McG Comparative Government

Summarize how Deng modernized the Chinese economy by crossing the river by feeling the stone.
This is a Chinese expression meaning “to take things step by step.” Deng sought to find out what was best for the Chinese government through dismantling some of the fundamental communist policies. After Deng’s special economic zones was successful, he sought to establish more foreign companies to build factories so that more Chinese workers would have work. Through policies like this, Deng took China from communism towards a market-oriented economy.

On Christmas day, Qian Yunhui was rolled over by a truck in the middle of a busy street in Yuequing, China. Although the Chinese police and state media reported that the incident was a traffic accident, their strong front has not been able to silence suspicions. The internet has allowed Chinese citizens to voice their doubts. Soon a photo of Yunhui crushed underneath the wheel of the 18 wheeler went viral. In addition to the photo, three eye witnesses revealed that Yunhui’s death was no accident, but rather a planned murder. They saw three masked policemen holding Yunhui down on the ground while they signaled the truck to roll over the man (later they contradict their previous interviews after being pressured from the government). This scenario explains why the truck suffered no impact from hitting Yunhui accidently, why the security camera was conveniently shut off during the murder, and why Yunhui’s body was flat on the ground when he would’ve been standing up before being hit. Not only do three eye witnesses, photo evidence, as well as pure common sense prove that Yunhui was murdered, but also Yunhui’s past with the Chinese government explains his killer’s motives. Yunhui was the village chief and lead a six year protest against the government for tricking innocent farmers to giving up their land for free in order to build a power plant. Yunhui spent more than half of these six years in jail; however he wouldn’t let the

Yunhui's body

government silence him. After hearing Yunhui’s story on blogs and seeing the pictures of his death, everywhere, Chinese citizens were enraged. There has been so much question of the government’s honesty that the police force went against their nature and held a press conference last Wednesday to try and silence dissenters. They stuck to their story, and the Chinese, already unsettled by the photo, did not buy it (Translated interview) .Although the Chinese government censors both the internet as well as the news, it’s system failed from blocking information about Yunhui. The internet perpetuated dissent as well as allowed angered Chinese men and women to organize themselves and protest. For example, this past Saturday, villagers came together to protest Yunhui’s murder. Other than a witnesses amateur video no news was published by the Chinese news. The video below shows hundreds gathered throwing rocks at police as well as being beaten by police. These protestors are sending a message to the Chinese government that they won’t stand being lying to. Yunhui’s death is just one more incident to add to the Chinese government’s long list of violent acts in order to keep sustain control. Although Yunhui may not be the final straw, the Chinese people now armed with the power of the internet are certainly approaching their breaking point.
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The uproar over Yunhui’s death demonstrates that flaws in a state run media in the 21^st century. The democratization of the internet now has allowed for images like life-less Yunhui crushed under the truck to go viral. What China is experiencing now is very similar to the civil rights movement in the 1960’s. Due to inventions such as the radio and television, civil rights activists were able to spread the word in a connected country. Technology was their outlet for showing northern Americans the realityof racism in the South. Yunhui’s photo is synonymous to the infamous photos of Emmett Till. Whether the photo of Yunhui will lead solely be responsible for the Chinese government to be held accountable to their people is doubtful. However on day force will fail to silence the Chinese people as it failed to silence African Americans. Though the Chinese people once stood weaponless disconnected, now they have the internet to share, criticize, and organize. It’s only a matter of time before a combination of the democratization of the economy and internet will lead to the end of the communist party’s reign over China.

Video taken at the scene of Yunhui’s death and has been deleted from Chinese websites: WARNING – GRAPHIC
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Follow the translated Tweet’s for updates on Qian Yunhui’s muder

There are many differences and similarities between the British political system and United States political system which therefore demonstrates how and why the two countries have approached their own economic deficits the way they have.
The British mode of government can be described as the “Westminster Model” which is a constitutional monarchy. This means that sovereignty rests with the Parliament. The position of head of state passes by heredity succession, but the government or state officials must exercise nearly all powers of the Crown. Therefore, the parliamentary sovereignty, parliamentary democracy, and cabinet government form the core elements of the Westminster model of government. On the other hand, the United States is a representational democracy. This means that all citizens have the right to vote, and all civil liberties are protects. We elect officials through fair and equal elections in which the elected government exercises supreme power within the government and country. The United States’ political system contains a judiciary branch which is in place to protect individual rights and liberties, an executive branch, and legislative branch. There are specific checks and balances implemented to ensure that one of the three branches does not outweigh or control the entire system of government.
Unlike the United States, Britain exercises parliamentary sovereignty. This means that the House of Commons and Lords can make or overturn any law. This means that the executive, the judiciary, and the throne do not have authority to restrict or rescind parliamentary action. This is unlike the United States system of government because it is the judiciary branch that has the power to overturn any law.
Another element of the British Westminster model includes “unitary state.” This means that all power and government control is centered in London. Unlike the United States where powers not delegated to the central government are reserved for local/state powers, there are no powers reserved constitutionally for sub-central units of government in the UK. We have a federal system of government where sublevels of government and national government powers are divided. This helps ensure that national government does not become too power or too strong. This allows certain powers, such as taxes, education, to be decided within the state, not at a national level. This is not the case in Britain; they still have sublevels of government but the ultimate authority rests in the government in London. The fact that Britain exercises a unitary state is an extremely important factor when analyzing how the UK has dealt with their economic situation.
The UK is attempting to deal with their economic deficits by implementing extreme government spending cuts through a plan known as the austerity plan. This plan was devised within a period of a few months whereas the United States, which is in the same economic situation as Britain (facing detrimental deficits and a suffering economy with plummeting unemployment), has barely begun to address this issue with a concrete course of action. The government was able to devise this plan and put it into action so quickly for several reasons. The certain elements of the British government, which I have discussed, is why the British form of government can sometimes proceed quicker and more effectively than our government can. For example, unitary power allows the government in London to have supreme power. Therefore, the government in London can put programs into place quickly because there aren’t any sublevels of power to object or stop programs from being implemented. Furthermore, Britain’s fusion of powers, which means that the power is centered in parliament and not among other branches, ensures that Parliament can get things done quickly. Whereas, in the United States, our three branches of government have equally distributed powers with an immense amount of checks and balances to ensure one branch does not outweigh the others. There are pluses and minuses to each system of government, however in this situation pertaining to the country’s deficit, the UK’s system of government allowed them to put in place a program that will potentially revive their economy in four years whereas the United States has not even begun. Their system of government allowed them to put in place pretty harsh spending cuts (that had considerable disagreement and controversy within the public) very quickly. In the long run, they will potentially be revived of their economic turmoil in four years. Can the United States catch up? It’s hard to say considering there needs to be widespread agreement on an economic plan in order for it to get through congress and be passed.

In Tehran, Iran a group of underground rappers were arrested for engaging in and recording illegal rap music for various websites and satellite networks. The police raided the vacant houses the group was using to videotape and record music, arrested the people there, and confiscated “western style” music instruments. No information was given as to how many people were arrested, their ages or the severity of their sentencing. The underground rap groups are accused of “spreading profanity and poisoning young minds.”Although listening to rap and rock music in Iran is not considered that serious of a crime, it is however considered extremely “un-Islamic” and counters many of the traditional Islamic beliefs. Listening to western rap and rock music can lead to jail, accusation of Satan worship and sentencing of flogging.
This article emphasizes the division and structure of the Islam law system. The laws against listening to rap and rock music fall under the Sharia laws, which is a division of the Islamic law pertaining to tradition and religion. The Sharia laws are the sacred law of Islam. It is believed be most Muslims to be comprised of the divine revelations set forth in the Qur’an, and the “sayings and examples set by Muhammad. (It is under these laws that permit stoning and death sentences to women and men who have been accused of adultery.)This article also emphasizes yet again the extremely limited individual freedom and powers the people hold. It is very difficult for Americans to even begin to associate with how little individual freedoms these people have because we are so accustomed to the benefits and protections our country gives us. We believe that it is our natural right, not privilege to have certain freedoms like freedom of speech and property. However, this is not the case in Iran. Iran, which is heavily regarded as one of the most blasphemous countries when it comes to protection of individual rights and humanitarian crimes, monitors what the people listen to, read, and watch. Because the media is largely influenced and controlled by the government, there is not internal pressure for the police or government to follow procedures. The whereabouts of the kids arrested are not known, how many kids, their ages or what they are even charged with is unknown. This displays how little media involvement there is in arrests and crimes, and the small degree of rights the accused are when arrested. This allows immense room for corruption within the police force and government and does not give people accused of crimes very much ability to defend themselves.
The Iranian government cannot afford “western” ideas and costumes to leak into Iran because that is when the people could start getting ideas about more modern, democratic ways of doing things. Although rap and rock music is frowned upon in the Iranian society because it can contain profane lyrics, I believe that more importantly the music over the radio is monitored by the Iranian government because the government cannot afford new thinking to leak into the traditional Islamic system. What happens when young people start wanting to listen to what they want to listen to? When they start to want to do and say things they are not allowed to say? What happens when the youth of Iran starts to want a say in government and start to want more freedom from the corrupted Iranian government? Rebellion against the oppression of government is what is going to start the progression of change in Iran and perhaps lead to greater freedoms for its people in the future.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/11/07/iran.rap.arrests/index.html

Dependence on China: The indispensable economy?

Forbes.Com Powerful People 2010:

This week when Forbes recognized the President of the People’s Republic of China as the most powerful person in the world, they recognized China’s development as an economic powerhouse. Hu Jintao met all four of Forbes’ defining criteria of power:

1.       Whether the person has influence over a lot of people

2.       Whether they have significant wealth compared to their peers

3.       Whether they are powerful in more than one sphere

4.       Whether they actively wield power

Apart from ruling over 1.3 billion people, 1/5 of the world’s population and controlling the world’s largest military, Jinato heads the world’s second largest economy. China’s economy has continued to grow, unharmed as the US (the world’s largest economy) struggles through a recession. Its second place status shouldn’t foul you: it is estimated that in 25 years China will dethrone US and take the place of the world’s largest economy. This year, China will account for approx. 20% of the world’s growth.  China is transforming from “the world’s factory” to “the world’s consumer”. The world is becoming more and more economically dependent on China. China’s “ups and downs” whether through trade or demand impacts the world: whether a big city or small. China’s ripple effect is demonstrated by the $7.5 billion that a Chinese state owned mining and metals corporation is investing in a small (400 people) Australian town. China plans to build Australia’s biggest coal mine and a large railway for easy transportation of the goods to China. This has generated much interest in Australia to develop the mining and railway industry. This is just one example demonstrating China’s increasing impact on the world. As economies like South Korean, Taiwanese, and Philippine become dependent on China rather than the US. Now if China’s economy grows by 1% in a year, “it would boost the rest of the world’s GDP by .4% (about $290 billion) after five years”. China gains more and more “gate keeping” power. China is becoming the orchestrators of the world’s economy. When business men around the world are going to the Chinese government for money, it is clear why Forbes named the leader of it all, Jinato, the most powerful man in the world.

Even though the West may condemn China’s ideology, there’s one problem: China is on a role, gaining control over the world. One thing is definite: money is power. As the US fights and stalls through the gridlock of democracy, China is soaring by. Jinato has knocked Obama to the world’s second most powerful person. Since when has anyone surpassed the power of the President of the United States? More importantly this outcome leads to a bigger answer: what will happen to the world now that a communist dictator wields the most power? How will the US be able to compete with China? This economic battle between democracy and communism will shed light on whether a communist economy or a liberal economy is the most efficient and prosperous. As an authoritarian regime, the People’s Republic of China finds justification in their oppressive ways through the success of their economy. It will be interesting to see just how long economic prosperity will satisfy their citizens as well as how long they can actually sustain such great prosperity. However as of now, China is in the driver’s seat, determining the world’s prosperity.
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Nobel Peace Laureate’s Wife Remains Under House Arrest

Steven Jiang

This year the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded with a stronger message than just a prestigious acknowledgment. When sitting in jail last Friday, Liu Xiaobo’ wife informed him that he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Lui Xiaobo is a pro-democracy Chinese political activist, who was detained for “inciting subversion of state power”.  Although Lui Xiaobo celebrated this honor from his jail cell (he is facing 11 years in jail), the Chinese people weren’t even able to receive news of this award. Other than Xiaobo’s wife’s tweets from her house (she is currently under house arrest), the Chinese government has blocked all news of the honor. During the announcement of the award, the television blanked out. Also the Nobel Peace Prize website is blocked. Except for the state media’s articles stating “A Chinese traitor who received a prize is still a Chinese traitor,” there is little information circulating China glorifying this award. The fact of the matter is, the Chinese are demanding political freedom, and the Nobel Peace Prize lends external support to their cause. In fact the Norwegian Committee isn’t the only one sending the Chinese government that message; a group of 23 retired Communist Party Officials published a letter demanding freedom of the press and free speech. Overall this event in China signified that economic freedom can’t over ride political freedom any more.
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This article exemplifies the ideas of state authority and political reform. Although the Chinese government has law (“inciting subversion of state power”) on their side, they certainly don’t have the support of their people or the support of the world. Similar to the Tamn Zueron situation, the Chinese people will not stand for censorship and neither will the world. There is even a discrepancy within the Communist party about the productiveness of censorship. The people are calling for political reform, because censorship and limitation won’t cut it in the 21^st century. The democratization of the internet will lead to the democratization of China. Thomas Friedman believes that China will fail in the 21^st century if they continue to deny freedom of speech and free press. Friedman argues that China will have to grant its people liberty in order to stimulate an innovative country. When it comes down to looking at what political ideology will render the most successful, prosperous community, this series of event in China shows that communism has little promise for that title.
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Chinese Advocate of Quake Victims Sentenced Over E-Mails

REUTERS

Tanm Zueron, a political activist in China, was sentenced to 5 years in prison for “inciting suberversion of state power”. The evidence: Zueron’s emails from 1989 remarking on the Tianamen Square Massacre. This is not a case that just popped up spontaneously after 11 years. The reason for Zueron’s conviction is more complex than just emails.

In 2008, Sichuan suffered from “deadly” earth quakes. More than 80,000 people died in the disaster. 7,000 classrooms collapsed. The quake sparked controversy in China. Did the earth quakes in China merely speed up the collapse of poorly constructed schools? Several schools buckled during the earth quake, taking thousands of children’s lives with it, but nearby buildings (including a school for wealthier children) stood untouched. Parents demanded an answer from the Chinese government. The government said they were conducting investigations on the structure of the building; however no answers were given to the people.

With a video camera and a passion to uncover the truth, Zueron began to conduct his own investigation to see if poor construction was the culprit to the tragedy. Within no time, Zueron was taken into custody and charged for “inciting suberversion of state power”. In the trial, the Sichuan Quake was never mentioned. Zueron advocates believe that the quake was purposefully left out because the government new that conviction for his investigation would cause a huge public reaction. The courtroom was closed to the public. In fact many advocates and friends of Zueron who wanted to attend the trail were physically prevented from doing so by Chinese officials. The Chinese government seemed very intent on silencing Zueron, no matter the actual offense.

Others who have publically spoken out about government corruption in the construction of the schools have also been silenced or accused of some offense. Ai Weiwei’s blog which kept a list of all of the kids killed by the earth quake was censored by the Chinese government. Huang Qi, an advocate of investigating the Sichuan Quake, was charged for possessing state secrets. Overall, the Chinese government has made it a priority to shut down its critics.

Zueron’s trial “shows the Chinese legal system has taken a big step backward. Tan’s ‘crime’ was entirely one of speech, of conscience.” – Ai Weiwei

Public School

This article is a great critique of prioritizing collective equality. In the Quake the public school for poorer families collapsed, while the other elementary school for wealthier families stood unharmed. This raises the question, how equal is China? Yardley states that “nothing is more central to the social contract in China than schools”. The quake exemplifies a weakness in the practice of communism. Not only can you question the plausibility of true collective equality, but also Zueron’s case exemplifies the cost of giving away individual freedom for higher collective equality. This case obviously exemplifies the insignificance of individual rights in China. When faced with a crisis, the government exercises its high level of autonomy to keep the public’s trust and loyalty. The earth quake shows that the government doesn’t have to answer to anyone; they publicize the message they want the people to hear and stop all those who argue against it. This really makes me wonder whether the communist ideology can be practiced without corruption. Finally, this article really made me realize the extent of the limitation of Chinese citizen’s individual rights. Is freedom of speech really worth giving up for an unequal society? It seems to me that if China exercises high autonomy, they should at least uphold their end of the bargain (or contract) and create an equal society where, for example, schools for both the poor and the rich are structurally safe.

“Calm Academic Tries to Tame Nigeria”

Adam Nossiter

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/01/world/africa/01nigeria.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa known for being an illiberal democracy, is due for a presidential election. The only problem is there is no election date, no candidate list, and no list of registered voters.

What is Nigeria to do? Who is going to fix this?

Vice Chancellor Attahiru Jega of Bayero University, Kano, and newest president of Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission, is the person everyone is looking too. The commission he now chairs has never been independent and only benefitted local politicians. The previous commission’s list of voters was filled with anyone that would improve local politicians chances. Mr. Jega, as the article calls him, plans to send out tens of thousands of voter registration machines to Nigeria’s 120,000 polling places. 360,000 workers will be needed and trained to work the machines. There is one tiny problem, Nigeria is acountry with barley any roads and little to none electricity. The machines must be air lifted by national military forces. Local governments will also have to approve of this before workers can do their jobs. Mr. Jega will then have two weeks to gather the entire voter’s list of around 70 million people. There is much skepticism that he will get it done by December, and most say it’s a disaster in the making due to inheritance of a corrupted organization.

Who is going to lead this 150 million-person country?

There are a few candidates right now that the public has started rioting for. The Nigerian presidency must shift from northerner to southerner every year. One is present president Goodluck Johnathan, a southerner, who still hasn’t confirmed or denied if he is running. After Umaru Yar’Adua’s, a notherner, illness in May this year Goodluck Johnathan took full control. He has only been acting president since Febuary. His inability to tell the public whether or not he is running, and the criticism of buying three new presidential jets, has his public less interested. His government has also distributed millions of dollars to state governments and local council on the pretence that it was extra petroleum revenues. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar is an announced canidate. However, he isn’t looking so hot. He was brought up in a Senate report on money laundering, $40 million, to the United States. He denies all allegations. The final candidate as of right now is Ibrahim Babangida, the former military dictator. His rule was filled of violence and corruption. He claims he will treat everyone fairly this time around. There is not a single candidate with a clean record or dreams of an uncorrupt Nigeria. The citizens of Nigeria and the future of Nigeria do not seem so hopeful. Hopefully Mr. Jega pull off what he promises.

In class we learned the whole computer analogy where state is the machinery of politics, regime is it’s programming, and government is the operator. In Nigeria the operator is using the programming to corrupt the machinery, and eventually there will be a break down and Nigeria will need to be zapped. There is no stable uncorrupt leadership, and there isn’t one major institution guiding Nigerian citizens through this. The theme among presidents in this country is self-centered more than anything, believing in collective equality in the sense that the government controls everything and individual freedom when it comes to the economy. There is no stability or fairness. Before 2007, there hadn’t been a civilian election in 11years. Presidents have come to power through coups and rebellion. Here, there’s hope for change, but is Nigeria in too deep already to be able to get out of their mess? I hope to find out more with my study of Nigeria.

Links to understand better:

http://www.cfr.org/publication/13079/nigerias_creaky_political_system.html

China Fortifies State Businesses to Fuel Growth
Michael Wines

The Chinese government’s role in their economy can be summed up in four words: “guo jin, min tui”. This simple phrase has become a saying in China, meaning “the state advances, the private sector retreats”. Similar to the US, China has suffered from an economic recession. China’s solution to stimulate the economy is to have the government control the economy. China’s “bifurcated economy” is separated into two levels. The lower level (clothing, food, factories) is controlled by private companies. However, the state-owned enterprises dominate the higher level (finance, communications, transportation, mining and metals). The Chinese government has invested people (the majority of the chief executives/chairmen/chairwomen of the state-owned companies were appointed by the Communist party) and money. Therefore, state-controlled companies get first priority in funding and loans. When a state-owned enterprise needs to be bailed out, it is, simple as that. While the government is rescuing and reinforcing state-owned companies, private companies are being left to dry. The private companies are fighting to stay alive against the endlessly funded state-companies. The coal, telecommunications, and airlines industries are all examples of state-owned enterprises taking out privately owned. When the airlines were suffering from the economic recession, the state-banks and the 588$ billion stimulus plan saved China Eastern, China Southern, and Air China airlines. The three privately owned airlines received nothing. The government’s control over these industries enables consistency and efficiency. For example, telecommunications is completely controlled by the state. So, when the government wants to require citizens to prove identification to buy a cell phone, they can because they own the industry- China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom. Throughout the article, Wines questions whether immediate economic stimulus worth annihilating privately owned enterprises? Will a heavily government involved economy be able to disprove western precedent and succeed in the long term?

The Chinese government’s infiltration of its money and officials into the economy exemplifies high autonomy. Obviously China’s government feels that they know best; they act for the people’s best interest in mind. Contrary to America’s view of economy, China views private capitalism as only serving “a supporting role” in the greater economy. This exemplifies the idea of the legitimacy of a large role for the Chinese government. The Chinese people recognize their government’s authority over the economy, and submit to that. The citizen’s willingness to let government control, for example, the airlines, and telecommunications shows the accepted large role of government in their lives. According to Professor Yao Yang, the government is able to hold this control because in the first 20 years of reform, there were never any checks and balances put in place over the new Chinese government. The Chinese government’s involvement allows for big decision to be made and big actions to take place quickly. This exemplifies China’s value for order and profit over individual freedom. It is fascinating to see such progress be made in such short time.

“The socialist system’s advantages enable us to make decisions efficiently, organize effectively and concentrate resources to accomplish large undertakings.” – Prime Minister Wen Jiabao in a March address.

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Even though this interview is from a year ago, it is helpful to see the Chinese government’s rationale behind their economy.