Monday, March 30, 2009

Thursday March 26, third period

Sorry it's late!
First he talked about colleges, the tests, timed writes, CQs, et cetera...

Iran
The Islamic republic of Iran today is a mixture of theocracy and democracy. It’s the theocracy that makes Iran unique. Iran has a political system based on clerical, or church, authority, as well as popular sovereignty. It’s based on the divine rights of the clergy as well as the rights of the people. It’s based on concepts derived from early Islam as well as form modern democratic principles such as the separation of powers. The country has regular elections for the presidency and for their parliament, which is called Majles. But in Iran, a clerically dominated “Guardian Council” determines who can and cannot run for president of the parliament. The President is the formal head of the executive branch of government but he can be overruled and even dismissed by the chief cleric, who is known as the Supreme Leader. The President appoints the Minister of Justice, but the whole judiciary is under the supervision of the Chief Judge, who is not the Minister of Justice. The Chief Judge is appointed directly by the supreme leader. So there’s a typically bureaucratic government, with a Ministry of Justice with a Minister, and also a Senior Cleric, the Supreme Leader, appointing the Chief Judge, who is overlooking the entire system. The Majles is the legislative branch of government, but its bills do NOT become law unless the Guardian Council deems them to be compatible with the Islamic religion and with Iran’s Islamic Constitution.

The income form oil has made Iran into a textbook example of a rentier state, meaning a state that has rents. A rentier state is a subsystem of a renier economy, which is an economy that is heavily supported by state expenditures while the state itself continuously receives rent from abroad.

Although modern Iran traces it’s roots to the ancient Iranian empire of 6th century BC, and it’s Islamic religion, to the Arab invasions of the 17th century, it’s current national identity, or it’s interpretation of Islam is Shi’ism (Shi’ite).

1501-1722 – Safavid Dynasty
1794-1935 – rule by Qajar Dynasty
1925-1979 – Pahlavi Dynasty
Then the Islamic Revolution, or Cultural Revolution, of 1979, which led to the establishment of the current Islamic republic

Friday, March 27, 2009

Notes 3/27

What better way to spend my Friday night than to update the blog...enjoy

Following 1906 Constitution we run into WWI and after WWI Iran is in complete disarray. Internal arguments were made that divided the Majlas into conservative and liberal groups
liberal- in favor of social reforms, wanted to replace islamic courts with more modern civil law and courts
conservatives- opposed all reforms pertaining to women's rights, islamic courts, land laws, religious minority rights, etc

At the same time the central government is very weak. The beauro was horrible, no army to speak of, the government was unable to collect taxes, and there was no way for the government to reach the country side.

By 1921 Iran is a mess. A conol Raza Khan carried out a couee. He steps in and replaces the cabinet and consolidates the government. He is commander in chief.

By 1925 Raza had disposed of the Qujars and crowned himself with the title "Shah in Shah" (means monarch). The Pahlavi dynasty is established.

Raza rules with an iron fist until 1941 when Russia and Britain invade Iran in an attempt to save them from Nazi Germany. With the Soviets and Brits in Iran, Raza resigns fleeing the country and giving up the throne to his 22 year old son Muhammad Raza Shah. The new Shah hold onto armed forces control but because of Constitution he must deal with free press, independent judiciary, competitive elections, assertive ministers, and parliament. He also finds himself facing two strong poltical movements:

Tudah Party- draws support from working class trade unions

National Front- draws support from middle class and is lead by Muhammad Mosaddeq. This movement lands a public campaign for the government to nationalize the UK owned oil company. Mosaddeq also argued that the armed forces should supervise the cabinet ministers.

It's 1951 and Mosaddeq is elected prime minister. He promptly nationalizes the oil industry. British and US are not too happy about this. In 1953 the US sends the CIA to bring down the Iran government. Mosaddeq is overthrown. But this still leaves the Shah who builds a highly centralized state based on 3 pillars:
1.Armed forces
2.Buero
3.Shah patronage system
In 1950s Shah enlarges military from less than 40,000 to more than 400,000 by 1979.

The beuro expands from a collection of scribes to 21 executive branch ministries employing over 3000 civil servants by 1979. One ministry that was strong was the interior ministry which had the authority to appoint providential governors,town mayors, district superintendents, and village headman. Also appointed electoral supervisors which supervised elections. Because of this the interior could now rig elections creating a rubber stamp legislature for the Shah. By this point the 1906 election is no longer affective.

The Shah runs with this. The education ministry grows "20 fold". The justice ministry replaces islamic law courts with a euro style civil code. Church courts are replaced with a modern judicial court system.

But on the flip side the Shah is doing "lots of bad". In the 1960s he does another move to seculize judical system by decreeing a contoverstal "family protection law". This law contradicted the traditional system of the Sharia it:

1. raised the marraige age
2.allowed women to override spousal objections and work outside the home with permission from the court
3.allowed men to have multiple wives with permission from his previous wives and the court

The Palavi state further bolstered by court patronage. It does this by Shah auguring huge land holds, buying out casinos, beach resorts, hotel, etc. He also gave 207 large companies tax exemption under the tax exempt palvi foundation.

In 1975 the Shah announces formation of the resurgent party and declared Iran to be a one party system, threatening to execute or exile all people refusing to join the party. This was designed to dig a heavy hand into the Bazzars. The pa try established its own Bazzar guilds, newspapers, womens org, professional org, and labor unions.

On eve of 1979 revolution and exiled iranian newspaper verbally dis troys Palavis and charges the Shah family with many things such as widening the gap between rich and poor, wasting resources on a giant military, becoming a military dictatorship,etc. A inner iran man Ayatolah Khomeini anti slaw who dystorys thee palavis siding with the under class. He begins to formulate new form of Shi when he calls for overthrow of Shah and gives new meaning to "Jurist's Guardinship"

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Class Notes 3/26

Iran Notes.
-Islamic Republic of Iran. A mixture of theocracy and democracy. It is a political system based on clerical authority and popular sovereignty. Based on right of the clergy and right of the people intertwined. The country has regular elections for presidency and the parliament called "majles". But a clerical group called the guardian council decides who can run for president and parliament. The president is re formal head of the executive branch of government but can be overruled or dismissed by the chief cleric called the Supreme Leader. The parliament is the executive branch of government but its bills don't become law unless the guardian council seems them compatible with the Islamic religion. Church has a big check on the system. Income from oil makes Iran a perfect example of a rentier state- derives a substantial amount of its constant revenue from foreign rents. The rentier state is a sub system of a rentier economy which is an economy in which state governments are heavily supported by expenditures while state receives rents from abroad. Different from Nigeria. Iranian government takes rents then turns around and invests it back into the country. Traces roots to ancient Iranian empire and its Islamic religion to the Arab invasions. Its current national identity is Shiaism and political system were formed over 4 more recent time periods. 1 Safavid 1501-1722. 2- Quajar 1794-1925. 3-Pahlavi 1925-1979. 4-Islanic Revolution of 1979 led to establishment of the current islamic republic. Also called cultural revolution. Modern Iran with its shia identity and it's present day boundaries can be traced to the 16th century when the Safavid family conquered the territory, established their dynasty and converted their subjects to Shiaism by force. By mid 1700s they had converted almost 90% of their subjects leaving a small population of Sunni. From it's earliest days 2 major groups Sunni, and Shiite. Sunni are modern traditional followers. Make up the majority. Shiites are followers of Ali make up only 10% of Muslims. The difference in opinion in who was to be the Prophet Muhammad’s successor as caliph saw the division of the 2 groups. Shiites belief leadership could only descend through the heirs of the prophet Muhammad. Shiites look at other early leaders of Islam that lacked Muhammad’s blood lines as pretenders. Imams lasted several generations until the last imam disappeared in 1874. Since then Shiites have held on to messianic belief that the hidden imam will return at the end of time and restore order. Shiite political thinkers historically upheld until the return. Often hidden imam all secular authority is illegitimate. Both branches ofIslam accept the 5 pillars. 1. Only one god Mohammed the prophet 2. Give to charity 3. Pray everyday facing Mecca 4. Make a pilgrimage once in a lifetime to Mecca. 5. During the daytime hours in the month of Ramadan they fast to honor gods revelation of the Quran to Mohammed. The sofavid established their capital, Isfahan, and recruit Persian scribes into their court administration. They process to govern through these scribes and Shiite clerics but through local notables( merchants, tribal leaders. war bosses) financial constraints kept from creating a bureaucracy and a long standing army. The public was linked to the government through notables. Sofavid collapses in 1722 when Afghans invade capital. Half century of civil war. Quajars reconquered much of Iran and move capital to Tehran. Quajars declared Shiaism as state religion although they did not have links to the imams. New shas did not pretend to be descendants of imams, so the Shiite clerical leaders claimed to be the main interpreters of Islam. Quajar rule these hundred years. Coincide with a great deal of European imperialsim. Iran got through it under quajars. Russia takes chunk of Iran. Must give Russians a monopoly in fishing for sturgeon in the Caspian Sea. Given an exempt from internal tariffs and the jurisdiction of local courts. Russians carve out a chunk of economy. British imperial bank won the monopoly to distribute paper money in Iran. Indo-European Telegraph Company got a contract to extend communication lines. Drilling rights to oil in southwest was given to a citizen. By end of century the Quajar debt had become so heavy that Quajars were obliged to repay debts that they put Iran under European financial supervision. People felt the whole country had been auctioned off. This brought on the constitutional revolution 1905-1909. Shopkeepers demonstrating against customs collecters handing over money to foreign nations. Intensified when 2 sugar merchants were publicly whipped. Some 14,000 protestors sit in British (embassy) and demanded a written constitution. The 1906 constitution introduced essential features of modern government: called for elections, provides for separation of powers, provides for laws made by a legislative assembly and also includes concepts of popular sovereignty and of the nation. Constitution retains the monarchy but centers power in the majles. Guaranteed seats in parliament to recognize the religious minority. Other prominent religions are Jewish, Christians, and Zoroastrians. Gave majles extensive authority over laws, treaties, loans, concessions and the composition of the cabinet. Head ministers were accountable to the majles. The constitution also included a bill of rights guaranteeing protection of life and property, safeguards from arbitrary arrest, freedom of expression, and freedom of association, and equality before law. It has all this then shiaism was declared religion by constitution only Shiite could hold cabinet position. Clerical courts contained rights to implement sharia and the guardian council was formed of senior clerics and the constitution gave them veto power over parliamentary bills they deemed to not be Islamic. Popular sovereignty is limited by Islamic veto power. Guardian council does not meet until 1979. 73 years after constitution was drafted.

Wednesday, March 25,2009

Today we took the timed write for Nigeria and went over the test. The Nigeria Notebook Questions are due tomorrow, Thursday, March 26.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

March 24

Soo, this is a day late, but yesterday we took the Nigeria test. Fun times.

Tuesday 3/24/09

So, BIG day with lottttssss of notes... actually, I lied, just the Nigeria test today. yay.

Wednesday 3/25/09

Today in class we took the Nigeria timed write. The timed write may or may not have been the same for all classes. Remember that tomorrow the dreaded country questions for Nigeria are due so I would suggest you get started if you have not done so already! 

KATE LAWLOR 3rd period

Monday in class we asked questions and reviewed for the test on Tuesday. Timed Write on Wednesday.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

03/23/09

Today Mr. G allowed us time to clarify any questions we had about our Nigeria notes. He clarified any confusion and filled in gaps for students who missed portions of the notes.

March 19, 2009 AP Government 4th period

In Nigeria’s 2007 election there was much corruption and fraud (stuffed ballot boxes, more votes than voters, etc.)
Ø between 50-300 people die in violence leading to it
Ø each major ethnic group had a political party

Yardua won, became president
Ø he retired some of the top military officers to prevent another coup
Ø sought to relax the Niger Delta

Nigeria has a small international debt, a lot of agricultural land, and natural reserves (oil). Making it ripe for a developing state economy

Socialization
Ø 1- ethnicity
Ø religion, urban/rural, class, and region also come into play
Ø 6 inexact areas
1. Northwest
2. Northeast
3. Middle Belt
4. Southwest
5. Southeast
6. Southern minority zone

Elite
Ø politically active
Ø urban, well-educated, speak English, cash economy
Ø want an honest government
Ø want civil liberties

Masses (urban and rural)
Ø subjects
Ø take what the government will hand out to them
Ø not active except during campaigns
Ø patron-client networks (are the clients)
Ø earn favors to survive
Ø not well educated (1/2 illiterate)
Ø no English
Ø subsistence economy
Ø care about results, not government

Oil revenues
Ø important to the government
Ø supposed to serve state and national government funding
Ø causes corruption (General Babangida bought new cars for his top supporters using that money)

Officials called “loot-o-crats” (in relation to the corruption)
Ø “It takes a village to raise a child”- if a person gets an education and leaves, he is still responsible for the village
Ø mixes sense of community responsibility with patron-client
Ø uneducated rely on educated for goods
Ø patron gets more money or power, the village wants more rewards
Ø “pre-bendalism”- dispersion of public jobs and rents (money the national government makes off of other countries for oil) that people say the village is owed

Culture
Ø North- under British, agricultural
Ø South- under British, modern (economy, institutions, etc)

65-75% of kids go to primary school
Ø more in South than in North
Ø few get beyond (expensive)
Ø instructed in English
Ø over ½ the country is illiterate

Participation
Ø voting rates hard to determine (cheating on census)
Ø 1993- 46% estimated voters
Ø 1997- 67% estimated voters (fraud)
Ø 1979- women get right to vote

Political elites
Ø Obas- Yoruba ethnic area
Ø Emirs- Middle
Ø Village Leaders- South

Political agenda
Ø ethnic based groups in cities
Ø rural- farming groups
Ø labor unions exist but aren’t powerful and never really have been

Political parties
Ø military governments and political parties don’t mix well
Ø Top 3 parties in 1998-99
1. PDP- Obasanjo
2. All People’s Party- descendent of Igbu NCNC
3. Alliance for Democracy- descendent of Yoruba Action Group
Ø All ethnically based

Monday, March 23, 2009

Tursday 19th Notes (3rd Period)

Obisanjo comes in as a bit of a compromise president. His ethnic group is Yoruba. Yoruba is normally S. W. but people in the N. accept him because of his first peaceful transfer of power. 1999 people hope his military backgrous would be enough to keep the military "in barracks" (meaning out of polotics). Within weeks of taking office Obi. suddenly retires all the military officers who had held positions of political power under the previous military government. He raised the minimum wage and created a special commission to look into ways to channel more oil revenue back to the impovershed and environmentally degradated Niger River Delta. Civil society groups thrived and so does the media. Obi. felt obliged to appoint the leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party to high level positions in his government as high as Minister. Which brings back many corrupt politicians who line their own pockets with public funds. Obi. becomes openly disdainful to the legislature. But with the help of appointees he sought and won reelection in 2003. In 2005 we have the Nigerian gov. being confronted by militant that is armed, rampaging in the N. River Delta region. This was triggered inpart by the arrest in 2005 and filing of treason against a man who was a separatist leader; who publicly called Obi. a dictator and was in charge of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (a rebel group). He claimed to have 6,000 followers, when he issued a declaration of war against the oil industry in 2005 he was flown to the capital city, for talks with President Obi.. Rebels from his group forced Chevron oil to shut down two oil flow station which together produced 27,000 barrels of oil a day. A second larger rebel group comes in. This one is still active today. Called the Movement for Emancipation of the Niger Delta which claims to be fighting for a greater local share of Nigerias oil wealth and is now an umbrella gorup for long existing armed gangs involved in the illegal tapping of pipelines and wells to rip off crude oil. Shell was forced to shut down a facility that moved 400,000 barrels of oil a day. 9 Americans were taken hostage, and they also blew up a shell pipline. The Niger Del. Region has seen little development in decades in spite of all the money from oil. In March 2006 militants release 6 of the hostages and this hipe of activity continues into the presidential election campaign of 2007 and has still continued. June 2008 militants in speed boats raid oil installation 85 miles off of the coast. Forced Shell to slash production. Rebel actitivity has cut their out put about 30%. The U.S. is the biggest purchaser of Nigerian oil. Cleavage-Ethnic w/diff. political parties. Religious Cleavage was also visible in Nov. 2008: over 400 die in fighting between Muslim and Christian gangs in a dispute over local elections in the central nigerian city. Military troups called in to quel the violance and killed an addition 47 people...mostly Muslims... didn't match the more than 1,000 people killed in 2004 w/fighting between Muslims and Christians. Ethnicity is the defining political cleavage. Religion, geographic region, whether urban or rural, and social class can be significant cleavages. Ethnicity and religion in Nigeria can be divided into six rather inexact areas or zones. N.W-Core North- dominated by the largest ethnic group Fulani. N.E. is a minority region and with the N.W. are predominately Muslim. The Middle Best is home to a wide range of minority groups and both Muslims and Christians. S.W. dominated by the seconds largest ethnic group the Yoruba. Approximately 40% Muslim, 40% Christian, and 20% African tribal. S.E. Igbu which is the third largest. Primarily Christian. Southern Minority zone near the N. Rive Delta are without alot of different minority groups. Political Elite tend to be urban, well educated, english speaking, involved in a cast economy. Most of the people in both city and rural are subjects and aren't political activists. They take whatever government lays on them. More likely involved in a patron-client network trying to earn enought favors to survive. Not well Educated. Over half the pop. is illiterate. Dont speak English, and are involved in a subsistance economy. Elites tend to want respresentative government, and want civil libersties. The masses tend to be so poor and hurt by a lack of education that they look more so for results than anything else. Oil revenues that flow into the government are extremely important to understand. They are supposed to fund government services at both state and naitonal levels. Flow of money makes possible the corruption that is very pervasive in Nigeria. The lowest level, security and customes officials at the large airports suggest that gifts would facilitate their progress through the aiports. At the highest level Babangida got new cars for each of his supporters when leaving power. The government money goes to their buddies. Many poorer people refer to them as lootacrats (sp?) This corruption is apart of tradition Nigerian culture. Have responsibility to people in their own village than other people. If people are uneducated they rely on more educated individuals to get things done. In return their loyalty follows the patron. If they get in to a position to access government power or government fuds the clients expect more rewards. Rents are moneys paid to national gov. by countries paying for their oil. Prebedalism is a disperse rents to ethnic based clients. There are two sides to prebend. which is an office holder and a client as well as many expectations for both. The north is different from the south. The south with oil enjoys the basis for a modern economy and exposure to dem. institutions under the British. The family is the first teacher of socialization...duh. The stronger than community loyaltyies. People are expected to support families even more than communities between 65-70% of children are in promary schools. More kids int he south than in the north attend school. The North has higher boys and education widley is seen as important but bew go byond primary school. Post secondary education is expensive.

Fourth Period: 3/23/09

Today in fourth period;
-talked about submarines and ships and how they collided
-talked about the gap in Nigeria's history (1914-1960ishh) which was just Britain's rule.
-Mexico and Iran are now flipped. Iran will be first, then Mexico (in case G has to cut out material it is easier to cut out Mexico stuff).
-AP MONEY NEEDS TO BE BROUGHT IN!! ($172.00 ASAP)
-Then we chilled.
-Jordan's cookies looked mighty delicious. :)

-Nigeria test tomorrow. Good Luck!!

Friday, March 20, 7th Period

Parties


  • during periods of military rule Nigeria had no political parties because the military banned them

  • in the 1993 elections, Babangida decreed the existance of 2 political parties

  • Gen. Abacha may have had influence in the creation of 5 political parties that granted him nominations in the '97 election

  • under the 2nd republic, parties were required to demonstrate a national support base (this is done by recruiting supporters from sources outside the dominate ethinc area of the ethnic area)

  • local elections feature 9 parties, the top 3 of which were allowed to nominate candidates for the '99 election

  • the People's Democratic Party nominated Obasanjo who won 62 % of the vote

  • the All Peopl'es Party and the Alliance for Democracy both nominated Olu Falae

  • The People's Democratic Party is a desendant organization from the Normal People's Congress

  • The All People's Party represents the Igbu

  • The Alliance for Democracy represents the Yoruba

Constitution



  • federalist constitutions have been written in '60, '63, '79, and '99

  • mostly failed because of ethnic and language differences of 250+ ethnic groups in Nigeria and an attempt at democratic values while getting all of the groups to support democracy did not mix well

  • a unitary system has emerged because of these difficulties, though it carries the guise of federalism

  • Nigeria has a strong central government surrounded by very weak units

  • Nigeria featured 3 states in '60, Middle Belt was added in '63, after the Biafran Civil War 12 states existed, now 36 states exist

  • the increase in the number of states is meant to combat the ethinc differences by giving the people something else to unite around

  • 29 years of military rule has lead to weak state and local governments

  • it is written into the constitution that a % of the total oil income is guaranteed to the state and local gov'ts, but they don't get it

Executive



  • because of the military rule, the executive branch has become overdeveloped at the expense of weak judicial and legislative institutions

  • the constitution grants the executive relatively unchecked power

  • patronage politics and the strong executive combine to hurt the economy

  • the president has no veto and must give Presidential Assent for a bill to become a law

  • if the president doesn't give Assent, the bill fails unless the legislature repasses it with a 2/3 vote (almost exaclty like a veto)

  • president has 4-year term by a direct plurality vote with @ least 25% of the vote in 24 out of 36 states

  • the president's power is pretty much ultimate, and the constitution takes little precedence to the president's policy, the person shapes the office/government

Legislature



  • for 3/4 of Nigeria's history there was no legislature and policy was made by a military council

  • now the legislature is bicameral (House of Representatives and Senate)

  • representatives are elected to 4 year terms

  • 3 senators come from single member districts per state

  • 1st past teh post system

  • the capital city elects 1 senator (total senators: 109)

  • 360 members in House from single member districts, # of districts per state is determined by population

  • Senate approves high level presidential appointments

  • overall, the legislature follows the executive

Judicial



  • the judicial branch has been resticted over time by military rule

  • '93-'95 (uner Abacha) was especially hard on the judiciary

  • Abacha revoked judicial review, took cases to the military courts decreased their funding, and just ignored them in general

  • '99 constitution established a 15 member Supreme Court, members nominated by the president, and approved by the Senate

  • also, Nigeria has Courts of Appeals and High Courts with judicial review

  • b/c of nominating power, the executive branch can dominate the courts

  • Islamic law courts (Sharia courts) exist in the North

  • traditional courts exist in the Middle Belt and the South

  • the Sharia has an Appeals Court in the capital city, only Muslims come under jurisdiction, some Northerners want to replace all courts with the Sharia Courts

Bureaucracy

  • cultural divisions worsened by prebendalism and clientalism (ethnic groups would recieve disproportionate shares from their patrons)
  • patrons and clients are linked by: ethnicity, religion, cultural ties
  • clientalism undermines political trust and economic stability; politics has become an arena of struggles between ethnic groups over national wealth
  • loyalty pyramid:
  • BIG MEN
  • patrons (clients to Big Men)
  • patrons patrons (clients to above)
  • patrons patrons patrons (clients to above)
  • patrons patrons patrons patrons (clients to above)
  • clients clients clients clients clients clients (clients to above)
  • etc.
  • Big Men rely on rents from the state because they need resources to pass to their clients
  • policy making is a spin off of competeing intrests among Big Men
  • intentions are focused towards clients instead of the country
  • PARASTATAL-state owned business
  • parastatals account for much of the government's employment
  • 500+ parastatals
  • high positions are appointed by the executive branch

Period 3: Friday 3/20

-Nigerians are most likely to belong to ethnic based groups in cities
-long history of womens market associations, part of the grassroots economy
-military officers and civilians make up the Kaduna Mafia
-SW Nigeria: National Democratic Coalition, calls for a good 'honest' government
-Labor unions exist but are not very powerful. The large number of ethnicities makes organization of large groups difficult
-North and Rural areas are more likely to be apart of patron-client networks.


-Military rulers banned political parties
-first political parties were associated with ethnic groups
-the 2nd Republic: parties were required to demonstrate national support
-1998/1999: parties were allowed to form. 9 parties competed in elections and 3 successfully competed in 1999.
3 parties: PDP, APP (All peoples party), AD (Alliance for Democracy)


-Written constitutions of 1960, 63, 79, 99 ( all set up a federal government)
- it was an attempt to build a coherent nation state with all ethnicities while blending democratic values with a strong gov't.
-because of colonial rule, a unitary system was practiced even though it was a written federal system.
-states are not dependent enough to function on their own. Today there are 36 states
-more states are meant to reduce ethnic conflict and encourage competition
-29 years of military rule suppressed the ability of state to build power


-because of military rule, the executive branch has been over developed at all levels.
-weak legislative and judicial branch
-constitution gives many powers to the president, unchecked powers
-President must give assent to bills passed by legislative but has no power of veto.
-if the pres refuses assent, or doesnt act it will become law of the legislative tries to pass it again with a 2/3 vote in both houses.
-4 year term by direct vote must win by plurality and at least 25 percent of the vote in 24 states.
-appoints a federal cabinet (must be approved by senate)
-can refuse to give assent to the legislature
-realites of government are not always shown in the constitution. the executives characterize the regime.


-3/4 of Nigerias history there has been no legislature because the military made all the decisions
-bicameral legislature & resembles the US Congress
-members of both houses serve 4 years
-each state elects 3 members from single-member districts.
House: 360 members, candidates from single member districts based on population
Senate: must approve all high level presidential appointments


-@ independence Nigeria has an active judiciary.
-overtime powers were restricted by the military regimes
-1993-95, particilary hard; no judicial review , decreased funding, decisions were ignored.
-new constitution set up a 15 member Supreme Court, appointed by the President and approved bythe Senate.
-constitutitonal court has the power of judicial review
-executive funds the judicial system
-Sharia Courts: in the North, follows Islamic Law
Traditional courts: middlebelt and south
-some northeners have called for all Nigerian courts to be replaced by Sharia Courts.


-culutrual divisions have been made worse by prebendalism
-patrons linked to clients by ethnic, religious ties
-only benefitted a small group fostering ethnic competiton & undermines economic stability
-loyalty pyramids from patron-client networks: BIG MEN.
-Parastatals: state owned enterprises: much gov't employment, patronage resource.
-over 500 of these organizations, independent, appointed by government executive
-produce utilities, transportations, public services (etc...)

Sunday, March 22, 2009

tuesday notes period 4

2007 elections- wide spread corruption and fraud, stuffed ballots, more votes than voters.
50-300 people die leading up to election
Unknown northern Governor, Umaru Yaradue of Peoples Democratic party chosen over Nigerian Party and Action Part.
President Umaru Yarudue
Like Obasanja, retires top military officers
Promises end to violence in Niger Delta
Socialization and Political culture
Ethnicity, Religion, Geographic region, urban/rural, and class
Ethnicity and religion
NW- Hausa Fulani, Islamic
NE- Several nondominant groups, Islamic
Middle belt- center of country, wide range of groups, Muslim and Christian.
SW- Yoruba, 40% Muslim, 40% Christian, 20% tribal
SE- Igbo homeland, 3rd largest group, Christian.
Southern- minority zone, between Igbo and Yoruba, on Niger delta, mix of religions.
Elite
Politically active, Urban, well educated, English speakers, in cash economy
Want honest government, Rep. government, civil liberties

Masses
Urban and rural- subjects, not active politically except during smpaigns. Patron client to survive, not well educated, ½ of Nigeria is illiterate, not English speaking, subsistence economy.
Want results; don’t care what type of gov.
Oil revenue/ corruption /patron-client
Supposed to go to state and national level. Made corruption easier
Lowest level- customs officers- gifts and bribes for everyday service. At airport in LAOS
Highest level- Gen. Bobengida bought new cars for supporters the week he steps down.
Government workers referred to as lutocrauts.
Part of traditional existence
Everyone is responsible for village children even if someone is successful still responsible. Even head of state is responsible for village aka bribes/ gifts
Mixed w/ patron-client corruption occurs
If patron gets access to gov. funds clients expect more rewards at village
Prebendalism
Dispensing of public jobs and rents (money paid to National government by other countries for rule) Money comes on, clients tap patrons for money
Two sides office holder and clients
Culturally
North and South are different. Geographic region
South-enjoys basis for modern economy, and democratic institutes under British.
North-remained agricultural under British
Family, community, first base.
65%-75% of children go to primary school
More in south than North, in north than girls.
Education seen as important but few get past primary school.
2ndary is expensive and in English
Gov tries to shape attitudes about politics from campaigns to parties, have
Local officials- educated in English, likely to be open to bribes.
Jr. high- $50 for an A
Media
Tv- mostly gov.
Radio-mostuse it for information. BBC, voice of America
Cwll phone in 2002- land line inreliable, cell phones are. Limited access to internet. Cyber cafes
Participation
Voting rates difficult to estimate. A census is a volatile issue. Unsure of number of people in Nigeria
Due to military rule, voter fraud, and a tradition of nontrust. Estimated 47% in 93’ and 67% in 97’ turnout each year. But unreliable due to massive raud
In middle belt and south, women tend to vote more.
Women in north couldn’t vote until 1979
Elites divided both ethnically and religiously
· Routes to elite are dominated by the military, which is dominated by northerners
· Although former General Obsanjo, not president, was from the middle belt
· Officer core is well educated.
· Traditional leaders exist as well. north Muslims are Emirs, the south Yoruba's are kings and others are village leaders
· Almost ass higher level civil servants have a degree- does little to stop corruption

NOTES FOR FRIDAY MARCH 20th

Political Parties
-militray rulers banned pol. parties and some politicans
-at least 1 military govt created a pol. party
-in '93 elections Bambita (SP) decreed existance of 2 pol. parties
-very unsettled system
-sometimes no parties allowed
-other times decreed
-not solid party system

1st parties-ethnic groups and second try pol. parties were required to demonstrate nation-wide organization and support. (like Russia)

-9 pol. parties competed in local elections
-most sucessful three allowed to nominate for '99 elections
-Obasonyo (SP) won 62% of the vote
-in '99 two other parties ALl peoples Party and ALliance for Democracy) both nominated same candidate

Tracing them back:
1. PDP is the descent from the NPC
2. ALl Peoples Party descended from Igbo
3. ALliance from Orginial Yubo(sp) dominated Party Action Group

parteis demonstrate nat'l character by recruiting, organizing minority ethnic groups outside their area of majority. (into other states)

Constitution
-has had several written
-adopting a federal demo. was an attempt to build a coherent nation-state of over 250 groups
-but because of colonial/military rule unitary system with a federal disguise

-system with all powerful central govt, surrounded with weak states and is not strong enough to function with authority
-increasing number of states is a way to reduce ethnic-based pol. conflict
-not having state for each ethnic group--creates several states having to compete for resources which weakends ethnicites
-many smaller minority groups would be better able to compete with maj. gorups by establishing dominance in state alone

-const. gurantees percentage to state/local govt but silent on how to be divided

Executive Branch
-b/c of mil. rule haws been overdevloped at all levels
-at the expense of weak leg.
-current const. written by miiliartry-placed tremendous powers with prez. and unchecked power with mil.
-prez. must give accent to bills passed by leg.
-but NO VETO. if refuses accent the bill will become law if both houses pass it with 2/3rds vote
-pres.=4 yr. term elected by direct vote but must win plurality
-appoints cabinet-Federal Execution Comm. which must be approved by upper house
-person in exec. office or civilian have created regime as much as law
-personality shaped it

Legislative Branch
-for 3/4th no legislatures.
-policy decisions made/implemetned by mil.
-members of both houses-4 yr terms
-each state elects 3 senators from single-member districts
-the federal district elects one senator total-109

-House of Rep.360
-candidates run in single-member districts

-upper house must approve appt.s
-COngress can iniate legislation
-the legis. is a follower not a leader in process

Judicary
--at independence had independent judicary
-over time its power restricted by mil. regimes '93-'95 really bad
-No judicial review

-new const. 15 member S.C
-appt. by prez., approved by senate
-court of appeals
-fed and state courts
-has const. court with judicial review
exec. branch controls funding etc.

-courts known as Sharia COurts (norhtern courts)
islamic law based
-more want there to be all sharia courts

Bureacracy
-cultural divisons made worse
-clientism-practice by which group receives greater share of benfefits/favors of patron
-patrons linked to clients by ethnic reliious of other ties--only benefit small elite
-undermine trust and security
-reduces state to struggle over distribtution called "nat'l cake"
-struggle over who gets biggest instead of whole country benefits

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Notes 3/19 (we went slow ;) )

The Socialization/ Political culture cleavages are
1) Ethnicity
2) Religion
3) Geographic Region
4) Urban/Rural
5) Social Class
Ethnicity and Religion have six exact areas
1 North West- Dominated by the major ethnic group the Hausa-Fulani and are predominately Muslim.
2 North East minority region with a variety of groups and also predominately Muslim.
3 Middle Belt a wide range of groups here mostly minor. Muslims and Christians.
4 South West second largest group, Yoruba are 40 percent, Muslim 40 percent, and the traditional African tribes 20 percent.
5 South East, Igbos 3rd largest and Primarily Christian.
6 The South Minor zone of the Niger and delta with a lot of ethnic groups.

The Nigerian elite are politically active and are urban, well educated, English speaking people who live in the cash economy. Most of Nigeria are part of the masses however who are urban and rural not polemically active, part of the patron-client networks, not well educated and 1/2 of the population is illiterate and don't speak English and live in a subsistence economy, or one of ration. The Elite want a honest, civil liberty, representative government. While the Masses just want results and the government to help. The oil revenues which come into the economy are used for both national and state governmental matters making corruption possible. An example The lowest level of the custom of the airport in Nigeria the Murtala Muhammed International, on one's way into customs the security hands out gift that help you "get through faster" and on the higher level and example is that Bobangida would give brand new automobiles to his supporters. The head of the country and the airport worker have earned the nickname Lutocrats. The phrase "He takes a village to raise a child" refers to the fact that everyone that resides in a village is under the responsibility of the government official should there be one. If someone goes and gets an education he then comes back after making money and is responsible for the village children. The mixing of two ideas; the taking responsibility of the village you call home and the strong patron-client networks results in strong corruption. Illiterate people rely more on the educated to get things done and these people become there Patron who they loyally follow. The Patron who positively access the government funds there clients who get more reward.
The combination of underpinning causes Prebendalism- to give out public government jobs and state Rents based on clients, basically state offices are regarded as prebends that can be appropriated by officeholders, who use them to generate material benefits for themselves and their constituents and kin groups. Rents are monies paid by the national government company by outside sources that fund the state and national government. Culturally the North is different than the south. The
South with oil basis itself on a modern economy and exposure to democracy under the
British. The North is largely monarch and agriculturally inclined.

The Family is the first teacher and is stronger tam loyalties. The support of the family is always there even when away. Between 65-75 percent of children go to primary schools only more so in the south, and in the north more boys go to school. Education is important but few make it beyond primary school as secondary is expensive. Education is in English. The Public attitudes about politics are through government which creates political parties. Local officials of education have a power demand for money and bribes, a junior high school teacher makes people pay 50 bucks for an A! There are 80 national and local competitors for newspapers and magazines which are in English. The TV is mostly government run, so everyone listens to radio for political information as most are illiterate. Cellular devices became popular in 2002 because of unreliable landlines and there's limited access to the internet.

Participation in voting rate have are difficult to calculate the estimate census due to fraud. There is no traditional voting. In 1993 the rate was 46 percent and in 1997 67 percent but this is not very reliable due to fraud. Women couldn't vote in the North until 1979 and is still not frequent. The political elites are divided ethically and religiously. The roots of the elite status are mostly in the North and this is the dominant officer core. There was one military Governor from the Middle belt who played a key role in the head of state. Military officers are well educated. The traditional leaders from the north Muslims are Emirs, the south Yoruba's are kings and the others are village leaders. A large population of well educated professional a, all higher level civil servants with university degrees are not well paid and have not prevented corruption.

The political agenda most likely belongs to ethnic based groups and cities of local farmers and rural areas both initiate protest. Women have the marker association that's common in the south and a vital grassroot to economy. Other organization/groups are the military officer and civilian loose organization who favored Bobangida but then shifted towards Obasanjo the Kaduna Mafia. The Organization of national democratic coalitions in the south west, once favored Abiola, keep going. Labor unions are allowed but not powerful and are difficult due to ethnicity and military governments that diminish power of the unions. The organization of the chambers of commerce are put into effect but not allowed to influence policy. There are a few professional groups the Nigerian Bar (Lawyers), The Nigerian Medical union, the Union of Journalist. The civil groups are less common in rural areas and Patron client networks mostly influence interest groups.

Political parties and the military government don't mix well. Militia rulers ban political parties. However Bobangida created a political party in his run in 1993 and Abacha is said to have helped the 5 political party when nominated in 1997. There are some rules 1) Associated with ethnic groups. 2) Political parties require democracy nationwide support. 3) Between 1998-1999 Political parties allowed organization of 9 parties to have a local election. This was successful and in 1999 a candidate was nominated. The People's Democratic Party nominated Obasanjo who won with a 62 percent change the All People's Party and Alliance Democracy nominated Olu Falae.

The People's Democratic Party was formerly the Nigerian people's Congress of the first republic.
The All People's Party was formerly the Igbo party the National Council of Nigerian Citizens
The Alliance Democracy Party was formerly the Yoruba action group.

These three parites are the national character which recruit organizations of the minorities and primarily in majorities.

Blog for Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Since Mr. G was absent, the class voted on a study hall period.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Blog For Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Today in Mr. G's period 4 class we had a sub. The sub for today was Mr. Wood. On this day we were able to have a free period in which we were quiet and did work for school.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Friday, March 13

We had a timed write. Quite possibly the most difficult timed write in the history of man.

Monday, March 16th

From all the other countries we have studied, Nigeria has been called an “unfinished state”. Characterized by instabilities and uncertainties. Some even question why there is a Nigeria. Nigerian politics have been characterized by turm oil and crises since the British relinquished colonial power in 1960. This is the first country we have studied that has a colonial history. And we will be looking at what is the impact of the colonial experience, and what legacy did the British leave, how does it structure this government and what have they done since the British left. So we got the British giving up power in the 1960s and now almost 50 years later the country is still trying to escape its colonial past and piece together even a fragile democracy. Per capita incomes are scarcely higher than they were in the 60s. in 1960 Nigeria was stronger economically than countries like Indonesia or Malaysia. In 1960 nigeria had a wealth of natural resources, a large population, and the presence of highly entrepreneurial/ or business related people in the all regions of the country. Today, Nigeria is among the poorest countries in the world. Its rich endowment of natural resources was not enough to ensure economic development. Their richness in resources may even have encouraged rent seeking (for now it is a form of patron-client relations). So the natural resources encouraged rent seeking which in turn are behaviors that undermine the economy. The authoritarian rule, single party, and military rule allowed corruption, fraud, mismanagement, and a restriction of civil liberties. So this is going to be the first country that we have studied that will have a list of military government. All of these problems undermine the development of a stable system of democracy, with competitive elections, checks and balances, professional civil service, and independent judiciary and free press (which are all the symbols and signs of a political democracy that are not really (noise, I think it said shown) any longer). The existence of over 250 (maybe as many as 400) competing nationalities or ethnic groups, largely defined by language groups, have made it difficult to answer the “national question” – how is the country to be governed with it’s great diversity? Or how is Nigeria going to stay together? We have not looked at any country with 350 ethnic group until now. The lack of asound economic policy let Nigeria split into an overwhelming dependence of petroleum exports owing to underinvestment and neglect of agriculture. Nigeria moved from self sufficiency in the area of basic food stuff in the 1960s to heavy dependence on imports of food less htan 20 years later. Prebendealism (another term that is associated with patron-client association) pb style patron client relations ship became the public ethic and economic development suffered. Prebendalism is a system of large patronage networks based loyalty through which civilian officials hve used high level positions to gain larger wealth. Pb has skewed, its economic and political management has brought political instability to Nigeria. Local government officials gained support from villagers from dispensing favors and they in turn received favors for supporting their patron bosses, of course, most favors are exchanged among the political elite. The pattern persists on all levels. With PC comes corruption and informal influence. Nigeria economy becomes dependent on oil- it is a major oil producer. Nigeria’s heavy indebtedness gives foreign competitors and the international monetary fund (IMF) a strong influence over the economic policies. The government has a low level of legitimacy and accountability and a persistant inablility to meet the needs of its citizens. Nigeria has undergone several political transistions from democratic government to autocratic regimes (both civilian and military) and from one military regime to another. It has yet to witness an orderly and constitutional chart over a power from one democratic government to another. Although in the year 2003 an elected civilian who was the president was named olusegun Obasanjo. In 2003 he was reelected president, close to a democratic turnover. The catch with obasanjo is that he had been a military general and had been involbed in previous military government. In the year 2007 a man named umaru yar’adua was elected president amid wide spread allegation of voter fraud, ballot box stuffing, and other irregularities. Nigeria has had 6 military regimes and countless attempted coops and a bloody called the Biafra civil war. Now while it was still a colony the British recognized the multi-ethnic character of their colony and the British divided Nigeria into a federation consisting of three regions- each having an elected government, in 1954. This tendon to strengthen the collective identities of Nigeria’s ethnic group by fostering political competition. Each of the three federal units soon fell from the domination from one of the three largest ethnic groups and of their respected political parties. Nigeria is split into thirds by the flow of two rivers. We have a north and then in the south its split into east and west. The northern region comes under the control of political party called the northern people congress, the dominant interest group is hausa-fulani. In the south, the region west of the Niger River and the Venu River was controlled by the political party called the action group, and the dominant ethnic group is called the Yoruba. The dominant ethnic group in the south east is the igbo and they are associated with the political party called the national convention of Nigerian citizens. It’s a federal system and although the country is not big there is an awful lot of states. In 1960 Britain grants Nigeria independence the British parliamentary model was adopted for the regional and federal governments. The chief executive, who is the prime minister, is chosen by the majority party. Northerners came to dominate the federal government because of their greater numbers. Within two years the northerner’s people’s congress achieved an outright majority in the national legislature and the northerners controlled government leadership. When the Northerners set out to redistribute resources to their own direction they came into direct conflict with the south. So we got people from the north showing favoritism and they are showing discriminatory in distributing the country and sending to the north more funding than to the other regions and the south objects. Rivalries intensify as northern people’s congress sat atop an absolute majority and had absolutely no need to form a coalition with any other party. When widespread voter fraud gave these northern people congress and tarnished history in 1965, a group of largely Igbo military officers who resented north dominance seized power in January 1966. The general in charge and in general Ironsi hoped to end the political corruption with a new constitution that would replace the federation with a unitary state. Northerners were suspicious. In July 1966 general Iransi was killed in a second coup, this time by non-igbu military. The new leader is the general Gowon, he was a middle belt (the area on the board between north and south) Christian and he became the consensus (head of state) of state in July 1966. There’s a variety of religions in Nigeria, and in this country we are going to see very sharp cleavages. There are ethnic group that compete with three dominant political parties. If you are in a certain group you don’t vote for the others political parties. They also have a variety of religions. Now we are going to get people whose vote is also influenced by religion, when you have 2 separate cleavages that override each other we speak of cross cutting cleavages. They are all over Nigeria. By 1967 the predominantly igbu population of eastern Nigeria attempted to form an independent nation, they decided they would secede from Nigeria. They wanted to form and independent Nation called Biafra. Civil war breaks out. In January 1970, Biafra was defeated in a civil war. During the war general Gowon inc. the size of Nigeria Military from 10,000-25,000. After the war general Gowon sets out to dilute the power of the big three groups. He is going to do it by breaking the 4 state fed. Into 12 states (later inc. to 19 by Gowon successor. Further down in increased to 36) this increase in the number of states was an attempt to reduce ethnic and regional polarization. Ideally it would reduce competition. Senior military officers were getting rich from oil boom 1973-74. Corruption was wide spread and General Gowon postponed a return to civil rule that he had promised to achieve by 1976. He promised to turn government back to civilian rule. He is overthrown in 1975 by a man named Kartala Muhammed and he restarts a transition to civil rule in 1975, he is assassinated in 1976 and gen. Olisigan Obisanyo took control but now in 1976 he is a military general and has control of the country. And he peacefully seized power to an elected civilian government in 1979 and his turn over to a 2nd civilian government marks the turn to a 2nd civilian republic.
norah :D this is already half of the history

Monday, March 16, 2009

3rd Period: March 16, 2009

Today in class, Mr. Gottschalk handed back our China tests, China timed write, and Russia questions. We went over them, and he asked if we had any questions. Common mistakes made on the timed write were not staying within the time frame (1990s) and mixing up privatization with privatized industry. This took up most of the period. In the remaining few minutes, we started going over the HISTORY OF NIGERIA

  • Nigeria has been called an "unfinished State" characterized by instabilities and uncertainties.
  • Nigerian political culture has been characterized by turmoil and crisis since the British relingquished colonial power in the 1960s
  • Over 40 yrs later, Nigerian is still trying to escape its colonial past. The percapita incomes are scarcely higher than at independence.
  • In 1960, NIgeria was stronger economically than India and Malaysia, with a wealth of natural reserves, large population, and a presence of a highly entrepreneual group of people
  • Today, it's one of the poorest countries in the qorld. National resources are not enough to ensure its economic stability. RENT SEEKING (a form of patron client relationships) behaviors undermine the economy
  • Authoritarian, single party, and military rule allowed corruption, fraud, and mismanagement all undermined the stability of democracy

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Notes

¯ After the Communists realize how much of a flop the Great Leap Forward turned out to be, they re-analyzed the structure of their actions. Their moves to change included the return of private farms, and communal farms either diminished in size or were taken away.
¯ Mao, who had been demoted from his position as head of the Communist party, gets the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on his side and launches an attack in 1965. This attack is called the “Cultural Revolution.”
Factors that contributed to this Cultural Revolution included:
¯ Mao’s hostility to the growing power of the moderates. He allowed two of his followers, Liu Shaoqi and Dang Xiaoping to try market-oriented policies. Dang Xiaoping also was important in the move to return land to the peasants. They revived the economy, and though they were successful, Mao was upset because it did not follow Communist principles.
¯ Policy disputes within the leaders at the top of the Communist party. The leadership is diverse and argues much about policy; not everyone listens to Mao.
¯ Concern among older Maoist followers that the young generation did not understand the principles of Communism and are losing passion for Communist China.
¯ Mao’s wanting to take control.
The characteristics of the Cultural Revolution included:
¯ Attempts to glorify Mao and his ideas
§ The little red book of his sayings was popular with the peasants
¯ In the media, they claimed that he was vigorous in spite of his age and swam six miles in one hour per day.
¯ The purge of moderate and bureaucratic leaders, including Shaoqui (the person who replaced Mao) and Xiaoping
§ Thousands of people are arrested and killed
¯ Effort to mobilize mass actions and get enthusiasm for the old revolution.
§ Jiang Qing forms the Gang of Four in Shanghai; they take control of the Western influences in Shanghai and cleans the media of anything other than Mao.
¯ Manipulation of public opinion
¯ The Cultural Revolution began in 1965 with media attacks on Communist leaders who opposed Mao. It emphasizes service to society and struggle.
§ A band of thugs called the Red Guard create violence in the streets and are puppets to Mao and the Gang of Four; they allow the Red Guards to use weapons and kill.
¯ In late 1967, Mao realizes the Cultural Revolution has gone too far and attempts to gain control of the Red Guards. He is unable to, so he calls in the PLA to restore order and shut down the Red guards. It takes them around three years to completely settle the violence.
¯ 1969 brings the Cultural Revolution to a close, it brings an end to violence and dirty politics
¯ Prior to 1970, a coalition of three major groups forms the leaders of the Communist party. By 1970, they all compete to be in the lead and the Communist party tries to decide
§ One group is Mao, the gang of Four, and his followers
§ Another group is the military, PLA (people’s liberation army
§ The last group is the small number of remaining moderate administrators and bureaucrats
· This is led by Xhou Enlai, who emphasizes the need for economic development and promoted limited Western influence
· In 1973 he announces the Four Modernizations to improve the economy and sets development programs to modernize agriculture, industry, national defense, science, and technology.
¯ This coalition proves to be unstable and a coup is led against Mao
¯ Lin Biao, Defense Minister, tried to escape to the USSR but his plane crashes; this takes the military out of Communist leadership
¯ Mao dies in 1976, which takes him out of the scene; the Gang of Four, however, still remains.
¯ Hua Guofeng took over for Mao as head of the Communist party and purges the Gang of Four.

¯ After the Cultural Revolution, the coalition broke up.
¯ China has to overcome the effects of no intellectual development of a decade; everything gets put on hold for the Cultural Revolution. There is a new emphasis on achievement over ideological purity in the Communist party; those who are technically competent have the primary qualifications for running the country.
¯ The economy take top priority, and Xiou Enlai becomes important.
¯ He dies in 1977, which clears the way for Dang to emerge as a strong advocate for modernization and the breaking of Maoism; he was an outspoken critic of the Cultural Revolution.
¯ In Dec. 1978 decisions are made in the Communist party that repudiated Mao’s ideas; there is a clean break from Maoism and the Communist party removes Goufeng from leadership, allowing Dang to come to power.
¯ In China, one can be the real leader and not hold a role as head of the party or government.
¯ The use of material incentives, market forces and de-centralization results in the greatest economic boom in China’s history.
¯ Agriculture takes off first, and farmers are given discretion; the result is a grain surplus, which is an unusual problem.
¯ There are similar results in industry, which begins to boom; there is tremendous growth in the economy. Private businesses are allowed to develop, and foreign investors are allowed too, which is very different from the old Communist rule.
¯ By 1990, over 400,000 private businesses have developed
¯ Back in the 80s, the economy was opened to foreign investment before Mao died
¯ When they realized how beneficial foreign investment was, they allowed it and used SEZ to control it; by 1979 four had been set up. These were special economic zones that were cut off to Chinese businesses and had their own special taxes. By the mid 1990s the market and foreign investment had spread to most of urban China. The relations between foreign and Chinese investors take off and the new slogan is born: GET RICH.
¯ This refers to the mixing state/government planning with independent planning in the market economy; there are still some government owned industries, it is not completely privatized.
¯ Four main indications of Dang’s impact on China:
¯ Under Dang’s influences, the higher education system is re-vitalized; the best and brightest students used to be sent to other countries.
¯ Another important aspect of Dang’s influence is that he decentralizes the economy.
¯ Dang tolerated limited private enterprises.
¯ Dang encouraged talented technicians to join the Communist party; as long as they were talented, they were welcomed. He attempted to recruit these people.
¯ An important cleavage can be recognized in the people’s reaction to the reforms. One group wants more reforms, another wants to put an end to the reforms. The latter group is made up of old Communists.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Some old russia notes from feb 20th-sorry so late

I. Parties
a. USSR- one party- communist
i. Through control of schools etc, able to fully indoctirnate citizens in idea that comies made no mistakes
b. Policy making accomplished at the highest levels fo the part, whether it was the oligarchy (politburo), or a dictator
i. As the moed towards democracy and into Russia system is weak
c. Unde rYeltsin, parties are brand new, only recently formed and win seats in national legislature
i. Leads to major clashes with Yeltsin to the point where he dissolved the legislature and created havoc
d. 42 parties were trying to win seats in the Duma in ’95, but only 4 parteis got the more than 5% of the vote to win seats
i. going into 1999, 26 parties vying
1. new party – Unity, formed around of personality of the Prime Minister, Vladmir Putin
a. on election day, Unity showed surprising strength
i. it had no platform other than support Putin
e. Setp 2003- dissappearance in # of small parties ((democratic parties- parties that formed under Yeltsin as Russia was tring to become more democratic)
i. In the end, 23 parties competed
ii. Only the communist party was an authenti political party with a national base of membership/constiuency
1. Everything else = local
iii. Brand new parties
1. United Russia
a. Formed by merger of Unity and Fatherland All Russia
i. Was and still is in most ways the old unity party
ii. Had no platform other than to support Putin
2. Motherland
a. Electoral trickster
b. Nationalist party (stronger Russia)
c. Approved by Putin
d. Tasked with running a campaign in order to take votes from the Communist party
e. Platform attacked Oligarchs, voter sentiment amongst people in favote of renationalizing Oligarh companies
iv. United Russia ended up gett 37.1% of vote Commie = 12.7%, the Liberal Democratic Party (based around Zhirinovsky) = 11.61%, Motherland = 9.1% of vote
1. Lib Dems- people who were absolutely bitter about Russia’s loss of statureon the global stage
2. Only 4 parties won seats in the Duma
3. Yabloko came in with 4.3% of vote, and Union of Right Forces came in with 4.6%
f. 2007 Elections
i. only 4 parties meet the now 7% needed to gain seats in Duma
ii. United Russia wins 315 seats out of 450
1. Gives them the 2/3 vote needed to amend the constitution, which accouts for the 2008 amendments going throguh
iii. After 2007, commie part still only tru opposition, holds 57 seats
iv. Liberal democrats win 40
v. New party called Fair Russia won 38 seats
1. Controlled by the government under Putin and was designed to do the same thing as Motherland (steal votes)
g. Reduction in # of parties, weakening of commie party signals the end of transitionn to Western Democracy
h. Parties still based on personalities of the leader of the party
i. Because of this, political scientist call the party system a Floating Party system
1. Parties based on political personalities seem to come and go and there isnt much continuitities in parties that contest elections and the voters that subscribe to them
i. Where is it going?
i. Russia looks more and more like a one party state at times
1. A lot of that due to law in 2006 raising percentage to vote needed to keep seats in Duma to 7%
a. Also requires political parties to prove they have mor etha 50,000 members nationally
b. Must prove they have functioning branches in at least 45 regions
i. Each branch must have 500 members
c. Combination of these rules caused more than 35 small parties to disband
2. Medvedev maybe forming a political party
j. Platforms
i. Communist party = furthest left on spectrum
1. Orginially totally opposed to Yeltsin and Gorbachev;s reform
2. Today favor redirecting economic reforms
a. More state protection of industry
b. Slow down privatization
c. Wide social security net for workers who lose their jobs and retire
ii. United Russia
1. Unity had no platform other than support Putin
2. Today UR characterized as “party of power”
a. Political party designed to keep Putin in power and in office
3. Put together in secret by early Oligarch
a. Boris Berezhovsky
b. B was first of Oligarchs to penetrate into system, advised Yeltsin
c. Splits with Putin, and one of the first ones run out of the country bu Putin
i. No longer a part of the party he supposedly founded
4. Fatherland All Russia = center left party
iii. Fair Russia
1. Created in 2006 supposedly designed as Junior partner in eventually two party system with UR, make it look like a democratic system
a. Putin was going to control both parties
2. Merged by Motherland, and 3 other countries
3. Never managed to seriously challenge the communists
iv. Liberal Democrats
1. Strong nationalists
2. Don’t like privatization
a. Have early success
i. Enough people hurt by loss of stature that they joined
3. Zhirinovsky very popular in the press
II. Constitution
a. USSR had on
i. Dominant role of the party was spelled out
1. Declare the communist party in the USSR was the leading and guiding force on soviet society
2. Operated within bounds of democratic centralism
3. Collective leadership- deisions for country made by consensus after freen and open discussion ad once decision was made, all members expected to accept int and carried it out
a. Didn’t work that way
b. Always led from top down by small #
b. Gorby to change this, constitutional and institutional restructuring
i. Introduces new office ito government
1. President- appointed himsself
2. Thought that clear head of government would make them look mor legitimate?
c. Republic of Russia
i. Created new office
1. Boris yeltsin elected by direct popular vote
2. Became obvious Russia needed to rewrite constitution, adopts revised consitution which borrowed many ideas from Western systems particularly France which had mix of President and Prime Minister (very strong president)
3. Putin follows cosntitution whileusing own dominance to interpret it the way he wanted, but still sticks with it somewhat
4. Rule of Law problem.

So old, this is back from February 6th but hey I'm getting it done

EU
-coal and steel co. 51'
-set up a high authority to serve as an administrative body
-to make policy
-set up a ct. of justice
-common assembly
-reach has grown more countries and products

Treaty of rome 57'
Single European Act 85'
Masterich 93'
-gave authority to act in a number of places
-not many things it can't touch
-creates European citizenship live, work. vote. in parliamentary elections in member countries
-created the common currency and European central bank

Policy making
-1st step-commission-27 members
-responsible for looking at laws to see if they are good for Europe
-can propose legislation
2nd step- council of ministers
-each nation looks out for their own country(PMs or Sr. gov't officials)
-commision-promotes integration
council-has to pass the laws
-can produce legislation as well
-some topics they want unanimous vote
-QMV-qualified majority voters

Treaty of Nice 03'
-assign a number of votes to the council based on pop.
-all votes for one country can't be split
3rd European ct. of justice
-resolves disputes based on various treaties and legislation passed
-union law takes precedent over national law
4th European Parliament-526 members every 5 years
-choosen by citizens
-consulted 2x when trying to make a law
-1st-commission proposes law
-gives opinion on
-the council must consider opinion
-2nd-when council makes its initial decision
-if they agree or takes no action for 3 months -passed
-if they suggest ammendments
-goes back to com. 1 month
-council changes
-if par rejects concil can override with unanimous vote
-can dismiss entire commission-never used
-can't appoin single commissionsers
-treaties give par. veto power
-power to induct investigations and conduct other European bodies-used in 99' on part of commissio-everyone resigned
-efforts at unification
-Eastern communist block 04' (10) countries
-attempted to write a constitution
-citizens voted
05' EU-launched 1st satelite
08' Eu-comitted to reduce greenhouse emissions by 20% in 2020
-also 20% comes from solar, wind energy
08' Ireland rejected Lizbin treaty

There you have in in case you wanted to know a bit about Great Britain still =P

Thursday, March 12, 2009

march 12

Today we took the China test.
Tomorrow is the timed write, and Country Questions are due on Monday!!!
:)

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Period 3, 3/10/09

What’s the number one direct agent of socialization? China’s gonna be ((?)). The Communist party is a socializer, the family, the education system. Over history the communist party will kind of try to instill a highly moralistic centralized culture, but in recent years, as we’ve noted, corruption seems to have over taken the system on many levels. Back in ancient China the family, not the individual, is the basic unit of Chinese society. And since about 1949 family policy could be divided into three phases. Early 1950s freedom of marriage, freedom of divorce and the equality of the sexes was recognized. While the local power of the old families over local affairs was being replaced by authority in the communist party, so this is soon after the revolution. From the mid 50s into the 1980s family power declined and since 1980 the family has gained much of its former status. At the same time, since 1980 a new marriage law has furthered liberalized divorce, although obtaining a divorce remains difficult. The one child per family population growth control policy has effected families also. Under the current one child per family policy, city residents are limited to one child while rural residents may have two. In addition, parents who themselves are only children and members of that same minority are granted exceptions. There’s a section on minorities in your textbook. They have a lot of vigorous (something).
Interesting to China watchers, Chinese government announced in January 2007 that fines for violating this one child per family policy may actually be reduced. And it seemed to show some government concern over public opinion and the growing gap between rich and poor. And then in January 2008 it was announced the 500 people in one province had been expelled from the communist party for violating the policy, which I think tells us that the Chinese leadership isn’t quite clear on what the policy should be and how it should function. One of the other things that is happening in China is that more Communist party members, more celebrities, more well off people, are violating the policy, which then undermines social equality and embarrasses the communist purists. They have some problems enforcing the program.
By in large the education policy in China had been a tremendous success. In the post-Mao period, education policy emphasized qualitative improvement rather than simply expansion of education opportunities. And the shift in the academic environment was a result of the communist party’s emphasis on modernization. They recognized, and they said before that these are pretty pragmatic people, that in order for China to make progress in science and technology, their universities have to be expanded. And experts had to be encouraged and restructured. The Chinese didn’t hesitate to send students overseas to foreign universities while their own universities were improving.
In their communications, the mass media in China is controlled by the Communist Party. The People’s Daily is the newspaper of the Communist Party’s Central Committee and has an authoritative voice. There is heavy editorial oversight of the media content by the party and there is no private mass media in China. There is private local media, but with smaller audiences. Criticism of negative phenomenon and even of leadership failings is allowed in the government press, but there cannot be general criticism of the leadership and their really can’t be opposition to the current party. So the language of the Chinese read often slogan-bound. And you’ve seen a lot of slogans, often ideological and sometimes kinda obscure and hard to understand. The media is designed to persuade the people to carry out communist party policy.
And finally we get some indirect socialization through individual experiences and that can become a major socialization factor in a country undergoing as much rapid social change as China is(did?). We look at the political culture and the People’s Republic of China rose from it’s revolutionary era dominated by three themes.
One was nationalism. One was a national unification under a national authority, and if you remember at the revolution, part of the revolution warlords had been local strongman and the central government was not very strong, and so a communist theme. And the third theme was social and economic reform. We would call China and authoritarian political system. The regimes legitimacy has been threatened by events like the cultural revolution, Tiananmen square massacre, challenged by the Fao Lu Gong, but it seems to have survived. China has a mixed economic system. Part government owned businesses. In China government over the past decade or so has become less intrusive, still no such thing as a loyal opposition political party, however China does have an ethnic cleavage. China’s ethnic population is primarily Hahn((??)). Hahn Chinese form China’s basic identity they were the majority. Minority groups compose only about 8% of china’s population, but as we saw in Russia, the minorities live in China in autonomous areas (like Tibet) and the autonomous areas were told by the minority percent of populations, have 60% of China’s territory and have a long history of resistance to the Chinese government. There are 55 officially recognized minority groups. Generally the central government’s policy has been to encourage economics development and to suppress expression of dissent in these minority groups. There is also a growing urban-rural cleavage that reflects economic difference as well as social lifestyle differences and the many episodes of rural unrest makes this cleavage pretty obvious.
If we look at how average citizens participate. Chinese Communist party decides what people should do and tries to turn them out to meet the party’s goals. It used to be that the government could mobilize political participation, get huge crowds to turn out, fill stadiums with people, more difficult for them to do that these days, but there are still basically three ways for the average citizen to participate.
1. Vote in local elections. That is, elections the village, distract, or county level communist party congresses and turnout in local elections usually exceeds 90%.
2. Get involved in the government’s occasional mass campaigns, which do get people involved, to and extent, in policy implementation, and allows influence on local decisions or local decision makers.
3. Person to become actively involved in local affairs, below the level of local government, in being a local activist and being recognized.
We look at the elites. When China was very tightly communist, top to bottom, left to right, we spoke of three political roles, one of those being an activist, a cadre, and a party member. Those three layers or levels had dominated the staffing of the Chinese political system, historically. And in 2001 a fourth role for the elites was added when communist party membership opened up to capitalists, the businessmen and business owners. Activists by definition as average citizens, they do not hold full time, official positions in government. They, on their own, acquire interests in gov’t take some initiative and may even gain some responsibility in public affairs. So being an activist is the first step to becoming a political elite and most people that go on to become cadres or party members are drawn from the activists. Cadres are those who hold a leadership position in a government organization and it would generally be their full-time job. State cadres, that is, full time employees who staff state, party, and mass organization hierarchy, above the primaries above the local levels and who receive their salaries from the government. State cadres, appointed from within the bureaucracy through the personnel section of the government and the communist party. There is a tension in the Chinese government at this cadre level between people who are mostly politicians moving up and those who have professional or technical skills and aren’t overwhelmingly interest in politics, you have a clash there. Admission to the communist party is the decisive act to becoming a political elite in China. Party membership provides entrance into the political careers with opportunities for advancement, for power, for privileges. Higher level govt’ units and some types of profession s have mostly party members. A difficult task for Chinese Communist Party has been to identify and advance or promote technically qualified people who can lead China’s modernization, but who are also politically reliable. And the communist party in china to it’s discomfort has had to place less emphasis on political conformity in order to place more emphasis on productivity and this is particularly true during Deng’s time, to post-Mao period. Today, technically competent, politically reliable people are still needed to run the government owned businesses as well as to advice the communist party and the government leadership, But as the number of private businesses in creases and as a private sector becomes a larger and larger part of the economy business men are less likely to be interested in government positions and to be more interested in making money. To keep from becoming increasingly disconnected from the business elites Chinese Communist membership has made a ((something, 21:00)) in 2001. If we look at getting as far on the political agenda and this is normally where we would take up interest groups we go back to Mao’s day, Mao at least theoretically got things placed on the political agenda in accordance with his idea of the mass line. That is, taking the ideas of the people and concentrating them, and giving them back to the people and explaining the idea until the masses agree and accept the idea as their own/. The mass line then, was a principle that party leadership depends on constant contact with the party and the public. ((Discussion on the AP and if it will discuss the mass line. He doesn’t think so, but wants you to know in case. Pay attention to the test and give him feedback.)) Today organized interest groups while there, are not permitted to influence the political process unless they are under the Communist Party state authority. The Communist Party State tries to preempt the formation of groups by forming mass organizations in which people may express their opinions within fairly strict limits. These mass organizations \often form around occupations or social categories for example, most factory workers belong to the All China Federation of Trade Unions which is an official state organization and it alone has the power to collectively bargain for wages and benefits. So in China, workers are not allowed to form independent unions. Women’s interest are represented in the All China Women’s Federation. And concerns of young people are supposedly represented in the Communist Youth League. In urban areas the communist party tries to maintain social control through what are called tanwei. These are social units from the party, usually based on a person’s place of work. And people come to depend on their tanwai for jobs, for income, for promotion, as well as for medical care and housing, day care centers, recreational facilities. Still in the last 15 years, China has gone from having virtually no interest groups of any kind to more thasn 300,000 non-government organizations. But in China their impact on policy making is weak. These organizations, these non-government organizations, the tanwei, and the state’s relationships reflect state corporatism. Most organizations are created are at least approved by the state and many have government officials as their leaders. The state only allows one organization for any one profession or activity making it easier for the government to monitor and control them. In authoritarian society, like China individual contacts and patron-client networks take on a (something) China recruits it’s leaders through the nomenclature system. However Chinese leaders communicate with one another through a patron-client network that they call a guanzi. These linkages that are similar to the good-old-boy networks that we pointed out in the UK have the underscored importance of career ties between individuals as they rise through the political system.
Events like the student protest in Tiananmen Square, the demonstrations by the Fao Lu Gong, and recent protests against the governments one-dog policy of November 2006. We have talked about the one dog policy. November 2006 government decided that there were too many stray dogs running the streets and families could only have one dog. And actually they sent out the army into the street and clubbed stray dogs to death. And not only strays. People walking their dogs had them taken and clubbed to death right in front of them. ((Noise)) The protest at Tiananmen square, the Fao Lu Gong, protests against this one=dog policy and the way the government went about implementing it are another way of getting interests on the political agenda. Only thing is, they’re not particularly well received by the government. The internet also frustrates govt control. While the government often tries to maintain a blackout on bad news barring almost all newspapers and broadcasters from reporting and ordering major internet sites to censor the news the proliferation of small websites keeps the news alive even as the government tries to close them down, if the government notices a lot of traffic going to a specific site. The govt has laws banning use from internet cafes, and has implemented control programs that kick teens off network games, have to file out in addition china has internet addiction clinics, which teens are sent if they become addicted to the internet. These are becoming effective and combining the use of cell phones and the internet. Watch the frustration of the authority. In the summer of 2007 environmental activists had hundreds of thousands of text messages ricocheting around cell phones in a particular cite, warning of government plans to build a giant chemical factory which they claim would cause leukemia deform babies. Messages generated a lot of public anger and forced a halt in construction pending further environmental impact studies by the government th9is delay in 2007 marked a rare instance in China of public opinion rising from the streets and actually prompting a policy change in the communist party. During the 2 days of street demonstrations that were in response to the text messages citizen journalists carry cell phones sent text messages to bloggers in several other cities who then posted real time reports to the entire country. Bloggers stayed a step ahead of government security forces that tried to cut down sites carrying the reports. And who’s going to win? Is there any way for the government to take control of cell phones and the internet?

notes

little late. sorry! but here they are before the test


3.4.2009
a. 1978-1979
b. place near govt headquarters in Beijing where ppl had the oppurtunity to express their views on greater political freedoms (posting essays, graffiti, posters)
c. invitation to call for greater freedoms, not just economic
d. young political activist, Xu Wenli goes and collects the essays at Democracy Wall and assembles them into a political journal
e. as the calls got louder, Deng had enough, and he moved to smash the Democracy Wall movement
i. in return Xu got arrested, brought on trial, and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
f. This illustrates the Commie party willing to loosen economic things but jealously retracting their political power
vi. 1989, College Students take to Tianemen Square demonstrating for more political reform
1. tension between the Communist Party and the citizens came to a head again.
2. brought out due to death in Hu Yaobeng, who had been ousted by Commie hardliners
a. hero to the reformist wing of the Communist Party
3. students in the Square are criticized in editorial in the official newspaper, People’s Daily
a. Communist party mixed, some think enough is enough students need to be in school, and some think that it’s alright, they should look into it
b. The secretary of the party, Zhao Ziyang, disagreed with the criticism
4. The demands continued, ignored calls from the govt, and they initiate a hunger strike as the govt. doesn’t meet their demands
i. This puts compromise out of reach
5. Deng goes to crush the march, and Zhao resigns
a. The military converges in Tianemen Square, and the demonstration is brutally ended
vii. Foreign Investment continued to be encouraged
viii. Deng is force behind government but heavily influencing decision making even though he is essentially retired
1. He doesn’t hold any position within the Party, but they wont move on with decisions with out him
a. Regarded as an elder
2. By 1995, Deng’s health is failing
a. They realize they have to find a new leader, the premier Li Peing announces that China’s President Jiang Zemin, an advocate of edonomic reform had been confirmed of the third generation leader
b. 3rd person in high government positin as vice premier, Zhou Roujin
i. in charge of ecnomic reform of Chines government
c. they said they would be a ruling 3-some
3. this leads to more stability as they don’t have to worry about choosing a leader
4. Deng dies at 92, in 1997
5. Leadership goes to Jiang Zemin, who is 72
t. Jiang is President, Secretary of the Party, and head of the Government
i. Jiang Zemin is able tto strengthen his political position at the Communist Party congress in Fall, 1998
1. Held every five years
ii. Two critics who were members of the politburo were forced to retire at this meeting
iii. Li Peing comes up against term limits and canot continue as Premier, and takes the #3 position, the head of the legislature (National People’s congress)
1. Zhou Rongji takes the Premier position
u. 1998- the Communist party agrees to large scale privatization to government owned industries which were lagging behind privatized industries
i. don’t call it privatization though – don’t want to be like soviets
1. call it shift to public ownership
ii. the gvoernment planned to hold on to some 3,000 companies, and some 10,000 other firms were going to sell shares to public or workers, but with the government maintaining sizeaable stakes within the companies
iii. other medium sized and smaller firms were given considerable latitutude to get off government life support (whatever they had to do)
iv. privatizing presented major challenges
1. Chinese companies had traditionally provided craddle to grave benefits to its workers, but now its tough to sll offf companies that also own and operate a whole raft of social services
a. Ex: 1997, China’s sixth largest steel company owned 11 kindergartens, 15 primary schools, and 15 high schools with 1500 staff members, owned a hospital with 1900 beds and 1200 members, more that 16,000 subsidized apartments for workers, and in addition businesses supported their own retirees
b. Thus private China had no social security system or safety net
2. By 2006, this privatization moved combined with no SS prgram has meant that elderly Chinese are dependent on their children
3. The one child program meant that one person found themselves supporting 2 elderly parents (difficult)
4. The move away from gov ownership to mix of market ecnomy presents additional difficulties
a. Chinese citz appreciated less control over economy and want less control of private lives
b. In rural areas (passed over by boom) people protesting gov corruption
i. Been problem since Mao’s days and continues today
c. National health care is problem
i. Gov has problem financing system with indiviudual responsibilites
ii. Includes new taxes
5. In Spring 1998, growing # awareness within the Party’s senior ranks that they couldn’t dictate economy or lives, they could also no longer represent everybody equally
a. Intelletuals began to say the time was right for the public to debate on the future of China
b. July 1998, 10 dissidents (critics) of the government arrested after the attempted to register anew political party called the China Democratic Party
i. Challenge to dominance
ii. All of them were released and none were charged
c. September
i. Dissidents attempt to register same party in 2 additional cities, they were told the aplications would be considered and no arrests were made
d. December
i. Authorites arrrest 5 members of the china Democratic party including Zhou Wenli and when that happesn Li Peing speaks out and pronounces that the opposition party would lead to unexpected turmoil and would not b allowed to exist
ii. 3 dissidents were tried and sentence, Zhou Wenli gets 13 years for plotting to overthrow state power, one gets 12 years, and the other gets 11 years
e. the week after the sentences, newspapers run new rules that threaten diretors, popular singers, and software engineers with life in prison for threating to overthrow power
6. Late 90’s (mostly 99) commie party leadership faced another party
a. Sect known as Falun Gong
i. Millions of members that grew very quietly with no stated political goals
ii. Each morining and evening these members would go to public parks and do exercises and go off on their way
iii. Most of them were unemployed, retired, poor, or other wise disaffected demonstrating that the reforms had passed them by
b. April 99, gov surprised whne more that 10,000 members surrounded the HQ of the party and sat down in a peaceful sitting
i. They demanded legal status for the movement
ii. Government banned the Gong, and members would be pursued and sent to labor camp, all 28,000 sites were to cease
iii. Ban not effective, thousands went to Tianemen Square and held protests
iv. More than 3,000 arrested
v. Afte 20 years of reform, Chinese people by turn of century are not as easily pacified by the government
vi. Also because of widespread corruption, the Partys simply didn’t seem as effective when smashing movements
c. Oct 99, the 114 exec committee of national people’s congress rules that leaders of religious cults may be prosecuted for murder and endangering national security opening way for death sentences for Falun Gong leaders
i. Day after, 4 leaders were arrested and charged with organizing cult
ii. Crack down spreads nationwide, and in nov 99, 589 people had been sent to labor camps, more than 3000 were held for protesting, at least half a dozen had died in police custody, and 4 held for serious crimes
iii. Falun Gong still operates thoug
1. Managed to break into gov tv stations and took over broadcasitng studio and put their own messages on the air
v. March 2000, Zhu Rongji makes ending corruption a major issue for 2000
i. He lashed out at frivolous spending
ii. Focused on need for China’s factories to produce better products
1. Including crackdown on bogus goods and fake medicine
iii. When calle dfor better SS, called for crackdown on officials who stole from pension fund investment plans
iv. Reform state owned assets
v. Colect more taxes
vi. Warned of more fees, major unrest in rural areas
vii. March 2000, leaders crackdown hard, deputy leader sentenced to deat for taking 658,000 dollars in bribe
viii. One convicted and sentened to death for 5 million dollar for bribery scandal
ix. Four major party fiures fired for corrruption
x. Head of Beijing’s powerful food and drug agency executed for accepting bribes (2007)
w. March 2002, in meeting of NPC, one new thing happened to China.
i. They gained membership to the World Trade Organization
1. This involved China lowering barriers to forrieng competition
ii. Rongji said must faithfully abide by terms of membership, which was going to be difficult
iii. Allowed collapse of nearly 2000 gov owned businesses from 1998-2002
1. Rongji expected pace of business failures to accelerate once they faced foreign competition
iv. Millions of workers in China lose their jobs
v. Leads to unrest, 10000-50000 workers protested as a result of layoffs due to inefficient gov owned enterprises
1. Yet while millions were losing jobs, some of China’s rich were trying to become "big rich".
2. Pursuing the wealthy dream in China is easier than in the U.S.
x. November 2002, 16th Commie party Congress
i. Chinese demonstrate that they are thinking ahead
1. They introduce/announce the 4th generation of leadership
a. With Jiang Zemin still there, they announce the VP, Hu Jintao was to replace him as the Commie Party chairman
b. First orderly handover of power since communists achieve control in 1949
ii. In March 2003, when the legislatrure meets
1. Replaced Jiang Zemin as president with Hu Jintao, and at the same time replace Zhu Rongji with the Vprimeir with Wen Jiabao
iii. Expected that Zemin would wield influence cuz he had contorl of militarly and a lot of proteges in the politburo
1. In 2004, he resigned as head of military (surprising) and gives it to Jintao
a. Jintao was head of gov, military, and party,
b. Zemin became an elder
y. Zemins legacy
i. Keeps minimm political tension which brought party to brink of destruction
ii. Gov stepped out of people’s lives
iii. The Communisst Party abandoned the downtrodden and sided those who emerged as winners in the economic boom
1. Allowed capitalists to become members of the Chinese communist party
iv. As a result the Chinese are able to find jobs, work whereever, and live almost wherever they please
v. While civil righs guarantees fall short of western world, citizens enjoy freedoms
1. Evolved from totalitarian under Mao to authoritarian state that has allowed unparalleled expnsion in economy but hold strangle hold in personal life
vi. Communist Party realased suppport of its original base of supporters (poor, workers)
1. Became party of economic, intellectual, and political elite
z. In their first years, Jintao and Jiabao were cautious managers of the Commie bureaucracy
i. Purused reforms which were started by their predecessors but were determined to to give up grip on power
ii. August 2003, after several months of permitting intellectuals to criticize (even suggesting revisions to Constitutions) for months, the communist party orders a halt, and security personnel began harrassing leading leaders in industry
iii. December 2003, 2 amendments to constitution
1. 1st est right to private property in constitution and broadened focus of pearty to party which represented private businesses along with gov businesses
a. confirms reality that existed for decades
i. the real estate market had been full of curruption as gov officials sought land to use for own enterprises
ii. attempt to boost commerce and limit oppurtunities for corruption
2. 2nd amend
a. est Jiang’s theory as official Communist Doctrine
b. Jiang Zemin’s contirbution to comm thinking = 3 represents
i. Argues Commie party in China should rep interests in China, not just proletariat
1. Wants to look out for elites
2. opened party ranks to entrepeneurs
a. former gov officials
aa. 2004, the Communist party central committee warns party that things in China are tense and that there is likelihood of outburst of discontent that could burst in violence
i. comes against background of 58,000 incidents of social unrest in China in 2003
1. Commie party scared
ii. Nov 2004, 10’s thousands protset damn
iii. Textile strike crushed, retirees came out and demanded pension payments
iv. Thousands protested outside department store
v. Unrest continues today
vi. Gov becomes concerned, late 2004, campaign launched that could reinvigorate socialist ideology
1. Comes at a time when President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jintao expressed concerns of bad effects of ccorrruption and need to closegap between city dwellers and the 60% who had been bypassed
2. This shows the hesitancy takes the form of study and self criticism in gov ministries, bureaucracys, chools, and factories
3. At these study meetings the theoriesof Shaopeng who declared market economies integral part of China socialism, and the 3 represents were studied
4. They also said study sessin should also look out how to marry China comminism and capitalism in ventrues between china’s businesses and foreign ventures
bb. July 2005, step taken to market economy
i. Increase value of currency, Yaun
ii. Got rid of 10yr old fixed exchange rate between them and USD, in favor of link into group of world currrency
iii. U.S. pushed China to do this
cc. 2006-07 concerns reflect focus of reigning in econom growth and shifted to solving social tensions wihtin society
i. speech to central committee calling for harmonious society
ii. China’s leaders are conerned bout problems tied to the rapid economic growth and its inpamct of the people hwo miss out
a. Growing gap between rich and poor, inadequate social security system
iii. Retirees increasingly cant live on pensions
iv. Crime/divorce rates higher
v. Wen wne public with gov emphasis on a new socialist countryside
1. Would lift rural economy and shrink some cleavage between rural and urban
dd. 2007 national party congress appoints Hu Jintao to second 5 year term as chairman/secretary
i. and 2nd 5 year term to president
ii. appoints Wen Jibao as Premier to 2nd term
iii. introduce 4 new members of politburo standing committee
1. in China, the politburo of Commie party is the place where policy is made (highest levels of Commie party)
a. extra layer of elietes in China’s
i. stanidng committee, and the real decision makers
iv. also at the same meeting they let on that the intent is to replace Jintao and Jiabao in 2012
1. moving into 2 term rotation
v. 3 of the 4 committee members who are pushed out were supporters of Zemin
1. Hu strengthening grip on leadership in 2nd 5 year term
vi. Recognized Hu’s political innovation
1. Scientific Development
a. They are talking about his emphasis on tempering economic devvelopment and focusing of social concern like environment and guarantees for the poor
i. Likely to joing Mao, Deng, and Jiang as elders
2. He and Jiabao have set temselves apart from predecessors since they are focusing on social issues
ee. March 2008, NPC meeting for a week
i. Concerned about summer olympics In Beijing
1. More degrees of oppennes
2. Such a big issue that both the NPC congress with 2,987 members and the Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Congress with 2200 people met
ii. Because there was a lot of press here, the published proposals for public comment
1. More news conferences, referred to this process as "Consultative Democracy"’
2. Refered to democracy as people being able to comment on proposals
ff. June 2008, Taiwan and China agree to set up permanent offices in each others territory for first time in nearly 60 years (since Commie revolution)
i. Perform Consular duties (not full blown embassy)
gg. September 2008
i. China passed Japan to become U.S. governments largest foreign creditor
ii. Owns 1 dollar out of 10 dollars in U.S. debt
1. U.S. being increasingly forced to rely on China for money
a. 2 risks
i. cant afford to offend China
ii. if they cant lend us money then we are fucked
hh. like the U.S. Britain and Russia they are hurting
i. announce 586 billion dollar stimulus package in November
1. eased credit restrictions, expanded social welfar servics, infrastructure spending program
a. but only º of stimulus coming from central govt
i. another º coming from local govs
ii. remaing _ coing from enterprises, banks, etc
ii. unrest more than rural protests
1. those continue but now more educated chinese behind strikes disrupting strikes in city
2. workers unable to pay for ed