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681. Despite Crackdown, U.S. Must Deal with Iranian Regime

Author:
Richard N. Haass
Publication Date:
06-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:
Asserting that the Iranian theocracy has become a "thugocracy," CFR President Richard N. Haass says the Iranian regime will likely prevail because of its use of force against the population. This makes the urgency of negotiating an end to the country's nuclear program more pronounced, and possibly more difficult, Haass says. "The Iranian challenge still exists, and may actually be somewhat worse," he says. "I'm talking about the nuclear program, their influence in Afghanistan and Iraq, their support of Hezbollah and Hamas. None of that has changed." Haass says the Obama administration "still ultimately has to try to deal with [Iran]" but adds: "It has become extraordinarily difficult to talk to this regime, and Iran has become in absolute and relative terms far more capable."
Topic:
Democratization and Islam
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, United States, Iraq, Iran, and Middle East

682. Afghanistan's Election Challenges

Publication Date:
06-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
Afghanistan's forthcoming elections, with presidential and provincial council polls on 20 August 2009, and National Assembly and district elections scheduled for 2010, present a formidable challenge if they are to produce widely accepted and credible results. The weakness of state institutions, the deteriorating security situation and the fractured political scene are all highlighted by – and will likely have a dramatic effect on – the electoral process. The years since the last poll saw the Afghan government and international community fail to embed a robust electoral framework and drive democratisation at all levels. This has made holding truly meaningful elections much more difficult. Rather than once again running the polls merely as distinct events, the enormous resources and attention focused on the elections should be channelled into strengthening political and electoral institutions, as a key part of the state-building efforts required to produce a stable country.
Topic:
Security, Democratization, Terrorism, and War
Political Geography:
Afghanistan

683. Village-by-Village Democracy in China

Author:
Robert T. Gannett Jr.
Publication Date:
04-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
Despite the aftershocks of a natural disaster, the economy of the region's most populous nation still manages to produce unprecedented prosperity for its citizens. Its government is omnipresent, fueling this growth by building roads, canals, and new manufacturing plants, while seeking to eradicate collective constraints of a bygone era. Individuals respond to the new economic opportunities by becoming more industrious, more inventive, more acquisitive, more bourgeois, more capitalist. In the midst of such sudden economic transformation, the government struggles to maintain political stability. When protests erupt in the countryside, it suppresses them or co-opts their leaders. In an effort to reduce political tension, it allows a measure of personal liberty and speaks frequently of the need for reforms. It recognizes the importance of public opinion, doing everything it can to cultivate, manage, and control its expanding influence, especially in times of crisis and when the nation finds itself on the world stage. It frequently remodels administrative rules and habits applying to the whole nation, issuing edicts from the center that are routinely ignored in the provinces. And to the surprise of all, it launches a new system for the whole nation of local assemblies chosen by local voters, while inviting all residents to express and address local grievances in each of even its tiniest far-flung villages.
Topic:
Communism and Democratization
Political Geography:
China and Asia

685. Côte d'Ivoire : les impératifs de sortie de crise

Publication Date:
07-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
Le 4 mars 2007, les deux principaux protagonistes de la crise ivoirienne signaient l'accord politique de Ouagadougou (APO). Ce compromis a, dans un pre-mier temps, apporté un environnement de paix en Côte d'Ivoire. La ligne de démarcation entre les deux pro-tagonistes a été démantelée. Un nouveau gouvernement a été formé et les bases ont été jetées pour apporter une réponse aux deux questions-clés du conflit : l'identité et la citoyenneté ivoiriennes et la légitimité du pouvoir. Mais, plus de deux ans après son adoption, l'APO va mal. Une sortie de crise sera possible uniquement si les engagements pris dans la capitale burkinabé sont enfin suivis d'effets. Sortir la Côte d'Ivoire de sa décen-nie de crise ne nécessitera pas seulement l'organisation d'élections crédibles mais impliquera également des progrès significatifs dans le processus de désarmement ainsi qu'une véritable réunification de l'administration. Ceci demandera la remobilisation de la facilitation burkinabé et une pression accrue des partenaires inter-nationaux sur les acteurs du conflit.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Political Violence, Democratization, Peace Studies, and Post Colonialism
Political Geography:
Africa

686. Flags and hymns are not for Finns: An evaluation of the European elections in Finland before the fact

Author:
Aaretti Siitonen
Publication Date:
05-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Finnish Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
Finland is to elect 13 representatives to the seventh European Parliament on 7 June 2009. In the last European elections in 2004, EU-wide voter turnout remained at 46%, the figure in Finland reaching only 41.1%. This was, however, a considerable improvement on the 1999 elections, where Finnish turnout was a meagre 31.4%.
Topic:
Democratization and Politics
Political Geography:
Europe and Finland

687. Parties in Russia: From a pseudo-system towards fragmentation

Author:
Sirke Mäkinen
Publication Date:
06-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Finnish Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
Stability has not been characteristic of the Russian party system: political parties have appeared and disappeared between the federal elections, both politicians and the electorate have changed their affiliation, and legislation regarding political parties and elections has been amended. During the 2000s, the party system has also undergone significant changes. Both the changed political culture and the creation of Putin's power vertical have required – and enabled – a stronger control of the party system by the executive power. We can even argue that the most important actor in the party system is the executive power and, in particular, the presidential administration. The parliamentary tool in the hands of the executive power is the United Russia Party, which received the majority of the seats in the State Duma in the last two elections in 2003 and 2007, and thus ensured a smooth process for adopting the bills prepared by the president, the presidential administration or the government. Economic growth and the popularity of Mr Putin have secured the survival of the current party system as part of the power vertical but now, with the consequences of the economic crisis and with a president more liberal in his rhetoric than his predecessor, there are expectations, and even some signs, of the liberalization of the party system.
Topic:
Democratization, Politics, and Governance
Political Geography:
Russia

688. De la White House a la Black House : elección presidencial de los Estados Unidos en el 2008. ¿Movilidad social ascendente?

Author:
Juan Paul Farías Peña
Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
Abstract:
El estudio de los procesos electorales nos ofrece una excelente oportunidad para reflexionar sobre los efectos políticos de la movilidad social. Se considera que ésta y la estabilidad política comparten una relación directamente proporcional: a mayor movilidad social, mayor estabilidad política; y, por consiguiente, una menor movilidad social genera el efecto contrario (Zapata, 2005: 43).
Topic:
Democratization and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:
United States

689. A Virtuous Circle for All? Media Exposure and Political Trust in Europe

Author:
Oscar G. Luengo and y Marcus Maurer
Publication Date:
04-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
Abstract:
The electoral results of last European elections in 2004, have produced a preoccupation and have raised a debate, not only in the political sphere but also in the academic realm, around a topic that has been enormously influential in the development of political science; the disengaged attitudes that citizens have been increasingly showing towards the political process. Grouping the 25 countries of the European Union in one category, less than half (45 percent) of the Europeans having the right to vote took part in the election. Electoral turnout ranged from about 90 percent in Belgium and Luxembourg (where voting is legally mandatory), to about 20 percent in Slovakia and Poland. These low turnout levels have revealed a trend of what has been labelled as political disaffection. Additionally, they show the same pattern which has been discovered several times in the past (e.g. Klingemann, 1999): when it comes to political disaffection, Europe is divided in three parts. In Western and Northern Europe, citizens are rather engaged, but not to the same extent as 20 years ago. In Southern Europe, citizens are traditionally rather dissafected, and in the new democracies in Eastern Europe only a minority is engaged in political life.
Topic:
Democratization and Mass Media
Political Geography:
Europe

690. The Effects of Electoral Institutions in Rwanda: Why Proportional Representation Supports the Authoritarian Regime

Author:
Alexander Stroh
Publication Date:
07-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
While much has been written about the special design of Rwanda's judiciary in order to handle the aftermath of the genocide in 1994, other institutional actions resulting from the 2003 constitution have rarely been addressed in research. However, the second (partial) parliamentary elections in September 2008 revealed some of the implications which the carefully designed electoral system has for Rwanda's political development. As a starting point, the paper emphasises the need to link the debates on institutional design in divided societies with elections in authoritarian regimes. Under different regime types, “institutional engineers” may pursue different goals. The paper concludes that in the case of Rwanda proportional representation (PR) has been implemented to support undemocratic goals. PR limits the local accountability of politicians in a political environment in which the government is not controlled by a democratic opposition. Thus, Rwanda's current PR system facilitates the maintenance of authoritarian power in the country, whereas small constituencies would establish closer links between the local populations and their representatives.
Topic:
Democratization, Politics, and Governance
Political Geography:
Africa