Factions Electoral Practices Political Parties Special Interest Groups The Media

1
Factions Electoral Practices Political
Parties Special Interest Groups The Media

• AP Comparative Government
• Unit IV- Part 2

2
Organizing the Polity

• Definition of Politics
• Activities surrounding election to an office
• Seeking power and control
• Establishing public policy
• Promoting change
• A method for people to get what they want
• Interest aggregation

3
Who are the Political Elites?

• Recruitment -- anyone is eligible . . . BUT
• Tends to be MALE-dominated in our 6 states
• Female involvement in 2006 local elections in GB
• Middle or upper class background
• If from lower class they generally have
  enlightened backgrounds
• Training is usually absorbed with education and
  getting involved within the party system
• Communist systems also pursue trained
  technicians people who will attack the
  bureaucracy ideologically.

4
Political Party

• Group that tries to achieve power through
  election
• Parties use organized attempts to get power
• Goals
• win representation and power
• nation-building
• mobilization - whip up the masses

5
Political Party

• Political party bases of support are drawn from
• Social class SES
• Religious connections
• Ethnic differences
• Gender
• Age
• Regionalism

6
Political Party Functions

• Nomination of candidates
• Information
• Interest articulation -- i.e. former Soviet Union
  allowed spokesmen at all levels of government
• Vehicle for citizen participation
• Recruitment- of elites and others
• Communication -- watchdog
• Interest aggregation --legislation on issues
• Policy-making outputs
• Policy implementation- Bureaucrats oversees

7
One- Party States

• Democracy is a way to mobilize the masses. . .
  not just a way to voice ones opinions. . .
• Democratic centralism-- all leaders are voted in,
  and the top calls the shots.
• Lack of diversity
• No watchdogs of power
• Lack of powerful factions
• No voice for change
• Turnover of power diminished
• Interest aggregation lessened

8
Political Participation

• How do voters participate and achieve political
  efficacy?
• 1. Vote, follow voting patterns
• 2. Join the party
• 3. Civil disobedience--demonstrations.
• 4. Enter campaigns -- Elites
• 5. Monetary contributions-- SIGS PACS
• 6. Riots, VIOLENCE
• 7. No support- apathy

9
Interest Aggregation

• Another Way to Participate and Affect Change
• The political demands of groups and individuals
  are combined into policy programs.
• Bringing people of like minds together to seek
  change or make demands on the government
• A way for members of a society to express their
  needs to a system of government
• Includes Interest groups and Competitive party
  systems

10
Interest Group Systems

• Pluralist Interest
• Group Systems
• Multiple groups may represent a single societal
  interest
• Group membership voluntary and limited
• Groups often have a loose or decentralized
  organizational structure
• A clear separation between interest groups and
  the government

• Corporatist Systems
• Controlled Interest Group Systems
• Democratic Corporatist Interest Group Systems
• A single group for each social sector
• Membership is often compulsory and often
  universal
• Each group is normally hierarchically organized
• Groups are controlled by the government or its
  agents in order to mobilize support for
  government policy
• Groups are often systematically involved in
  making and implementing policy

11
Corporatism v. Pluralism

• Pluralistic groups
• Dont necessarily have government support
• Membership is not mandatory for interest groups
• Decentralized decision making.
• Interest groups compete with each other for
  influence.
• Not necessarily involved in policy making.
• Distant authoritative influence because the
  interest groups may not have the ear of
  government
• Conflictual and informal relationships.

• Corporatist Groups
• Consensual and formal relationships with
  government
• A select number of groups (business, labor,
  NGOs) interact with government to make policy.
• Govt accepts their input as the groups seek a
  common good in controlling policy making.
• Group membership is compulsory.
• Decision-making is hierarchical and very
  centralized.
• Weak patron-client connections if at all.
• This is not a camarilla

12
The Four Types of Interest GroupsAs identified
by Gabriel Almond

• Institutional Groups
• mostly formal and have some other political or
  social function in addition to the particular
  interest.
• Government agencies and bureaus
• Military groups
• Associational Groups
• formed explicitly to represent an issue of a
  particular group
• Unions
• Gun right groups
• Medical issue groups

• Anomic Groups
• generally spontaneous groups with a collective
  response to a particular frustration
• Poll tax rebellion
• Mexican assassinations
• Non-associational Groups
• rarely well organized and their activity is
  dependent upon the issue at hand.
• They differ from Anomic groups in that they are
  usually similar to one another and have a common
  identity.
• Ethnic groups

13
Clientelism

• Clientelism refers to a form of social
  organization common in many developing regions
  characterized by "patron-client" relationships.
• In such places, relatively powerful and rich
  "patrons" promise to provide relatively powerless
  and poor "clients" with jobs, protection,
  infrastructure, and other benefits in exchange
  for votes and other forms of loyalty including
  labor.
• These relationships are typically exploitative,
  often resulting in the perpetual indebtedness of
  the clients in what is described as a
  "debt-peonage" relationship.
• In some instances, patrons employ coercion,
  intimidation, sabotage, and even violence to
  maintain control, and some fail to deliver on
  their promises.
• Moreover, patrons are oftentimes unaccountable
  for their actions. Thus relationships are often
  corrupt and unfair, thereby obstructing the
  processes of implementing true sustainability.

14
Same Song, Different Tune

• Prebendelism in Nigeria
• Very much prevalent in the social and political
  fabric of Nigeria. In fact, this corruption is so
  stubbornly ingrained within the societies of
  Nigeria that little has been done to end the
  corruption.   
• Camarilla in Mexico
• A politicians personal following a group of
  individuals with a common political interest.
• Guanxi in China
• Describes the basic dynamic in the complex nature
  of personalized networks of influence and social
  relationships, and is a central concept in
  Chinese society
• Nomenklatura in Russia
• A small, elite subset of the general population
  in the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc
  countries who held various key administrative
  positions in all spheres of those countries'
  activity government, industry, agriculture,
  education, etc.

15
Voting and Elections

• How often do people vote?
• Who do the people vote for?
• What are the types of voting patterns?

16
Great Britain
17
Influences on British Factions

• Pragmatic ideology-- promoted suffrage
• embody Noblesse oblige
• Welfare state, w/o socialist roots
• centralized economy. . . works best
• London stronghold
• trade unions -- TUC-- heavy welfare--oriented
• Financial sector
• CORPORATISM

18
Great Britain Voting and Elections

• Great Britain- Unitary system
• Voting is easy and uncomplicated
• House of Commons
• Single-member plurality voting system.
• Do not need Majority to be successful, just win
  the most votes of those running.
• Party chooses candidates of MP, not the voter
• Prime Minister
• PM is not on a national ballot
• PM has power to call new elections
• Uses public opinion to time for best personal
  advantage

19
Westminster system

• The Westminster System is a democratic system of
  government modeled after that of the United
  Kingdom and in used in a number of Commonwealth
  nations such as Canada, Australia, Singapore,
  Jamaica, Ireland, New Zealand, and India

20
The Two Major Political Parties in GB

• Labour Party
• Crisis-motivated radicalization of 1960s and
  70s
• New Labour was a third way
• Blairs waning popularity at the end of his term
  led to PM Gordon Browns unpopularity in 09
• Current shadow minister Ed Milliband

• The Conservatives (Tories)
• Noblesse oblige
• Organization
• Thatcherism and after
• Big Society ideas
• David Cameron- current Prime Minister

21
Other Political Parties in GB

• The Liberal Democrats merger of the Liberals
  and the Social Democrats (SDP)
• Has the largest members of all the third parties
  and currently is part of a coalition government
• Deputy PM Nick Clegg
• Other Minor Parties the rise in Scottish,
  Welsh, and Irish nationalism has led to moderate
  growth in support for regional parties.

22
Public Policy of the 1980s The Thatcher
Revolution

• The Domestic politics of Margaret Thatcher (The
  Iron Lady)
• The retreat from the commanding heights
• Nationalizing and privatizing
• Rolling back the welfare state
• PROS AND CONS
• Thatchers supporters say she saved the British
  economy by bring both inflation and unemployment
  under control and by creating a more dynamic
  private sector.
• Thatchers detractors say she created new
  problems and exacerbated existing ones by
  widening the gap between rich and poor and by
  allowing public services to deteriorate.

23
Conservatives Demise in late 20th Century

• 1997 Conservative vote was lowest in 20th century
• Were citizens tired of its rule?
• Conservative party is now an English party.
• New London mayor is a Tory
• Labour won 2/3 of seats w/ only 43 of vote.--
  because of electoral process.
• Thatcher did the dirty work during her reign to
  stay in control
• Majors couldnt keep party under control and lost
  election of 97 and the rematch in 02.

24
Public Policy of the 1990s The Blair Revolution

• Domestic Politics of Tony Blair
• Did not roll back all of Thatchers (and John
  Majors) reforms
• The New Deal
• Government spending as a percentage of GNP shrank
• Welfare that gave recipients skills to find jobs
  rather than just benefits
• Tuition increase
• Placed a tolling London drivers to reduce traffic
  congestion
• PROS AND CONS
• Blairs supporters say he created the Third Way
  combining the best aspects of the socialist goals
  commitment to equality with a market economy.
• Blairs detractors say he sold out the left and
  created Thatcher lite.

25
British 'Pressure Groups'

• Pressure groups are organizations which aim to
  influence Parliament and government in the way
  that decisions are made and carried out.
• They have become much more important in politics
  in recent years, with many people no longer
  choosing to involve themselves in the traditional
  political parties and instead to work through
  single-issue groups.
• There is a huge range of pressure groups,
  campaigning on issues including animal welfare,
  education, the environment, equality for ethnic
  minorities, health, housing, rural affairs and
  welfare rights.
• Some pressure groups work through radical protest
• Yet, others seek influence in more traditional
  ways,
• for example by encouraging people to write to
  their MPs or petition the government.

26
Types of British Pressure Groups

• Pressure groups are often divided into Sectional
  Groups and Cause Groups, the former also being
  known as Interest groups.
• Sectional or Interest groups exist to defend and
  promote the material interests of their members.
• Trades unions, and trade associations are
  examples, together with groups such as the
  National Farmers' Union.
• Cause Groups, as the name indicates exist to
  promote a cause which has nothing to do with
  members' material welfare.
• Such groups campaign for a cause nuclear
  disarmament, the abolition of blood sports,
  restrictions on abortion, are all examples of the
  policies Cause Groups strive to achieve.

27
Important British Business and Labor Unions

• The Confederation of British Industry
• The CBI helps create and sustain the conditions
  in which businesses in the United Kingdom can
  compete and prosper for the benefit of all.
• The top lobbying organization for UK business on
  national and international issues.
• The Trades Union Congress
• TUC has 58 affiliated unions
• TUC membership now stands at 58 unions,
  representing nearly six and a half million people

28
Media in the U.K.

• The British Broadcasting Company started life in
  1922, when the government licensed the UK's six
  major radio manufacturers to form the new outfit.
• NOT a government service
• Licensed by the government
• BBC Motto "Nation shall speak peace unto Nation".

http//www.bbc.co.uk/historyofthebbc//innovation/i
ndex.shtml
29
Mexico
30
Mexico Voting and Elections

• Mexico- Federal system
• A former one-party system/dominant one-party
  system
• PRI now challenged by left (PRD) and right (PAN
• President has 1 six-year term
• Bicameral Congress
• Senate- 6-year terms
• Federal Chamber of Deputies- 3-year terms
• Most are single-member districts but some are
  elected by proportional representation

31
How to Take and Maintain Power in Mexico

• For an political party to be successful in
  Mexico, it must convince the people that it can
  lead
• Machismo
• The PRI made a good case that it was the only
  party able to govern. (fear of the unknown)
• If other parties manage that situation w/o a
  violent exchanges in the future, they will have a
  chance at success.

32
Traditional Mexican Politics

• A corporationist approach to interest
  representation.
• If one needs policy, join the camarilla.
• In order for progress to occur, Mexico must
  control praetorianism (the control of a society
  by force or fraud)
• Must be leaders not ideologists
• Presidential powers are authoritarian in nature
• Whole system reeks of Presidents personality
• Personalism
• Patron-client and Caciquisimo (boss-politics)
  attitudes are very evident.
• President must balance all the players (elites,
  SIGS, other parties) to rule effectively
• Co-optation is evident and effective to head off
  political opponents.

33
Pre- 2000 MexicoThe Traditional One- Party State

• Party President Power!
• Secretary General
• National Executive Committee CEN
• National assembly (purpose - Support and
  Legitimize the presidency)
• PRI Also controlled the
• CFE (Federal election Commission)
• CNC (Peasants, Ejiditarious)
• BUO-CTM (Labour) (oil)
• CNOP (Popular Sector )

34
MEXICO and the PRI

• How did the PRI maintain control despite its
  record of corruption?
• Revolutionary fervor
• Legitimacy through election
• 2/3 vote in old days (1988)
• A semblance that it was working
• Open trade policy w/the U.S.
• NAFTA
• Weak opposition
• It had the network (Patron Client)
• The camarilla was strong

35
Other Mexican Parties

• PAN Partido Acción Nacional (National Action
  Party)
• Church backed, business, wealthy supports it,
  North is strong hold urban middle class --
  support conservative issues. Cardenitas
  anti-NAFTA. Gubernatorial support.
• Zedillo brought them into the administration.
• PAN has been rid with factions, taking away its
  strength.
• Too often the PRI has taken its issues
  (privatization, closer ties the US) and used
  them.
• Fox shifted emphasis to corruption
• PRD Democratic Revolutionary party
• attacked corrupt campaign policies in 2006
• They get their support from frustrated middle
  class . anti NAFTA
• More of a regional threat, not national but close
  to winning in 06.
• too left for most, but not communist.
• PRI hates the PRD, and has punished it in the
  past so no chance for coalition (?)

36
More Mexican Parties

• Communists (PCM - PSUM)
• anti-Soviet Union, moderate (former Trotskys)
• Socialists
• PPS - Anti-US, pro PRI, Nationalization
• PST - socialists workers party, pro-oil platform
• PMT
• Mexican workers party, price controls,
  nationalization of oil resources will produce
  boom for consumer goods
• PRT
• Revolutionary party of the workers --
  intellectuals anti-Soviet Union - Pro-Trotsky. .
  . Ran first woman for President in 1994.

37
The Downfall of the PRI

• President Salinas (1988) established the
  National Solidarity Program to rid the PRI of
  the old sectores, and bring in new blood.
• This program rejuvenated the PRI and brought
  great success in the 1992 elections but less in
  1994
• President Zedillo (1994) who lacked a strong
  camarilla, exposed the PRI to scrutiny ( much
  like Gorbachev) and road a tide of political
  dissent

38
The Fall of the PRI

• Numerous electoral reforms implemented since 1989
  progressively opened the Mexican political
  system, and opposition parties have made historic
  gains in elections at all levels.
• At the same time, this opening left Mexicos
  political institutions divided.

39
The Fall of the PRI- 2000

• Elected in 2000, Vicente Fox is credited with
  ending one-party rule and consolidating the
  opening of Mexicos political system.
• His victory ended the Institutional Revolutionary
  Partys (PRI) 71-year hold on the presidency.
• President Fox completed his term on December 1,
  2006, when Felipe Calderon assumed the
  presidency.
• Under Fox, Mexicos highest office became a true
  constitutional presidency, considerably weakened
  in comparison to the PRI years by the PANs lack
  of control over the Congress.

40
2006 Presidential Race

• Felipe Calderón
• National Action Party (PAN)
• 35.89
• Andrés Manuel López Obrador
• Coalition for the Good of All (PRD, PT, CV)
• 35.31
• Roberto Madrazo
• Alliance for Mexico (PRI, PVEM)
• 22.26
• Patricia Mercado
• Social Democratic and Peasant Alternative Party
• 2.70

41
2006 Legislative Elections

• National Action Party (PAN)
• 33
• Coalition for the Good of All (PRD, CT, PT)
• 29
• Alliance for Mexico (PRI, PVEM)
• 28
• New Alliance Party
• 4.5
• Social Democratic and Peasant Alternative Party
• 2

42
The most interesting aspect of the election was
that the two other main parties, the right-center
PAN, and the leftist PRD ran coalition candidates
for governor in five states and were victorious
in three.
2010 Governorships   The PRI won nine of the 12
governorships, but held nine governorships before
the election.
43
2012 Presidential Elections

• PRI- 39.19- Enrique Peña Nieto
• PRD- 32.42- Manual López Obrador
• PAN 26.05- Josifina Vázquez Mota
• New Alliance 2.34-Gabriel Quadri del Toro

http//usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/world/story/20
12-07-02/mexico-president-PRI/55989276/1
44
2012 Election PRI and Peña Nieto in green PRD and
López Obrador in yellow PAN and Vázquez Mota in
blue
45
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46
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47
The NEW (?) PRI- 2012-?

• PRI DID NOT fade away.
• It has an elaborate camarilla, budget and media
  support.
• Corruption is helpful, stuffing ballot boxes,
  changing sites etc.
• IFE clamped down on some fraud but 2006 led to an
  uprising in Mexico City in support for the PRDs
  Obrador.

• PRI is rural based for support.
• So massive migrations to city has hurt the
  ability to control support.
• Women support it more than men.
• PRI stresses Campaign of fear which bothers
  women more.
• Labor and older voters also support it.

48
Mexican Interest Groups

• Military SIGS
• Budget influences protecting the country, not
  the PRI.
• Corporation SIGS
• Macquiadoras
• CFE Federal Electricity Commission
• The state-controlled CFE fuels some of its
  northern power plants with coal mined in Mexico
  but has to import coal for its distant Pacific
  coast plants. It is struggling with depleted
  reserves after a tender last year to supply its
  needs for 2008 was canceled due to high prices.
• Large industrialists SIGS
• Drug Lords SIGS

49
PEMEX

• (Petraleos Mexicanos) is the world's
  fifth-largest oil company.
• It is protected from competition in Mexico,
  where it enjoys a legal monopoly on the
  exploration, processing and sale of petroleum.
• After prolonged controversy, President Lázaro
  Cárdenas expropriated all foreign oil interests
  on March 18, 1938, and set up Pemex to manage the
  consolidated industry.
• In 2008 the Mexican Congress passed a series of
  energy reforms that included provisions to allow
  private investment in Pemex.
• The approval was highly controversial, as the oil
  industry is required by the Mexican constitution
  to remain state-owned.

50
Mexican Media

• Telmex has 80 of Mexicos landlines, and about
  75 of its broadband connections.
• Telcel, its sister company, has 70 of the mobile
  market.
• Both now belong to América Móvil, which belong to
  Carlos Slim
• America Movil operates across 18 countries in the
  Americas and is the biggest or second-biggest
  player in all but three.
• With nearly 250m subscribers, it is the worlds
  third-biggest mobile-phone company, and accounts
  for about 60 of Mr Slims wealth.

51
The Toallagate ScandalFYI-The word towel
translates to toalla in Spanish

• Expense reports showed that President Vincente
  Fox spent 440,000 to decorate two cabins in the
  Presidential estate, Los Pinos.
• Especially controversial were the 400 spent on
  each of various embroidered towels.
• In a country where the per capita Gross National
  Product is approximately US 3,670, the costs
  were simply unfathomable to an average Mexican.
• Fox quickly thereafter accepted the resignation
  of longtime friend, Carlos Rojas, who had been
  appointed to manage official expenditures.
• He then put a positive spin on the sticky
  situation, saying that the transparency of the
  government's activity is a step in the right
  democratic direction, simultaneously denying any
  involvement in the purchase of the renovation
  items.

52
Russia
53
Russia Voting and Elections

• Russia- Federal system
• Russian president now may serve 2 now 6-yr terms
• Modeled on the French 2-round system
• Round 2 is between top two candidates if no one
  gets 50 of popular vote (Putin 71 in 2004 and
  64 in 2012 )
• President names Prime Minister
• Must be confirmed by Legislature
• Bicameral Legislature- Split Electoral System
• State Duma- 4-year terms (direct election)
• ½ of seats are selected by proportional
  representation to elect candidates ½ by
  single-member districts with plurality win
• Federation Council- (Indirect election) selected
  by governor and legislatures

54
RUSSIA-- Statism to Pluralism

• Pre-1993
• Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU)
• THE party directed participation
• Post-1993
• How replace a one-party system??
• Answer -- with 42 parties but only 1 with power.
  ?
• Old nomenklatura still holding their own.
• United Russia filling gap between eras
• Intellengtsia still controls elections, but
  new breed of Russian elite is transforming.
• The worker is being replaced by the educated
  technocrat.
• Some groups have recently demonstrated during
  elections as democratic groups try to find their
  way.

55
2007 Parliamentary Elections

• Opposition leader Garry Kasparov, the former
  chess champion, denounced the vote as the most
  unfair and dirtiest in the whole history of
  modern Russia.

http//www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/220854382
2085438
56
An opposition activist presents flowers to
Russian riot police blocking protesters from
reaching the Central Election Commission
headquarters in 2007
57
2008 Presidential Election

• Russia had almost 109 million registered voters,
  and election turnout was estimated at 64, higher
  than in 2004.
• Dmitry Medvedev United Russia - 69.59
• Gennady Zyuganov Communist Party - 18.16
• Vladimir Zhirinovsky Liberal Democrats of Russia
  - 9.71
• Andrei Bogdanov Independent (member of
  Democratic Party) - 1.27
• Two Different Viewpoints
• http//www.csmonitor.com/slideshows/2008/kirill/
• http//www.csmonitor.com/slideshows/2008/putin/

58
Duma Elections 2011 The Duma has 450 seats.
Parties not making the Duma's 5 threshold
Yabloko, 3.3 Patriots of Russia 0.97 Right
Cause 0.59 Source Electoral Commission.
Results are based on 96 of the vote. Turnout was
60.
59
http//www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/05/putin-
protesters-moscow
60
Russian Interest Groups

• The CPSU (Communist Party of the Soviet Union)
  used to control them
• Now, other groups are fighting for influence
• Oligarchs
• New entrepreneurs
• Womens groups (Women of Russia)
• Labor unions (FITU)
• Private farmers
• Bureaucrats
• Civic union members
• centrist in name only

61
The Media in Russia

• Russian TV is dominated by channels that are
  either run directly by the state or owned by
  companies with close links to the Kremlin.
• The government controls Channel One and Russia
  One - two of the three main federal channels -
  while state-controlled energy giant Gazprom owns
  NTV.
• Critics say independent reporting has suffered as
  a result

62
Anna Politkovskaya

• Anna Politkovskaya, an investigative journalist
  who was a strident critic of the Kremlin, was
  murdered in 2006.
• Her killing underlined the shrinking freedom
  allowed dissenters in Russian society, provoked
  international outrage and cast a shadow over
  Putins Russia
• She documented torture, mass executions,
  kidnapping and the sale by Russian soldiers of
  Chechen corpses to their families for proper
  Islamic burial.

• When he heard of her death, Putin remarked, that
  "the level of her influence on political life in
  Russia was utterly insignificant."

63
EKHO No more?

• Ekho Moskvy, a liberal radio station, has always
  stood out as a voice of opposition.
• Despite being two-thirds owned by Gazprom Media,
  an arm of Russias gas monopoly, it has aired
  acerbic criticism of the Kremlin and invited
  guests blacklisted by state television.
• .Alexei Venediktov, the stations long-serving
  editor, is set to lose his place on the board, as
  are two independent members.
• Journalists on the board will be replaced by
  managers and an independent seat will go to a
  former classmate of Dmitry Medvedev

64
China
65
The Communist Party of China

• The CPC is the party in power in the country.
• Also known as the CCP (Chinese Communist Party)
• It is a unified entity organized by the
  constitution and the principle of democratic
  centralism.
• The CCP/CPC has both central and local
  organizations.

66
The Communist Party of China

• The Constitution of the Communist Party of China
  stipulates that any Chinese worker, farmer,
  member of the armed forces, intellectual and any
  advanced element of other social strata who has
  reached the age of 18 and who accepts the program
  and constitution of the CPC and is willing to
  join and work in one of the Party organizations,
  carry out the Party decisions and pay membership
  dues regularly may apply for membership in the
  CPC.

67
CCP Party Organization

• Party members work at local level to advance
  party position at national level
• PPO- primary party organization is lowest level
• CCP -- designing the new socialist man
• 78 million people as members!!!!!
• 5.6 of population of China

68
Four values of CCP

• Collectivism
• Struggle and activism
• Egalitarianism populism
• Self-reliance
• Maos Mass Line to Democracy Movement

69
China Voting and Elections

• China- Unitary system
• Local elections are for national party positions
  only
• Each level of the party elects the one directly
  above it Old Soviet system
• No national voting for government leaders.
• Multiple candidates allowed at lower levels
• Some districts use secret ballots.
• 30 Million CCP cadres are nervous system of
  China
• Who ever controls them, controls China

70
Voting in Chinese Villages

• The practice of village self-government in China
  since the mid-1980s has had enormous
  accomplishments.
• Village self-government has directly affected the
  development of democracy at the grassroots level.
  
• The number of regions in which village
  self-government and village elections are
  practiced is increasing
• Village elections are becoming more democratic
  and its procedures more standardized.

71
Voting in Chinese Villages

• SO does this mean that democracy is taking root
  in China???
• YES!
• The system of village elections not only has
  empowered millions of peasants at different
  levels, it is also fundamentally changing the
  rural socio-political environment and its power
  structure.
• The experiment of village self-government and
  village elections, as a new political element and
  also institutional variable, has triggered a
  series of changes in politics as well as in the
  entire society, generating ever greater positive
  impact on democratization nationwide

72
Voting in Chinese Villages

• SO does this mean that democracy is taking root
  in China???
• NO!!!
• The PARTY still is control of elections in China,
  even at the village level
• In fact, far from being perfect, the reality of
  the village self-government and direct elections
  leaves much to be desired from both popular
  expectations and legal requirements.
• At the macro level, much difference exists in
  levels of democratic development among different
  regions.

73
Communist Party Control

• CCP is socializing agent
• Propaganda and education
• Central Committee used to call the shots, now
  influence is waning.
• Market economy is making the Party Unit an
  relic of Mao era.
• Mass campaign approach still beneficial
• 100 Flowers Movement (1956-57)
• Letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred
  schools of thought contend is the policy for
  promoting progress in the arts and the sciences
  and a flourishing socialist culture in our land."
  
• Implemented gender-free reforms
• Democracy Movement of 1989
• Squashed at Tiananmen Square

74
Mass Movements

• Large scale organization of workers
• Multiple candidates in some cases
• Secret ballots are allowed in some cases
• Guanxi still important
• Patron Client relationship
• 89 Democracy Movement attempt to unload Dengs
  opposition --
• At Tiananmen Square -- students took it literally
  and paid with their lives

75
Factions in China

• Based on linking the leaders with the masses
  downward
• Its states rights, not individual ones.
• what more can we say?
• The goal is to seek harmony ?
• Confucius says..
• If dissident threatens the state, out you go!

76
Non-CCP Parties

• Yes, they exist!
• Under China's multi-party cooperation system,
  non-communist parties participate in state
  affairs under the leadership of the CCP.
• They and the CCP work together and supervise each
  other, instead of opposing each other.

77
CAPD

• China Association for Promoting Democracy's
  (CAPD's) leads the country's eight non-communist
  parties during annual conferences
• The CAPD congress calls on all its 128,000
  members to work together with the ruling
  Communist Party of China (CPC) to build a
  moderately prosperous society and rejuvenate the
  Chinese nation.

78
Non-CCP Parties

• The eight non-communist parties are
• The Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese
  Kuomintang
• The China Democratic League
• The China National Democratic Construction
  Association
• The China Association for Promoting Democracy
• The Chinese Peasants and Workers Democratic Party
• China Zhi Gong Dang the Jiu San Society
• The Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League.

79

• Non-communist parties had a total of more than
  800,000 members as of the end of 2011, with more
  than 37,000 organs at community-based levels,
  according to official figures.
• Founded between the 1920s and the late 1940s,
  they have a membership mainly consisting of
  professionals and academics from different
  sectors, elites among returned overseas Chinese
  and their relatives, people with links to the
  former Kuomintang, or Taiwan residents.
• Statistics showed that 30 of 31 Chinese
  provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities
  have deputy governors with non-communist party
  backgrounds.

80
Non-CCP in Leadership Positions

• Health Minister Chen Zhu has been newly-elected
  as chairman of the Central Committee of Chinese
  Peasants and Workers Democratic Party.
• Minister of Science and Technology Wan Gang has
  been re-elected top leader of the China Zhi Gong
  Party.
• Wan Exiang, vice president of the Supreme
  People's Court, has been elected party chief of
  the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese
  Kuomintang.

81
Deng Xiaopings New Plan for China

• In 1978 Deng Xiaoping became leader and began an
  ambitious program of economic reform aimed at
  raising rates of foreign investment and growth.
• He ended collective farming, initiating a
  "responsibility system" which freed farmers to
  choose what crops to grow and sell any surplus
  for profit.

• Deng encouraged foreign trade and investment
  through joint ventures.
• In the south, special economic zones were created
  giving investors tax concessions in exchange for
  revenue and technical knowledge

82

• Deng edicts
• Keep socialist road
• Uphold peoples dictatorship
• Maintain CCP
• Marxist-Leninism-Maoism STILL dominates.
• But the four Special Economic Zones (SEZs) to
  encourage foreign investment .
• And Hong Kong and Shanghai
• Corruption has not helped its image or rallied
  the economic boom. . .
• Although its going at a growth rate higher than
  the rest of the world (even during recession!).

Shanghai's skyscrapers illustrate the change of
recent years
83
Is China passing the revolutionary torch??

• How red are the leaders?
• Was Hu Jintao a communist or is a technocrat?
• What would Mao think??
• Uncertainties at the top
• Maos yearning for revolutionary fervor has was
  replaced by Dengs pragmatic ideology
• Hu Jintao attained power based on merit
• Has Ameritocracy has been put in place?
• What will Xi Do???

84
Media in China

• China has two news agencies
• Xinhua (New China) News Agency
• and China News Service.
• The growth of the Internet has led to a sky
  rocking number of bloggers and instant reports
  which threaten the governments control
• Government agencies at all levels have gradually
  built mechanisms to guide public opinion through
  integrating the functions of propaganda
  departments

85
Media in China

• The Chinese Constitution guarantees citizens
  freedom of speech and information.
• However, that freedom has barriers that prohibit
  the absolute free exchange of ideas
• State control over the news media in China is
  achieved through a complex combination of party
  monitoring of news content, legal restrictions on
  journalists, and financial incentives for
  self-censorship.
• An internal speech by China's top internet
  official, apparently posted by accident in 2010
  on an official internet site before being
  promptly removed, outlines a vast array of
  institutions and methods to control opinion at
  home and also ''create an international public
  opinion environment that is objective, beneficial
  and friendly to us''.

86

• When the high-speed train accident happened
  outside of Wenzhou in 2010, the propaganda
  department responded with this predictable list
  of orders for all media outlets
• Release death toll only according to figures from
  authorities.
• Do not report on a frequent basis.
• More touching stories are to be reported instead,
  i.e. blood donation, free taxi services, etc.
• Do not investigate the causes of the accident
  use information released from authorities as
  standard.
• Do not reflect or comment.

87
Iran
88
Iran Voting and Elections

• Iran- Theocracy/Unitary
• President is elected similarly to U.S.
• May have two four-year terms elected by popular
  vote
• Unicameral house (Majlis) elected for four-year
  terms
• Single-member districts

President Ahmadinejad failed to get the majority
in parliament, as he had hoped
89
Political Parties in Iran

• There are no real political parties in Iran, only
  murky, shifting alliances of political figures
• All may run for office with permission of
  Council of Guardians
• This leads to fraud and favoritism and rigged
  voting is common

90
Breakdown of Seats in Iranian Majiles

• 2004 Elections
• Conservative forces-156
• Reformers-40 seats
• Independents-34 seats

• 2012 Elections
• The Principalists/Hardliner Conservatives won
  approx. 75 of seats and are a coalition of
  Khamenei supporters
• 30 seats are headed toward a runoff election
  could not dent Ayatollah Khameneis majority.
• Full results are expected by April.

• 2008 Elections
• Conservatives forces- 170
• Reformers- 46
• Independents- 71
• Religious minorities- 3

91
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92

• Despite some Kurdish candidates boycotting the
  elections and Kurdish dissident groups condemning
  them Kurdish candidates secured most of the votes
  in the 2012 Majiles election in western Iran.
• A politburo member of the Kurdistan Democratic
  Party-Iran (KDPI), believes Iranian authorities
  deliberately let the Kurdish candidates win the
  elections in those areas.
• Most of the Kurds in Urumiya boycotted the
  elections, but the Iranian authorities changed
  the results, allowing the Kurdish nominees to
  win.

Iranian Kurds at a polling station in the city of
Sanandaj (Sina). Photo MEHR.  
93
Presidential Elections 2005

• The Iranian presidential election of 2005 led to
  the victory of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the hard-line
  mayor of Tehran
• It was the first run-off presidential election in
  Iranian history
• Ahmadinejad earned 19.48 of the votes in the
  first round and 61.69 in the second.
• Ahmadinejad is believed to have won the second
  round because of his populist views, especially
  those regarding the poor people and their
  economic status.
• The election saw a turnout of almost 60 of
  eligible voters, seen as a strike back by Iran at
  the United States' initial allegations that many
  in Iran would be restricted from voting.

94
Presidential Elections 2009

• In 2009, President Ahmadinejad was re-elected
  with 63 of the vote in the first round
• The challenger, Mir Hossein Mousavu received 34
  of the vote
• There was no run-off
• In 2005, Ahmadinejad got 17 million votes
• In 2009 he got 24 million votes
• The lingering questions is
• WHERE DID ALL THOSE EXTRA VOTES COME FROM?

http//news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8510450.stm

95
The Green Movement

• Green Movement leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and
  Mehdi Karroubi have been placed on house arrest
• They were not allowed to run or campaign for
  office in 2012
• The Green movement, which demands a more
  transparent democracy, mushroomed in the wake of
  the contested 2009 presidential elections.
• 2012 were the first national elections since
  then, but the violent suppression of that
  movement largely ended public protests.

96
The Media in Iran

• The Constitution provides for freedom of the
  press as long as published material accords with
  Islamic principles.
• All radio and television broadcasting is
  controlled by the government.
• The publisher of every newspaper and periodical
  is required by law to have a valid publishing
  license.
• Any publication perceived as being anti-Islamic
  is not granted a publication license.

97
The Media in Iran

• In practice, the criteria for being anti-Islamic
  have been broadly interpreted to encompass all
  materials that include an antigovernment
  sentiment.
• All the papers and magazines in circulation
  support the basic political institutions of the
  Islamic Republic
• Foreign correspondents were once allowed to roam
  freely during elections, were bused to specific
  polling places in 2012 and the government limited
  the number of visas issued to journalists seeking
  to cover the election.

98
Iranian Interest Groups(Pressure Groups)

• Groups that generally support the Islamic
  Republic include
• Ansar-e Hizballah
• The Iranian Islamic Students Association
• Muslim Students Following the Line of the Imam
• Islam's Students
• The Islamic Coalition Association

99
Iranian Interest Groups(Pressure Groups)

• Opposition groups include
• The Green Movement
• International Alliance in Support of Workers in
  Iran
• The Nation of Iran Party
• Political groups that have been almost completely
  repressed by the government
• Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK)
• People's Fedayeen
• Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan
• The Society for the Defense of Freedom

100
Iranian Interest Groups(Pressure Groups)

• Political student groups include
• Pro-reform "Office for Strengthening Unity"
• Responsible for the taking of the American
  Embassy in 1979
• The Union of Islamic Student Societies

101
Nigeria
102
Factionalism- Nigerian Style

• Factionalism in Nigeria has led to creation of
  many political parties
• The Result
• Failure to create coherent party system
• Parties formed and faded around personalities
• Multi-party system reinforced and strengthened
  ethnic and religious cleavages

103
Some characterizations of governance in Africa

• The post colonial state weaknesses
• Leaders governance in Africa have struggled
  with the political legacy of liberation
• Patron-client relationship are dominant in
  political arena
• Well beyond the institutionalized regulations
  that most Western states have bureaucratic sense
• Culture of impunity
• Often an extra-legal contest between elites and
  others for political economic resources of
  state
• Neo-patrimony
• Criminal occurrences and corruption
• Kleptcracies, corruptocracies, chaosocracies,

104
Nigeria Voting and Elections

• Nigeria- Federal system
• Presidential election first used Westminster
  model, but the 1999 Constitution changed this to
  a model closer to the U.S.
• Bi-cameral based on U.S.
• Uses single-member distinct voting for National
  Assembly
• All states get 10 seats in legislature no matter
  what their population or size (like 2 Senates)

105
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106
Nigerian Political Parties

• Nigerias major political parties is the Peoples
  Democratic Party of Nigeria which maintains 223
  seats in the House and 76 in the Senate (54.5
  and 53.7 respectively)
• Well-established Party
• Began running candidates in 1998
• Party of former President Olesugun Obesanjo
• Igbo, Christian from the North)
• Part president Umaru Musa Yar'Adua (Muslim from
  North)
• Current President, Goodluck Jonathan

107
Nigerian Political Parties

• The PDP has gained majority in National Assembly
  and most of the governors throughout the country
• Due to voter fraud, difficult to determine
  accurate level of support for the PDP

President Vice President Election Outcome
Olusegun Obasanjo Atiku Abubakar 1999 Won
Olusegun Obasanjo Atiku Abubakar 2003 Won
Umaru Yar'Adua Goodluck Jonathan 2007 Won
108
Headlines March 17, 2010

• ACTING President Goodluck Jonathan Wednesday
  became more decisive in running the affairs of
  government when he ordered the immediate
  dissolution of the Federal Executive Council,
  FEC, bringing to an end lingering speculations on
  the existence of the former cabinet as
  constituted by the ailing President Umaru
  YarAdua.
• According to one minister the Acting President
  did not give reason for dissolving the cabinet
  even as she added that all ministers including
  myself are to handover to their respective
  permanent secretaries.

109
Other Important Nigeria Parties

• All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP)
• Challenged Obesanjo in 1999
• General Muhammadu Buhari, Muslim from the North,
  ran against Obesanjo
• Received about 32 of the vote
• His running mate and potential future candidate
  was Chuba Okadigbo, an Igbo from the Southeast
• Other parties that ran presidential candidates
  include All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA),
  The Movement for Democracy and Justice (MDJ), and
  the Justice Party
• Alliance for Democracy (AD) did not have a
  presidential candidate in 2003, but did receive
  9 of the votes for the legislative elections

110
Independent National Election Committee

• The Independent National Electoral Commission
  (INEC) is the main agent of democracy in Nigeria.
  The INEC is a permanent body created by the
  Nigerian Constitution to organize Federal and
  state elections in Nigeria.
• The INEC first registered a number of parties
  following the death of General Abacha in 1998
• In order to run candidates for the legislative
  and presidential elections of 1999, a party had
  to qualify by receiving at least 5 of the votes
  in two-thirds of the states in the 1998 election
• This cut the number of parties significantly,
  only 5 parties were eligible to run candidates in
  the 2003 election

111
Rating the INEC and Its Effectiveness

• Feb. 2011- In spite of hitches in the on-going
  voter registration in the country, Project 2011
  Swift Count, a group of civil society, has scored
  the Independent National Electoral Commission,
  INEC, performance so far above 90.
• The independent monitoring group, however, added
  that the process had, in part, been marred by the
  malfunctioning of some machines and shortages, as
  well as the inadequacy of essential materials in
  some area

112
The Economic Community Of West African States

• ECOWAS is a regional group of fifteen countries,
  founded in 1975.
• Nigeria is one of its most important members
• Its mission is to promote economic integration in
  "all fields ofeconomic activity, particularly
  industry, transport, telecommunications, energy,
  agriculture, natural resources, commerce,
  monetary and financial questions, social and
  cultural matters ....."

113
Interest Groups in Nigeria

• Often use Patron-Client Networks
• Organized Interest Groups
• Labor unions, trade associations, religious
  bodies
• Informal participation
• Relationships between people and a groups
• Known as Clientalism

114
Interest Groups in Nigeria

• Many interest groups were declared illegal by the
  colonial government prior to independence
• However, this changed once the military took over
  the country and groups were allowed
• This is different from most countries after a
  military coup

115
Ethnic and ReligiousInterest Groups in Nigeria

• Many Nigerian interest groups are based on
  ethnicity
• Igbo Federal Union
• Igbo intelligensa
• Egbe Omo Oduduwa
• Young urban professionals united by issues and
  race
• Movement for the survival of the Ogoni People
• Complaints against oil drilling in their tribal
  homeland

116
AssociationalInterest Groups in Nigeria

• Common in urban and industrialized areas
• Trade Unions
• National Union of Petroleum Gas Workers
• National Democracy Coalition
• Civil Rights

117
Non-AssociationalInterest Groups in Nigeria

• Kaduna Mafia
• Powerful, shadowy political leaders
• Military Groups
• Instrumental in the countrys direction

118
The Media in Nigeria

• Radio broadcasting is the joint responsibility of
  the federal and state governments, operating
  under the Federal Radio Corp. of Nigeria, created
  in 1978
• state radio stations broadcast in English and
  local languages.
• Television, introduced in 1959, now operates
  throughout the country under the direction of the
  Nigerian Television Authority, with stations in
  all state capitals and channels set aside for the
  state governments.
• Several states also run their own stations.

119
The Media in Nigeria

• To survive, most Nigerian media outlets depend
  heavily on advertisements from the same
  institutions and governments they are to watch
• Many agents of Nigeria's press have been
  imprisoned, exiled, tortured, or murdered.
• Ken Saro-Wiwa was executed for treason by order
  of the Abacha dictatorship in 1995.
• This resulted in the expulsion of Nigeria from
  the Commonwealth of Nations and sanctions from
  abroad.

120
Ken Saro-Wiwa

• Ken Saro-Wina built a campaign against
  environmental damage by oil companies and for a
  fairer share of Nigeria's immense oil wealth for
  the