Representation and Democracy in Britain 1830 – 1931
Representation and Democracy in Britain 1830 - 1931 830 - 1850 The political system in 1830 Before the Great reform act of 1830 parliament had many defects. The voting qualifications were outdated and illogical. In the counties, 40 shillings free holders had the vote, but in the boroughs there were a wide range of voting qualifications. Also the electorate was not proportional to the population. It was the aristocrats that mainly had the vote and that amounted to around less than 500,000 voters. The distribution of seats was also not match the distribution of the population. The South was over-represented while the North was under-represented. There were also rotten and pocket boroughs. There was no secret ballot, which meant there was often bribery and intimidation of voters. The demand for political reform The demand for reform dated back to the 18th century. There was some proposal of limited reform being introduced in 1785 but this was dropped due the outbreak of the French revolution. The Tories after the Napoleonic war were strongly opposed parliamentary reform. However the split in the Tory party over Catholic emancipation, led to the Wigs coming to power on the fall of Wellington in 1830. Earl Grey, who was long in favour of limited reform, led the new Whig government. Most opposition for reform came from those who would not benefit it. For example, Tories in
How Russia’s Institutional Structure has affected its Prospects for Democratization.
How Russia’s Institutional Structure has affected its Prospects for
How has the role and impact of military rulers and civilian politicians differed in Pakistan's political experience? To what extent have they succeeded in addressing elite and sectional interests, and social and regional tensions?
How has the role and impact of military rulers and civilian politicians differed in Pakistan's political experience? To what extent have they succeeded in addressing elite and sectional interests, and social and regional tensions? Discuss and give reasons for your arguments. INTRODUCTION: This year Pakistan will celebrate its 56th anniversary on 14th August, 2003. Among these 56 years, Pakistan has been ruled more by the military leaders than the civil leaders. India which also got its independence with us has not seen even a single military coup in its entire history. Due to this reason India is recognized in the entire world as the largest democratic country after United States of America. If we compare Indian with Pakistan, we would realize that India has a very strong parliament, free press and media, a very strong and independent judiciary, strong government departments. The democratic institutions have their roots in the grass root level of their population. These are the things which block the way of military intervention. On the other hand, in Pakistan, unfortunately, never in its entire history a serious attempt has been made to make the parliament stronger. The press and the media have always been under influence of the government. The politics revolve around in the hands of few strong landlord and industrial families along with the generals. It is due to these
COMBATING CORRUPTION IN BANGLADESH: SOME STRATEGIES
COMBATING CORRUPTION IN BANGLADESH: SOME STRATEGIES -Abdulla Al Mamun ABSTRACT Corruption is an international problem that requires international solution. It is a universal complex phenomenon. Corruption is one form or another existed since time immemorial. Its roots lie deep in bureaucratic and political institutions and its effect on development varies with country conditions. In a country such as Bangladesh, corruption and other forms of weak governance are an impediment to the reduction of poverty. Economic growth is essential to reduce poverty, and corruption slows economic growth. The poor suffer from corruption in many ways. Their access to services, such as public health and education, is reduced when drugs and textbooks are stolen from public facilities and sold privately and when doctors and teachers have high rates of absenteeism from their public jobs and sell their services privately. Corruption invariably channels public resources to the rich-the poor lack the funds to bribe or pay for the private provision of services that are supposed to be provided for free as public services. Almost everybody suffers from corruption, but the poor suffer more. As in most countries, corruption is not a new phenomenon in Bangladesh, and it arises from deeply rooted characteristics in the administrative and socio-political systems, which have evolved over centuries. The East
The development of nationalist movements in Southeast Asia
The development of nationalist movements in Southeast Asia Burmese nationalist movement Factors for the rise of Burmese nationalism Political . The British administration destroyed the old political system. The Konbaung dynasty was abolished and the Hlutdaw was removed. It removed the traditional headmen because they had led the resistance movement after 1885 and replaced them with salaried ones, like the myo-ok or the myothugyi. 2. It was convenient to adopt, wholesale, Indian administrative models that were not relevant to Burma. they had negative consequences. For example, the role of the headman, the economic and social institutions at the local level was completely reversed to conform to an Indian model In 1920, many villages were grouped together under a circle headman, thus reducing the number of village headmen. The new headmen failed to inspire the kind of trust and loyalty among the peasantry that the myothugyi had in the pre-British era as he was regarded as a paid British officer. Instead of acting as the highest official at the local level, the headman became under the British the lowest official of the central administration representing an even smaller administrative unit, the village. As a result, the role of headman providing leadership at the village level, degenerated. 3. The Burmese felt alienated because of the British distrust and policy of not
The Rise and fall of the Ottoman Empire.
The Rise and fall of the Ottoman Empire Main Dates of the Ottoman Empire ? Ca. 1243: Turkish Nomads settle in Asia Minor ? 1299-1326: Osman I ? 1301: Osman I declares himself sultan and creates the Ottoman Empire ? 1345: Seljuk Turks first cross the Bosporus straight, which divides Asia and Europe. ? 1389: The Ottomans defeat the Serbs in Kosovo. ? 1402: Tamerlane defeats the Ottomans at Ankara, now capital of Turkey. ? 1451-81: Mohammed the Conqueror. ? 1453: Ottomans conquer Constantinople, formerly Byzantium, and renamed the city Istanbul and capital of the Empire until 1922. ? 1520-1566: Sulayman II the magnificent ? 1526: The Battle of Mohacs. ? 1529: First Siege of Vienna. ? 1571: Combined forces from Vienna, Spain, Genoa, Venice and the Papal States crush the Ottoman fleet at the battle of Lepanto. ? 1641-1687: Mohammed IV ? 1656-1676: Vizierial reforms. ? 1683: Second Siege of Vienna. ? 1703-1730: Cultural revival under Ahmed III. ? 1774: Treaty of Kucuk Kaynarca. ? 1792: Treaty of Jassy. (The Romanian city of Iasi.) ? 1793: Selim III declares a 'New Order'. ? 1798-1799: Napoleon attempts to conquer Egypt. ? 1804: First Serbian uprising. ? 1815: Second Serbian uprising. ? 1822-1830: Greek War of independence. ? 1826: Massacre of Janissaries, when the Sultan's personal guard revolted against the decision to create a regular force. ? 1827:
The position of the New Labour government with Tony Blair ahead of that government.
Section A i) Historically, Liberalism represents a rejection of the absolute powers of monarchy, or other ruler, and seeks to establish limited government, freedom and tolerance under the law (Budge, 1998, p.397). Moreover, "freedom, equality and tolerance" are three main concepts of Liberalism. However, whereas freedom is important as Liberalism is in favour to allow the greatest possible freedom to the individual, the views of freedom were split by liberal thinkers into negative and positive freedom. Therefore, according to Isaiah Berlin's "Two concepts of freedom", these two different views of freedom are illustrated by split in Liberalism between Classical Liberalism and Progressive Liberalism, while negative and positive freedom became the core difference between them. The negative freedom, "freedom from oppression", became the view of Classical Liberalism, while the positive freedom, "the capacity of people to make real choices regarding education, employment, leisure and so on", became the view of Progressive Liberalism. All these indicate that the key difference between each of the following is that Classical Liberalism is focused on the needs of the individual, accepts limited state action, whereas Progressive Liberalism accepts freedom to opportunities provided by the state and, hence, accepts more state action. Therefore, the emphasis of Classical Liberalism was
WWI, The Twenty-One Demands and The May Fourth Movement
WWI, The Twenty-One Demands and The May Fourth Movement 900 - 1920 China's strong history of independence and national pride went largely unchallenged for the 4000 years leading up to the 19thth century. The influence of Western trade and culture, however, permanently affected Chinese cultural and political conventions. One major example of the dominance of Western ideals was China's interaction with Japan and the Allies during World War One (WWI). Whilst internally China was in turmoil due to the battles of the ruthless warlords, the new threat of Japanese control through the Twenty-One Demands began to emerge. The diplomatic decisions and actions by the Chinese government during this crucial period, together with influences from the West, began an influential cultural and political revolution known as the May Fourth Movement. The early 20th Century in China was an era of vast cultural and political change. The lack of Qing dynasty social reform and the failure of the Boxer Uprising convinced many Chinese that the only real solution was a complete revolution. Sun Yixian's political philosophy of Three Principals of the People, conceptualised in 1897, focussed strongly on "nationalism, democracy and people's livelihood"1 effectively encapsulating the sentiments of the majority of the population. By encouraging nationalistic and democratic ideals, Sun sought to overthrow the
Apartheid in South Africa.
Apartheid Apartheid was policy of racial segregation formerly followed in South Africa. The word apartheid means "separateness" in the Afrikaans language and it described the tight racial division between the governing white minority population and the non-white majority population. The National Party introduced apartheid as part of their campaign in the 1948 elections, and with the National Party victory, apartheid became the governing political policy for South Africa until the early 1990s. Although there is no longer a legal basis for apartheid, the social, economic, and political inequalities between white and black South Africans continue to exist. The apartheid laws classified people according to three major racial groups - white, Bantu, or black Africans, and coloured, or people of mixed descent. Later Asians, or Indians and Pakistanis were added as a fourth category. The laws determined the social and economical way of life for the citizens in South Africa: where members of each group could live, what jobs they could hold, and what type of education they could receive. Laws prohibited most social contact between races, authorised separate public facilities, and denied any representation of nonwhites in the national government. People who openly opposed apartheid were considered communists and the government passed strict security legislation, which in effect turned
The American Civil War
The American Civil War was the culmination of sectional tensions brought about by a number of regional differences. The primary disputes were with positions on slavery and states' rights. These issues spawned widespread economic, political, and social sectionalism which the statesmen of the time chose in large part to ignore. Rather than get into an all out political battle, the politicians of the day avoided the problems rather than addressing them outright, and possibly preventing the widespread blood letting that was the Civil War. Their ad hoc compromises and poorly thought out legislation merely bought time for the nation by treating its symptoms and not the disease. These blundering statesmen led the young nation down a road of destruction, not taking into account the negative impact that their short sighted actions would have on the future of America. Martin Van Buren followed Andrew Jackson, one of the most popular presidents in American history, into office in 1837 (Anonymous "Martin..." 1). Van Buren was a man of good character and a shrewd politician. However, he became the fall guy for all of Jackson's failures, including the debacle that was his economic plan. These circumstances that surrounded his presidency set off a chain reaction that resulted in the election of a succession of presidents who were neither strong or far sighted enough to hold the