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Notes 10/22/2008

Germany

Quick History

• 1930s – Hitler’s Rise to Power


• 1945 – Germany Defeated
• Partitioned into East and West Germany
• Allied powers force a new political system on Germany after WWII
• 1989 – Berlin wall comes down and Germany is reunited
• Germany has grown into a economic powerhouse since WWII

1989 – 1990 Reunification still a big deal in Germany. Vexing problem in Germany is
that there are still, to this day, two Germanys.

West Germany: One of the great economic engines of the world. Unique German
traits, but larger structures familiar to English parliamentary system.

East Germany: Much higher instances of unemployment, less education, etc.

The Basic Law

• The German political system is grounded in the basic law


• Basic law is somewhat like the U.S. constitution, but not exactly
• The basic law sets up a federal system of government, like in the USA
• Federalism – German citizens (like the U.S.) live under two sovereigns –the
national government and the state government
• Germany is the only federal system of government in Western Europe

Summary: German citizens, much like American citizens, live under two
sovereigns. One of the most unique things when you look at the Germany system.
UK, France, unitary system. No kind of state government, ultimately parliament in
England can tell lower leaders (state, etc) what to do. Germany different.

• In Germany, the states are called “Lander”


• There are 16 Lander in Germany and all of them have their own governments
like in the USA
• All 16 Lander have unicameral legislatures
• 1 had a bicameral legislature until 1999 (Bavaria)
• The citizens of Bavaria voted to abolish the senate, or upper house. This
change went in to effect in December 1999.
• When you think Lander thing US States
• German laws that, say, govern an area like Bavaria, aren’t put on other
regions. They deal with a single Lander.
• Our 50 states have bicameral legislatures, in German Lander they have
unicameral. No upper chamber.
• The 16 Lander in Germany have immense political power under the basic law,
much more power than states in the USA.
• The Lander can actually veto federal law and keep it from taking effect.
• Germany is the only country in Western Europe with a federal system of
government.
• By federal, we mean a system like the USA’s system of states and a national
government.
• Thus the term federalism, or two rulers.

Summary: The politics of dealing with Germany, due to the federalism, are a lot
more tricky. German states have immense political power. In terms of being able to
impact national German laws, treaty agreements, etc, get implemented and carried
out, German states have massive power. Much more than US. Courtesy of the Basic
Law. If indeed the law will in some way negatively impact the Germany states, they
can veto. Our states have no authority to veto a law made by the national congress.
We can go to the courts, etc, but states have no ability in the legislating process to
stop a national law from taking effect.

In Germany there was an instance where states, through the law making process,
actually stopped a law from being instituted.

When you look at the Iraq war, France didn’t help, easy to understand why. They
have $9 billion in Iraq oil contracts, forget it. But with the German situation, they
were much more tricky. They as well had oil contracts with Iraq but also had a whole
host of state issues. This made the whole decision much more tricky. Unfortunately,
we lumped them together.

Some Highlights of the Basic Law

1. Strong protection of human rights and individual liberty (tries to hammer


home this point)
2. Federal system of government
3. National elections held every four years
4. Bicameral national legislature – Bundestag (lower house of parliament);
Bundesrat (upper house)
5. Bundestag is the more powerful house – directly elected by the people
6. Bundesrat is appointed by the governments of the 16 Landar. Immense
political power.
7. German Chancellor is the head of state (Like a Prime Minister, but a different
title)
8. Also a German president who plays a ceremonial role – little power.
9. The current president of Germany is Host Koehler.
Summary: Some have called them undemocratic. A political party can be outlawed.
If it has been decided that the party is just a hate party. That party can be
challenged in court and banned from participating in elections.

(This is big) American’s love to talk about how we are the freest most open society,
embracer of civil liberties, on planet Earth. It depends on what areas we look at.
Access to government information? Yes. Most definitely. Social policy? Health care?
Drugs? No. Europeans can generally smoke pot, etc.

Germany is a parliamentary arrangement just like the British system, but with the
big difference that Germany also has independent states with their own government
systems. Federal parliamentary system.

Order of Power in Germany

1. Chancellor: Prime minister. Angela Merkel. (First woman PM/Chancellor)


2. President: Largely ceremonial. Big welcomer, etc. Host Koehler
3. Cabinet:

German President

• President is chosen by a convention of delegates made up of MPS in the


Bundestag and members of the legislative assemblies of the 16 Landar.
• President can dismiss federal judges, government bureaucrats, he can set
standards for federal law…but only on the advice of the Chancellor.
• While he signs laws, the reality is his powers hinge on Chancellor agreeing
with him. He has to do what he/she likes/wants, otherwise he’s fired.

German Chancellor

• Angela Merkel is the current chancellor. (First female leader of Germany)


• She leads the Christian Democratic Union party
• Chancellor is the real power broker in German politics
• Like other Prime Ministers, she has a cabinet of ministers and together they
make up “the government”.
• Chancellor and the cabinet make the laws and then send them to the
parliament for approval.
• However, the Bundesrat (upper house) does have a lot of political power and
can directly stop legislation that affects the Lander in negative ways.
• Lander appoint MPs to Bundesrat, so the MPs work for the Lander. (Like we
used to)
• Individual states, Lander, appoint Members of Parliament to Bundesrat (upper
house).
• In our own constitution, Senators, our state reps (in many ways like MPs)
were originally appointed. 1913 that changed. 17th Amendment. We did this
not just to give Americans more democracy, but also because of the
understanding that the 20th century was going to be a century whereby it was
likely the US would play a much larger international role. Argument was made
was “look, if we continue to appoint Senators, Senators first and foremost will
have a parochial interest. States first, US second.”

Summary: The government makes the laws, they are fed to the lower house, and
are then passed. The upper house can get involved and make life difficult. Thinking
about the reasons why we changed how Senators are put in office, you can see how
there is some turmoil in Germany with regards to their appointment of Bundesrat
members. Bundesrat look after their states, not for the welfare of the
entire nation. Individual state governments can sabotage national legislation.

• If the Bundesrat (upper house) vetoes a law passed by the Bundestag, then
the two houses must work for compromise.
• If this does not happen – the law does not take effect
• Chancellor must work and negotiate with the lower and upper houses much
more than in other parliamentary arrangements.
• In the UK parliamentary system, there are no fights, no compromise. German
is very different in this area.
• In some ways, its kind of a give and take similar to the way the US House of
Rep. and US Senate.

Summary: Just like our system of government, compromise is essential. Similar to


the way the house/senate handled the economic bailout bill. Presidents never get
what they want fully, there has to be a lot of give and take. In Germany unlike any
other parliamentary system on the face of the planet, compromise is a big big part.

If there is a single country in the world that looks a lot like us, politically,
governmentally, it is Germany.

• It is hard (impossible) to remove the chancellor from office. (Think of


how impossible it is to remove the US president.)
• There is the “constructive-no confidence vote”. It does not remove the
chancellor unless a replacement candidate is already chosen.
• Replacement must win the support of a majority of Bundestag (lower house)
• Chancellor can also personally ask for a vote of confidence
• If the Chancellor does not get the vote of confidence she wants she can
dissolve the parliament and call for new elections.
• Put simply, it is hard to fire the chancellor on a no confidence vote.

Summary: German Chancellor, if government (Bundesrat or Bundestag) is not


behind him/her, they can say okay, I want you to go on record as being for/against
me. So, if the Chancellor is sure he/she has the backing of the people, they figure
those who vote against them will be ousted when the election comes up again.

Hurdles for removing Chancellor


1. New replacement must be chosen prior to holding no-confidence vote.
2. Replacement candidate must be agreed to by Bundestag (lower house) of
German parliament.
3. Replacement must win support not only of lower house, but Bundesrat (upper
house) as well.

Bundestag

• Lower house of parliament


• Currently 614 members
• ½ elected by plurality and ½ election by proportional representation
• Germans vote twice – for a candidate and for a party (mixed-member voting)
• A political party needs at least 5% of the vote to get seats in the Bundestag

Page 193 in white book, see sample ballot?

Summary: So, German voters go in to polls and vote twice. Once for person, once
for party. You go in vote for a specific candidate, say for Congress, then you vote for
a specific party.

The US uses a plurality vote: Meaning, who gets the most votes. Meaning it
doesn’t have to be 50%+ (majority). Just largest number of votes.

Proportional voting is all about giving seats or a portion to the seats to


any political party that winds up getting more than 5%. This is very complex,
but the blessing is it provides Germans and small political parties the opportunity to
actually partake in the lawmaking process.

Plurality voting means its possible for someone to get in to office who
didn’t win an outright majority.

Bundesrat

• Has 69 members that are directly appointed by the Lander (think how we
used to be)
• Number of members for each Lander is based on their respective population
size
• Each Lander gets between 3 to 6 members depending on population
• Bundesrat can veto federal law that directly affects the Lander (think it would
affect the German state either A) economic output or B) territorial integrity
(boundaries) or C) health care, etc)
• Lander have immense political power
Summary: Larger areas of population get as much as 6 votes, whereas smaller get
3. This deviates a bit from our senatorial system. The German states have much
more power in the law making process than our states do. Our senators cannot
band together and ultimately veto a law, etc. They can hold it up, but nothing more.
The German senators can.

German Constitutional Court

• Germany does have a constitutional court somewhat like the US Supreme


Court
• One body, one court, but broken up in to 2 senates.
• There are two chambers (or courts) – the chambers are known as “senates”
• Each chamber has 8 judges who serve one 12-year term (not life)
• ½ the judges are chosen by Bundestag and ½ chosen by Bundesrat
(president appoints our, Senate approves *NOT HOUSE*)
• 2/3rds vote of each house is required for the approval of a judge to the court.
(ours only requires that more senators (of the 51 required voting) say yes
than no)
• This is a much more stringent requirement that one finds for the USA
Supreme Court
• Constitutional Court hears cases involving the constitutionality (intent and
meaning) of state and federal law (like the USA court).

Summary: Literally in 50 years these countries have developed a free democratic


civil society that rival ours, which took 200. If you’re looking for a country
comparatively a lot like the US, Germany again, is it. In many ways Germany’s
constitutional courts are a lot like ours, but they cannot in many ways intervene in
to state matters as much as ours can. So essentially, does a national law conflict
with a Lander law?

Quiz next week, on November 5.

10/29/2008

European Union

Coal and Steel Community

• The European Union was born out of the European Coal and Steel Community
(ECSC)
• The ECSC was established in 1951
• Started Six Countries: France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands,
Luxembourg
• ECSC sought to bring about peace on the European continent through
economic integration.
• In 1955 the ECSC moves to change itself into the European economic
community (EEC)
• The names change as the organization gets bigger.
• 1957 the six countries sign the Treaty of Rome
• Four Freedoms of the Treaty of Rome:
1. Goods
2. Capital
3. Labor
4. Services

European Union

• The EEC has EXPANDED from Six Countries to 27 Countries


• It is now known as the European Union
• Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia,
Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania,
Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia,
Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom.
• 10 New Members added to the EU on May 1, 2004; 2 more on January 1, 2007
(Romania and Bulgaria)
• The total population of the EU member countries is about 500 million people.
(Dwarfs the buying potential of America. Is a very powerful and potent
economic competitor. Individually, they couldn’t achieve this kind of
economic power.)
• Essentially, realize the power here.
• Think of how you can move money/yourself between states in the US. Can do
almost the same thing in the EU.

Summary: Since WWII, guarded reason to be optimistic. One possibility that no


more WWs is due to development of what is now known as the European Union.
Brave attempt to deal with a couple of border regions between Germany and
France. Within these two regions, immense amount of iron ore and other minerals
that could be used to make things like steel. ECSC: “Hey, is there a way that we can
deal with these two regions and then parlay the minerals of these regions in to
other economic areas, and create an interdependence via economics to make the
countries less likely to war with each other?” Taken from the idea of Karl Marx that
capitalism dampens conflict. Not peace through strength, peace through
economics. Is working.

EU Institutions
1. Council of the European Union (or Council of Ministers)
 Total of 27 members – one from each country (state)
 Members serve as the official policy spokespeople for their
respective countries
 Twice a year the heads-of-state meet to debate and make the
major policy decision of the EU.
 Basically, makes the broad policies the EU pursues. Very
top-down type of approach.
 Has a rotating Presidency, every 6 months one of the heads of
the countries is a President.
 Currently, the president is France.
2. European Commission (all about running the day-to-day operations of
the EU)
 27 seats each state gets one seat
 Commissioners are appointed by their home countries but are
bound to be loyal to the operation and work of the EU.
 Make sure everything is carried out the way their home country
expects.
 The more populated and powerful EU countries like the UK,
France, and Germany have more influence on the commission.
(Weighted voting)
 Essentially, they carry out the initiatives (implement,
make specific) what the Council decides.
 The Commission’s Primary Jobs:
1. Run the EU Bureaucracy – its various agencies that
implement EU law.
2. Make the rules that allow for implementation in the 27
member countries.
3. EU Parliament
 785 Members
 More population in a country, the more seats they get in the
parliament
 EMPs are directly elected by the people in their respective
countries
 Serve a 5 year term
 EMPs do not sit with their countries but by political party
 9 parties represented.
 Eight major political parties in the EU parliament ranging form
the Christian Democrats, to the Greens, to the Communists
 The parliaments primary powers include budgetary powers and
appointing the EU commission. How to spend on, hire/fire EU
commission.
 Thus, not entirely powerless.
4. EU Court of Justice
 27 judges – one from each country
 Judges hold a sex year term
 Court has jurisdiction over EU matters
 Could even throw a country out of the EU.
 Very active on issue of human rights.
 What can it do?
• Court can overturn actions taken by all EU institutions
• Verdicts of the court are legally binding on the member
states
• Sanctioning powers of the EU court ensure compliance
with the court’s rulings.
5. EU Court of auditors
 27 members – one from each country
 Court of auditors oversee the EU budget
 Auditors also investigate fraud and waste of the EU budget
 Good people that brought you the 99 or 2002 scandal that lead
to dissolution of parliament.
 This allows them to prosper, REAL ACCOUNTABILITY, as opposed
to UN. Which also has no sanctioning powers.

MAASTRICHT TREATY

• Treaty approved in 1993 that has greatly expanded the EU’s political and
economic reach.
• Constitution is a document in limbo, has been written but has not been
approved. This is not quite a constitution.
• Its provisions include:
1. A common currency (the Euro) [Unequivocal success, marked blessing]
2. Coordination of social policies such as labor standards [Mining,
factories, etc]
3. Expanded economic regulation by the EU in the 27 member countries.
[Trucking, etc]
4. Expanded European citizenship – EU members are both citizens of their
home state and citizens of Europe.
5. Issuance of EU passports to citizens in the 27 member countries [they
carry 2 passports, dual citizenship, home country and EU]
6. Flexible voting – an EU citizen can vote in EU elections from a different
EU country. [a lot like an absentee ballot, back to home EU country, but
you actually can go in to a voting booth]
7. Further integration of human rights policies and protection of individual
liberties. [catch up to American standards with regards to treatment of
citizens]
 Pushed the envelope on same sex unions
 Racial treatment, etc
 Movement of liberalism

Check out: www.Europa.eu, read about EU constitution in book.

Political Ideology

What is a Political Ideology?

• Two Perspectives:
1. Ideology is a particular type of political thought
2. Ideology is the content of a particular body of political
thought.

Definition of Political Ideology:

A political ideology is a more or less set of coherent ideas that provides the basis for
organized political action. All political ideologies offer an account of the existing
order (a “world view”), provide the model of a desired future (a vision of the “good
society”), and outline how political change can and should be brought about.

Marxism-Leninism

• Countries classified as Communist regimes have adopted a Marxist-Leninist


model
• The model used has often been a quasi-form of these ideologies and not true
interpretations
○ Marx never advocated secret police, or nuclear weapons, etc.
○ He advocated getting rid of government entirely, as laborers embraced
Communism.
○ No regimes, no government, all go away.
• Classic examples include the former USSR, China under Mao, Eastern
European countries in the mid-late 20th century, Cuba, North Korea.

Communism Socialism Liberalism Conservatism Fascism


Spectrum of Political Ideology
Left Right

The political ideologies found on the left, right, center spectrum are “western”
ideologies, that is they have their origin in Europe and North America as a result of
the process of modernization. Nonethless, they are the most widely embraced
bodies of political thought in today’s world

Marxism
• Marxism is built on classic socialist principles
1. Community
 At the heart of socialism is the belief that human beings are
social creatures who are capable of overcoming social and
economic problems by drawing on the power of the community
[government] rather than simply individual effort. Socialists are
far less willing than either liberals or conservatives to believe
that human nature is fixed at birth and unchangeable. Rather,
human nature is molded by the experiences and circumstances
of life.
 At the heart of socialism is the belief that human beings are
social creatures who are capable of overcoming social and
economic problems by drawing on the power of the community
[government] rather than simply individual effort. Socialists are
far less willing than either liberals or conservatives to believe
that human nature is fixed at birth and unchangeable. Rather,
human nature is molded by the experiences and circumstances
of life.
2. Cooperation
 If human beings are social animals, socialists believe that the
natural relationship among them is cooperation rather than
competition. Socials believe that the inherent competitions
found within capitalism pits on individual against another.
3. Equality
 At the heart of socialism is the belief in an equal society.
Whereas liberals favor equality of opportunity, socialists argue
that such opportunity will not necessarily lead to social and
economic equality. This is because equality of opportunity is an
individual ideal. Socialists believe that it is not possible in a
capitalistic world to have equality of opportunity. This is because
capitalist societies are very unequal.
4. Satisfaction of need
 Socialists argue that material benefits should be distributed on
the basis of need, which is often regarded as the theory of social
justice. This is in contrast to rights-based theories of need, which
tend to justify material inequality based on the talents and hard
work of individuals or the natural inequalities that exist in
human kind.
 Needs differ from wants. A “need” is a necessity, it demands
satisfaction. Whereas “wants” are a matter of personal judgment
shaped by social and cultural factors, “needs” are objective and
universal, belonging to all people regardless of gender,
nationality, and social background.
5. Common ownership
 Socialists have often traced the origins of competition and
inequality to private property, by which they mean productive
wealth or capital rather than personal belonging such as clothes
or a house. Socialists criticize private property for a number of
reasons:
1. It is unjust. Wealth is produced by the collective effort of
human labor and should therefore be owned by the
community, not by private individuals.

Fundamentals of Marxism

1. Dialectic: Stages of economic development. Think how America moved from


farming  trade  industry  what we have now, service economy 
information technology economy
2. Historical Materialism: Changes in the distribution of economic wealth in
society
3. Means of production: Class warfare between the bourgeoisie (wealthy) and
the proletariat (poor)
4. Superstructure (Government): Methods to protect the bourgeoisie
(wealthy) from proletariat (poor)
5. Worker Alienation and Wage Labor. Essentially determining how much
specific work is worth; people get disgusted when their work isn’t valued, and
ultimately wind up:
6. Overthrow of the bourgeoisie (owners) by the proletariat (workers.
This is where Marx screwed up, he didn’t expect a development of the middle
class.
7. “Dictatorship of the Proletariat” – workers now become the owners
8. Communism: “the state would wither away;” “from each according to his
abilities to each according to his needs”. No government, no country. Not like
Soviet Union.
9. Global spread of Communism. Won’t work in one or two countries, has to
be global.

Leninism

Builds heavily on Marx but with a few additions:

1. Central control of the people by a ruling party. Because the revolution


will not be safe, the states will not go easily. Strong state apparatus.
2. The ruling party would “guide” the socialist revolution and protect it
from saboteurs. Much different than Marx, Marx was about the equality of
society, Lenin was about us all being equal but some of us being more equal.
3. Capitalism was evil, but finance capital was the greater evil.
Capitalism isn’t so bad, its just that damned finance capital (investments,
mortgages, credit debt, etc). He argued investment money lead to WWI. WWI
was started to bust the world up to open new markets for western countries.
4. Lenin’s desire to have central control made the full attainment of
Marxist ideals next to impossible.
5. Lenin believed that the revolution required a central ruling party, a
“security apparatus to guard the revolution, and the need to remove non-
supporters of the revolution.
6. Lenin did not believe in the state withering away as Marx did. Marx
said it would go from capitalism to post-capitalism, a world of workers, this
would spread and we’d have a society of workers. We’d unite in the value of
work. Lenin didn’t think this, he believed in evil totalitarian dictatorships,
victimizing, horrifying, etc.

Common Ownership

Socialists have often traced the origins of competition and inequality to private
property, by which they mean productive wealth or capital rather than personal
belongings such as clothes or a house. Socialists criticize private property for a
number of reasons:

1. It is unjust. Wealth is produced by the collective effort of human labor and


should therefore be owned by the community, not by private individuals.

2. Property breeds the desire to acquire more and more personal stuff.
Private property breeds materialism and the belief that human happiness can
be gained through the pursuit of wealth.

3. Property is divisive. It breeds conflict in society between owners and


works, employers and employees, the rich and the poor, etc.

Current and Former Communist Regimes

Russia

A Few Basics

1. Russia is part of the CIS or Commonwealth of Independent States


2. The CIS is a confederation of Russia and the other FSRs, or Former Soviet
Republics
3. Russia is the world’s largest country, stretching across 11 times zones (The
USA has 4 time zones).
4. Russia is very rich in natural resources, including oil. Very hard to get oil out
of ground though. Its miles and miles down.
5. These resources are difficult to get at as Russia is one of the coldest countries
on earth.
6. Russia is desperately poor. Has a declining population. Will increase misery.
7. Russia is an environmental nightmare. Communism has not helped.
8. Russia is seeing a declining life expectancy: 58 for me, 65 for women. High
rates of alcoholism, environmental stuff, etc.
9. Russia is a new country in many ways – politically, economically, socially.
10.Abrupt and rapid change is a day-to-day fact in Russia – the old Soviet Union
collapsed only 17 years ago (1991)
11.Russia is struggling to remake itself into a capitalist country, but democratic
institutions are fading as growing authoritarian rule takes over under
President Medvedev (who is a puppet for Putin)

Summary: One thing we can learn from Russia is that countries that don’t have a
history of democracy cannot be made in to democratic and capitalist countries
overnight. Same is true of Iraq. Its easy to be a dictatorship, its very hard to be a
democracy. We are seeing a retrenchment back to authoritarianism.

USSR—A Brief History

• The story of the USSR is in many ways all about Josef Stalin and Stalinism
• 1924 – Lenin dies after leading the Soviety Revolution in 1917
• Stalin assumes and consolidates his power by the end of the late 1920s
• Stalin was a brutal leader – a classic dictator in every sense of the word

USSR—Stalinism

Stalins governing style was built on the following ideas:

1. Collectivization – a policy of forcing people on to farms or into factories


against their will
a. Collectivization was intended to quickly modernize the Soviet Union
i. Farming and Factory work.
ii.For a while this worked. They rapidly industrialized and turned
itself in to an interesting and successful economy in the 1930s-
1940s-beginning of 1950s.
2. Five year economic plans – these are also termed a centrally planned
economy.
a. What do you have that is made in Russia? That’s right, nothing.
i. Why? Nobody wants to buy it.
b. Essentially the leaders say what they want to produce in 5 years. 200k
tanks, 50k chairs, harvest 500k lbs of potatoes, etc. Meet economic
quotas or targets.
i. Short term lead to rapid industrialization. Long term it churned
out bad product.
c. Five year plans were all about meeting an economic quota (a number
target) – how much of something could be produced over a five year
period.
d. Five year plans did lead to the rapid industrialization of the USSR, but it
came at a price.
e. The price paid came in the quality of the goods produced. The one
exception was defense products. Russian weaponry is great.
3. Socialism in one country
a. Stalin believed that a global Communist Revolution was not attainable
i. Its motherland is Russia
ii.It won’t go global
b. This was a major rejection of Marxist thinking
c. The USSR would have to exist in a world of capitalist states and
continually fight for its existence.
i. Meaning Stalin promoted an openly hostile Russia.
4. The Purges – Stalin went on a terror campaign against his own people.
a. The purges in the late 1920s and 1930s were directed at anyone who
Stalin felt was his enemy.
b. Among those purged were doctors, intellectuals, writers, artists.
i. “Kill off the A-Team” as in, anyone who has been to school
ii.Public speakers, etc
c. There people were either killed or thrown in to the Gulag.
d. Stalin also purged many in the Communist party
e. During the time of the purges the power of the KGB (The Secret Police)
grew immensely.
f. The purges and the KGB allowed Stalin to rule through a cult of fear.
(Cult of Personality)
i. Turn yourself in to almost a god, larger than life, etc.
ii.All glory of state goes to him.
g. Historical evidence suggests Stalin was mentally imbalanced.
5. Satellite countries
a. At the end of WWII Stalin moved to expand Soviet influence throughout
Eastern Europe
b. He kept the Russian army in Eastern Europe and installed puppet
regimes that were loyal to the USSR.
c. Countries such as E. Germany, Poland, Hungary, Romania, would fall
under complete Russian domination.
d. Such behavior was born out of Stalin’s fear of capitalism and Russia’s
history of invasion and occupation from outside powers.
e. The satellite countries provided a security buffer between Western
Europe and Russia
f. In 1946, English Prime Minister Churchill famously remarked that an
iron curtain was descending over Europe.
g. 1947 – The year acknowledged as the beginning of the cold war
between the USSR and the USA
6. Cult of personality
a. Stalin ruled through fear and indoctrination
b. Citizens were taught to both revere and fear him
c. All of Russia’s triumphs were Stalin’s genius
d. All of Russia’s faults were someone elses fault, not Stalin’s
e. Stalin was glorified throughout the USSR and Eastern Europe by way of
a massive propaganda campaign orchestrated by the Russian
government
f. Various estimates put the number of Russian’s killed by Stalinism at 20
million or more, not including WWII deaths.

USSR – Post Stalin

• Stalin Dies in 1953


• His successor is Nikita Kruschev
• Kruschev is noted for two major policy initiatives:
1. Policy of Destalinization – this allowed the Russian public to be openly
critical of Stalin and his policies.
a. But not criticism of the Communist Party or Kruschev was allowed
2. The expansion of Russian nuclear power to other countries friendly to Russia
– notably Cuba in 1962. By the 1950s they had nuclear weapons.
a. This sets off the Cuban missile crisis with the USA
b. For 13 days the USSR and the USA were at a standoff after the USA
had discovered the presence of medium range missiles in Cuba.
i. The closest the world ever came to blowing itself up with nuclear
weapons.
ii.Oct 16-Oct 28, 1962. 16 days.
iii.U2 spyplane snapped pictures in Cuba, saw missile silos, could
carry nuclear warheads.
iv.Kennedy flipped his lid.
v.The US ended the crisis with a quid pro quo. The US agrees to
not invade Cuba or remove Castro, and to remove its long range
weapons from Turkey, and the Russians say they’ll never put
nuclear weapons in Cuba again.

Summary: From a military standpoint, despite having economic problems,


Russia can kill the planet in about 8 minutes. They have nuclear weapons, the
most of any country. While Marx thought the world would turn community, Stalin
figured that wouldn’t happen, the USSR would exist in a world of capitalist
enemies and continually fight for its right to exist. Stalins model with the Purges,
etc, was modeled worldwide by Cuba, NK, etc.

Gorbachev

• The USSR muddled through the 1970s under the leadership of Leonid
Brezhnev
• True reform in the USSR begins in 1985 with the ascension of Mikhail
Gorbachev as leader of the Communist Party
• Gorby was a committed communist that understood the gravity of the
economic situation facing the USSR.
• Gorby introduces two very important reforms:
• Glastnost: “Openness”, established the beginnings of a free press.
We’re stifling our creativity because we won’t let people say anything
negative about the country.
i. Unfortunately this created a BURST of internet/newspaper/etc
“this place sucks” criticism. Fast, heavy.
• Perestroika: “Restructuring”, (THIS WAS HIS PROBLEM he didn’t go
far enough) changing the government, just about everyone worked for
the government, he was like “good god, how can I get a lot of these
people off the government payroll?” began to push them out in to a
developing private sector.
• Gorby looked at these reforms as the way to modernize the Soviet economy
and social life
• Gorby also advances a third major reform – relaxing control over the Eastern
European satellite countries
• This policy leads to the collapse of the Berlin wall in November 1989
and the democratic revolution that swept Eastern Europe in the 1990s
• Had Gorbachev not been in power, the cold war would not have ended when
it did.
• “Look, we can’t afford anymore to bankroll these countries any more,
we have to let them go”
• Gorby is forced from power in a failed military coup in 1991. He loses power
bu thte military is thwarted by powerful men like Boris Yeltsin.
• December 1991 – USSR collapses.
• Yeltsin becomes President of Russia.
• Horribly ineffective leader.
• Drunk.
• Threw the country open to the oligarchs
• Well positioned Russian men.
• Become multi-billionaires.
• 1993 – new Russian constitution
• Borrowed a playbook out of the French. Not American, not British,
French style.
• Constitution establishes a presidential-parliamentary system

Summary: Gorbachev never intended to do away with the Soviet Union. He was a
committed communist, but was the last leader of the old Soviet Union, over saw its
death. USSR started to die after Brezhnev. Gorbachev was a long time party
operator. Wanted to reform the USSR in ways that would make it much more
economically competitive not kill it. Only guy to be schooled somewhere other than
the USSR, since the Russian revolution. Came to power knowing the econ situation
was dire. Realized he couldn’t continue to scare the rest of Eastern Europe.

Russia Today

• Russian constitution puts tremendous power into the hands of the President.
• Parliament is basically a rubber-stamp body for the Russian President
• 2000 -- Vladimir Putin succeeds Yeltsin as president. Putin is a former KGB
agent.
• 2004—Putin Re-elected.
• Putin is shockingly popular in Russia, despite our fears.
1. We don’t like him because he’s done a lot of things that you and I don’t
like.
2. Rolled back a lot of the democratic freedoms started by
Gorbachev/continued by Yeltsin.
• Putin has been successful at restoring some form of law and order in Russia.
• Democratic reforms have been severely curtailed.
• Free press, free speech, voting rights have all been suppressed by Putin.
1. To call the 2008 election for President “free and fair” is a joke.
2. Opposition parties couldn’t run for office.
3. Fear, intimidation.
• Many observers believe that Putin is successfully reversing Russia’s attempts
to democratize.
• Putin is aggressively pushing Russia’s interests internationally.
1. South Ossetia conflict most definitely raised the attention of what
exactly Putin is after.
• Putin is incredibly focused. 20 hours a day, etc.
• In 1993 Russia drafted a new Constitution which gives strong powers to the
President.
• The Constitution is modeled on the French Constitution:
1. President directly elected by the people
2. Prime minister approved by parliament
3. Two-house parliament:
 State Duma is the lower house. 450 members; serve 4 year
terms; chosen by proportional representation (voting by party,
not individual candidate).
• People vote for parties. Basically represents interest of
Russian people.
• Russia is monstrously huge, however. How well this works
representing is tough to say.
 Federation council is the upper house: 178 members (Two
picked from each of the 89 regional governments of Russia)
• The Russian president names the regional governors, so
he controls the Federation Council. (THIS WAS DONE BY
PUTIN)
• Since the President names the regional governors, hes
basically the guy that will insure the types of picks the
governors will make.
• THE PRESIDENT DIRECTLY CONTROLS THE UPPER
HOUSE OF THE RUSSIAN PARLIAMENT. NOT A GOOD
ARRANGEMENT.
4. The Constitution Court: 19 judges appointed by the Russian president
and confirmed by the Federation Council. (Pretty much a joke)
 Its an idea on paper, that there is a separation between the
judiciary and the presidency, but the reality is this court has no
power whatsoever and there isn’t.
5. The reality of Russian politics today is that the whole system is heavily
controlled by the President, Vladimir Putin.
6. This trend will very likely continue with the next President (Elections in
March 2008). Putin cannot run again for President but has indicated he
did run for Parliament, and won.
7. Putin will most likely influence Russian politics for years to come due to
his young age (55) and his good health (doesn’t drink, clean, sober).

Summary: Vladimir Putin, hand picked by Yeltsin. Yeltsin had relied more and more
on people like Putin. Businesses don’t give a damn if they work with democracies or
dictatorships, they just want stability. Putin is making Russia stable.

China

Some Basics

• China is the most populated country on earth


• Population is 1.2 billion and growing
○ Most is agrarian (works on a farm)
• th
1/5 of the world’s population
• A baby is born in China every 2 seconds
• Population pressures are straining the land, water, air, infrastructure such as
housing.
• Poverty is endemic in China, especially in the country and rural areas
• However, 3/4ths of the population is literate
○ Meaning most people are smart enough to work in factories.
• Presently, China has the third largest economy in the world behind Japan and
the USA
○ Cash on hand, single largest.
• Annual economic growth in China has averaged 7% over past decade THIS IS
A HUGE NUMBER
• China is a growing world power as well as a regional hegemonic power.
○ One of the most powerful country that we need to deal with.
• China has one of the largest standing armies in the world
• China has nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles
○ Weak in air craft carriers and submarines, however.
 Building them now.
• China is modernizing in all areas, including defense and space
• China is politically in transition
• It is a one-party state (Communist Party)
○ Basically not a communist country any more, just a one-party
authoritarian country.
• At the same time China is moving more and more quickly to a capitalist
economy
• Changes have recently been made in the Chinese legal system to allow
private ownership of property.
• Although still referred to as a community country, China is not.
• In sum, it is a blend of one-party rule and capitalism.
• This can be seen in China’s admission to the World Trade Organization and
changes to its constitution allowing some private ownership
• These two forces are pushing and pulling China in interesting ways

Summary: Capitalist countries are doing great when they grow 3%. China is
beyond staggering. They’re not really communist any more. Legally, you can
privately own property. As you see it moving towards capitalist, there will be a
growing middle class, and more political turmoil in China.

MAO
• Present day China needs to be understood partly through the legacy of Mao
Tse Tung
○ The legacy they’re shaking off now, is his legacy.
• Mao led the communist revolution in China in 1949
• The revolution drove his rival, Chang Kai Shek, to Taiwan
• During the revolution the USA back the Nationalists on Taiwan
○ Is an island 60 miles off mainland China.
○ When Mao’s forces drove across China, his main enemy Chang Kai
Shek fled to Taiwan.
○ Mao does not go across the sea because he didn’t have the ability, no
naval assets.
○ China didn’t want trouble from the US, who back Chang.
• Mao was basically China’s Stalin
○ Playbook is the same.
○ Force collectivization, etc.
• Thus the split between mainland China and the island of Taiwan
• Today there is the “one China” policy, yet Taiwan is a major capitalist entity
with elections and political parties
○ Quasi-democratic
○ Factory country
○ Strategic outpost for the US
• Taiwan doesn’t have a seat in the UN, stopped by people like the US, to keep
China happy
• We call Taiwan part of China, but we don’t really mean it
• We send Taiwan military hardening
• Mao was Stalin
○ Mao had forced collectivization of workers
○ Five year economic plans (centrally planned economy)
○ Use of secret police and the military to squash dissent
○ Established of prisons for political prisoners
○ Development of a massive cult of personality, (little red book)
○ 1956, Mao initiates the “hundred flowers” campaign as a way to heal
divisions between his supporters and more moderate Marxists
○ Mao allowed limited political dissent
 Don’t criticize Mao
○ Criticism of Mao’s leadership is voiced strongly and openly
○ Campaign was quickly brought to an end.
• Mao goes to the other extreme in the 190s with the “cultural revolution”
○ This was the decade of purges – anyone challenging Mao’s leadership
was jailed or executed
○ A forced campaign of devoted study to Mao’s political ideas
 Monstrous indoctrination campaign
○ Furtherance of Mao’s personality cult
○ Those who had the audacity to oppose Mao disappeared.
○ Beginning of the end for Mao.
• One of Mao’s enemies, Deng Xiaoping, is purged from the Communist Party in
the 1960s and again in the mid 1970s.
○ Essentially he’s under house arrest, in isolation.
○ “Economically, you’re going nowhere with these policies, you better
change it”
○ Thank goodness Mao didn’t kill him.
• Upon Mao’s death in 1976, Deng has a political revival and winds up leading
China.

Summary: As long as western powers don’t talk about free Taiwan too much, China
will leave it alone.

Deng

• Deng Xiaoping leads China from the late 1970s until his health fails in the
early 1990s
○ Deng dies in 1997
• Deng is the father of Chinese capitalism and the architect of modern China
• Deng was a visionary leader who acknowledged the economic failings of
Mao’s leadership
○ “We need to emulate the economies of the west if we want to move in
to the next century.”
○ “Planned economy, forcing people to work on farms, both dumbass
ideas”
• Deng’s Economic Policies
○ End collectivized farming
 Divided farmland into smaller plots and worked by families who,
in essence, own the land
 Farmers grow for the state but can keep the surplus for sale on
the open market.
 Essentially, sharecropping. “The land is completely under your
control, you guarantee me you’ll grow a certain amount that you
will then give to the state”
 This was GENIUS. Something so simple has done so much for
China, grown, etc.
○ Privatization and the encouragement of private business
 1979—creation of four special economic zones (SEZs)
• SEZs encouraged foreign investment, given preferential
tax rates, limited private ownership
• By the 1990s the SEZ experiment had spread to most of
urban China
• Private ownership becomes a reality.
• (Brought in foreign investment, this takes right off, just
like the farming ideas)
○ Creation of international trade partnership and the global expansion of
the Chinese economy.
 The crowning achievement is China’s entry into the World Trade
Organization in 1999
 As the WTO makes more demands on China to open its
economy, the more China becomes influenced by outside forces
• Deng was not a nice guy, however. Not a human rights guy. Not trying to
destroy the Communist party.
• Deng was an economic reformer, not a political one
○ One-party rule still exists
○ 1989 – the budding Democracy movement is crushed in Tiananmen
square in June
○ Possibly thousands lose their lives when the Chinese army opens fire
on demonstrators in Beijing.
○ Hardly a place with human rights considerations, etc.

Final Thoughts

• Current president of China is Hu Jin Tao – becomes leader in March, 2003


• He succeeds Jiang Ziamen, leader for most of the 1990s
• Jiang greatly expands Chinese capitalism and economic reform
• But political reform is still waiting to happen: Tiananmen Square massacre in
1989 is a fine explan of the tension between China’s growing capitalism and
lack of political reform
• China has become a major economic power today
○ Its economy is driven by exports that are made in its massive factory
infrastructure
○ The government in China is awash in cash – over $1 trillion dollars in
cash on hand
○ China has become a principal lender to the world
○ China buys a lot of the USA’s debt – it holds almost $600 billion right
now
 We’re owned.
○ China has used its cash reserves to influence global economic policy
 Our trade imbalance with China is staggering. They sell so much
more to us than we sell to China.
○ It has been very successful politically too
 China has been immensely successful politically in places like
Africa and Asia
 They are literally buying up Africa
• Africa has coltan, ain’t no coltan, ain’t no cell phones.
○ Anyone heard about Chinese human rights abuses lately?
○ Chinese economic growth has led to Chinese military growth
 China’s annual military budget continues to grow
• $7 billion, we spend $500 billion
 China is modernizing its military
 China is projecting its power more in Asia and has become a
major player in Africa
 Will the 21st century be the Chinese century?

Summary: The only way to undo a nasty country is to trade with them. That’s why
the Chinese were put in the WTO, etc.

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