Friday, October 12, 2012

Question 18

According to the book, interdependence among countries generally includes all of the following EXCEPT for which item?

Answer: page 29-30 in the hard cover... " The interdependence of countries- the volume and value of imports and exports, transfers of capital, international communication, the extent of foreign travel and immigration- has increased enormously in the last decades."

Why Tax Revenue Isn't an Input

Tax revenue isn't an input because it is considered an output. On page 35 of the textbook it says this:

"The outputs are the implementations of the political process. These are the substantive impacts on the society, the economy, and the culture. They include various forms of extraction of resources in the form of TAXES and the like."

So the book classifies taxes as an output, not an input.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Russia

Universal suffrage starts at the age of 18 in Russia.  The government is headed by the Prime Minister and the state is headed by the President.  The Prime minister is appointed by the President, who rules a 6-year term. Yet, this is still corrupt.  For example, Putin was President for 6 years, then appointed Prime Minister, and now holds office again and can run for two terms. The State’s Duma has to approve the Prime Minister before it is decided. 
The power is divided amongst three branches: executive, judicial, and legislative.  The executive is headed by the President and the Prime Minister.  The judicial branch consists of the Constitutional Court, Supreme Court, Supreme Court of Arbitration, and the office of the Procurator.  The legislative, or lawmaking, branch is lead by the Federal Assembly.
Russia is on its way to being a liberal democracy, but Putin’s rule keeps it from truly being one.  The President has the most power, then the Prime Minister.  The State Duma recognizes United Russia, Communist Party of the Russian Federation, and Liberal Democratic Party of Russia as its political parties.THe debate in Russia now is over whether democracy shouldbe centralized or not. 

 

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Mexico


How does one gain power? 
  • The president is elected by a simple majority of registered voters in the thirty-one states and the Federal District. 

How is power divided? 
  • The government is divided into an executive branch, a legislative branch, and a judicial branch.
  • The President heads the executive branch. There is no vice president. A Mexican president is only allowed to serve one six year term. 
  • The legislative branch is a bicameral congress. Congress has the power to pass laws, impose taxes, declare war, approve the national budget, approve or reject treaties and conventions made with foreign countries, and ratify diplomatic appointments.There is an upper chamber, which addresses all matters concerning foreign policy, approves international agreements, and confirms presidential appointments and a lower chamber, which deals with the government's budget and public expenditures. Both chambers draft, discuss, and approve legislation and ratify high-level presidential appointments. Members of Congress can serve more than one term, though the terms cannot be consecutive.
  • The judicial branch is divided into federal and state systems. The highest court is the Supreme Court of Justice, consisting of twenty-one magistrates and five auxiliary judges, all appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate or the Permanent Committee. 

Explain the political system: 
  • Mexico has a presidential system with strong and independent legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The president is elected by majority vote for a six-year term.
  • Mexico is a federation integrated by 31 States and a Federal District. Each State elects its own governor and legislature; municipal authorities are chosen at the local level.
  • The Chamber of Deputies has 500 members, elected for a three-year term; 300 elected by simple majority in single-member districts, and 200 elected by proportional representation in five 40-member regional districts.
  • The Senate has 128 members, elected for a six-year term. Each state elects three senators, and in addition 32 are elected by proportional representation on a single nation list.
  • Re-election for consecutive terms in prohibited for all federal deputies and senators.
  • Legislators can be elected to the other chamber when their term expires, and they can be re-elected to the same cture; municipal authorities are chosen at the local level.

Externalities: A consequence (positive or negative) of an economic activity that is experienced by unrelated third parties



China

How is power divided?

The most recent and current edition of the constitution of the People's Republic of China outlines a division of power among three bodies: the People's Liberation Army, the Communist Party of China, and the State Council. Each entity has their separate place in the system. The CCP deals with the political decisions of the state, the State Council acts as the primary administrative body, and the PLA serves as the military branch. Each branch is separate and has their own separate jobs. However, because the constitution names the CCP as the sole political party of the state and the party has all legal power in the government each branch is very intertwined with Party members. Essentially the constitution divides the power but reconciles it all in the CPP to create a one-party state with a strong and stable central government.



How does one gain power?

Due to the strength of the single party system in China, gaining vast amounts of power is not as hard as in other less centralized governments. To gain power in China one must first be elected to the National People's Congress. This is the basic level of national governing power in China apart from local governance. As a large body, 3,000 members, an individual has little power. However, there exists a hierarchy in the CCP that allows an individual to gain copious amounts of power. The highest tier is the Politburo Standing Committee. This is a 9 member committee and the most powerful decision making body in the Party. While this is only a Party matter, the single Party has so much power in the government that each member of this elite committee has lots of power and influence. In each branch there exists a similar hierarchy through which an individual can work their way, usually with the help of bribes, to the top.



The political system:

China's political system is technically a socialist government, but they allow an open market economy in addition to their state owned businesses and industries. They have a constitution that divides power, yet also grants all the political power to a single party, the CCP. With  a large majority of both the country and the politicians members of the CCP, they have a lot of power and the government is very strong and centralized. While issues may arise with regards to human rights violations and human needs, the government is very effective on account of its lack of slow and cumbersome discourse. The rights and opportunities of China's citizens are limited compared to democracies around the world, but they aren't as limited when compared to more oppressive and authoritative regimes.



Define externality

ex·ter·nal·i·ty
noun/ˌekstərˈnalitē/
externalities, plural
  1. A side effect or consequence of an industrial or commercial activity that affects other parties without this being reflected in the cost of the goods or services involved, such as the pollination of surrounding crops by bees kept for honey
  2. The fact of existing outside the perceiving subject

China


How does one gain power in this country?

Anyone over the age of 18 can vote for people to represent them in the Nation People’s Congress and then the NPC essentially controls the rest of the political system. It appoints the president, the premier, the judges, and more or less every other governmental position so the only time that the people have a nominal say in the government is when they elect their representatives. The reason this participation is more nominal and not as pronounced as the American republic is that the congress only accepts people from the same political party with the same views and interests.

How does power divide in this country?

The power in China is subdivided amongst the legislative, executive and judicial branches. The legislative branch is a unicameral congress called the National People’s Congress or the Quanguo Renmin Daibiao Dahui. The congress has nearly 3000 seats and the representatives are elected into office by their local region and serve a term of 5 years. While the official standpoint of the Chinese government is that anyone can get elected, in reality only members of the CCP and its allied political parties are allowed in. The executive branch consists of the President and Vice president. Currently their president is President Hu Jintao and their Vice President is Xi Jinping. The president serves 5 year terms and can be elected twice. The executive branch also has a premier who is nominated by the president and confirmed by the congress and currently the premier is Wen Jiabo. The judicial branch consists of the Supreme People's Court whose judges are appointed by the National People's Congress, Local People's Courts, and the Special People's Courts. While this may appear very similar to the U.S. model of government it really isn’t as the congress controls essentially every aspect of the government and the President is merely a puppet for their purposes. The CCP controls the government completely and faces no significant political opposition.

Explain the political system:

The government is essentially a representative semi democracy in that there are supposed elections for political positions of power; however, all of the politics is controlled by one party and no opposition truly exists. The country is split into 23 different regions, which all have a small local government but are mainly ruled by the central communist government. In nearly every major decision the congress is unanimous due to their coinciding interests for example the vote for the new president was more or less unanimous with 2963 votes for Hu out of the 2987 potential votes. The country is slowly becoming more and more open and democratic but as for right now the political system is quite closed to the public and is very involved with the every day to day lives of the people in China.

Externalities are defined as a cost or benefit that is not transmitted directly through prices. 

Great Britain

How power is divided:
The united kingdom is considered a constitutional monarchy, this means that the head of the state is the monarch (King or Queen) but his/her power is limited by the constitution. This means that not only the head of state gets a say in the government of the united kingdom. The prime minister who is appointed by the queen holds alot of the power in the government. Just below the queen sits the house of lords and the house of commons. Comparing to the United States government it is similar in the sense that if a bill or law is going to passed it needs to pass through both houses before it is sent to the monarch for his or her approval. The House of Commons hold more legislative power than the House of Lords. The house of Lords responsibility is making laws and checking government actions.
How one gains power:
To gain power in the House of Commons you need to be elected in by the people.The house of commons is the lower house of the bicameral parliaments. Originally to be in the House of Lords it was heredity meaning passed down in the family, but more recently the queen herself has been appointing the Lords. There are two sections of the House of Lords one which is a birth rights and the other is where the Queen of Prime Minister can appoint people.
Political System:
Currently the Prime Minister holds most of the political power. Since there is in fact no written Constitution it falls under a weird category. The legislative branch is represented by Parliament, meaning the Houses. The executive power is held by the prime minister. Who has taken in a role similar to the president of the United States. The judicial power is represented by the Supreme Court. The House of Commons is perhaps the most important because without having an written constitution it makes it hard to control.