Chp. 4-6 Comparative

Similarities between China and Putin's Russia

1. Authoritarian 2. Market-based economies 3. high levels of political corruption 4. repress ethnic minorities 5.use of nationalism

Differences between China and Russia

1. China is still a one-party state 2. China is more formally institutionalized and less personalistic 3. China has a more repressed media 4. China is a lot more influential 5.Use of market socialism

Market socialism

one-party system + market economy

Politburo

top leadership in China (about 25 members)

Standing committee

Core group of 7 leaders in China

Military Affairs Committee

12 member committee controls the military

What three leadership roles does Xi Jingping have?

1. General Secretary of the Communist Party (head of the governing party)
2. President of the Peoples’ Assembly (head of state—a symbolically important role)
3. Chairman of the Military Affairs Committee (commander-in-chief of military)

How has Xi expanded his power?

1. He abolished mandatory retirement of party leaders at 68
2. He abolished presidential term limits
3. He has purged rival party leaders
4. He has increased repression/oversight of human rights activists, control over Hong Kong, censorship/control over social media.

Socialism with Chinese Characteristics

Two ideas: 1. CCP says China achieved “advanced socialism” under Mao Zedong (1949-1976) and 2. 2. But CCP (since 1978) needs to allow the economy to “catch-up” with political system
through...capitalism!

Major ideology of Mao

Communist nationalist

Marxist-Leninst-Mao Zedong Thought

This is still, the “guiding thought” of the CCP. The
principles of Mao’s ideology

The Mass Line

There are “correct” (revolutionary, working class) and “incorrect” policies (bourgeois)

Voluntarism

"Recruiting” regular people into campaigns for radical change—
but those unwilling to participate were likely to be viewed as a problem.

Permanent revolution

Societal revolutions must continue after military victory (cultural revolution)

Self-reliance

Mao does not like or trust foreign aid, assistance,
or trade

Key principals of Marxist-Leninst-Mao Zedong

The Mass Line, Voluntarism, Permanent Revolution, and Self-Reliance

What were the Mass Campaigns?

The “Great Leap Forward”, the “Household Registration System:”,
and the The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution

The "Great Leap Forward"

Mao decides China should industrialize by harnessing the
labor power of Chinese peasants, which means 1. communes and 2. backyard furnaces

Communes

Massive, state-owned farms where sometimes hundreds of
thousands of peasants lived.

Backyard furnaces

Poorly made rural steel furnaces

Household Registration System

Chinese citizens are put on a registry, which determines where they must live and work.

The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution

Young CP members urged to purge the party

Cult of personality

All education, culture became centered around Mao

Four reasons Mao’s emphasis on economic self-sufficiency (1949-1976) kept China at a low standard
of living:

1. China’s domestic technologies were outmoded
2. Labor productivity was low.
3. There was almost no incentive to innovate
4. Limited capital with which to innovate

Who was Mao's sucesser?

Deng Xiaoping

What type of leader was Deng Xiaping?

Reformist

Changes in the Chinese reform era

1. Media restrictions begin to be lifted.
2. Elections for village leaders allowed.
3. Some criticism of past mistakes is allowed
4. Ends Mao’s “cult of personality” and
emphasizes the rule of law

The “70% solution:”

In 1978, the National Party Congress declares that Chairman
Mao’s policies were “70% correct.”

Institutionalization of the leadership of the CCP

Party leaders cannot serve > 10 yrs. on the Standing Committee and Top leaders expected to retire at 68.

Reform Reversal

As demands rise for more freedom, Deng Xiaoping cracks down on dissent in the 1990s

Tiananmen Square

People’s Liberation Army to violently end protest 1989

Stagnant reform

Hu Jintao rules from 2002-2012 -- not much happens much speech opens up a tad

What has Xi Jingping done to expand the repression and personalism of his rule

1. Central Committee Document #9
2. Mass arrests of human rights lawyers
3. New repressive measures in Hong Kong
4. Mass detention of Uighurs
5. makes “Xi Jingping Thought” part of the
CCP Constitution.

Central Committee Document #9

Party committed to weeding out support for “universal values”— such as constitutional democracy, civil society, a free press.

What four ways does the CCP manage misinformation?

1. Blocking information
2. Collecting information via mass surveillance
3. Overseeing content
4. Disseminating pro-government propaganda.

50 Cent Army

refers to people—almost all gov’t employees—who post
pro-regime comments on the internet and social media.

Consultative authoritarianism

Chinese leaders and their supporters argue that China’s digital authoritarianism has created a model where leaders can regularly consult citizens and respond to their needs.

Common Prosperity

This entails new state social spending programs for poorer Chinese while discouraging wealthy Chinese from flaunting their wealth.

Ways in which Xi Jingping has been more responsive than other leaders

1. Common prosperity
2. Purges of foreign officials

What are the BRICS

Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa -- increasingly prosperous and emerging global powers

Social construct

A concept whose meaning depends on human agreement and conventions (like the value of money, gold, or diamonds)

First Brazilian Republic (1889-1930)

Presidential Republic dealing with the aftermath of slavery

Whitening

After slavery ended, the government didn’t want Afro-Brazilians to remain the majority of the population—so it paid 4 million Europeans to emigrate to Brazil

Path dependency

When social or economic behavior becomes self-reinforcing b/c the cost of changing behavior increases over time.

Critical juncture

Period of uncertainty, flux in which core choices create long-term implications.

Brazil type of government

Low-quality presidential democracy

Clientelism

Clientelism is a practice in which a politician (a patron) offers specific material rewards only to those individuals (clients) who give them votes, campaign contributions, or organizational backing.

Programmatic approach to political representation

Offering a program of policies to address common concerns of large groups citizens

Collective Action (CA) problem

This refers to the failure of large groups to achieve gains from
organizing/acting collectively due to their conflicting interests.

Public good

A good that is “non-excludable” and “non-rival” in consumption

Non-excludable

Once provided, it’s extremely difficult to exclude those who didn't
contribute/pay for a good from using it.

Non-rival

One person’s use/consumption of a good does not prevent another person from using/consuming the good.

The “free rider” problem

If people are self-interested, they’re tempted to “free ride” on the efforts/time/money of others.

Why are public goods often under-provided?

The collective action problem: it's too hard to get free-riders to

Low-quality democracy

A democracy that does not provide well for its citizens

Why do Brazil's parties mainly represent privileged groups?

1. Brazil's electoral laws undermine programmatic behavior.
2. The only way to win under the fractured system is to connect with a clientelistic machine

Who are the most influential groups in Brazil?

1. Governors or mayors
2. Agribusiness or large government contractors
3. evangelical churches

Why did so many Brazilians Vote for Bolsonaro?

1. Public disgust with high crime.
2. Bolsonaro’s rise followed an economic recession (negative growth rates).
3. Brazilian voters were fed up with the existing political parties because of rampant corruption
4. Bolsonaro’s strongest potential challenger—ex-president Lula—was barred from running due to his conviction
5. A misinformation campaign on social media helped Bolsonaro
6. Bolsonaro’s social and political conservatism attracted Brazilians who had no other viable conservative option

"Car Wash” scandal

This was a vast money laundering operation involving government contractors, the state oil company, and dozens of legislators and mayors.

How has democracy improved Brazil?

1. Created institutional checks on corrupt politicians (Public Prosecutors” office)
2. Independent media
3. Programmatic policies (Bolsa Familia0
4. Government quality is not likely increased by an authoritarian regime

Things Nigeria has going for it

1. Large, well educated middle class
2. Ample fertile agricultural land
3. Oil money
4. Booming tech industry
5. It has Africa’s largest entertainment and music industry

Why is Nigeria one of the most difficult countries in the world to govern?

1. It is large, rapidly growing, and very ethnically diverse
2. There are separatist movements seeking independence among all the major ethnic groups in the country
3. Crime is pervasive—and the state cannot guarantee citizen security, which feeds calls for separation.
4. Nigeria’s public sector is rife with corruption—including grand corruption: large-scale corruption committed by high-level leaders and bureaucrats.

Why is Nigeria a country?

The British created it during colonization

What do most political parties in Nigeria represent?

Ethnic groups

ethnic clientelism

Clientelism but for entire ethnic groups

How does Nigeria display political regime instability?

Nigeria alternates between low-quality democracy and
low-quality authoritarianism

Biafran War

1967-1970. The Igbo try to secede from Nigeria → results in a civil war and over 1 million dead.

What do Party voting patterns in Nigeria reflect?

The North-South Muslim/Christian divide (All Progressive's Party is North and Muslim, People's Democratic Party is South and Christian)

Arab Spring

A chain reaction in 2011 of demonstrations against repressive
and corrupt regimes in North Africa and the Middle East.

Which Egyptian leader was ousted by the Arab Spring?

Hosni Mubarak (r. 1981-2011)

What kind of regime was Murback's?

Electoral Authoritarian

Who was Mohammed Morsi?

Islamist Egyptian president elected after the Arab Spring

Islamism

Fusing state power with Islam

Who was General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi?

Current Egyptian president who overthrew Morsi in a 2013 coup -- took power, suspended the Constitution, and arrested thousands of Islamist

What are the two main opposing political forces in Egypt?

1. The military, which represents a secular, nationalist, and illiberal model of politics
2. Islamists—mostly through an organization called the “Muslim Brotherhood”--which offers a religious and illiberal model of politics (Islamism).

The Free Officers Union

a group officers who sought a Westernized and secular Egypt in
which the army would modernize the country

Who was Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser ?

Secular dictator who seized power in the Egyptian Revolution of 1952.

Pan-Arabism

An ideology that emphasized the arbitrariness of boundaries
imposed by the West on Arabs and sought to unify all Arabs into a single union.

The Muslim Brotherhood

An Islamist social services/professional association/political party that is prominent throughout the Middle East/North Africa. They seek a merging of the state and Islam.

Why is Xi Urgently trying to increase his control according to Jude Blanchet?

1. Trying to remake the global order
2. Struggling to control an outdated bureaucracy

How does Blanchet describe Xi?

1. Impatient with status quo
2. High risk-tolerance
3. Sense of urgency relating to the national order

Belt and Road

Chinese initiative to gain global influence

Why is this a critical junction in Chinese history?

1. Power and influence of the West have entered a phase of accelerated decline
2. China's economic and demographic outlook are deteriorating
3. It has a shrinking workforce and rising wages
4. Internal economic woes (housing bubble about to crash)
5. Social and economic costs of not innovating

Summary of biggest issues for China

1. Rising inequality
2. Growth tied to political corruption
3. Created sustainable increases in living standards

What is Acemogliu's main argument about colonialism?

The immense economic inequality we observe in the world today is a path-dependent outcome of a multitude of historical processes, one of the most important of which has been European colonialism

In what different ways has colonialism shaped modern inequality?

1. Enriched imperializing countries
2. Highly populated colonies tended to be "extraction societies" which breed poverty
3. Disease ridden countries tended to become extraction societies because they could not be settled and lived in
4. Low-population, climate friendly areas generally built on European wealth to gain infrastructure

Causes of Brazilian authoritarianism according to Brian Winter

1. Globally: Globalism and rising inequality
2. For Brazil: growth of evangelicalism and legacy of military rule, lots of support by the left-behind interior

What does Obodare argue about Nigeria's path dependency?

The history military rules leads to a propensity for strong-man leaders, but that is changing rapidly

How has Christianity played a role in Nigeria's recent history

Has been a stabilizing force

What are the 3 main causes of a lack of resistance against illiberal politics according to Hamzaway?

1. Current Sisi regime has delegitimized the democratic uprising of 2011(paints it as a singular, violent outburst)
2. Majority of the population has lost confidence in civil society (neither Islamist or secular institutions prioritize democracy)
3. Interests of the majority population have shifted dramatically (slowly beginning to change things)

Major groups pushing for reforms in Egypt are

1. Single-issue human rights initiatives
2. Professional associations who want freedom of expression
3. Student groups
4. Labor movements

What were pan-Arabism and pan-Islamism both responding to?

Western Imperialism

Why did newly independent Islam countries not become liberal democracies?

To build support for their new nation-states—and to bring Islamists under their control.

Jocelyn Cesari (“The Nationalist Origins of Political Islam) says Early 20th century state leaders in the MENA used Islam how?

a. co-opted Islamic educational and charitable institutions and clerical authorities;
b. nationalized Islamic religious endowments;
c. created government ministries of religious affairs.
d. sometimes included Islam in their constitutions as a source of the state’s legal and social roles (even as they clamped down on Islamist groups in society).

Hegemonic religion

Institutional relationship between state and religion with a monopoly on social influence

Revolutionary Islamists

Society should be “Islamized” through the seizure of power,
violently or legally

Reformist Islamists

Society should be gradually “Islamized” through education and
social action

Liberal Muslims

do not wish to “Islamize” the state and support religious and
political pluralism

Political Islam

Religiously-based political movements that contest or undermine secular political or state institutions

Why did Imperialism cause a reliance on Islam or nationalism in governing?

Other social cleavages brought up by colonialism meant Islam and being Arab was a unifying factor