POL 212 YEAR 2 STUDENTS IN POLITICAL SCIENCE

POL 212 COMPARATIVE POLITICS

THE CONSTITUTION

The Constitution of the People's Republic of China is amendable document. The first Constitution was adopted in 1954. After the two intervening versions, the constitution enacted in 1975 and 1978, the current Constitution was declared in 1982. There were significant differences between each of these versions, and the 1982 Constitution has subsequently been amended not less than four times (1988, 1993, 1999, and 2004). Furthermore, changing Constitutional conventions have led to significant changes in the structure of Chinese government in the absence of changes in the actual text of the Constitution. They have no special organization tasked with the enforcement of the Chinese Constitution. , More so, under the legal system of the People's Republic of China (PRC), courts lack the general power of judicial review and cannot invalidate a statute on the grounds that it violates the Constitution.

 

THE POLITBURO

These are the main group of people in a communist government who make decisions about policy. Most significant decision affecting China is first discussed and approved by a handful of men who sit on the party's Political Bureau or Politburo which is the nexus of all power in their nation of 1.3 billion. 25-member Politburo is elected by the party's Central Committee. New Politburo members are chosen only after rigorous discussion and investigation of their backgrounds, experience and views. To reach the top, people need a strong record of achievement working for the party, to have the right patrons, to have dodged controversy, and to have avoided making powerful enemies.

 

The politburo is made up of party secretaries from big municipalities like Beijing and Shanghai and from important provinces like Guangdong. Presently, the wealth generated by China's economic reforms has led some analysts to suggest the power of the centre as waning. It was noted that the party secretaries of large provinces like Sichuan and Guangdong are in charge of populations bigger than most European countries and that their tax revenues are extremely important to Beijing.

 

Formally, the power of Politburo members stems from their positions in the decision-making body in order words the people value personalities. But in China, personal relations count much more than job titles. A leader's influence rests on the loyalties he or she builds with superiors and protégés, often over decades. That was how Deng Xiaoping remained paramount leader long after resigning all official posts and it explains why party elders sometimes play a key role in big decisions.

 

China's most senior decision-making body is the seven-member Standing Committee of the Politburo which works as a kind of inner cabinet and groups together with the country's most influential leaders. The current members are Xi Jinping (the President), Han Zheng, Wang Huning, Li Zhanshu, Li Keqiang (the Prime Minister), Wang Yang, and Zhao Liji. Members are elected to serve for a term of five years. How the Standing Committee operates is secret and unclear, but its meetings are thought to be regular and frequent, often characterized by blunt speaking and disagreement. Although policy disagreements and factional fighting are widely believed to take place in private, it is extremely rare for them to break into the public domain.

Members of the Standing Committee also share out the posts of party General Secretary, premier, chairman of the National People's Congress, and head of the Discipline Inspection Commission. The Politburo controls three other important bodies and ensures that the party in line is upheld through these bodies. These are:

·                     the National People's Congress or parliament

·                     the State Council, the government's administrative arm

·                     the Military Affairs Commission which controls the armed forces

The President of China is the head of state. He is currently Xi Jinping who was appointed at the end of 2012 in the expectation that he would serve for 10 years. The president is widely regarded as having acquired more power and as behaving in a more paranoid fashion than any other leader since Mao Zedong, having abandoned the Communist Party's once hallowed tradition of 'collective leadership' in favour of strongman rule by himself. While he is genuinely opposed to corruption among party officials, he has used his anti-corruption campaign to remove rivals and consolidate power.

 

The Premier of China is the head of the government and leads the State Council. He is currently Li Keqiang who was appointed at the end of 2012 and is expected to serve for 10 years. Although a relatively recent innovation, introduced in 1997, enforcement of age and term limits for top Party and State positions has brought a degree of predictability into otherwise opaque Chinese elite politics. So presently, for all senior officials, there is an official retirement age of 65 and a limit of two to five-year terms in the same post.

 

THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE

The Central Committee is elected once every five years by the National Congress of the Communist Party of China although in fact almost all of these people are approved in advance. This Central Committee has 205 full members and 171 lower-ranking or "alternate" members". It meets every couple of months. The Central Committee is, formally, the "party's highest organ of authority" when the National People's Congress is not in session. According to the Party Constitution, it is vested with the power to elect the General Secretary and the members of the Politburo, its Standing Committee, and the Military Affairs Commission, and to endorse the composition of the Discipline Inspection Commission. It also oversees work of various powerful national organs of the party.

 

THE NATIONAL PEOPLE'S CONGRESS

Under China's 1982 constitution, the most powerful organ of state is meant to be the National People's Congress (NPC), China's unicameral legislature. However, the reality is that this is little more than a rubber stamp for party decisions. The Congress is made up of 2,270 delegates elected by China's provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities and the armed forces. Delegates hold office for five years. The full Congress is convened for one session in March of each year and lasts a mere two weeks. This means that China has the largest legislature in the world which meets for the least time in the world.

 

 

In theory, the Congress has the powers to change the constitution and make laws. But it is not, and is not meant to be, an independent body in the Western sense of a parliament. For a start, about 70% of its delegates - and almost all its senior figures - are also party members. Their loyalty is to the party first, the NPC second. What actually tends to happen, therefore, is that the party drafts most new legislation and passes it to the NPC for "consideration", better described as speedy approval.

 

THE STATE COUNCIL

The State Council is the cabinet which oversees China's vast government machine. It sits at the top of a complex bureaucracy of commissions and ministries and is responsible for making sure party policy is implemented from the national to the local level. In theory, the State Council answers to the National People's Congress, but more often the State Council submits legislation and measures which the NPC then approves.

 

The State Council's most important roles are to draft and manage the national economic plan and the state budget, giving it decision-making powers over almost every aspect of people's lives. It is also responsible for law and order. The full council meets once a month, but the more influential Standing Committee comes together more often, sometimes twice a week. This committee is made up of the country's premier, four vice-premiers, state councilors and the secretary-general.

 

THE MILITARY AFFAIRS COMMISSION

China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) - currently 2.25 million strong - has always defended the party as much as national borders. During the early years of communist rule, most of the country's leaders owed their positions to their military success during the civil war, and links between them and the PLA remained very close. However, as this generation has died off and reforms have been introduced to make the armed forces more professional, the relationship has shifted subtly.

 

Party leaders know they are lost without the army's support, as became clear during crises like the 1989 Tiananmen protests. At the same time, senior military leaders realise they need the leadership's backing if far-reaching plans to modernise the armed forces are to be paid for.

The party's control over the armed forces and their nuclear arsenal is institutionalised through the Central Military Affairs Commission. Currently the 11-member Commission has a civilian chairman (the President Xi Jinping), two uniformed vice chairmen, and eight uniformed regular members. The eight are the Minister of Defence, the directors of the PLA’s four headquarters departments, and the commanders of the Navy, Air Force, and strategic missile forces, known as the Second Artillery Corps.

 

THE DISCIPLINE INSPECTION COMMISSION

Party members suspected of corruption, bad management or breaking with the party line are liable to be brought before the Discipline Inspection Commission, set up to deal with internal party discipline and to monitor abuses. Indeed, as economic reforms have gathered pace, corruption has become probably the single most damaging issue for the party's standing.

President has launched an assault on inefficiency and corruption. The targets of the anti-corruption campaign have included the former head of security Zhou Yongkang, the country's highest-ranking official to be prosecuted in more than three decades, and Ling Jihua, a top aide to the former president Hu Jintao. Of course, such actions, as well as combating corruption, serve to eliminate opponents and consolidate power.

 

THE COURTS

Unlike in democratic countries, the China's court system is in no sense independent. Both main legal organs answer to the National People's Congress. The Supreme People's Procuratorate is the highest legal supervisory body, charged with safeguarding the constitution, laws and people's rights. The Supreme People's Court sits at the top of a pyramid of people's courts going down to the local level. Public security organs are in charge of the investigation, detention and preparatory examination of criminal cases.

 

THE PROVINCES

China is governed as 23 provinces,  the 23 Provinces are: Anhui, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guizhou, Hainan, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu,  Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi ,Sichuan, Yunnan,  Zhejiang, and Taiwan five "autonomous" regions: Ningxia Hui, Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang Uygur, Tibet and Guangxi Zhuang. four municipalities - considered so important they are under central government control (Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and Chongqing) - and two special administrative regions namely Hong Kong and Macao (Macau) The people in charge of these bodies - a group of about 7,000 senior party and government leaders - are all appointed by the party's organization department.

The Five Autonomous Regions

Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region is located on the upper reaches of the Yellow River in northwest China. Its capital city is Yichuan. It borders three other regions (including two provinces and one autonomous region). Ningxia borders Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in the north, Gansu Province in the south and Shaanxi Province in the east. The Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region has a total population of 6.3 million mostly made up of the Hui people. It has a large number of Muslim populations and a small number of Christians, Buddhists and Taoists.

The region is divided into five prefecture-level cities. These are: Yinchuan, Shizuishan, Wuzhong, Zhongwei and Guyuan. Some of the famous tourist destinations are the Xixia Tombs and the Gaomiao Temple.

Inner Mongolia which is located in the northern part of China is the third largest province in China. It shares borders with eight provinces. These are: Liaoning, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Shanxi, Gansu, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Hebei, and Shaanxi. Mongolia also borders with the Republic of Mongolia and Russia in the north. The total population of Inner Mongolia is 24.7 million out of which about 79% are Han Chinese. Other ethnic groups in the region include Mongol (second largest) and Manchu.

 

Inner Mongolia is divided into 12 prefecture-level divisions. Some of the major cities are Hohhot (capital city), Wuhai, Baotou and Chifeng. Some tourists destinations in the region are Dazhao Temple, Xiaozhao Temple,  Wudangzhao Monastery, Wanbu Huayanjing Pagoda among others. Located in the northwest of China, Xinjiang is the largest of China’s regions and provinces. It has the most neighboring countries as it borders Russia, Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan and India.

The population of Xinjiang is about 21.8 million which comprises of a number of ethnic groups including the Uyghur, Kazakhs, Mongols, Hui, Kyrgyz, and Tajiks Han. The largest ethnic is Uyghur (45%) who are Muslims. The second largest group is Han Chinese (40%). The capital of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region is Ürümqi (Wulumuqi). It is divided into fourteen prefecture-level divisions. Some of the major cities are: Aksu, Changji, Bortala, Bayingolin, Hetian etc. Xinjiang has a lot of beautiful landscapes which attract tourists. Examples are the Tianshan Mountains and Southern Pasture. There are also some notable cultural sites such as the Xinjiang Silk Road Museum, Tartar Mosque and Qinghai Mosque.

It is the second-largest province-level division of China. The Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) is situated on the world’s highest plateau, the Qingzang Plateau (also known as the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau). The autonomous region accounts for 12.8 percent of China’s total land area. It borders Xinjiang to the North, Qinghai to the northeast, Sichuan to the east and Yunnan to the southeast. Countries which share borders with TAR in the south are Myanmar (Burma), India, Bhutan and Nepal. TAR has a total population of 3million with almost 93% of the people from the Tibetan ethnic group. Other ethnicities are the Han (6%), Monpa and Hui. They speak Tibetan language (as well as Mandarin Chinese) and practice the Tibetan Buddhism. Lhasa is the capital city of Tibet. Some other notable cities include: Nyingchi, Nakchu, Shannan, Ngari, and Chamdo.

One of the main tourist attractions in the region is the Potala Palace in Lhasa. Other interesting places include Tashilhunpo Monastery, Namtso Lake, and Jokhang Temple. The tallest mountain in the world, Mount Everest is located on Tibet’s border with Nepal. Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region is situated in southern China. It shares borders with the following provinces: Hunan (northeast), Guangdong (southeast), Yunnan (west) and Guizhou (north). The coastal region also borders Vietnam in the southwest.

Guangxi has a population 46.8 million with majority being Han Chinese (62%). Other ethnicities are Zhuang (32%), Miao, Yao, etc. Over 90% of the Zhuang population which is China’s largest minority group lives in Guangxi.

Guangxi has 14 prefectures and 109 counties. Its capital city is Nanning. Other famous cities in the region include: Yulin, Guigang, Guilin, Liuzhou, Hechi, Baise etc. The region is characterized by spectacular landscapes, mountains and forests.  It has several tourist destinations including 3 state-level natural scenic spots and 11 state-level forest parks. Guilin and Yangshuo are the major tourist attractions in Guangxi. Some famous sites are the Reed Flute Cave, Elephant Trunk Hill, Seven-Star Park, Li River, etc.

S/n	Area	Provinces
1	Central South	Honan, Hunan, Hupeh, Kiangsi, Kwangsi, Kwangtunt
2	East China	Anhwei, Chekiang, Fukieeennn, Kiangsu, Shantung
3	Inner Mongolia	Northern Chahar, Suiyuan
4	North China	Southern Chahar, Hopeh, Shansi
5	North East China	Antung, Heilungkiang, Jehol, Kirin, Liaohsi
6	North West China	Kansu, Ningsia, Shensi, Sinkiang, Tsinghai
7	South West China	Kweichow, Sikang, Szechuan, Yunnan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Central South of China has 6 provinces while East China comprises of 5 provinces; Inner Mongolia has 3 Provinces, North China has 4 provinces, North East China has 5 provinces, North West China has 5 provinces and South West China; has 4 province.

Though, many are powerful individuals - the governor of Sichuan province ruled over 80 million people - their ability to deviate from the party line is limited because they know their next career move would be at stake. Nevertheless, most analysts agreed that the centre has lost some control to the regions in the past two decades, especially in the economic field.

 

RUSSIAN LIFE AND POLITICAL SYSTEM

 

Based on the total landmass, Russia is the largest country in the world. That is excellent for travelers because that means there is plenty to explore. The total landmass of Russia is 6,601,665 square miles. That is equal to 11% of the world’s total landmass! This can be compared with Canada at 3,855,101 square miles. Russia has a harsh weather, that is harsh winter conditions, and from the coldest village in the world. In a place like Oymyakon during winter it is 58-degrees Fahrenheit and the coldest recorded cold in Oymyakon is 96-degrees Fahrenheit. Due to their harsh weather if you wear sunglasses outside the area it will freeze and break.  

 

There is a big difference between the male and female population in Russia. The numbers of females make up 54% whereas males only make up 46% reason; the population gap began during World War II (WWII) when 25 million Russian soldiers died in the war. Even though, there are no more war men still have a much shorter lifespan than women do in Russia. Many Russian live in rural communities where the way of life is harsh, most at times, Russian men fall victim to hunting accident, poor health care, and too much intake of vodka drink. It is not a hidden fact that Russians have too much of vodka drink in their place any time any day. 

 

Russia is so big that it has 11 different time zones. Their lake Baikal has more water than any other lake on earth, the lake is located in Siberia it also the largest freshwater lake in the world by water volume. Russians tend to have many superstitious and traditions, the commonest tradition is to only give followers in odd numbers than even numbers. They believe that even numbers are for cemeteries. If you give a Russian flower in even numbers they may take it personal with you seeing you as an enemy. Another interesting story about the life of Russians is that they learn not to smile while growing up; that smiling in their culture is a mark of weakness and not showing ones true feelings. Again they only smile at people they know not strangers.        

 

The Russian political system is one of the more recent to embrace democracy but remains deeply flawed in terms of its democratic credentials, overwhelmingly tainted by corruption, and massively influenced by the power and personality of one man, Vladimir Putin. The Russian Federation was the largest nation to emerge from the breakup of the Soviet Union in December 1991. Following the constitutional crisis of 1993, Russia adopted a new constitution in a referendum of December 1993. Essentially the country is described as a federal presidential republic.

 

 

 

 

THE PRESIDENT

The constitution of 1993 provides strong powers for the President. The President has broad authority to issue decrees and directives that have the force of law without legislative review, although the constitution notes that they must not contravene that document or other laws. Indeed Russia's strong presidency is sometimes compared with that of Charles de Gaulle in the French Fifth Republic (1958-69). The President's power in practice is underlined by his power to make so many appointments of key officials. It is estimated that the size of the Presidential apparatus in Moscow and the localities is more than 75,000 people, most of them employees of state-owned enterprises directly under Presidential control. The Law on Presidential Elections requires that the winner receive more than 50% of the votes cast. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, the top two candidates in term of votes must face each other in a run-off election. Under the original 1993 constitution, the President was elected for a four-year term but, in November 2008, the constitution was amended to make this a six year term. The President is eligible for a second term but constitutionally he is barred from a third term tenure.

 

The first President of the new Russia was Boris Yelsin who was elected in June 1991. He was followed by his hand-picked successor Vladimir Putin. After a term as Acting President, he was elected for his first term in May 2000 and for a second term in March 2004. In accordance with the constitution, he stepped down in March 2008 and was succeeded by his nominated successor Dmitry Medvedev (previously a First Deputy Prime Minister). In March 2012, Putin was re-elected as President on the first ballot in a widely criticized election in which the opposition candidates were weak, the media was compliant, and there were many electoral irregularities. He took office in May 2012 and will serve for six years. Constitutionally Putin could seek one further term and, if elected, would therefore be President until 2024 when he would be 71.

 

THE EXECUTIVE

The Prime Minister is appointed by the President with the approval of the Duma and is first-in-line to the presidency in the case of the President's death or resignation. Historically the role of Prime Minister has been very much subservient to that of the President. However, this situation changed in March 2008 when Vladimir Putin stepped down as President - as he was constitutionally required to do - and became Prime Minister while the First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev stepped up to the Presidency. In May 2012, Putin returned to occupy the office of the president while the former President Medvedev became Prime Minister in an exchange of roles.

 

THE FEDERATION COUNCIL

 

The upper house in the Russian Federal Assembly is the Federation Council. The Council has 170 members who are known as senators. Each of the 85 federal subjects of Russia sends two members to the Council. The federal subjects are the 47 oblasts (provinces), the eight krais (various large territories with the same legal status as oblasts)), the two federal cities (Moscow and St Petersburg), the 21 republics (areas of non-Russian ethnicity), the four autonomous okrugs (various regions) and one autonomous oblast (the Jewish Autonomous Oblast), each category of which has different powers. In 2014, Sevastopol and the Republic of Crimea became the 84th and 85th federal subjects of Russia, although the two most recently added subjects are internationally recognized as part of Ukraine. One senator is elected by the provincial legislature and the other is nominated by the provincial governor and confirmed by the legislature.

For the fact that the territorial nature of the upper house, terms to the Council are not nationally fixed, but instead are determined according to the regional bodies the senators represent. The Council holds its sessions within the Main Building on Bolshaya Dmitrovka Street in Moscow, the former home of the Soviet State Building Agency (Gosstroi).

 

 

The Federation Council is the upper chamber of the Federal Assembly, the Russian parliament. It is composed of two representatives from every constituent entity of the Russian Federation with one representing the legislative (representative) authority and the other the executive authority, as well as the representatives of the Russian Federation appointed by the President of the Russian Federation whose number shall not exceed ten percent of Federation Council members representing legislative (representative) and executive authorities of Russia’s constituent entities.

The Federation Council is the upper chamber of the Federal Assembly, the Russian parliament. The Federation Council is a permanent body. The Constitution of the Russian Federation defines the powers of the Federation Council. Exercising legislative power is its main function. The Constitution of the Russian Federation and the Federation Council Rules of Procedure stipulate the manner in which the Federation Council reviews federal constitutional laws and federal laws, approved or adopted by the State Duma, respectively.

 

Together with the State Duma, the Federation Council takes part in drafting laws, reviewing them and taking decisions, and also drafts federal laws and federal constitutional laws on its own, under its right to initiate legislation. The Federation Council approves federal laws at its sittings with or without review. Federal laws adopted by the State Duma are subject to mandatory review by the Federation Council in the following areas: the federal budget; federal taxes and duties; financial, foreign exchange, lending and customs regulations, and money creation; ratification of and withdrawal from international treaties of the Russian Federation; status and protection of the state border of the Russian Federation; war and peace.

 

A federal law is deemed approved by the Federation Council, if it is voted for by more than one half of the total number of its members, while constitutional federal laws are adopted by at least a three fourths majority. A federal law that is not subject to mandatory review is deemed to have been adopted if the Federation Council does not take it up for review within fourteen days. If the Federation Council rejects a federal law, the two chambers of the Federal Assembly may set up a conciliation commission to overcome the differences, after which the federal law has to be reviewed once again by the State Duma and the Federation Council.

 

Furthermore, the Federation Council has the following authority:

– to approve a presidential executive order imposing martial law;

– to approve a presidential executive order imposing a state of emergency;

– to take decisions on deploying the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation outside its territory;

– to call elections of the President of the Russian Federation;

– to remove the President of the Russian Federation from office, and to lift the immunity of a former President of the Russian Federation;

– to appoint, at the proposal of the President of the Russian Federation, the chair, deputy chairs and judges to the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, the chair, deputy chairs and judges to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, and terminate their appointments, at the proposal of the President of the Russian Federation, if they commit acts discrediting the judge’s honour and dignity, as well as in other cases set forth by a federal constitutional law when the judge is unable to fulfill his or her duties;

– to hold consultations on candidates, as proposed by the President of the Russian Federation, for the posts of Prosecutor-General of the Russian Federation, deputy prosecutors-general of the Russian Federation, prosecutors of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, candidates for military prosecutors’ offices and other specialised prosecutors’ offices that enjoy the same status as prosecutors of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation;

– to appoint and dismiss the Chair of the Accounts Chamber and half of its auditors at the proposal of the President of the Russian Federation;

– to hold consultations on candidates, as proposed by the President of the Russian Federation, to head federal executive agencies (including federal ministries) in charge of defence, national security, internal affairs, justice, foreign affairs, preventing emergencies, disaster relief, and public safety;

– to hear annual reports by the Prosecutor-General of the Russian Federation on the state of law and order in the Russian Federation.

Several federal laws stipulate other powers vested in the Federation Council that are not set forth in the Constitution of the Russian Federation.

 

THE STATE DUMA

In the modern history of Russia, the State Duma, along with the Federation Council, is one of the two chambers of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation. The Federation Council is the upper chamber of the Federal Assembly, the Russian parliament. is composed of two representatives from every constituent entity of the Russian Federation with one representing the legislative (representative) authority and the other the executive authority, as well as the representatives of the Russian Federation appointed by the President of the Russian Federation whose number shall not exceed ten percent of Federation Council members representing legislative (representatives) and executives authorities of Russia constituent entities  The lower house in the Russian Federal Assembly is the State Duma. It is the most powerful house, so all bills, even those proposed by the Federation Council, must first be considered by the Duma. However, the Duma's power to force the resignation of the Government is severely limited. It may express a vote of no confidence in the Government by a majority vote of all members of the Duma, but the President is allowed to disregard this vote.

 

The Duma has 450 members who are known as deputies. Originally seats in the Duma were elected half by proportional representation (with at least 5% of the vote to qualify for seats) and half by single member districts. However, President Putin passed a decree that from the November 2007 election all seats were to be elected by proportional representation with at least 7% of the vote to qualify for seats. This 7% threshold was one of the highest in Europe and, by introducing this; Putin eliminated independents and made it effectively impossible for small parties to be elected to the Duma.

 

Recently Duma is elected on a single day for a term of five years, with parallel voting that was used between 1993 and 2003. Therefore, half of the 450 seats are elected by proportional representation from closed party lists with a 5% electoral threshold with the whole country as a single constituency. The other 225 seats are elected in single-member constituencies using the first-past-the-post system. Under the original 1993 constitution, elections were held every four years but, in November 2008, the constitution was amended to make the Duma's term five years. A Duma election was held in December 2011 (when turnout was only 60%). So a Duma election should have been on 4 December 2016 but was brought forward to 18 September 2016 (when turnover fell to a record low of just 48%). The next election will be due on 2021. The Duma is headquartered in central Moscow, a few steps from Manege Square.

 

POLITICAL PARTIES

The main political party is called United Russia and is led by Dmitry Medvedev. It was founded in April 2001 as a result of a merger between several political parties. It describes itself as centrist, but it is essentially a creation of Vladimir Putin and supports him in the Duma and the Federation Council. In the Duma election of December 2011, even with the alleged voting irregularities, United Russia's share of the vote fell by 15% to just over 49% and the number of its deputies fell by 77 to 238. However, in the election of September 2016, the party - while winning 54% of the vote - increased its number of seats by 105 to 343. The main opposition party is the Communist Party of the Russian Federation led by Gennady Zyuganov. In the election of 2011, it won 19% of the vote and took 92 seats. At the last Duma election in 2016, its share of the vote fell to 13% its seat count fell by 50 to 42. The other parties in the Duma are the Ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (led by Vladimir Zhirinovsky) with 39 seats (down by 17) and the fake opposition party A Just Russia (led by Sergey Mironov) with 23 seats (down by 41).

 

THE JUDICIARY

The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation consists of 19 judges, one being the Chairman and another one being Deputy Chairman. Judges are appointed by the President with the consent of the Federation Council. The Constitutional Court is a court of limited subject matter jurisdiction. The 1993 constitution empowers the Constitutional Court to arbitrate disputes between the executive and legislative branches and between Moscow and the regional and local governments. The court also is authorized to rule on violations of constitutional rights, to examine appeals from various bodies, and to participate in impeachment proceedings against the President. Although in theory the judiciary is independent, most observers believe that major elements of the judiciary - together with the police and prosecution authorities - are under the political control of the Kremlin and more specifically Vladimir Putin. The world describes the current state of the Russian political system as "managed democracy" or "sovereign democracy" or simply as "Putinism". The three political parties not in government are called the "systemic opposition".

 

The Judiciary

Three types of court make up the Russian judiciary:

§  The courts of general jurisdiction (including military courts), subordinated to the Supreme Court;

§  The arbitration court system under the High Court of Arbitration;

§  The Constitutional Court (as well as constitutional courts in a number of federal entities)

The municipal court is the lowest adjudicating body in the general court system. It serves each city or rural district and hears more than 90 per cent of all civil and criminal cases. The next level of courts of general jurisdiction is the regional courts. At the highest level is the Supreme Court. Decisions of the lower trial courts can generally be appealed only to the immediately superior court.

Arbitration courts are in practice specialized courts which resolve property and commercial disputes between economic agents. The highest level of court resolving economic disputes is the High Court of Arbitration.

 

THE POLITICAL SYTEM OF THE UNITED KINGDOM

Political system of every nation is shaped by history. The fundamental continuity could be said to be the important nature of understanding the British political system. The nation has not been invaded or occupied by any substantial territory rather they were the one that invade and occupy other territories. For the first time in history it was only in 1066 that England was invaded by the Normans. So getting to 1000 years they have not been invaded or occupied by any nation.

1.      Britain has no Written constitution example of other nation that has the same unwritten constitution are the Israel and New Zealand.

2.      Their political system is not logical or neat, democratic and efficient.

3.      They have gradual change, pragmatic and building a solid foundation on consensus. 

4.      The British attitude is separate from Europe and other people or cultures to that extend they are not interested in new or different ideas and this was the major factor behind the Brexit decision of 23^rd June 2016.  

Note: a referendum – a vote in which everyone (or nearly everyone) of a voting age can take part – was held on Thursday 23 June 2016, to decide whether the UK should leave or remain in the European Union. Whether to leave, won by 51.9% to 48.1%, the referendum turnout was 71.8%, with more than 30 million people voting (http://www.bbc.com.news.uk-politic...).The UK is due to leave the EU on 29^th March 2019 at 11pm. UK time, when the period for negotiating a withdrawal agreement will end unless an extension is agreed. The UK joined the European Communities (EC) in 1973, with membership confirmed by a referendum in 1975 (http://enwikipedia.org>wiki>Brexit).Brexit is abbreviations for British exit; referring to the UK’s decision in a June 23, 2016 referendum to leave the European Union.

The political history of the British has been a struggle to shift power and accountability from the king that claimed his right to rule is from God. With the power tussle democracy here was trying to survive and there has been increasing representatives of ordinary people and accountable to ordinary people. In 1215 their King John was forced to sign the Magna Carta which has to do with the sharing of power with the Barons. This was regarded as the first statement of citizens’ rights in the world of which the Hungarians enjoyed the Golden Bull for seven years. The first Representative Assembly was called Model Parliament that was concluded by King Edward I in 1295.  The British Parliament is Bicameral in nature of which the House of Commons and Lords emerged in 1341, having served as a template in very many other parliamentary systems. The 1689 bill lays down limits on the powers of the crown and sets out the rights of Parliament and the parliamentary rules, freedom of speech, Parliamentary regular election requirement and that the monarch can be petitioned without fear of retribution.

 

Further Reform Acts followed in 1867 and 1884. It was in1918 before the country achieved a near universal franchise and 1970 before the last extension of the franchise (to 18-21 years). Another important feature of British political history is that three parts of the United Kingdom; Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have a special status and have local administrations with a wide range of responsibilities. However, England which represents about 84% of the total UK population of around 65 million does not have a clear and strong sense of regionalism. So the British political system does not have anything equivalent to the federal system of the 50 states in the USA. The nature of   the United Kingdom took on a new form in the General Election of May 2015 of which the Scottish National Party won 56 out of 59 seats in Scotland.

 

The final important part of British political history is that, since 1973, the UK has been a member of what is now called the European Union (EU). Recently the EU has 28 Member States covering most of the continent of Europe. Therefore the UK Government and Parliament are limited in some respects by what they can do because certain areas of policy or decision-making are a matter for the EU which operates through a European Commission appointed by the member governments and a European Parliament elected by the citizens of the member states  The year 2015 was a special year for the British Parliament as it was the 750th anniversary of the de Montfort Parliament (the first gathering in England that can be called a parliament in the dictionary sense of the word), along with the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta, the document that set the scene for the later 1265 de Montfort Parliament.

 

THREE ARMS OF THE STATE

The British political system is headed by a monarch but essentially the powers of the monarch as head of state - currently Queen Elizabeth II - are ceremonial. The most important practical power is the choice of the Member of Parliament to form a government, but the monarch follows the convention that this opportunity is granted to the leader of the political party with the most number of seats in the House of Commons or who stands the best chance of commanding a majority in a vote of confidence in the Commons. The senior royals notably the Queen and her eldest son the Prince of Wales have to be consulted about legislation that might affect their private interests and given the opportunity to have such legislation amended. Traditionally the choice of monarch has been determined on the hereditary and primogeniture principle which means that the oldest male child of a monarch was the next in line to the throne. Under the terms of the Act of Settlement of 1701, the monarch and the monarch's spouse could not be Catholics because the UK monarch is also the Head of the Church of England. In 2015, the primogeniture principle was abolished, so that the next in line can now be a female eldest child, and the monarch can marry a Catholic but not him or her to be one.

In classical political theory, there are three arms of the state:

1.                  The executive - the Ministers who run the country and propose new laws

2.                  The legislature - the elected body that passes new laws

3.                  The judiciary - the judges and the courts who ensure that everyone obeys the laws.

In the political system of the United States, the constitution provides that there must be a strict division of powers of these three arms of the state, so that no individual can be a member of more than one. So, for example, the President is not and cannot be a member of the Congress. This concept is called 'separation of powers', a term coined by the French political, enlightenment thinker Montesquieu. This is not the case in the UK where all Ministers in the government are members of the legislature and one individual, the Lord Chancellor, is actually a member of all three arms.

 

THE UK PARLIAMENT

 

The British Parliament is often called Westminster because it is housed in a distinguished building in central London called the Palace of Westminster which stands out because of the clock tower at the south end (the Elizabeth Tower and it houses Big Ben) and the tower with a flag at the other end (the Victoria Tower).  The British Parliament - like that of larger countries is bicameral, that is there are two houses or chambers; the House of Commons and House of Lords. We can find unicameral legislatures in smaller nations such as: Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Greece, Israel and New Zealand, although China and Iran are two larger nations with a single legislative chamber (but neither of these countries practices democracy).

 

The House of Commons

This is the lower chamber but the one with the most authority. The Commons is chaired by the Speaker. Unlike the Speaker in the US House of Representatives, the post is non-political but by convention, the political parties do not contest the Parliamentary constituency held by the Speaker. The House of Commons currently comprises 650 Members of Parliament or MPs (the number varies slightly from time to time to reflect population change). This is a large legislature by international standards. For instance, the House of Representatives in the USA has 435 seats but, whereas, each of the 50 US states has its own legislature. The Coalition Government of 2010-2015 passed legislation to reduce the number from 650 to 600, as part of a wider change to the number and size of constituencies, but Parliament blocked the process of redrawing boundaries that is necessary before an General Election can be held with fewer seats.

Rather oddly (but deliberately), there is insufficient seating capacity in the chamber of the House of Commons for all the MPs. Members do not sit at desks (like most legislatures) but on long, green-covered benches and there is only seating capacity for 437 MPs out of the total of 650. The origin of this strange arrangement is that the Commons first home was the medieval St Stephen's Chapel in the Palace of Westminster which could only fit around 400 Members.

 

Every citizen aged 18 or over can vote once in the constituency in which they live. Voting is not compulsory (as it is in Australia). In the last General Election of May 2015, 66.1% of the electorate actually voted. Most democratic countries use a method of election called proportional representation (PR) which means that there is a reasonable correlation between the percentage of votes cast for a particular political party and the number of seats or representatives won by that party. However, much of the Anglo-Saxon world - the USA, Canada, and the UK but not Australia or New Zealand - uses a method of election called the simple majority system or 'first past the post' (FPTP). In this system, the country is divided into a number of constituencies each with a single member and the party that wins the largest number of votes in each constituency wins that constituency regardless of the proportion of the vote secured. The simple majority system of election tends to under-represent less successful political parties and to maximise the chance of the most popular political party winning a majority of seats nationwide even if it does not win a majority of the votes nationwide. Until recently, in the UK (unlike many countries), there was not fixed term parliaments.

 

The House of Lords

This is the upper chamber but the one with less authority. Its main roles are to revise legislation and keep a check on Government by scrutinising its activities. Since 1911, its power to block "money bills" is limited to one month and its power to block other bills is limited to one session, so ultimately it cannot block the will of the House of Commons. Furthermore, since 1945, there has been the Salisbury Convention that the House of Lords will not oppose a measure that was specifically mentioned in the last election manifesto of the political party forming the Government.

 

The House of Lords is an utterly bizarre institution that has no parallel anywhere in the democratic world. The explanation for the unusual nature of the Lords goes back to the beginning of this essay: the British political system has evolved very slowly and peacefully and it is not totally logical or democratic. There is no fixed number of members in the House of Lords, but currently there are 826 members - many more than in the House of Commons, more than the combined houses of the American Congress or the Indian Parliament (although both of these nations have a federal system), and the second biggest legislative body in the world (after the Chinese National People's Congress which is effectively a rubber-stamping body). The number was actually halved to 666 in the reforms of 1999 but, since then, succesive Prime Ministers (especially David Cameron) have been adding new life peers much faster than members are dying. Indeed the last (Coalition) Government added over 100. Ironically the size of the House of Lords continues to rise at the same time as the House of Commons has legislated to reduce its size (although the legislation has not been implemented).

 

Historically most members of the House of Lords have been what we called hereditary peers. This meant that years ago a king or queen nominated a member of the aristocracy to be a member of the House and, since then, the right to sit in the House has passed through the family from generation to generation. Clearly this is totally undemocratic and the last Labour Government abolished the right of all but 92 of these hereditary peers to sit in the House. Almost all the other members of today's House of Lords are what we call life peers. This means that they have been chosen by the Queen, on the advice of the Government, to sit in the House for as long as they live, but afterwards no member of their family has the right to sit in the House. Almost 200 are former Members of Parliament. Others are distinguished figures in fields such as education, health and social policy. A small number of other members - 26 - are archbishops and bishops of the Church of England. The archbishops of Canterbury and York and the bishops of London, Durham and Winchester automatically take seats in the Lords, while the further 21 seats are allocated on the basis of length of service. Iran is the only other country in the world that provides automatic seats for senior religious figures in its legislature.

 

There is no retirement age for peers and the average age is an incredible 69.

There is nowhere near sufficient seating capacity in the chamber of the House of Lords for all the peers. Members do not sit at desks (like most legislatures) but on long, red-covered benches and there is only seating capacity for 230 peers out of the total of over 800. Even on a 'whipped' vote, a couple of hundred peers will not turn up. House of Lords reform is unfinished business. The Parliament Act of 1911 first raised the prospect of an elected upper house but it has still not happened. There is a cross-party consensus that it should become a mainly elected body, although there is as yet no agreement on the details of the next stage of reform.

THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS

In the British political system, almost all legislation is proposed by the Government and much of it comes from promises made in the manifesto of the relevant political party at the last election. At the beginning of each annual session of the Parliament, the main Bills to be considered are announced by the Queen in a speech opening that year's session of Parliament.

All legislation has to be approved by both Houses of Parliament.

In each House of Parliament, a proposed piece of legislation - called a Bill - goes through the following stages:

·                     First Reading - the Bill is introduced with simply a reading by a Minister of the long title of the      Bill

·                     Second Reading - the general principles of the Bill are debated by all the members of the House and a formal vote is taken

·                     Committee Stage - each clause and schedule of the Bill, plus amendments to them and any new clauses or schedules, is examined in detail, in the Commons by a small, specially chosen group of members meeting as Public Bill Committee or in the Lords by the members as a whole on the floor of the House

·                     Report Stage - the changes made to the Bill in the Committee are reported to and debated by the whole House which is invited to consider the Bill as a whole, approve the changes by the Committee, and consider any further proposed changes that might be suggested

·                     Third Reading - the final version of the Bill is considered by the whole House in a short debate (in the Commons without the facility for further amendments)

·                     Royal Assent - the Crown gives assent to the Bill which then becomes an Act, the provisions becoming law either immediately or at a date specified in the Act or at a date specified by what is called a Commencement Order

Several points are worth noting about the legislative process:

·                     Under normal circumstances, all these stages must be completed in both Houses in one session of Parliament; otherwise the process must begin all over again.

·                     Debates on most Bills are timetabled through a programme motion (when Government and Opposition agree) or an allocation of time motion which is popularly known as a 'guillotine' motion (when Government and Opposition do not agree).

·                     As well as almost all legislation coming from the Government, almost all successful amendments originate from the Government.

·                     Ultimately, exactly the same text of a Bill must be approved by both Houses of Parliament. If the House of Lords approve an amendment to a Bill from the House of Commons, then the Bill returns to the Commons for further consideration. Usually the Lords amendment is not accepted by the Commons which is, after all, the elected chamber with the democratic mandate. If the Lords insist on passing the amendment - or something like it - again, then the process of the Bill passing back and forth between the two Houses is known colloquially as "ping-pong".

·                     The House of Lords has much more limited legislative powers than the House of Commons. Money Bills can only be initiated in the Commons and the Lords can only reject legislation from the Commons for one year. Furthermore there is a convention - called the Salisbury Convention - that the Lords do not block legislation in fulfillment of the election manifesto of the elected Government.

 

This process of enacting legislation applies to what is called primary legislation which starts as a Bill and finally become an Act. Another type of legislation is called secondary (or delegated) legislation which is usually more detailed. The power to make specific pieces of secondary legislation comes from specific pieces of primary legislation. A piece of secondary legislation - formally called an Order-in-Council - is not even debated unless it is particularly controversial and then it cannot be amended but simply approved or opposed. In practice, the last time Parliament rejected a piece of secondary legislation was in 1979.

 

In recent years, the number of Bills passed by Parliament has remained broadly constant at around 50 a year. However, these Bills have become longer and, in the past few years, about 3,000 pages of primary legislation, as well as around 13,000 pages of secondary legislation, have been processed by Parliament. The reality, therefore, is that Parliament provides increasingly less scrutiny of a lot of legislation. This situation could become even worse as Parliament attempts to deal with all the legislation needed to take the UK out of the European Union (Brexit).

 

POLITICAL PARTIES

The idea of political parties first took form in Britain and the Conservative Party claims to be the oldest political party in the world. Political parties began to form during the English civil wars of the 1640s and 1650s. First, there were Royalists and Parliamentarians; then Tories and Whigs. Whereas the Whigs wanted to curtail the power of the monarch, the Tories - today the Conservatives - were seen as the patriotic party.

Today there are four major political parties in the British parliamentary system:

·                     The Conservative Party (frequently called the Tories) - the centre-Right party, currently led by Theresa May, which since 2010 has been in Government either in coalition (2010-2015) or alone (since 2015)

·                     The Labour Party - the centre-Left party, led by Jeremy Corbyn, which was last in Government from 1997 to 2010

·                     The Scottish National Party - the party supporting Scottish independence, which is led by Nicola Sturgeon

·                     The Liberal Democrat Party (known as the Lib Dems) - the centrist, libertarian party, led by Vince Cable, which was the junior member of the Coalition Government of 2010-2015

In recent years, Britain has seen the rise of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) led by Nigel Farage until May 2015, which was formed in 1993 but achieved some spectacular performances in local and European elections in May 2014. In the general election of May 2015, it won 12.6% of the vote but, in the general election of June 2017, its vote collapsed to a mere 1.8%.

 

In addition to these five parties, there are some much smaller UK parties (notably the Green Party) and some parties which operate specifically in Wales (Plaid Cymru) or Northern Ireland (such as the Democratic Unionist Party for the loyalist sand Sinn Fein for the nationalists).

Each political party chooses its leader in a different way, but all involve all the Members of Parliament of the party and all the individual members of that party. By convention, the leader of the political party with the largest number of members in the House of Commons becomes the Prime Minster (formally at the invitation of the Queen).

Political parties are an all-important feature of the British political system because:

·                     The three main UK political parties in the UK have existed for a century or more and have a strong and stable 'brand image'.

·                     It is virtually impossible for someone to be elected to the House of Commons without being a member of an established political party.

·                     All political parties strongly 'whip' their elected members which means that, on the vast majority of issues, Members of Parliament of the same party vote as a 'block'.

Having said this, at least until the 2017 general election, the influence of the three main UK political parties was not as dominant as it was in the 1940s and 1950s because:

·                     The three parties have smaller memberships than they did, since voters are much less inclined to join a political party.

·                     The three parties secure a lower overall percentage of the total vote, since smaller parties between them now take a growing share of the vote.

·                     Voters are much less 'tribal', not supporting the same party at every election, and much more likely to 'float', voting for different parties at successive elections.

·                     The ideological differences between the parties are less than they were, with the parties adopting more 'pragmatic' positions on many issues.

 

For decades, therefore, the combined share of the vote taken by Conservatives and Labour diminished as the two-party model fractured. The last election dramatically reversed this trend as the two parties took 82.4% of the votes. The Liberal Democrats, the Greens and especially the UK Independence Party all did badly and now only have a mere 13 seats between them.

In the past, class was a major determinant of voting intention in British politics, with most working class electors voting Labour and most middle class electors voting Conservative. These days, class is much less important because:

·                     Working class numbers have shrunk and now represent only 43% of the electorate.

·                     Except at the extremes of wealth, lifestyles are more similar.

·                     Class does not determine voting intention so much as values, trust, competence and (in Scotland) nationalism).

In the British political system, there is a broad consensus between the major parties on:

·                     the rule of law

·                     the free market economy

·                     the National Health Service (NHS)

·                     membership of NATO and possession of a nuclear deterrent

The main differences between the political parties concern:

·                     how to tackle poverty and inequality

·                     the levels and forms of taxation

·                     the extent of state intervention in the economy

·                     the balance between collective rights and individual rights

·                     the terms of the UK's departure from the European Union

 

 

Government Departments

The most important political departments are called:

·                     The Treasury - In most countries, this would be called the Ministry of Finance. It is responsible      for the raising of all taxes and the control of all government expenditure plus the general management of the economy. The head of the Treasury is called the Chancellor of the Exchequer and is currently Philip Hammond.

·                     The Home Office - In most countries, this would be called the Ministry of the Interior. It is responsible for criminal matters, policing, and immigration. The Head of the Home Office is called the Home Secretary and is currently Amber Rudd.

·                     The Foreign and Commonwealth Office - In most countries, this would be called the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It is responsible for all international relationships, especially membership of the European Union. The head of the Foreign Office is called the Foreign Secretary and is currently Boris Johnson.

Many other UK Government Departments are similar to those in other countries and cover subjects such as education, health, transport, industry, and justice. However, there are also small departments for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

When talking about the British Government, the media will often use the term Whitehall because a number of Government Departments are located along a central London street very close to Parliament called Whitehall.

 

DEVOLVED GOVERNMENT

The UK has a devolved system of government, but this is categorically not a system of federal government such as in the United States or Australia, partly because less than a fifth of the citizens of the UK are covered the three bodies in question and partly because the three bodies themselves have different powers from one another.

The three devolved administrations are:

The Scottish Parliament

 

This came into operation in May 1999 and covers the 5Million citizens of Scotland. It has 129 members elected by a system of proportional representation known as the mixed member system. As a result, 73 members represent individual geographical constituencies elected by the 'first past the post' (FPTP) system, with a further 56 members returned from eight additional member regions, each electing seven members. All members are elected for four-year terms. The Scottish Parliament meets in Holyrood, Edinburgh. It has legislative powers over those matters not reserved to the UK Parliament and it has limited tax-raising powers. In the election of May 2011, for the first time a single political party gained an overall majority of the seats in the Scottish Parliament. That party was the Scottish National Party and its victory enabled it to require the UK Government to permit the holding of a referendum on Scottish independence. The referendum was held on 18 September 2014 and, on an astonishing turnout of 85%, the 'no' vote won a decisive victory by 55% to 45%. However, in the final week of the two-year referendum campaign, the three major parties in the UK Parliament agreed that, if the Scots voted 'no', there would be an early transfer of substantial extra powers to the Scottish Parliament. This is now the subject of fierce political debate because of the implications for the other nations in the UK and for the UK Parliament itself.

 

 

 

The Welsh Assembly

This came into operation in May 1999 and covers the 3Million citizens of Wales. It has 60 members elected by a system of proportional representation known as the mixed member system. As a result, 40 members represent individual geographical constituencies elected by the 'first past the post' (FPTP) system, with a further 20 members returned from five additional member regions, each electing four members. All members are elected for four-year terms. When first created, the Assembly had no powers to initiate primary legislation. However, since 2006, the Assembly has powers to legislate in some areas, though still subject to the veto of the Westminster Parliament. The Assembly has no tax-varying powers. The Welsh Assembly, therefore, has less power than either the Scottish Parliament or the Northern Ireland Assembly because unlike Scotland and Northern Ireland Wales does not have a separate legal system from England.

 

The Northern Ireland Assembly

The present version of the Assembly came into operation in May 2007 and covers the 1.5Million citizens of Northern Ireland. It has 108 members, six from each of the 18 Westminster constituencies elected by a system of proportional representation known as the single transferable vote (STV). It meets in the Parliament Building, Belfast. It has legislative powers over those matters not reserved to the UK Parliament, but it has no tax-raising powers. A First Minister and a Deputy First Minister are elected to lead the Executive Committee of Ministers. As a result of the sectarian division in Northern Ireland, the two must stand for election jointly and to be elected they must have cross-community support by the parallel consent formula, which means that a majority of both the Members who have designated themselves Nationalists and those who have designated themselves Unionists and a majority of the whole Assembly, must vote in favour. The First Minister and Deputy First Minister head the Executive Committee of Ministers and, acting jointly, determine the total number of Ministers in the Executive.

AMERICAN POLITICAL SYSTEM

The United States is by size of electorate the second largest democracy on the universe or globe while India is the second largest and Indonesia comes third. America is the most powerful nation on earth, politically, economically and militarily, but its political system is in many important respected, unlike any other in the world. To understand any country's political system, it is helpful to know something of the history of the nation and the background to the creation of the (latest) constitution. But this is a fundamental necessity in the case of the American political system. This is because the Constitution of the United States is so different from those of other nations and because that Constitution is, in all material respects, the same document as it was over two centuries ago.

There were four main factors in the minds of the 'founding fathers' who drafted the US Constitution:

1. The United States had just fought and won a bloody War of Independence from Britain and it was determined to create a political system that was totally different from the British system in which considerable authority still resided in a hereditary King (George III at the time) or Queen and in which Parliament was increasingly assertive in the exercise of its growing powers. Therefore the new constitution deliberately spread power between the three arms of government - executive, legislature and judiciary - and ensured that each arm was able to limit the exercise of power by the other arms.
2. The United States was already a large country with problems of communications and a population of varied background and education. Therefore, for all the intentions to be a new democracy, it was seen as important to limit the influence of swings in public opinion. So the election of the president was placed in the hands of an Electoral College, rather than the subject of direct election, and the terms of office of the president and the two chambers of the legislature were all set at different lengths.
3. The United States was the creation of 13 individual states, each of which valued its traditions and powers, and so the overarching federal government was deliberately limited in its powers compared to the position of the central government in other nations. Arguably the later Civil War was about states' rights more than it was about slavery and there is still a real tension today between the states and federal government.
4. The original 13 states of the USA were of very different size in terms of population and from the beginning there was a determination by the smaller states that political power should not be excessively in the hands of the larger states. Therefore the Constitution is built on a 'Great Compromise' between the Virginia plan (representation by population) and the New Jersey plan (equal representation for all states) which resulted in the House of Representatives being constructed on the basis of population and the Senate being composed of an equal number of representatives regardless of population. This is why today six states have only one member in the House of Representatives but two members in the Senate.

Whatever the 'founding fathers' intended, the sheer longevity of the Constitution and the profound changes in America since its drafting means that today the balance of power is not necessarily what the drafters of the Constitution had in mind. So originally the legislature was seen as the most powerful arm of government (it is described first in the Constitution) but, over time, both the Presidency (starting with the time of Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War) and the Supreme Court (especially on social issues like desegregation, marriage and abortion) have assumed more power.

THE CONSTITUTION

 The American political system is clearly defined by basic documents. The Declaration of Independence of 1776 and the Constitution of 1789 form the foundations of the United States federal government. The Declaration of Independence establishes the United States as an independent political entity, while the Constitution creates the basic structure of the federal government. Both documents are on display in the National Archives and Records Administration Building in Washington, D.C. which I have visited several times. Further information on the thinking expressed in the Constitution can be found in the Federalist Papers which are a series of 85 articles and essays published in 1787-1788 promoting the ratification of the Constitution.

The United States Constitution is both the longest-lasting in the world, being over two centuries old, and the shortest in the world, having just seven articles and 27 amendments. As well as its age and brevity, the US Constitution is notable for being a remarkably stable document. The first 10 amendments were all carried in 1789 - the same year as the original constitution - and are collectively known as the Bill of Rights. If one accepts that these first 10 amendments were in effect part of the original constitutional settlement, there have only been 17 amendments in over 200 years (the last substantive one - reduction of the voting age to 18 - in 1971).

One of the major reasons for this relative immutability is that - quite deliberately on the part of its drafters - the Constitution is a very difficult instrument to change. First, a proposed amendment has to secure a two-thirds vote of members present in both houses of Congress. Then three-quarters of the state legislatures have to ratifiy the proposed change (this stage may or may not be governed by a specific time limit).

As an indication of how challenging this process is, consider the case of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). This was first written in 1920, shortly after women were given the vote in the USA. The proposed amendment was introduced in Congress unsuccessfully in every legislative year from 1923 until it was finally passed in 1972. It was then sent to each state for ratification but, by 1982, it was still three states short of the minimum of the 38 needed to add it to the constitution. Various attempts since 1982 to revive the amendment have all failed.

At the heart of the US Constitution is the principle known as 'separation of powers', a term coined by the French political, enlightenment thinker Montesquieu. This means that power is spread between three institutions of the state - the executive (President & Cabinet), the legislature (House of Representatives & Senate) and the judiciary (Supreme Court & federal circuits) - and no one institution has too much power and no individual can be a member of more than one institution.

This principle is also known as 'checks and balances', since each of the three branches of the state has some authority to act on its own, some authority to regulate the other two branches, and has some of its own authority, in turn, regulated by the other branches.

THE PRESIDENCY

The President is the head of the executive branch of the federal government of the United State, the position has always been held by a man. He is both the head of state and the head of government, as well as the military commander-in-chief and chief diplomat.

The President presides over the executive branch of the government, a vast organization numbering about four million people, including one million active-duty military personnel. The Hatch Act of 1939 forbids anyone in the executive branch - except the President or Vice-President - from using his or her official position to engage in political activity.

Eligibility to become a President of USA

To be President, one has to:

• be a natural-born citizen of the United States
• be at least 35 years old
• have lived in the US for at least 14 years

Election of a President

The President is elected for a fixed term of four years and may serve a maximum of two terms. Originally there was no constitutional limit on the number of terms that a President could serve in office and the first President George Washington set the precedent of serving simply two terms. Following the election of Franklin D Roosevelt to a record four terms, it was decided to limit terms to two and the relevant constitutional change - the 22nd Amendment - was enacted in 1951. Elections are always held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November to coincide with Congressional elections. So the last election was held on 8 November 2016 and the next election will be held on 3 November 2020.

The President is not elected directly by the voters but by an Electoral College representing each state on the basis of a combination of the number of members in the Senate (two for each state regardless of size) and the number of members in the House of Representatives (roughly proportional to population). The states with the largest number of votes are California (55), Texas (38) and New York (29). The states with the smallest number of votes - there are seven of them - have only three votes. The District of Columbia, which has no voting representation in Congress, has three Electoral College votes. In effect, therefore, the Presidential election is not one election but 51.

The total Electoral College vote is 538. This means that, to become President, a candidate has to win at least 270 electoral votes. The voting system awards the Electoral College votes from each state to delegates committed to vote for a certain candidate in a "winner take all" system, with the exception of Maine and Nebraska (which award their Electoral College votes according to Congressional Districts rather than for the state as a whole). In practice, most states are firmly Democrat - for instance, California and New York - or firmly Republican - for instance, Texas and Tennessee. Therefore, candidates concentrate their appearances and resources on the so-called "battleground states", those that might go to either party. The three largest battleground or swing states are Florida (29 votes), Pennsylvania (20) and Ohio (18). Others include North Carolina (15), Virginia (13), Wisconsin (10), Colorado (9), Iowa (6) and Nevada (6).

The powers of the President

1.       Within the executive branch, the President has broad constitutional powers to manage national affairs and the workings of the federal government.

 

2. The President may issue executive orders to affect internal policies. The use of executive orders has varied enormously between presidents and is often a controversial matter since, in effect; it is bypassing the Congress to achieve what would otherwise require legislation. Very few such orders were issued until the time of Abraham Lincoln (the Emancipation Declaration was such an order); use of executive orders was considerable and peaked during the terms of the seven presidents from Theodore Roosevelt to Franklin D Roosevelt (1901-1945); but, since the Second World War, use has been more modest with Democrats tending to issue them a bit more than Republicans. Barack Obama has made very sparing use of this power, notably to reform immigration law and to tighten gun controls. Executive orders can be overturned by a succeeding President.

 

3. The President has the power to recommend measures to Congress and may sign or veto legislation passed by Congress. The Congress may override a presidential veto but only by a two-thirds majority in each house.

 

4.       The President has the authority to appoint Cabinet members, Supreme Court justices. Federal judges, and ambassadors but only with the 'advice and consent' of the Senate which can be problematic especially when the Senate is controlled by a different political party to that of the President.

 

 

5. The President has the power to pardon criminals convicted of offences against the federal government and most controversially President Gerald Ford used this power to pardon his predecessor Richard Nixon.

 

6. The President has the power to make treaties with the 'advice and consent' of the Senate.

 

7. The President can declare war for 60 days but then has to have the approval of Congress (although it can be difficult to withdraw troops once they have been committed).

Besides the formal powers of the President, there are informal means of exercising influence. Most notably, Teddy Roosvelt introduced the notion of 'the bully pulpit': the ability of the President to use his standing to influence public opinion. Over time, the changing nature of media - newspapers, radio, television, the Internet, social media - has presented a variety of instruments for the White House to use to 'push' Congress or other political players or indeed communicate directly with the electorate. Currently Donald Trump uses his personal Twitter account to issue several messages a day to (as at summer 2017) some 32.4 million

THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

The House of Representatives is the lower chamber in the bicameral legislature known collectively as Congress. The founders of the United States intended the House to be the politically dominant entity in the federal system and, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the House served as the primary forum for political debate. However, subsequently the Senate has been the dominant body.

Eligibility to become a member of the House

To be a member of the House, one has to:

• be at least 25 years old
• have been a US citizen for at least seven years
• live in the state which one represents (but not the actual district

 How to choose a member of the House

The House consists of 435 members (set in 1911), each of whom represents a congressional district and serves for a two-year term. House seats are apportioned among the states by population according to each decennial (every 10 years) census, but every state must have at least one member and in fact seven states have only one Representative each (Alaska, Delaware, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming). Typically a House constituency would represent around 700,000 people.

Once House seats are reapportioned to the states, it is state legislatures that must redraw the physical boundaries of Congressional districts. Although the states are bound by limits established by Congress and the Supreme Court, there is scope for gerry-mandering to ensure electoral advantage for the dominant political party in the state. Such reapportionment of members of the House takes effect three years after the decennial census so, as the next census will take place in 2020, reapportionment will take effect for the 118th Congress (2023-2025).

Members of the House are elected by first-past-the-post voting in every state except Louisiana and Washington, which have run-offs if no candidate secures more than 50% of the vote. Elections are always held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November in even numbered years. Voting in congressional elections - especially to the House - is generally much lower than levels in other liberal democracies. In a year when there is a Presidential election, turnout is typically around 50%; in years when there is no Presidential election (known as mid-terms), it usually falls to around one third of the electorate.

In the event that a member of the House of Representatives dies or resigns before the end of the two-year term, a special election is held to fill the vacancy.

The House has five non-voting delegates from the District of Columbia (1971), Guam (1972) the Virgin Islands (1976), American Samoa (1981) and the Northern Mariana Islands (2008) and one resident commissioner for Puerto Rico (1976), bringing the total formal membership to 441. Non-voting delegates are not allowed floor votes, but can vote in any committees to which they are assigned.

 

The powers of the House

• The House of Representatives is one of the two chambers that can initiate and pass legislation, although to become law any legislation has to be approved by the Senate as well.
• Each chamber of Congress has particular exclusive powers. The House must introduce any bills for the purpose of raising revenue.
• If the Electoral College is tied, the choice of President is made by the House of Representatives.
• The House has a key role in any impeachment proceedings against the President or Vice-President. It lays the charges which are then passed to the Senate for a trial.
• The House (and the Senate) have the power to declare war - although the last time this happened was in 1941.

THE SENATE

The Senate is the upper chamber in the bicameral legislature known collectively as Congress. The original intention of the authors of the US Constitution was that the Senate should be a regulatory group, less politically dominant than the House. However, since the mid 19th century, the Senate has been the dominant chamber and indeed today it is perhaps the most powerful upper house of any legislative body in the world.

 Eligibility to become a member of the Senate

To be a member of the Senate, one has to:

• be at least 30 years old
• have been a US citizen for at least nine years
• live in the state which one represents

How a member of the Senate chosen

The Senate consists of 100 members, each of whom represents a state and serves for a six-year term (one third of the Senate stands for election every two years). Each state has two Senators, regardless of population, and, since there are 50 states, then there are 100 senators. This equality of Senate seats between states has the effect of producing huge variations in constituency population (the two senators from Wyoming represent less than half a million electors, while the two senators from California represent 34M people) with gross over-representation of the smaller states and serious under-representation of racial and ethnic minorities.

For a long time, Senators were elected by the individual state legislatures. However, since the 17th Amendment to the Constitution in 1913, members of the Senate are elected by first-past-the-post voting in every state except Louisiana and Washington, which have run-offs. Elections are always held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November in even numbered years.

Each Senator is known as the senior or junior Senator for his or her state, based on length of service.

In the event that a member of the Senate dies or resigns before the end of the six-year term, a special election is not normally held at that time (this is the case for 46 states). Instead the Governor of the state that the Senator represented nominates someone to serve until the next set of Congressional elections when the special election is held to fill the vacancy.

 The powers of the Senate

• The Senate is one of the two chambers that can initiate and pass legislation, although to become law any legislation has to be approved by the House of Representatives as well.
• Each chamber of Congress has particular exclusive powers. The Senate must give 'advice and consent' to many important Presidential appointments including Cabinet members, Supreme Court justices. federal judges, and ambassadors.
• The Senate has the responsibility of ratifying treaties.
• If the Electoral College is tied, the choice of Vice-President is made by the Senate.
• The Senate has a key role in any impeachment proceedings against the President or Vice-President. Once the House of Representatives has laid the charges, the Senate then conducts a trial on these charges. The Supreme Court Chief Justice presides over such a trial. A two-thirds majority of the Senate is required to uphold impeachment charges.
• The Senate (and the House) have the power to declare war - although the last time this happened was in 1941.

THE SUPREME COURT

 The Supreme Court

The Supreme Court is the highest court in the land. Originally it had five members but over time this number has increased. Since 1869, it has consisted of nine Justices: the Chief Justice of the United States and eight Associate Justices. They have equal weight when voting on a case and the Chief Justice has no casting vote or power to instruct colleagues. Decisions are made by a simple majority. Below the Supreme Court, there is a system of Courts of Appeal, and, below these courts, there are District Courts. Together, these three levels of courts represent the federal judicial system.

The eligibility to become a member of the Court

The Constitution does not specify qualifications for Justices such as age, education, profession, or native-born citizenship. A Justice does not have to be a lawyer or a law school graduate, but all Justices have been trained in the law. Many of the 18th and 19th century Justices studied law under a mentor because there were few law schools in the country. The last Justice to be appointed who did not attend any law school was James F. Byrnes (1941-1942). He did not graduate from high school and taught himself law, passing the bar at the age of 23. All Supreme Court judges are appointed for life.

How a member of the Court  are chosen

The Justices are nominated by the President and confirmed with the 'advice and consent' of the Senate. As federal judges, the Justices serve during "good behavior", meaning essentially that they serve for life and can be removed only by resignation or by impeachment and subsequent conviction. Since the Supreme Court makes so many 'political' decisions and its members are appointed so rarely, the appointment of Justices by the President is often a very charged and controversial matter; since Justices serve for life and therefore usually beyond the term of office of the appointing President, such appointment are often regarded as an important part of any particular President's legacy.

The powers of the Court

The Supreme Court is the highest court in the United States. The court deals with matters pertaining to the federal government, disputes between states, and interpretation of the Constitution.

It can declare legislation or executive action made at any level of the government as unconstitutional, nullifying the law and creating precedent for future law and decisions.

However, the Supreme Court can only rule on a lower court decision so it cannot take the initiative to consider a matter.

POLITICAL PARTIES & ELECTIONS

 The American political system is dominated by two political parties: the Democratic Party and the Republican Party (often known as the 'Grand Old Party' or GOP). These are very old and very stable parties - the Democrats go back to 1824 and the Republicans were founded in 1854.

In illustrations and promotional material, the Democratic Party is often represented as a donkey, while the Republican Party is featured as an elephant. The origin of these symbols is the political cartoonist Thomas Nast who came up with them in 1870 and 1874 respectively.

The main reason for the dominance of these two parties is that - like most other Anglo-Saxon countries (notably Britain) - the electoral system is 'first past the post' or simple majority which, combined with the large voter size of the constituencies in the House and (even more) the Senate, ensures that effectively only two parties can play. The other key factor is the huge influence of money in the American electoral system. Since effectively a candidate can spend any amount he can raise (not allowed in many other countries) and since one can buy broadcasting time (again not allowed in many countries), the US can only 'afford' two parties or, to put it another way, candidates of any other party face a formidable financial barrier to entry.

Some people tend to view the division between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party in the United States as the same as that between Labour and Conservative in Britain or between Social Democrats and Christian Democrats in Germany. The comparison is valid in the sense that, in each country, one political party is characterised as Centre-Left and the other as Centre-Right or, to put it another way, one party is more economically interventionist and socially radical than the other. However, the analogy has many weaknesses.

1. The Centre in American politics is considerably to the Right of the Centre in most European states including Britain, Germany, France, Italy and (even more especially) the Scandinavian countries. So, for instance, most members of the Conservative Party in the UK would support a national health service, whereas many members of the Democratic Party in the US would not.
2. As a consequence of the enormous geographical size of the United States and the different histories of the different states (exemplified by the Civil War), geography is a factor in ideological positioning to a much greater extent than in other democratic countries. For instance, a Northern Republican could be more liberal than a Southern Democrat. Conversely there is a group of Democratic Congressmen that are fiscally very conservative - they are known as "blue dog" Democrats or even DINO (Democrats in Name Only).
3. In the United States, divisions over social matters - such as abortion, capital punishment, same-sex relationships and stem cell research - matter and follow party lines in a way which is not true of most European countries. In Britain, for instance, these sort of issues would be regarded as matters of personal conscience and would not feature prominently in election debates between candidates and parties.
4. In the USA, religion is a factor in politics in a way unique in western democracies. Candidates openly proclaim their faith in a manner which would be regarded as bizarre elsewhere (even in a Catholic country like France) and religious groupings - such as the Christian Coalition of America - exert a significant political influence in a manner which would be regarded as improper in most European countries (Poland is an exception here).
5. In the United States, the 'whipping system' - that is the instructions to members of the House and the Senate on how to vote - is not as strict or effective as it is in most European countries. As a consequence, members of Congress are less constrained by party affiliation and freer to act individually.
6. In the USA, political parties are much weaker institutions than they are in other democracies. Between the selections of candidates, they are less active than their counterparts in other countries and, during elections; they are less influential in campaigning, with individual politicians and their campaigns having much more influence.
7. The cost of elections is much greater in the US than in other democracies which has the effects of limiting the range of candidates, increasing the influence of corporate interests and pressure groups, and enhancing the position of the incumbent office holder (especially in the winning of primaries). As long ago as 1895, the Chairman of the Republican National Committee Mark Hanna stated: "There are two things that are important in politics. The first is money, and I can't remember what the second one is."
8. Whereas in other countries, voters shape the policies and select the candidates of a party by joining it, in the USA voters register as a supporter of one of the major parties and then vote in primary elections to determine who should be the party's candidate in the 'real' election.

• introduced by individual Members of Parliament (they are called Private Members' Bills).
• Senate rules permit what is called a filibuster when a senator, or a series of senators, can speak for as long as they wish and on any topic they choose, unless a supermajority of three-fifths of the Senate (60 Senators, if all 100 seats are filled) brings debate to a close by invoking what is called cloture (taken from the French term for closure). There is no equivalent provision for preventing filibustering in either House of the British Parliament but filibustering is rare.
• In both the House of Representatives and the Senate, the majority party chairs all committees which have considerable power. In the two chambers of the British legislature, committee chair persons are allocated between the different parties, roughly in proportion to the size of the party in the House, and the committees are much less powerful than in the US Congress.
• In the House of Representatives, the Speaker - chosen by the members of the largest party - has considerable power and acts in a highly partisan fashion. In the House of Commons, the Speaker - chosen by the whole House - only has procedural responsibilities and acts in a non-partisan manner (usually he is not opposed in a General Election).

THE JUDICIARY

• In America, the Supreme Court is an intensely political institution - its members are appointed by the President on a partisan basis and its decisions are often highly political and highly controversial. By contrast, in Britain the Supreme Court is not appointed on a political basis and, like all British courts, avoids making decisions which it regards as proper to politicians and Parliament.
• In the United States, 39 states hold at least some competitive elections to choose judges. When the country was first created, there were no such elections (Mississippi became the first state to require judicial elections in 1832). In the UK, no judges are elected. Indeed very few countries worldwide have judicial elections. Exceptions including Japan and Switzerland.

POLITICAL PARTIES

• In the USA, the Republicans are the Right of Centre party and the Democrats are the Left of Centre party. In the UK, the Conservatives are the Right of Centre party and Labour is the Left of Centre party. However, the 'centre' in American political is markedly to the Right of the 'centre' in British or most of European politics. This means that the policies espoused by Tea Party candidates would not be supported by any political party in Britain, while the policies supported by an American politician like Bernie Sanders, the Independent senator from Vermont, would be mainstream in the British Labour Party.
• In the USA, there is no centre party in this sense of one positioned politically between the Republicans and the Democrats. In Britain, there is a Liberal Democrat Party which ideologically sees itself as between Conservative and Labour.
• In the USA, there are only two parties represented in Congress and both are federal parties; there is no political party that only seeks votes in one state or a selection of states. In the UK, as well as political parties that seek votes throughout the entire country, there are nationalist political parties that field candidates only in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland respectively.
• In the United States, the Democratic and Republican Parties absolutely dominate federal and state elections with independents securing only small proportions of the vote. In the United Kingdom, the two main political parties - Conservative and Labour - win a smaller and declining share of the total vote, with a growing share being taken by the likes of the Liberal Democrat Party and the UK Independence Party at national level and by the likes of the Scottish and Welsh Nationalist Parties at the devolved level.
• In American politics, the two main political parties are loose coalitions with individual candidates or Congressmen adopting varying positions on many issues (although, in recent years, the Tea Party movement has forced Republican politicians to proclaim more consistently conservative positions). In British politics, all political parties have much tighter rein on the policies promoted by candidates and the voting by elected representatives. (In the House of Commons, each week a 'whip' is issued which sets out how the Member of Parliament should vote on each major issue before the legislature that week).
• The major parties in the USA have a large-scale congress every four years to choose their candidate for the forthcoming presidential election and ostensibly determine the policy platform of that candidate. All the political parties in the UK hold annual conferences where they debate the policy positions to be adopted by the party, but these conferences do not choose the party leader (which is done through a separate and broader process varying from party to party).
• In illustrations and promotional material, the Democratic Party is often represented as a donkey, while the Republican Party is featured as an elephant - symbols that date back to the 1870s. British political parties regularly change their symbols and very few electors have any idea what they are.

ELECTIONS AND CAMPAIGNS

• In the USA, the term of a President, Senator or Congressman is known precisely as four years, six years and two years respectively and the dates of the elections are fixed. In the UK, the term of members of the House of Commons - and therefore of the Government - is legally a maximum of five years but traditionally a Prime Minister could call a general election whenever he or she wished and it has been considered 'cowardly' to wait the full five years and so the election has been more typically after around four years. However, the current Coalition Government has enacted legislation to provide for a fixed five-year term except for special circumstances.
• Candidates for the Presidency, the Senate and the House of Representatives - plus a host of other positions below federal level - in the US political system are chosen by a system of primaries in which (usually) all registered Democratic and Republican voters participate in the choice of the candidate for 'their' party in the main election. Britain does not have a system of primaries and the selection of candidates is normally confined to actual members of the relevant political party in the constituency in question.
• The filling of vacancies varies between and within the two political systems. The US Constitution states that special elections will be held to fill vacant Senate seats, but that state legislatures may empower the governor of the state to fill the seat by an appointment between the time that it becomes vacant and the time that the winner of the special election is certified. Most states allow the governors to pick the replacement who serves until the next general election when the voters decide who will serve the remainder of the term. Several states, however, require that a special election be held with the governor certifying the winner as the Senate member. By contrast, the Constitution requires that governors call special elections to fill a vacancy in the House of Representatives. They are usually held within three-six months of a vacancy because the entire election process must be followed: nominating conventions or primary elections plus a general election. In the UK, vacancies in the House of Commons are filled by a by-election in the relevant constituency which is usually held within three or four months. Since members of the House of Lords were not elected in the first place, there is no by-election when a peer resigns or dies.
• The American general election effectively lasts almost two years, starting with the declaration of candidates for the primaries. The British general election lasts around four weeks.
• American elections depend on vast sums to purchase broadcasting time. Parties and candidates in British elections cannot buy broadcasting time.
• As a consequence of the Supreme Court decision in the Citizens United case, effectively there are no limitations on expenditure in American political elections. There are statutory limitations on expenditure for all elections in the UK.
• In the States, almost 40 million television viewers watched the Convention speeches of Barack Obama and Sarah Palin in 2008. No party conference speech in Britain would attract more than a few million.
• American presidential candidates have been taking part in televised debates since 1960. British political leaders only agreed to televised debates for the first time in the General Election of 2010.
• The first televised debate between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney in 2012 attracted almost 70 million viewers. Even allowing for the difference in population, the televised debates between the British party leaders do not attract the same level of interest.
• In an American presidential election, turnout is typically around 50% (although in the 2008 election it was over 60%) and, in the case of mid-term Congressional elections, turnout typically falls to around 40%. In the UK, turnout in General Elections used to be around 75% but more recently has fallen to around 60%.
• In the USA, blue signifies states held by the Democratic Party, the more left-wing. In the UK, blue identifies the Conservative Party, the more right-wing.
• In the USA, red signifies states held by the Republican Party, the more right-wing. In the UK, red identifies the Labour Party, the more left-wing.
• In an American general election, the states that might go to one party or the other are known as 'purple states' or 'swing states' or simply 'competitive'. In a British general election, constituencies that might go to one party or another are called 'marginal constituencies' (where three parties are each in contention - which is not unknown - it is called 'a three-way marginal').
• American elections are often so raw and vitriolic that candidates make spurious claims about themselves or their opponents that need to be analysed for the truth and whole web sites are devoted to fact checking. While British politicians are certainly not beyond exaggeration or obfuscation, they are rarely guilty of the blatant truth-twisting that one sadly sees in the US.

 

STYLE OF POLITICS

• In America, the term 'conservative' means really right-wing, especially on social issues. In Britain the name 'Conservative' means mainstream right-wing, especially on economic issues.
• In America, the term 'liberal' generally means quite left-wing. In Britain, the name 'Liberal' means broadly centrist.
• In the States, it is considered necessary for a politician to emphasize their patriotism. In Britain, it is assumed that anyone who wants to run for national office cares for his or her country.
• In the United States, the flag holds special place in the political heart of the nation, people sing to it while placing a hand over their heart, and many people would like to make burning it a criminal offence. In Britain the flag is rarely prominent at political events.
• In the United States, since 9/11 most politicians wear a pin depicting the stars and stripes. In Britain, no politician would wear a badge displaying the union jack.
• So many political speeches in the US include the phrase "my fellow Americans". In British political terminology, there is simply no equivalent phrase.
• In the States, virtually every political speech seems to mention God, especially in the final call "God bless America". In Britain, no politician mentions God and none would think of inviting Him to show a special preference for his or her nation state.
• In the US, politicians frequently refer to their position on social issues like abortion and homosexuality. A British politician would think it unnecessary and inappropriate to talk about such issues unless asked.
• In the US, politicians constantly talk about the problems and the aspirations of the middle class. In the UK, politicians tend to talk more about the needs of the working class. They

Modern Nigeria

Spurred by the booming petroleum industry, the Nigerian economy quickly recovered from the effects of civil war and made impressive advances. Nonetheless, inflation and high unemployment remained, and the oil boom led to government corruption and uneven distribution of wealth. Nigeria joined the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in 1971. The prolonged drought that desiccated the Sahel region of Africa in the early 1970s had a profound effect on N Nigeria, resulting in a migration of peoples into the less arid areas and into the cities of the south.

Gowon's regime was overthrown in 1975 by Gen. Murtala Muhammad and a group of officers who pledged a return to civilian rule. In the mid-1970s plans were approved for a new capital to be built at Abuja, a move that drained the national economy. Muhammad was assassinated in an attempted coup one year after taking office and succeeded by Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo. In a crisis brought on by rapidly falling oil revenues, the government restricted public opposition to the regime, controlled union activity and student movements, nationalized land, and increased oil industry regulation. Nigeria sought Western support under Obasanjo while supporting African nationalist movements.

In 1979 elections were held under a new constitution, bringing Alhaji Shehu Shagari to the presidency. Relations with the United States reached a new high in 1979 with a visit by President Jimmy Carter. The government expelled thousands of foreign laborers in 1983, citing social disturbances as the reason. The same year, Shagari was reelected president but overthrown after only a few months in office.

In 1985 a coup led by Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Babangida brought a new regime to power, along with the promise of a return to civilian rule. A new constitution was promulgated in 1990, which set national elections for 1992. Babangida annulled the results of that presidential election, claiming fraud. A new election in 1993 ended in the apparent presidential victory of Moshood Abiola, but Babangida again alleged fraud. Soon unrest led to Babangida's resignation. Ernest Shonekan, a civilian appointed as interim leader, was forced out after three months by Gen. Sani Abacha, a long-time ally of Babangida, who became president and banned all political institutions and labor unions. In 1994, Abiola was arrested and charged with treason.

In 1995, Abacha extended military rule for three more years, while proposing a program for a return to civilian rule after that period; his proposal was rejected by opposition leaders, but five political parties were established in 1996. The Abacha regime drew international condemnation in late 1995 when Ken Saro-Wiwa, a prominent writer, and eight other human-rights activists were executed; the trial was condemned by human-rights groups and led to Nigeria's suspension from the Commonwealth of Nations. Also in 1995, a number of army officers, including former head of state General Obasanjo, were arrested in connection with an alleged coup attempt. In 1996, Kudirat Abiola, an activist on behalf of her imprisoned husband, was murdered.

Abacha died suddenly in June, 1998, and was succeeded by Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar, who immediately freed Obasanjo and other political prisoners. Riots followed the announcement that Abiola had also died unexpectedly in July, 1998, while in detention. Abubakar then announced an election timetable leading to a return to civilian rule within a year. All former political parties were disbanded and new ones formed. A series of local, state, and federal elections were held between Dec., 1998, and Feb., 1999, culminating in the presidential contest, won by General Obasanjo. The elections were generally deemed fair by international monitors. The People's Democratic party (PDP; the centrist party of General Obasanjo) dominated the elections; the other two leading parties were the Alliance for Democracy (a Yoruba party of the southwest, considered to be progressive), and the All People's party (a conservative party based in the north).

Following Obasanjo's inauguration on May 29, 1999, Nigeria was readmitted to the Commonwealth. The new president said he would combat past and present corruption in the Nigerian government and army and develop the impoverished Niger delta area. Although there was some progress economically, government and political corruption remained a problem. The country also was confronted with renewed ethnic and religious tension. The latter was in part a result of the institution of Islamic law in Nigeria's northern states, and led to violence that has been an ongoing problem since the return of civilian rule. Army lawlessness was a problem as well in some areas. A small success was achieved in Apr., 2002, when Abacha's family agreed to return $1 billion to the government; the government had sought an estimated $4 billion in looted Nigerian assets.

In Mar., 2003, the Ijaw, accusing the Itsekiri, government, and oil companies of economic and political collusion against them, began militia attacks against Itsekiri villages and oil facilities in the Niger delta, leading to a halt in the delta's oil production for several weeks and military intervention by the government. The presidential and earlier legislative elections in Apr., 2003, were won by President Obasanjo and his party, but the results were marred by vote rigging and some violence. The opposition protested the results, and unsuccessfully challenged the presidential election in court. The Ijaw-Itsekiri conflict continued into 2004, but a peace deal was reached in mid-June. The Ijaw backed out of the agreement, however, three weeks later. Christian-Muslim tensions also continued to be a problem in 2004, with violent attacks occurring in Kebbi, Kano, and Plateau states.

Obasanjo's government appeared to move more forcefully against government corruption in early 2005. Several government ministers were fired on corruption charges, and the senate speaker resigned after he was accused of taking bribes. A U.S. investigation targeted Nigeria's vice president the same year, and Obasanjo himself agreed to be investigated by the Nigerian financial crimes commission when he was accused of corruption by Orji Uzor Kalu, the governor of Abia and a target of a corruption investigation. Ijaw militants again threatened Niger delta oil operations in Sept., 2005, and several times in subsequent years, resulting in cuts in Nigeria's oil production as large as 25% at times. Since early 2006 the Niger delta area has seen an increase in kidnappings of foreign oil workers and attacks on oil operations; the resulting government focus on protecting oil facilities allowed criminal gangs to expand their influence in populated areas there. In Oct., 2005, the government reached an agreement to pay off much of its foreign debt at a discount, a process that was completed in Apr., 2006.

The end of 2005 and early 2006 saw increased contention over whether to amend the constitution to permit the president and state governors to run for more than two terms. The idea had been rejected in July, 2005, by a national political reform conference, but senators reviewing the conference's proposals indicated they supported an end to term limits. The change was opposed by Vice President Atiku Abubakar, but other PDP leaders who objected were removed from their party posts. A census—a contentious event because of ethnic and religious divisions in Nigeria—was taken in Mar., 2006, but the head count was marred by a lack of resources and a number of violent clashes, and many Nigerians were believed to have been left uncounted. In May the Nigerian legislature ended consideration of a third presidential term when it became clear that there was insufficient support for amending the constitution. Nigeria agreed in June, 2006, to turn over the Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon after a two-year transition period; the region was finally ceded in Aug., 2008.

In July the vice president denied taking bribes from a U.S. congressman, but in September the president called for the Nigerian senate to remove the vice president from office for fraud, based on an investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The senate agreed to investigate the charges, and the PDP suspended the vice president, blocking him from seeking the party's presidential nomination. Abubakar counteraccused Obasanjo of corruption. The EFCC was also investigating most of Nigeria's state governors, but the commission itself was tainted by charges that it was used for political retaliation by Obasanjo and his allies. Several state governors were impeached by legally unsound proceedings, moves that were seen as an attempt by Obasanjo to tighten his control prior to the 2007 presidential election.

When the vice president accepted (Dec., 2006) the presidential nomination of a group of opposition parties, the president accused him of technically resigning and sought to have him removed, an action Abubakar challenged in court; the government backed down the following month, and the courts later sided with Abubakar. In Jan., 2007, the results of the 2006 census were released, and they proved as divisive as previous Nigerian censuses. The census showed that the largely Muslim north had more inhabitants than the south, and many southern political leaders vehemently rejected the results.

In February, the EFCC declared Abubakar and more than 130 other candidates for the April elections unfit due to corruption, and the election commission barred those candidates from running. Abubakar fought the move in court, but the ruling was not overturned until days before the presidential election. The state elections were marred by widespread and blatant vote fraud and intimidation, but the election commission certified nearly all the results, handing gubernatorial victories to the PDP in 27 states. In the presidential election, Umaru Yar'Adua, the relatively unknown governor of Katsina state who was hand-picked by Obasanjo to be the PDP candidate, was declared the winner with 70% of the vote, but fraud and intimidation were so blatant that EU observers called the election a "charade" and the president was forced to admit it was "flawed." Nonetheless, Yar'Adua's inauguration (May) marked the first transition of power between two elected civilian presidents in Nigeria's post-colonial history.

Yar'Adua subsequently moved to reorganize and reform the national petroleum company, but those efforts stalled, as did action to fight government corruption. The federal government did not, however, interfere with challenges in the courts to state elections. In Dec., 2008, challenges in the courts to Yar'Adua's election came to an end when the supreme court ruled that opposition lawyers had not provided sufficient evidence to annul the vote.

In Feb., 2009, KBR, a U.S. company, pleaded guilty in U.S. court to giving $180 million in bribes to Nigerian officials to obtain a contract to build a liquefied natural gas plant. A significant army offensive against Niger delta militants that began in May, 2009, provoked an increased round of attacks against oil facilities, particularly pipelines. At the same time, however, Yar'Adua offered (June) amnesty to militants who lay down their weapons by Oct. 4, and many militants ultimately accepted the amnesty, though some did not. Subsequent slow progress by the government led to increased tensions in 2010. In July, 2009, Boko Haram, an extremist Islamist sect, launched attacks against the government in NE Nigeria after several leaders were arrested; the subsequent fighting was especially fierce in Maiduguri, where the group's headquarters was destroyed and some 700 died. The group began a new series of attacks in Sept., 2010, that continued into subsequent years, with the attacks become more significant beginning in mid-2011.

The president traveled to Saudi Arabia in Nov., 2009, to seek medical treatment. As his stay there prolonged into 2010 many prominent Nigerians called for executive powers to be transferred on an interim basis to the vice president, Goodluck Jonathan, but the president did not initiate the constitutional process necessary for it to happen. In Feb., 2010, the National Assembly unanimously voted to make Jonathan acting president, but the lack of a formal letter from the president notifying the Assembly of his absence raised constitutional issues. Jonathan remained acting president after Yar'Adua returned later in the month, and succeeded him as president when Yar'Adua died in May.

Jonathan's subsequent decision to run for a presidential term in his own right threatened to split the PDP, which had alternated fielding northern and southern presidential candidates. In Dec., 2010, however, he won the support of most of the state governors who were members of the PDP, and the following month the PDP nominated him for the presidency. In Sept., 2010, one faction of Niger delta militants announced an end to their cease-fire, and the group subsequently set off car bombs in Abuja during an Independence Day parade on October 1.

The Apr., 2011, elections were won by Jonathan and the PDP. Jonathan won 57% of the vote, but overwhelmingly majorities in a number of southern states led to charges of vote rigging. The opposition candidates challenged the results, and in some northern states, where support for the opposition was strong, there were riots after the results were announced. International observers, however, generally described the presidential election as the country's freest and fairest in many years. In the National Assembly elections, the PDP won with a reduced majority in both houses, and it also lost control of a number of governorships in the subsequent gubernatorial elections.

By the first half of 2012 the increasingly violent, ongoing insurgency by the Islamic militant group Boko Haram was stoking sectarian tensions and worsening the economic situation in the already economically stagnant N Nigeria; the situation had also led to significantly larger government expenditures on security, diverting money from other needs. In May, 2013, after increasing Islamist-related violence, Nigeria imposed martial law in three northern states and launched an offensive against Islamist militants, but in many cases the militants fled without confronting the army, and subsequently they launched a number of murderous attacks as clashes increased later in the year. In August tensions in the PDP led to a split in the party, and several governors and a number of legislators left to form the New PDP; later in the year, most of them joined the All Progressives Congress (APC), an opposition group formed by the merger of several parties earlier in 2013.

 Bill and how it become an Act

Every Act begins as a Bill. A Bill is a proposed law which contains amendments to legislation as suggested from the following sources:

• Government Departments (generally release draft legislation or discussion papers which form the basis of a Government Bill)
• Parliamentary Committee Reports (generally issue Committee Reports which are then tabled in Parliament)
• Community groups, lobbyist or business suggestions to change the law (generally write submissions responding to consultation papers)
• Private members' Bills (generally originates when a particular member of Parliament introduces a Bill based on personal or party beliefs)

The Bill is introduced in the house where the Minister sits (usually House of Representatives for Commonwealth and Legislative Assembly for the States but Bills can be introduced in the upper houses):

• First Reading - Bill is introduced, made available
• Second Reading - Bill is debated in principle and voted on, and can be disallowed - This is generally referred to as a "Failed Bill"
• Committee Stage - Bill is examined in detail and discussed in the house clause by clause
• Third Reading - final debate and vote

The Bills to be discussed are listed on the Parliamentary Notice Paper, where it is generally indicated whether the Bills are:

• Government Bills - usually of general public interest and introduced by the Government, the majority of Bills are Government Bills and there are no time limits except prorogation of Parliament when dealing with Government Bills
• Private Members' Bills - usually apply to a very specific locality or interest of the private member of Parliament, these Bills form the minority of Bills passed by Parliament and have strict time limits for when they lapse
• Cognate Bills - are Bills of related content which should be considered simultaneously throughout their process through the upper or lower house

If the Bill is passed, it proceeds to the other house (usually the Senate for Cth and Legislative Council for the States) and undergoes the same process as the lower house.

If the:

• Bill is passed, it is sent to the Governor-General for assent as an Act
• Bill is passed with changes, it is sent back to other House for debate and a new vote on the changes
• Bill is rejected, it is returned to the other House, may be resubmitted or discarded as a failed Bill

When a Parliament is prorogued, as in the case of a general election being called for, thereby making all Bills currently in session are thereby dropped from the Notice Paper. At Time Base, we refer to this as the Bills being "Not in Current Session".

The most important documents when researching the history of a Bill are:

• The Bill (or Third Reading Bill if amendments have been made) – usually released the day of the first reading
• The Explanatory Memorandum (stating the intentions of the original Bill) – usually released the day of the first reading
• Second Reading Speech (stating the intentions of the Bill) – usually released on the day of introduction in each house or a few sitting days after
• Bills Digest (summarising the key changes made by the Bill) – sometimes but not always released during the progress of the Bill through Parliament
• Schedule of Amendments - (a list of the specific amendments made by either house or particular politicians) - released generally after the second reading committee debate and vote

For Bills to become Acts (when they are assigned an Act number), they must receive the final approval or Royal Assent of the Governor-General, on behalf of the Queen (or the Governor, in the States).

 

 

STAGE 2              INITIAL REVIEW OF THE BILL   RULES AND BUSSINESS COMMITTEE COMMITTEE ON THE RULES AND PROCEDURES STAGE 3 GAZETTING OF BILL THIS IS TO GIVE MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC NOTICE THAT A NEW BILL IS BEING CONSIDERED STAGE 1 ORIGINATION OF THE BILL   EXECUTIVE BILL SENATE BILL HOUSE BILL                                                             ELVEN  (11) STEPS ON HOW LAW ARE MADE IN NIGRIA

                                                                                                           

        SSSTASFFIRSTSGAG

 

 

STAGE 4 FIRST READING   THE CLERK READS THE SHORT TITLE OF THE BILL AND TABLES IT BEFORE THE SPEAKER/SENATE PRESIDENT

STAGE 5 SECOND READING   THIS IS WHEN THE BILL IS DEBATED FOR THE FIST TIME

STAGE 6 COMMITTEE STAGE   COMPRISES COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE HOUSE AND THE STANDING COMMITTEE

 

 

SSS

 

 

STAGE 11 PRESIDENTIAL ASSENT   PRESIDENT SIGNS IT AND PASSES IT INTO LAW

STAGE 10 CONCURRENCE   BOTH THE SENATE AND THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES PASS THE BILL

STAGE 9 CLEAN COPY OF BILL   SIGN BY CLERK OF THE HOUSE

STAGE 7 COMMITTEE REPORT   CHIARPERSON OF THE COMMITTEE REPORTS THE PROGRESS OF THE BILL

STAGE 8 THIRD READING   THIS IS WHEN THE BILL IS DEBATED FOR THE FINAL TIME

R                                                           

 

 

 

 

John Coleman de Graft-Johnson

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Musa-I-of-Mali#ref228242

http://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/Russianpoliticalsystem.html