|
Country |
BRITAIN | FRANCE | SOVIET UNION | RUSSIA | CHINA | NIGERIA | |
| CONSTITUTION |
Non-written :Acts of Parliament and tradition Legitimacy: |
De Gaulle 1958
Legitimacy: |
Constitutions: Legitimacy: Marxism-Leninism |
Yeltsin 1993 Legitimacy: |
The Common Program 1949 Constitutions: Legitimacy: Marxism-Leninism-Maoism |
Constitutions: Legitimacy: Military
|
|
| SYSTEM |
Unitary Parliamentary Structure: |
Unitary (autogestion) Presidential/Parliamentary Structure: |
Structure: Authoritarian One-party State |
Structure: Presidential/Parliamentary Structure: |
Unitary Authoritarian One-party State |
Federal
Presidential system designed to replace the dysfunctional post-independence parliamentary model Bicameral |
|
| EXECUTIVE | STATE |
Monarch Structure: |
President 2 five-year terms Direct vote with Majority, 2 rounds unless 51% Nominates PM, Chairs Cabinet Chief policymaker Foreign Policy Civil and military appointments Rule by decree during declared state of emergency Referendum |
Structure:
|
President 2 four-year terms Direct vote with Majority, 2 rounds unless 51% Nominates PM, Chairs Cabinet Chief policymaker Foreign Policy Rule by decree during declared state of emergency Veto power Nominates heads of bureaucracy, judges |
Structure: President
|
President Direct vote: must receive both a majority of popular vote and 25% of the vote in at least 12 states (as an attempt to lessen the impact of regionalism) Supreme Military Council (during Military rule) or Council of Ministers (during civilian rule) => oversee bureaucracy |
| GOVERNMENT |
Prime Minister serves at discretion of majority party in Commons Dominant policy-maker Cabinet |
Prime Minister chosen from the majority party in Assembly serves at discretion of the President PM controls legislative agenda, oversees domestic policy-making, & bureaucracy enhanced power under "cohabitation" Cabinet members selected or approved by President incompatibility clause |
Premier Presidium and the Council of Ministers |
Prime Minister serves at the discretion of the President Nominated by President, approved by Duma; 3X rejection requires dissolution Cabinet members may report directly to President Cabinet may not reflect party strengths incompatibility clause |
Premier State Council serve 5 year terms nominated by National Party Congress; approved by National People's Congress |
President predominates over other constitutional powers no Prime Minster Control of federal bureaucracy (appointments, retirements; large opportunities for establishing patron-client relations) |
|
| LEGISLATURE | UPPER |
House of Lords Symbolic power Lords may participate in Cabinet Scrutinizes, delays legislation Final Court of Appeal |
Senate Indirect Election, regional representation, 9 year terms approves legislation More cohesive than Assembly, less powerful Cannot be dissolved by President cumul de mandats |
Structure: Supreme Soviet (representation from regional and local soviets)
Politburo Central Committee of CPSU |
Federation Council indirect election; governors of regions and speakers of regional legislatures approves legislation Confirms state of emergency |
Structure: National People's Congress (3000 representatives from regional and local congresses)
Standing Committee of the Politburo Central Committee of CCP |
Senate (representation by federal units – currently 31) Increased number of states aims at guaranteeing representation to smaller ethnic groups Tensions between the central government and the states (among other things, on the distribution of oil revenues) |
|
LOWER |
House of Commons term at discretion of Prime Minister FPTP plurality elections from party list; no residence requirement Sovereign policy-making power Vote of No Confidence |
National Assembly Simple majority, 2 round run-off election with 12.5% cutoff Proposes and passes legislation overrules upper house with simple majority bloc vote, pledged vote Vote of Censure |
Duma 450 members term at discretion of Prime Minister, President 1/2 proportional from 2 round run-off party list with 5% cutoff; 1/2 FPTP from districts Initiates and approves legislation overrules upper house with simple majority Vote of Censure |
House of Representatives (party-based representation) Tradition of inefficiency and corruption (patron-client relations; regional interests prevail over national priorities) |
|||
| JUDICIAL |
House of Lords Common Law Cannot override acts of Parliament Conservative ex-post facto privilege of Prime Minister |
Constitutional Council Council of State Civil Code 9 year terms Check on both Executive and Legislative |
Under the control of the Executive State Prosecutor; show Trials People's Courts Gulags |
Constitutional Court Civil Code 19 judges appointed for life by President Arbitrates between Legislative and Executive |
Supreme People's Court Under the control of the Executive State Prosecutor; show Trials People's Courts Xia-feng attempted creation of Civil Code system |
U.S.-inspired independent judiciary Supreme Court can, in theory, challenge the Executive. In practice, it has not happened. |
|
| BUREAUCRACY |
Examinations and Elite Educational Institutions Specialized Insulated from politics resist policy initiatives QUANGOs |
"Grand Corps" Generalists Large due to centralization Grand Ecoles; Education determines level facilitate policy due to pantouflage |
Secretariat Cooption through Nomenklatura Self-serving Patron-client Corrupt |
Power Ministries nomenklatura holdovers "shock treatment" siloviki |
Secretariat Cooption through Nomenklatura Self-serving Patron-client Corrupt |
Lack of experience; poorly trained Bureaucratic recruitment based on ethnicity Foreign presence (currently, IMF officials in Central Bank) |
|
| POLITICAL PARTIES |
Labour Conservative Liberal Democratic Alliance |
Union for Popular Majority Socialist Party Union for French Democracy National Front Communist Party |
Communist Party of the Soviet Union |
Unity Party Communist Party of the Russian Federation Rodina Liberal Democratic Party Yabloko Union of Right Forces |
Chinese Communist Party 'Red' vs 'Expert' factionalism |
Multi-party system (affiliation mostly determined along ethnic and religious lines) | |
| OTHER
INTEREST GROUPS |
consociational TUC CBI |
pluralist CGT CFDT greens students |
intelligensia |
oligarchs siloviki nomenklatura military disorganized pluralist organizations |
PLA CAC MAC Falun Gong Student Democracy Movement rising wealthy class |
The Military Dominated by Northern groups (Hausa-Fulani) Despite internal divisions, it is the most cohesive political group in Nigeria Dominated by patron-client relations between higher and lower ranking officials |
|
| CURRENT ISSUES |
Dispute of Sharia--fundamentalist Islamic law in North
Rampant corruption |
||||||
| IMPORTANT PERSONALITIES | Tony Blair Howard Kennedy Livingstone |
Jacques Chirac Raffarin Sarkozy |
Vladimir Putin | Jiang Zemin Hu Jintao |
Olesegun Obasanjo | ||