28 February 2012
A Country on the Move
In China, 160 million people have moved from rural areas to the country's booming cities in the past twenty years. As many as 100 million more people may move from the countryside to China's cities in the next decade:
http://www.economist.com/node/21548277
In the past, most Chinese rural migrants moved from villages in the country's interior to its coastal cities. This pattern is changing. The cities in the country's interior are developing rapidly, and increasing numbers of rural migrants are moving to cities in their home provinces. Moreover, while moving from the countryside to a Chinese city without official permission remains illegal, some Chinese cities are ending long-established disincentives to such migration by offering housing and educational services to migrant families:
http://www.economist.com/node/21548273
http://www.economist.com/node/21548277
In the past, most Chinese rural migrants moved from villages in the country's interior to its coastal cities. This pattern is changing. The cities in the country's interior are developing rapidly, and increasing numbers of rural migrants are moving to cities in their home provinces. Moreover, while moving from the countryside to a Chinese city without official permission remains illegal, some Chinese cities are ending long-established disincentives to such migration by offering housing and educational services to migrant families:
http://www.economist.com/node/21548273
27 February 2012
Iran to Hold Majles Elections
Iran will hold Majles elections later this week. The Interior Ministry has removed 17% of the candidates from the ballot, including 32 sitting Majles members. While this number is lower than in recent elections (the Guardian Council and provincial election councils removed more than a third of the candidates in 2008), the number of Iranians presenting themselves as candidates appears to have declined significantly.
According to The Economist, the election may provide some insight into the attitudes of Iranian voters notwithstanding the removal of almost all of the reformist candidates from the ballot. Low voter turnout could indicate that the legitimacy of the regime has declined as a result of the controversy over the results of the 2009 presidential election, the harsh suppression of protests following the announcement of those results, the continuing political marginalization of even moderate reformists, and the growing impact of tough new US and EU economic sanctions:
http://www.economist.com/node/21548294
According to The Economist, the election may provide some insight into the attitudes of Iranian voters notwithstanding the removal of almost all of the reformist candidates from the ballot. Low voter turnout could indicate that the legitimacy of the regime has declined as a result of the controversy over the results of the 2009 presidential election, the harsh suppression of protests following the announcement of those results, the continuing political marginalization of even moderate reformists, and the growing impact of tough new US and EU economic sanctions:
http://www.economist.com/node/21548294
26 February 2012
The Surprising Strength of Boko Haram
An article in this morning's New York Times examines the popularity and tenacity of Boko Haram, the northern Nigerian Islamist group that has killed hundreds of Nigerians since 2009:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/world/africa/in-northern-nigeria-boko-haram-stirs-fear-and-sympathy.html?_r=1&hp
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/world/africa/in-northern-nigeria-boko-haram-stirs-fear-and-sympathy.html?_r=1&hp
25 February 2012
Putin Silences Another Critical Media Outlet
The Kremlin has taken steps to silence a dissident Moscow radio station, Ekho Moskvy. Gazprom Media (the media subsidiary of Russia's state-controlled natural gas monopoly), which owns two-thirds of Ekho Moskvy, has replaced several of the station's board members with members more to the liking of Russian President Dmitri Medvedev and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. The move came following Putin's complaints that the station is “pouring diarrhoea" on him "from day till night” and that it is pro-American:
http://www.economist.com/node/21547868
http://www.economist.com/node/21547868
Rumour Has It
Wang Lijun, the deputy mayor and former police chief of Chongqing, recently sought sanctuary for several days in the US consulate in Chengdu before surrendering to Chinese authorities. He is thought to have been taken to Beijing, and is rumored to be under investigation for corruption. Wang's behavior may threaten the political aspirations of his boss, Chongqing party chief Bo Xilai, a leading "princeling" (son of a revolutionary leader) and neo-Maoist. Bo is currently a member of the Political Bureau (Politburo) of the Chinese Communist Party; in recent months, Bo has more-or-less openly sought to be named to a spot on the Politburo's Standing Committee at this fall's Party Congress:
http://www.economist.com/node/21547821
http://www.economist.com/node/21547821
18 February 2012
Demands for Reform Grow in Russia
A recent article in The Economist argues that Russia's urban, educated middle-class is increasingly impatient with the "soft authoritarianism" and corruption of the governing regime. While former Russian President (and current Prime Minister) Vladimir Putin is expected to be elected President next month, the Russian political system may eventually have to meet the intelligentsia's demands for reform, much as Mexico's urban middle class forced the PRI regime to liberalize in the 1990s:
http://www.economist.com/node/21547259
http://www.economist.com/node/21547259
14 February 2012
Absolute Poverty has Increased in Nigeria
Despite Nigeria's oil wealth, the proportion of the population living in "absolute poverty" (i.e., living on less than $1 per day) has grown substantially since 2004. In 2010, 60.9% of Nigerians lived in absolute poverty; the incidence of such poverty was higher in northern Nigerian than in southern Nigeria:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17015873
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17015873
12 February 2012
Xi to Begin US Visit with Call on President Obama
This fall, Xi Jinping will likely succeed Hu Jintao as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party; he is expected to succeed Hu as President of the People's Republic of China next spring. Xi will begin a trip across the United States on Tuesday by calling on President Obama at the White House. Today's New York Times examines both the challenges confronting Xi as he prepares to lead China, and the obstacles he will face in reforming China's emerging state capitalist system:
03 February 2012
Scotland to Vote on Independence in 2014
Scotland's First Minister, Alex Salmond of the pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP), has announced that Scotland will hold a formal referendum on independence in the autumn of 2014. The timing of the referendum, the number and wording of the questions to be presented to voters and even the composition of the electorate (Salmond has proposed extending the franchise to 16 and 17-year-olds, who apparently are more pro-independence than older voters) remain to be determined. Salmond contends that these are matters for the Scottish Parliament to decide; British Prime Minister David Cameron believes that these questions should be decided by the British Parliament at Westminster. Cameron could force the issue (the scope of the Scottish Parliament's authority is ultimately up to the Westminster Parliament) but, if Cameron is too high-handed, he could drive Scottish voters into the independence camp:
http://www.economist.com/node/21543531
http://www.economist.com/node/21543531
02 February 2012
Slower Growth Spawns Protests in China
An excellent article in a recent issue of The Economist argues that "[e]conomic conditions and social media are making protests more common in China—at a delicate time for the country’s rulers." "Unrest in China: A Dangerous Year." The Economist 28 Jan. 2012: 21-24. Print.
