lifted. GNP and industrial output fall. Entrepreneurs take advantage of the new system ( called Oligarchs). Oligarchs gain tremendous wealth by gaining control of industry, and use the wealth to gain political leverage.

The reform movement is controversial and the executive and legislative branch begin fighting.

• Dec. 1992- Legislature agree to hold a referendum vote in April of 1993 to create a new constitution.
• March 1993- Parliament takes emergency Legislative powers away from Yeltsin. Yeltsin says Legislative branch can't overrule his decrees.
• Judicial branch sides with the Legislative branch
• April 1993- Referendum vote held. Yeltsin says that he won, and continued his ways
• Sept. 1993- Yeltsin illegally disbanded Parliament and called for new elections in December.
• Oct. 1993- Yeltsin disbands Constitutional court
• Dec. 1993- Constitution is passed. It entails a strong presidential rule, changes in Parliament, and models after the French constitution.
• Spring 1998- Yeltsin and Parliament argue over the naming of a Prime Minister. Yeltsin nominates the same person for a third time, and Parliament passes him ( if they didn't, Parliament would be dissolved according to the Constitution)
• August 1998- Russian currency loses its value, and stocks and bonds decrease. Many Russians lose their life savings.
• 1999- Russian government becomes completely dysfunctional. They can't maintain a military, or collect taxes, etc. Yeltsin is in bad shape suffering from heart attacks, having a bleeding ulcer, and being an alcoholic....
• The central government pushes responsibility onto regional governments. They are responsible for housing military, taking care of their law enforcement officers, and funding the courts. Governors lose respect for Yeltsin.
• August 1999- Putin is acting Prime Minister
• March 2000- Putin is named President of Russia

Putin pushed legislation that divided Russia into 7 federal districts. Each district had a presidential appointee to supervise the other government authorities. The appointees were superior to the heads of the regional governments.

• March 2004- Putin reelected with 71.2% of the vote

Putin: 1. Moves to reign in regional government. He has the lower house of Parliament (Duma) pass a law that says that governors could not hold seats in the federation council. Each region will elect 2 representatives to the federation council. Duma gives central government the right to discipline leaders if they believed they were not following the Constitution, and Putin had the right to fire governors.

Russia and The Soviet Union 2/17/09 Period 4

• Glasnost allowed for interest groups to evolve into political parties.
• 1989-Elections were held for parliament for the first time in 60 years.
• 1990-The Soviet Constitution was changed. Language that declared communist party as the only party was removed from constitution.
• Gorbachev had two issues:

1. The 15 republics of the Soviet Union demanded national autonomy. Popular fronts were formed. They were ethno-nationalist groups that eventually became political parties.
2. The Soviet Economy. Inflation goes up and there is an economic decline.

• October 19, 1991-A coalition of conservative Soviet leaders wanted to stop Gorbachev's reform. This was known as Coup d'etat. It eventually fails.
• By the end of 1991 the Soviet Union collapses.
• Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus formed the CIS. The other 12 countries followed and declared independence.
• Boris Yeltsin became president of Russia. He was elected president. Yeltsin proclaimed his commitment to western style democracy and market economy. His reforms face opposition. Commits Russia to reform.
• All services went to private hands almost spontaneously. All except big industries. They go through Shock Therapy. This is when ownership of big industries goes from government to private hands through vouchers. Prices become free from government control.
• Inflation continues to go up and there is still an economic decline. The GNP goes down.
• Oligarchs werere those who took advantage of privitization without much expense to themselves. They made a lot of money. They also became a strong political force that gave Yeltsin some problems.
• Yeltsin's reform is controversial adn put the legislative and executive branches against each other.
• December 1992-Legislature agree to hold referendum in April 1993 for new constitution.
• March 1993-Parliament strips Yeltsin of power and requires him to follow the powers granted by the constitution.
• The Constitutional Court was called on to determine Yeltsin's decrees. The Court sided with parliament.
• September 1993-Yeltsin disbands parliament. New elections would be held in December.
• October 1993-Yeltsin disbands the Constitutional Court.
• December 1993-Yeltsin's new constitution was passed and is still held up today. It was modeled after the French Consitution.
• 1999-The Russian government is disfunctional adn cannot maintain military. It is unable to collect taxes. It essentially crumbles from within.
• Yeltsin suffers from a bleeding ulcer. He was an alcoholic. Yeltsin also suffered from heart attacks. This caused him to show up seldomly at work.
• The central government could not afford some things. The Regional government had to fund military. The Regional government also had to fund police. Also funds courts.
• August 1999-Yeltsin names Vladimir Putin as acting Prime Minister.
• March 2000-Putin was elected president with 53% of the vote.
• As Prime Minister, Putin divided the country into 7 district that were headed by presidential appointees.
• March 2004-Putin wins the presidential elections with 72% of the vote.
• Putin's popularity increased.

Kenny Singh

2/17 RUSSIA

Mikhail Gorbachev- 1985-1991; goals were to energize economy and the political system by reformation; didn't intend to end communist rule, but his changes led to collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. his reformation was based on 4 ideas:

1. Perestroika- "re-structuring" by economic changes and decentralization/ small privatization of economy
2. Glasnost- "openness" relaxation of controls over public discourse(newspapers, magazines, etc.) led to development of interest groups and criticism
3. Democratization- to increase gov. responsiveness to their citizens; introduces competitive elections
4. New thinking- cuts back on military spending for the consumer sector; negotiations with U.S.

1990- Soviet constitution was changed; language taken out that said the communist party was the only party.
2 major devisive issues facing Gorbachev:

1. Republic autonomy by the 15 republics in the Soviet Union; they wanted to govern themselves; formed "ppular fronts" that became political parties
2. state of economy- perestroika reduced quality and quantity of products, inflation rises, economic decline, etc.

August 1991- attempted coup against Gorbachev fails, but by the end of 1991 the Soviet Union had collapsed anyways.

Boris Yeltsin- President of Russia; proclaimed loyalty to Western style democracy and the market economy, but because of economic decline he can't implement economic decrees, so Yeltsin goes radical in the market economy and privatizes almost everything, the industrial industries go through shock therapy (private citizens get vouchers so they own part of the industry) and gov. doesn't give out subsidies anymore. the GNP and industrial output of the country go down.

oligarchs- small opportunists who took advantage of free market reform movement and became very wealthy and a political force.

throughout 1992-1993, the executive branch (Yeltsin) and the legislative branch butted heads on almost everything. even the judicial branch began siding with parliament and everyone wanted Yeltsin gone.

In Dec. 1993 the referendum vote about Yeltsin's Constitution was passed and it is still the constitution today.

2/11 3rd Period

Sorry it's late!

Russia
1917: Vladimir Lenin is the leader of the Bolsheviks(Communists), he is a devoted follower of Marxism(Karl Marx)
Marx is shocked by the industrial class(prolitareate) bad lives, bourgeoisie (factory owners) have good lives. Marx predicts the rise of prolitareates against the bourgeoisie in a Revolution of the Prolitareate.

Lenin believes his Bolsheviks can mobilize the masses to carry out a Revolution of the Prolitareate on the backwards Russian economy that had not yet seen the industrial revolution.

The Bolsheviks are led by a small group of learn revolutionaries known as Vanguard.
Bolshevik leaders claimed they knew what was best for the people. Believed in democratic centralism(when they considered new policy, discussion of the policy on all all levels occured.)

The Bolsheviks started low, and got elected up higher and higher in the ranks. Once a decision was made using democratic centralism, everyone had to support it.

Stalin was the next ruler who ruled by politics and brutal terror.

Revolution from Above - forced peasants onto bigger government farms, into collectivism farming. Stalin forced the industrial revolution. This Revolution from Above came at a high price. Soviet State becomes driving force, state control and on\wnership of basically everything.

By 1930, >90% of the land in the Soviet Union had been taken from peasants and put under government control. Stalin brutally forced the peasants off their land. He forced industrialization by taking the peasant men and throwing them into the city. Famine spread through the farms, and many women and children die.

Soviet Union has heavy industrial sectors and they produce heavy equipment, not producing consumer goods.

Command Economy - inneficient system of central government owning. Central planning(Moscow), no consideration for market force.

Stalin stimulates a mass migration of farmers to cities and had greatly increased productions in the industrialism.

People were too afraid of Stalin to challenge him. Results of the industrial production routinely fell short of goals set in Moscow.

Stalin was a dictator after taking over the Communist party.

February 2, 2009

I guess I lucked out on the blog.

Great Britain/European Union/Introductory Concepts Test.

Received Russia Country Questions.

Notes from 2/11

• Russia used to be a part of the Soviet Union
• The Bolshevik Revolution occured in 1917
• from this revolution to 1990, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legitimate political party of the Soviet Union
• SU was controlled by communist party leadership, not elected officials.
• the party met every 5 years to choose leaders
• in 1917 the revolution brought Vladmir Lenin into power, he led the Bolsheviks
• Lenin's political philosophy followed that of Karl Marx: Marx was a German economist who witnessed the industrial revoliution in the mid 1800s. he was shocked by the dismal conditions of the working class or the "proleteriate." additionally, he was put off by the good life of the factory owners or "bourgeoise." Marx theorized that the proleteriate should rise up and overthrow the few factory workers. he called this the "revolution of the proleteriate."
• Lenin believed his Bolsheviks can mobilize the Russian peasant masses and they could have a proleteriate revolution. This doesn't connect because Marx theorized on bwhat he saw in a highly industrilized country. conversely, Russia had little to no industrilization.
• Lenin believes that the Bolshevik party led by himself and his small group of college educated friends could lead this revolution. He called this group the "Van Guard" of the revolution.
• Lenin and his friends thought they knew what was best for Russia more so than Russians themselves did.
• Democratic Centralism was an organizing function for the Bolsheviks. They discussed new policy throuroughly within their party. Then, once a decision was reached, everyone would stand by it. However, the Bolsheviks didn't follow this theory well.
• After getting power, Lenin ruled by prestige, experience, and ruthless supression of the opposition through a secret police
• Lenin's successor was Joseph Stalin.
• Stalin ruled through politics and brutal terror. He had a secret police and encouraged people to rat out their families, friends, and neighbors. People were terrorized.
• Stalin led what he called the "revolution from above." He forced the collectivization of agriculture, taking peasants off small farms and moving them to large state owned farms.
• He forced rapid industrilization of the SU as he was afraid that their country was falling behind others.
• He was credited with creating the foundations of the SU econ. and miliraty power which was key for the SU participation in WWII and the Cold War.
• This power came at the high price of life and suffering.
• the state was the driving force behind economic development with state control of all economic assets.
• By 1935, over 95% of sgricultural land had been taken away from peasants. Peasants were angry and thus they burned their crop land to express this.
• in the industrial sector, the state owned all areas. there was an emphasis on heavy industrial sectors like railray and military equipment. no emphasis on consumer goods. this would remain a problem in the SU econ. for many years.
• the SU system under Stalin was a Command Economy. A Command Econ. is an inefficiant system of central economic planning. the GOSPLAN sat in Moscow, set production targets. Managers had no say in these targets. Market forces had no effect on their econ., only govt. strategies. supply and demand didn't effect them. this was an inefficient system as central planners were out of touch.
• Stalin is credited for stimulating a mass migration from rural areas to the cities.
• results often fell short of production goals.
• the only political party fell under Stalin's control. SU becomes a dictatorship under Stalin. there were no challengers to Stalin's rule. There were secret police, and people often disappeared.
• SU econ. was highly inefficient.

Russia- 2/12/09

• Soviet Union becomes a dictatorship under Stalin's single-party govt.
• Nobody challenged Stalin in fear of their lives
• Control Economy- Central economic plannin, didn't use market forces
• When Stalin died, he was remembered as a war hero for leading Russia during WWII
• Nikita Khrushchev, 1955-1964
• DeStalinization- Khrushchev's plan to move away from many of Stalin's ideas, such as setting up an Oligarchy (a small group of leaders will control the country as opposed to one)
• The oligarchy filled the politburo- the top people of the communist party that made important decisions
• They also revised the job selection system by using Nomenklatura
• What the Nomenklatura did was: it identified top jobs and had the communist party leaders look t hrough the rest of the party to write a list of reliable people. When an important job slot opened up, they would pick a name off of the list, and that person would now occupy said job.
• Problem: Many didn't know how to do several of these jobs. Leads to inefficient Command Economy
• However, it did allo the top members of the communist party to maintain control, since they decided who'll work for them
• Khrushchev, under his DeStalinization idea, gave a secret speech to the Communist Party that criticizes Stalin, calling him an imbecile
• Many supporters of Stalin were angered at this remark, and b/c the Cuban Missle Crisis was occurring at the same time, Khrushchev's popularity was low.
• In 1964, Lenod Breshnev takes control of the USSR
• He slows down Destalinization and tightens censorship
• Tacit Social Contract- Guaranteed that everyone had a job, there were fair working environments, low prices for goods, everyone would have housing and transportation, social services, health care, and less government involvement in lives.
• however, there were several problems, such as that it led to alcoholism, too many workers, etc.
• The Soviet leadership gets older and less effective. Breshnev becomes cenile and incompetent in his old age
• When he dies, his 2 successors both die within a year b/c they're both so old
• B/c of the declining quality of leadership, consumer goods become mediocre
• People became aware of Western Lifestyles. Newspapers were censored by govt and Soviet citizens weren't able to travel outside of the country
• Environmental pollution was an increasing problem
• In the 1970's, the Soviets finally realize how behind they are in life and technology and how bad their lives are compared to the Western World.

AP Comperative 2/10

Today we took a test on the notes on Britain.
We also recieved the Russian Notebook Questions assignment.

02/10/2009

Today we took the Comparative Government test for Great Britain.

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Feb 10

Today in Government there was a test on Great Britain

2/10/2009

Today we took our test on Great Britain and also received new country questions for Russia.

Don't forget guys COUNTRY QUESTIONS FOR GREAT BRITAIN ARE DUE TOMORROW!!!

Notes for Monday February 9, 2009

Today in class we watched a video of the weekely questioning of the Prime Minister by the opposing party. This questioning takes place every Wednesday and airs on CSPAN on Sunday nights

We have a test tomorrow on British government

And the questions are due on Wednesday, February 11

Notes for pd 7

We watched the Prime Minister Questions, the show that G really wanted everybody to watch on sunday nights about the prime Minister gettimg asked a ton of questions and being really critical of him. each side expressed their opinions openly and argued a lot. every time the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown , stumbled on his words, the whole house laughed at him. David Cameron was the main guy competeing against Brown. he is the Conservative party leader. it was actually quite entertaining.

Good Luck on Tomorriw's TEST!

2-9-09 Notes

Notes from 2-9-09

- Parliament can dismiss entire European commission, but it has never been done
- Parliament can't appoint individual commissioners
- Parliament holds some budgetary powers: can only determine small percentage of expidentures however
- Two treaties gave Parliament some powers on minor issues. Parliament has the power to investigate the conduct of the European Union (EU) and its governing bodies
- EU Unification : admission of 10 Eastern European countries in 2004 (countries had formally been in the Soviet Union block)
- The EU attempts to draft a constitution to glue the 27 member states together. The constitution was supposed to be done and ratified by 2006, but a referendum vote in 2005 rejected the constitution, so other nations put their ratifications on hold
- December of 2005, EU launched first satellite (spent $4.5 billion)
- December 2008, EU has plans to reduce greenhouse gas by 20%, and plans to use 20% more renewable resources by 2020. This plan is called the 20-20-20 plan.
- Recently, EU has given up on the constitution, and is now trying it a treaty. So far, 18 nations have ratified the Lisbon treaty, and more are predicted to follow. Ireland voted against ratifying the treaty

We have a test tomorrow!

February 6, 2009

• The europian union's origins are from the European Coal and Steel company in 1951.
• A treaty for the company was signed by France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, and Luxemburg
• The treaty made a single market in Coal and Steel through the gradual elimination of tarrifs and other limits on trade.
• The European Union set up for governmental bodies: High Authority, Council of ministers, court of justice, and parliament.
• Since the beggining of the union the reach had grown through numerous treaties to include the treaty of Rome in 1957, the European Act of 1985, and the Mastrich Treaty in 1993
• The Mastrich treaty allowed the union to have power in transportation, health, environment, tourism, and many other fields of business.
• The Mastrich treaty created European citizenship and allowed people to live, work, and vote in any european country. It also created the common currency and central bank in 1999 which Britain did not buy into.
• Today the union has a 27 member supranational commission that makes rules and regulations of European policy.
• There are over 2500 ranking civil servants
• The Council of Ministers represents the members of individual nations and this is primarily made up of Prime Ministers.
• For a proposal to become a law it must first be passed by the Council of Ministers and it must have a unanimous vote.
• The council of ministers must act unanimously on constitutional issues, accepting new states, and common foreign and security policy.
• The treaty of Nice in 2003 assigned each country the number of votes in proportion to its share of european population.
• Each country must cast all votes as a block.
• The European Court of Justice resolves disputes on European law and legislation passed by the council.
• The European Union law takes precedent over country law.
• The 526 members of the European Parliament is chosen every 5 years by the votes of the European citizens.
• Parliament gets consulted twice in the legislative process and issues an opinion on laws being made.
• If parliament doesn't take action in 3 months the law is passed
• If the parliament issues amendments then the commission must make a recomendation within one month
• The council can overide a proposal with a unanimous vote.
• The parliament has power to fire the intire commission.
• The parliament cannot appoint individual members to the comission.
• The parliament holds some budgetary powers
• Later treaties extend parliamentary powers into policy enable parliament to request proposals and conduct investigations.
• Efforts to unionize Europe has increased in 2004
• The Union has drafted the European Union constitution in.
• The European Union has launched a satelite
• 2008 the Union commited to plan to reduce Green house gas emissions by 20%
• The Union has endorsed a $260 billion stimulus plan in 2008
• The Lisben treaty in 2007 tries to ratify the constitution but in 2008 Ireland rejects the treaty

this is the note from thrusay the 5th

Closing Prime Minister
The Prime Minister:
- Chairs the cabinet meeting
- Acts as a spokes person
- Selects rest of cabinet
 Most are members of parliament, some are from the House of Commons (which are directly elected by the people, they are used to get closer to the public)
 Rule: 2 must be from the house or Lords
 22 members of cabinet, 20 from the cabins and 2 from the House of Lords
Legislative branch
- Parliament’s influence on policy is limited
- Policy made by cabinet after discussion on the policy and after the PM buys the conclusion
Govt has another meaning in a parliamentary system, it might mean just the PM and the cabinet acting together.
- All proposed bills from PM and Cabinet are strongly acted on
- In one year a PM can secure passage for every policy introduced by them, and can be deemed a vote of confidence
- If a vote of confidence is done, every member of majority party is expected to vote for bill
 If not them the parliament will dissolve
 This can be used as a tool of the majority party
 New elections would be held in weeks
 The risk: opposition may be voted in as the majority party and the original majority party may lose their public stance
- Occasionally there is a free vote otherwise it’s the party line, and members can vote either way
- Britain has 2 houses of legislation
 Has minimal influence on policy
 There are three types of lords: hereditary peers, life peers, law lords.
• The law lords cannot rule acts of parliament unconstitutional even though they are the highest courts of appeals
• and the Hereditary peers cannot vote
• the life peers are appointed by PM, are “Anglican entertainers” and church officials
- In 1830 the house of Lords had 1,200 members
- In November of 1999 the lords passed a bill to strip 800 members of their power
House of Lords
- Approve legislations
- Propose amendments to legislations
- Delay passage of legislation through extended debate
- They CANNOT vote down a bill
- Did debate on fox hunting
- Commons is the final authority of proposed
- Becomes a bill after 2 years in a row even if it doesn’t get settled in House of Lords
- There has been a lot of talk about changing the house of lords, if it’s done than they will become an electoral body and they will gain more say in passing legislation
- In march 2007 an advisory vote (not binding) to draw up legislation to make House of Lords and elected body
- 659 members- under 5 year terms
- Prime minister can dissolve this body with royal consent
- They are representatives from single member districts
- Major parties have a technique called parachuting
- Parliamentary party (majority party) is key to British power
- Majority leadership: PM.
- Cabinet is known as front benchers, others are known as back benchers
- Head of largest minority party becomes leader of opposition or “loyal opposition”
Minority party
- Head appoints shadow cabinet
- If curret majority party will lose favor with public then they will become next majority.
- Tasked with watching real cabinet and challenge them in debates
- Most of HOC are debating policy
 Don’t pass bills
 Just debate good and bad policies
Bureaucracy
- The cabinet’s primary source of power
- Collective responsibility: an industry is expected to support all decisions even if they personally disagree with the policy
- If they can’t do this, they resign
- White hall= bureaucracy
- Ministry officials are ranked and all cabinet positions are appointed in regards to ranking
- In a bureaucracy they might get appointed positions that they mnight not have any interest in
- Career civil servants may work for any partisan in power
- Administrators= civil servants
 May flush out details of proposed legislation
- Permanent secretary:
 Found in each den
 They are assisted by other civil servants
 Are all given names (egs: deputy)
Unitary form of government
- Does not have state govt and local govt
- Strategic authority is extensive authority to passing laws in Britain
Local govt carries out jobs like delivering to the population
- Can set local property taxes
- Parliament can take back any delegated authority given to local authorities
Two types of non-elected bodies in Britain
1. Regulatory agencies
2. quangos: quazi autonomists (advisory boards) could be school groups advisory boards. – I really didn’t get what they were so I got the definition from dictionary.com—

Quango - A semi-public advisory and administrative body supported by the government and having most of its members appointed by the government. An organization or agency that is financed by a government but that acts independently of it.