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Title: 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
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