Country Outline

Country		BRITAIN	The European Union	SOVIET UNION	RUSSIA	CHINA
CONSTITUTION		Non-written: Acts of Parliament and tradition Legitimacy: Gradual evolution of Absolute Monarchy into Constitutional Monarchy	a bunch of stupid treaties named after cities in Europe Legitimacy: Gradual evolution and expansion Constitution?	Constitutions: 1918, 1924, 1936, and 1977 Legitimacy: Revolution 1917 Marxism-Leninism	Yeltsin 1993 Legitimacy: Designed to guarantee citizen's civil rights through consent of the governed, referendum	The Common Program 1949 Constitutions: 1954, 1975, 1978, and 1982 Legitimacy: Revolution 1949 Marxism-Leninism-Maoism
SYSTEM		Structure: Unitary (devolution) Parliamentary Structure: Bicameral Function: Unicameral	Structure: Confederal Presidential/ Parliamentary Structure: Bicameral Function: Unicameral	Structure: Federal Function: Unitary Authoritarian One-party State	Structure: Federal Function: Unitary (President oversees Regional Representatives) Presidential/ Parliamentary Structure: Bicameral Function: Unicameral	Unitary Authoritarian One-party State
EXECUTIVE	STATE	Monarch Structure: Appoints PM, calls elections Function: Symbol of the Nation, Unity of the Commonwealth, Head of the Anglican Church		Structure: President Function: General-Secretary of the CPSU	President 2 four-year terms Direct vote with Majority, 2 rounds unless 51% Nominates PM, Chairs Cabinet Dissolves Parliament Chief policymaker Foreign Policy Rule by decree during declared state of emergency Veto power Nominates heads of bureaucracy, judges	Structure: President Function: Chairman/General-Secretary of the CCP
EXECUTIVE	GOVERNMENT	Prime Minister serves at discretion of majority party in Commons Dominant policy-maker (more powerful than the House of Commons?) Cabinet (Political, not technical)		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
LEGISLATURE	UPPER	House of Lords 700 members (600 Life, 75 Hereditary, 25 Bishops) Symbolic power Lords may participate in Cabinet Scrutinizes, delays legislation Final Court of Appeal		Structure: Supreme Soviet (representation from regional and local soviets) Function: General-Secretary Politburo Central Committee of CPSU	Federation Council 178 members 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) Function: General-Secretary Standing Committee of the Politburo Central Committee of CCP
LEGISLATURE	LOWER	House of Commons 659 members term at discretion of Prime Minister 5 year maximum FPTP plurality elections from party list; no residence requirement Sovereign policy-making power Vote of No Confidence			Duma 450 members term at discretion of Prime Minister, President 5 year maximum 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
JUDICIAL		House of Lords Common Law Cannot override acts of Parliament Conservative ex-post facto privilege of Prime Minister		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
BUREAUCRACY		Examinations and Elite Educational Institutions Specialized Insulated from politics resist policy initiatives QUANGOs		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
POLITICAL PARTIES		Labour Conservative Liberal Democratic Alliance		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
OTHER INTEREST GROUPS		consociational TUC CBI		intelligensia	oligarchs siloviki nomenklatura military disorganized pluralist organizations	PLA CAC MAC Falun Gong Student Democracy Movement rising wealthy class (Three Represents)
CURRENT ISSUES
IMPORTANT PERSONALITIES		Tony Blair Howard Kennedy Livingstone			Vladimir Putin	Jiang Zemin Hu Jintao