AHS Comparative Government

Seventy million people have been forcibly relocated in China since the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949. An article in this week's issue of The Economist examines current efforts to resettle 2.8 million residents of Shaanxi province. Provincial officials are eager to present the resettlement program as essential to alleviate the poverty of the affected villagers and to protect them from natural disaster. The Economist, however, argues that the relocation efforts are likely part of ongoing efforts to divert clean, potable water from Shaanxi to Beijing, which faces a chronic and severe water shortage:

http://www.economist.com/node/21551083

Bo Xilai, the former Communist Party Chief of Chongqing, became famous throughout China for his aggressive efforts to fight organized crime in that city. Since he was removed as Chongqing Party Chief two weeks ago, however,

a starkly different picture of his sweeping campaign to break up organized gangs — called da hei, or smash black — is coming into focus. Once hailed as a pioneering effort to wipe out corruption, critics now say it depicts a security apparatus run amok: framing victims, extracting confessions through torture, extorting business empires and visiting retribution on the political rivals of Mr. Bo and his friends while protecting those with better connections.

LaFraniere, Sharon and Jonathan Ansfield. "Crime Crackdown Adds to Scandal Surrounding Former Chinese Official." The New York Times 26 March 2012. Web. 26 March 2012.

According to a recent article in The Economist, income is more unequally distributed in China than in most Asian countries. Moreover, income inequality in China is continuing to increase. The Chinese government has declined to publish an estimate of the country's Gini coefficient since 2000, when it was 0.412 (about the same as the Gini coefficient for the US); some economists believe that China's Gini coefficient now exceeds 0.5.

The Chinese government is taking some steps to counter this trend. Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao recently stated that government spending on education would reach 4% of GDP for the first time this year; he also pledged that, by the end of the year, all parts of rural China would be covered by a pension system. Government health care spending, however, remains roughly 2.5% of GDP, which is considered low for a country at China's level of economic development.

"Satisfy the People." The Economist 10 March 2012: 55-6. Print.

Vladimir Putin was recently elected President of Russia for the third time; according to the official results, he won 64% of the vote. The election, however, was hardly a fair contest: viable alternative candidates were "discouraged" from running, broadcast media coverage of the race was effectively controlled by the Kremlin and vote rigging may have added as many as ten percentage points to Putin's share of the vote.

While Putin is not as popular as he once was (even the official results had him losing in Moscow), his victory was decisive: Western media exit polls showed Putin winning a clear majority of the vote. Putin's victory, and the passing of the focus for political organizing provided by the election, has left the Russian opposition demoralized:

http://www.economist.com/node/21549973

Mexican voters will elect their next president on July 1. Enrique Peña Nieto, the candidate of the centrist Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), is favored to win. But the current president, Felipe Calderón of the conservative Partido Acción Nacional (PAN), is apparently bending the rules to help the PAN candidate for president, Josefina Vázquez Mota. Mexican federal prosecutors appear to be more zealous in their pursuit of corruption cases against PRI officials than against PAN officials. Moreover, the recent annulment of a gubernatorial election in Michoacán (in which a PRI candidate defeated President Calderón's sister) has raised concerns about the even-handedness of Mexican election officials:

http://www.economist.com/node/21549994

Bo Xilai, a political protege of former Chinese President Jiang Zemin and a leader of the "neo-Maoist" wing of the Chinese Communist Party, was removed Thursday as Party Secretary in Chongqing, a municipality of 30 million people. Bo's tenure as Chongqing Party chief was characterized by heavy public spending on infrastructure, successful efforts to attract foreign direct investment, the provision of generous social services to the poor, a crackdown on corruption and a disregard for Chinese legal procedure. Bo's removal from his position followed an odd incident in which his former deputy Wang Lijun, apparently fearing for his (Wang's) safety in Chongqing, sought refuge for an evening in the US consulate in Chengdu (the capital of neighboring Sichuan province) before being taken to Beijing by security officers. Although Bo remains -- for now -- a member of the Party Political Bureau ("Politburo"), his removal almost certainly dooms his unusually public campaign to be named to a spot on the Politburo's Standing Committee at this fall's Party Congress. The nine members of the Politburo's Standing Committee wield ultimate political power in China.

Bo's interim replacement as Chongqing Party Secretary, Vice Prime Minister Zhang Dejiang, is described by the New York Times as "a North Korean-educated economist." Hardly a background to inspire Chongqing residents with confidence:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/16/world/asia/bo-xilai-ousted-from-communist-party-post-in-china.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&sq=bo

In 2011, shortly after he was elected President of Nigeria in his own right, Goodluck Jonathan appointed Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to serve as his finance minister. Okonjo-Iweala was given the task, in the words of The Economist, "of plugging the leaks in an economy built on patronage and rent-seeking." But Nigeria's notoriously corrupt economy has proven resistant to reform -- and Okonjo-Iweala's efforts have subjected her to criticism and death threats:

"The Iron Lady." The Economist 3 March 2012: 62. Print.

In theory, all three of Britain's major political parties support democratization of the House of Lords -- the entirely unelected (but relatively powerless) upper house of the British Parliament. According to The Economist, however, the ruling Conservatives and their Liberal Democrat coalition partners differ significantly over House of Lords reform; The Economist warns that failure to compromise these differences to the satisfaction of most Conservative and Liberal Democrat Members of Parliament could bring down the coalition government:

http://www.economist.com/node/21548956

Vladimir Putin, who governed Russia as President from 1999 to 2008 and who has served as Russia's Prime Minister since 2008, was elected today to his third term as President of Russia. With 80% of the ballots counted, Putin was leading with 64% of the vote. While there were widespread reports of irregularities, most pundits believe that Putin would have won handily had the election been flawless:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/05/world/europe/russia-votes-in-presidential-election.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp

An article in this morning's New York Times examines the reasons for Putin's broad (if somewhat grudging) popularity. Putin represents political and economic stability to a population with bitter memories of the economic collapse of the 1990s:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/04/world/europe/in-russia-vote-fear-of-hardship-fuels-putin-support.html?ref=todayspaper