One-party Dictatorship Research Articles

Lineages of Dissent: Popular and Artistic Resistance to Imperialism and Extraction on 'The Beautiful Island'

Lineages of Dissent: Popular and Artistic Resistance to Imperialism and Extraction on 'The Beautiful Island'

Political Change and Human Rights Policy in South Korea and Mongolia

This paper compares the shifts in human rights policy between South Korea and Mongolia based on the Five-Phase “Spiral” model, which explains how the introduction of international human rights norms in a repressive state can improve the human rights situation. According to the spiral model, continuous bilateral and multilateral network pressure, along with the mobilization and strengthening of domestic networks through transnational networks induce “regime change” and human rights policy change in the third phase, “Tactical Concession” and a transfer to the fourth phase, “Prescriptive Status”. South Korea and Mongolia transferred from a developmental dictatorship and socialist one-party dictatorship, respectively, into democratic regimes with outstanding changes in their human rights policies. Yet, when applying the spiral model, this study found a difference in the ‘transnational network pressure’ on each country, which also led to other differences in the ‘formation of the domestic actors’ and ‘sustained links to transnational networks’. As a result, the difference between the two countries which started with the change of human rights policy after the democratization and which is not mentioned in the spiral model, has meant that Mongolia still remains in the “Prescriptive Status” stage, whereas South Korea has moved on to the final phase, “Rule-consistent behavior.”

The Party and the Sage: Communist China's use of quasi-Confucian rationalizations for one-party dictatorship and imperial ambition

The current bloom of quasi-Confucian political thinking and writing in the People's Republic of China (PRC), encouraged by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and deployed both to discredit Western ideals of democratic pluralism and to rationalize continued one-party rule in China, has been a long time coming. This article examines the origins of this line of thinking, its development since its first appearance with the CCP's cultivation of Confucius studies in the mid-1980s, and the current parameters of this discourse as it has taken a growing role in Beijing's domestic political and emerging geopolitical narrative.

Organized Labour, Democracy and Good Governance in Nigeria, 1999-2007

This paper intends to investigate the changing role of labour from that of a union to a movement that has come to champion the course of democracy and sustain good governance in Nigeria. This new role has generated a lot of debate and controversy among labour activists, political class as well as the general public. The 1999 bourgeois constitution of Nigeria not only skewed political activities in favour of politicians but also assigned a narrow function to labour in a liberal democracy that emphasizes popular participation and negotiation of interests. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led by Obasanjo having demonstrated a penchant not brook opposition skillfully stifled the opposition through juicy appointments and award of fat contracts to some leading members of the opposition. Such a development was not just antithetical to democracy and good governance as its corollary but also tended to turn Nigeria into a one-party dictatorship. The creation of a myriad of weak and unviable political parties later was no more than a ploy to consolidate the PDP rulership of the country in an age where neither the Legislature nor the Judiciary has willingly risen to the responsibility of checking the excesses of the executive. This development has transformed labour from being a union concerned with the welfare of its membership to a movement poised to deepen and expand the content of democracy and good governance. The paper hopes to fill the gap in our knowledge of the enduring government-labour interface during the Obasanjo’s second era. It avers that labour has through its strikes and mass appeal, brought some influences to bear on government’s anti-people, pro-rich, and policies and practice considered obnoxious.

Chinese Intellectual Discourse on Democracy

Democracy is an important component of the Chinese political discourse since the concept was introduced from the West to China in the mid- 19th century.1 A democratic movement developed in China over the past hundred years. Pioneer reformers such as Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao advocated a constitutional monarchy patterned after the British model. The later thinkers, such as Hu Shih (1891–1962), Carsun Chang (1886–1969), and Chang Tung-sun (1886–1973), were ardent supporters of democracy They opposed both the one-party dictatorship of the Guomindang and the people’s democratic dictatorship of the Chinese Communist Party. In 1911, Dr. Sun Yat-sen established the Republic of China, putting an end to more than 3,000 years of political system ruled by dynasties. He tried, though unsuccessfully, to introduce the democratic system to China. The lack of democracy is a great disappointment of the Chinese intellectuals in the modern era.

The San-Min Doctrine and the early legislation of the Nanjing government

Shortly after the Nanjing Nationalist government was established, Hu Hanmin and others rejected the existing legal system and proposed instead the San-Min Doctrine legislative principles, which they called society oriented. These principles were derived from Sun Yat-sen’s San-Min Doctrine. A direct manifestation of these legislative principles was the Guomindang’s one-party dictatorship under the system of political tutelage. As the legal system developed during the early period of the Nanjing government, a number of laws were designed to restrain capital and equalize landownership. In his legislative principles, Hu Hanmin understood “obligations centered” to mean “society centered.” When his society-centered principle was applied in laws, the resulting legislation appeared authoritarian in that the state, the nation, and society had the first priority. Therefore, the nature of the political tutelage based on this legislation was closer to feudalism than to modern capitalism.

Fifty years of African Independence - the Dynamics of Political System Development -

The course of political system development in African nations during the past fifty years since independence was a process of the experimental introduction and the transition of a wide array of political systems ranged from a one-party dictatorship to a multi-party democratic system. This study aims to analyze the political dynamics of the developmental process and the background to the establishment of various political systems in Africa as it has been fifty years since independence. In spite of the perfunctory success the spread of a democratic political system in Africa which was caused by the international community"s call along with globalization has often been used as a legal means to justify the extension of the power of the ruling camp. Thus it needs much more time to establish and spread a genuine democratic system. Africa which had been marked by extreme poverty, famine, violence and ethnic conflicts and military coup has recorded above five percent of economic growth and established a democratic system step by step. It delivers a hopeful message for the future which can compensate the time of turmoil and many trials and errors over the fifty years since independence.

The Militia Ideology in Bangladesh

Bangladesh, a poor and small country in South Asia, was separated from Pakistan in 1971 following a nine-month long violent war. Replacing the religious basis of Pakistan state, Bangladesh movement was advanced by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his party Awami League on the basis of secularism, Bengali nationalism, democracy, and socialism. But soon Mujib's secularism was challenged by Islamist militias, Bengali nationalism by non-Bengali ethnic militias, and socialism by left-wing militias. Being puzzled and disturbed by many-sided attacks, Mujib declared a one-party dictatorship as a 'second revolution' to curb the biting forces and rebuild the nation, which ultimately culminated into his assassination in August 1975. The subsequent periods in Bangladesh history are marked with coups and counter coups, military dictatorships, political and civil assassinations as well as resistance movements. The Islamist militias again started fighting for establishing an Islamic rule in the country, ethnic militias for their rights of self-determination and preservation of identity, and left-wing militias for a revolutionary transformation of the society. Encountering these Islamist, ethnic and left-wing militias, Bangladesh's democracy is as if moving one step forward and two steps back. This paper traces various militia ideologies in Bangladesh to understand the issues concerning rebellion and resistance.

Power and Pressure: African Media and the Extractive Sector

Journalism in Africa has come far in recent decades. The decline of one-party dictatorships, which traditionally kept a grip on the press, has brought about rapid changes. (1) The number of media outlets has expanded and in many countries, such as South Africa and Nigeria, the press is now known for being lively and outspoken. The old days in which the government controlled the one broadcaster, strictly licensed just a few newspapers and kept a tight grip on newsprint allocation are gone in most countries. (2) From having a few dozen media outlets at the end of the colonial period, Africa now has hundreds. Across the continent, small newspapers and radio stations have sprung up, many with just a few thousand listeners and tiny staffs. The rapid expansion of new technology also bodes well for journalistic freedom. Online publications also allow wider participation and the growth of citizen journalism, which can boost governance and promote transparency. A well-functioning media in Africa is a critical development need. African governments face serious policy challenges, and many government institutions do not function effectively. High-quality journalism, which is necessary to highlight the problems that need solving, digs deep and explains the topics of the day in clear language. Despite these needs, and despite the recent changes described above, there are grave deficiencies in the quality of African journalism. (3) Critiques of the portrayal of Africa by the Western mainstream media include its focus on crisis, disaster, war, famine and its oversimplification of social organization and ethnicity. (4) Conversely, the local African press remains a disappointment for many people on the continent. Not only would Africans like to see well-written and detailed coverage by Africans of the news that affects their lives, but they want the media to cover the important topics that will affect their country's economic and political development. With some notable exceptions, the quality of daily journalism is not as good as it should be, and there is a shortage of detailed investigative reporting on key topics. As a result, many of the African urban elites rely on foreign media such as the BBC or CNN for their daily news diet. There are a number of exceptions to this gloomy picture and the good news is that change can and does happen quickly in many developing countries. Shifts in political regimes, media ownership, investment in education, economic growth and the introduction of new technology have all contributed to rapid improvement in countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan and South Africa. Today, in many African countries, there are a handful of quality dailies and broadcasters adhering to high standards, employing the best reporters and editors they can find and paying above-average salaries. It is also important to recognize that many of the problems endemic to African media are shared by journalists all over the world in both developing and developed countries. Many of the criticisms made about newspapers and television reporting in Africa can be made about media in other parts of the world. One must also remember that what African journalists are being asked to do (i.e. cover in great detail all kinds of technical topics related to economic development) is not a kind of journalism seen frequently in the Western press either. An in-depth investigative story on mining or oil companies appears only rarely in places like the New York Times or Financial Times. When these types of articles do appear, it is often because the journalist was helped by government investigators or tipped off by short stories that appeared in the local press. This article argues that one of the reasons for the poor performance of African journalism is the difficult conditions under which African journalists work. This has naturally affected their reporting. Underpaid, poorly trained and working under both political and commercial pressures, many African journalists suffer from the devaluing of their profession, which has left them vulnerable and isolated. …

The Magic Wand in Making Constitutions Endure in Africa: Anything (Lessons) to Learn from East Africa?

AbstractMost African countries got their flag independence in the 1960s. Soon thereafter, one after the other, the new states began falling into the hands of new military strongmen. Those lucky fell under one-party dictatorships. Democracy and rule of law became alien to the continent. Using the case study of East Africa, this paper asks what should be done to improve the situation in the continent. Many in the continent thought that the introduction of a multiparty political system in the 1990s would improve the situation. It did not happen. The same military juntas had traded military fatigues with designer suits and got themselves “elected” into the same offices they got in by force in the first place. Constitutions in Africa are not worth the paper they are written on. They are amended just like any other inferior law. This paper attempts to propose what could be done to make constitutions in Africa endure time and become more stable. It is being proposed that Africa needs to respect the main tenets of constitutionalism. These are rule of law, independence of judiciary and clear separation of powers in the state. These principles should be complemented by development of a culture of peace, respect for fundamental rights and freedoms, equal access of all citizens to the natural wealth and resources of the country, and limited leadership. As a model for constitutionalism, the East African region has nothing to offer to the continent.

The End of the Cold War and the Causes of Soviet Collapse by Nick s> Bisley Ending the Cold War: Interpretations, Causation, and the Study of International Relations by Richard K. s> Herrmann Richard N. Lebow (review)

REVIEWS 779 reiterate their approach which centres on the historical periodization of opposition duringthe variousstagesof the Communist system'sdevelopment. Each period in their view -resistance to the establishmentof Communist rule, social protest and political non-conformismin the early post-totalitarian period, human rights and 'Second Society' dissidence during state socialist stagnation and the formation of politicized counter-elites during Communism 's collapse had core features as well as a mixture of common systemicand nationally differentiatedtraits.They argue that the explanatory value of social movement theory is not just restrictedto Poland's case and the collapse of Communism elsewhere.For them it can be read much further back and is relevantbloc-wide 'in the explanationof dissidenceand opposition under conditions of authoritarianrule' (p. 26I). Overall, the volume works quite well as a middle level type of study. It is moderately successfulin identifyingand delimiting the subjectin the light of the wide range of divergentbloc wide national experiences. This symposium fallsbetween many theoreticaland empiricalstoolsbut it is partiallysuccessful in attemptingto pioneer a synthesisof an importanttopic. Department ofPolitics GEORGE SANFORD University ofBristol Bisley, Nick. 7he Endof theColdWarandtheCauses of SovietCollapse. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstokeand New York, 2004. viii + 209 pp. Appendix. Notes. Bibliography.Index. ?45.00. Herrmann, Richard K. and Lebow, Richard N. (eds). Endingthe ColdWar: Interpretations, Causation, andtheStudy ofInternational Relations. New Visions in Security. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstokeand New York, 2004. viii + 248 pp. Notes. Indexes. ?5?.??. CONTRARY to what you might think from the titles of these two books, Nick Bisley'sis the one more concerned with InternationalRelations theory. Bisley attemptsto show the validity of historicalsociology in understandingthe end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet state. He extends the ideas of Michael Mann and Theda Skocpol to place particularstresson the changing nature of state power over time. As he says, most commentators were too ready to accept the statusquo during the Cold War and failed to appreciate the extent of change in the Soviet Union before its final collapsein December I99I. Bisley also makes the case for the inter-relationshipbetween the domestic and international.In particular,Bisley argues that the Cold War helped legitimize the Soviet state. The conflict with the West justified the one-party dictatorship,the militarizationof Soviet society, and the deprivationssuffered by the Soviet people. As Gorbachev introduced new political thinking in foreign policy and began to abandon the Cold War, the Soviet state was simultaneouslyde-legitimized.Thus, the decline of the Soviet Union did not lead to the end of the Cold War, as many suggest the two processeswere, in fact, too inextricablyinterlinkedfor that. The general argumentpresented here is convincing, and Nick Bisleyis rightto suggestthat commentatorshave paid too little attention to the impact of the internationalon the nature of 780 SEER, 84, 4, 2006 the Soviet state. The relative importance of the domestic and international, however, remains rather elusive in this account. Perhaps it is sufficient to acknowledge the inter-relationshipand leave it at that. Inevitably,in a book of this kind, the authoruses broad brushstrokesin his coverage of both the Soviet Union and the Cold War. On occasion, however, I felt this went a little too far. For example, in attempting to argue that the Soviet Union was a highly militarized society (with which I would not disagree ), Bisley writes that the country was at war for forty-nine out of the seventy-fouryears of its existence (p.62). But in citing the Civil War, World War II, the Cold War and Afghanistan,one was left wondering whether the US (or any other Western state, for that matter)had a record over a similar period that was much better. I also felt that his broader claims for historical sociology might have been strongerwithin a more comparative framework. Not only would the US make an interesting case study, but I was also left wondering if Communist China would support or undermine the central arguments here. In the period of detente in the I970s, China replaced the United States as Moscow's enemy number one. China allied itself with the US, and from 1978 proved that a Marxist-Leniniststate could reform itself sufficientlyto become the fastestgrowing economy in the world. Communist China survivedthe end of the Cold War well enough...

The "Mystery" of the Soviet Collapse

As we approach the fifteenth anniversary of the demise of the Soviet Union, its sudden collapse remains mysterious. At the time, virtually no Western experts, Soviet or foreign officials, or even Soviet reformers foresaw the impending collapse of the system of one-party dictatorship, state ownership of the economy, and Kremlin control over its domestic and East European empires. Structuralism alone does not provide a satisfactory account of the chain of events. One must also consider the central role of intentionalism—that is, individuals inspired by ideas, which they impart to others—in the inception and course of the change. One such individual was the "godfather of glasnost" Aleksandr Yakovlev.

The Problem of Change and Reorganisation of the One-Party Dictatorship in Congo

Democratisation, a Buzzword Since the beginning of the 90s has been the buzzword for donors as well as agencies such as the IMF and the World Bank. However, we have also seen the come to a stop in several cases toppled by old leaders coming back to power, either through election or by armed force. This has been the case in The Congo (Brazzaville) in 1997.2 Since October 15,1997, Denis Sassou-Nguesso, the President of the former socialist one-party state has been back in power. He won the civil war with help from France and Angola,3 and perhaps also from other African leaders. It seems as if the democratisation process in the Congo has come to an end. The process of political and economic reorganisation of the society that started with the new constitution of 1991 has been interrupted. I assume, however, that the process of democratisation is not so easy to stop and that Sassou-Nguesso cannot return to the way he ruled Congo during the 1980s. Concurrently, the Central Africa region is undergoing a tremendous change and the political landscape is being transformed. South Africa is becoming more and more influential, the traditional influence from the West is changing. The position of the USA and France is not clear, and it is difficult to judge whether their influence is as strong as it used to be. Laurent Desiree Kabila in DRCongo has for instance sought support from states like China and Libya. But the influence from the different transnational oil-companies is indisputable. In this paper, I intend to discuss the reorganisation of Congolese society that started in 1991 with the transitional government. Congo managed, in 1991, to engage in a National Conference without bloodshed, and then, in 1992, a transitional government was launched to prepare for democratic elections. I shall

Heinrich Brüning's Recollections of Monarchism: The Birth of a Red Herring

Scholars have long debated whether Heinrich Bruning was the “last democratic chancellor” of the Weimar Republic or the trailblazer of dictatorship, and this debate intensified when his memoirs were published a few months after his death in 1970. He had already written a first draft in 1934–35 but decided after the end of the Second World War never to publish memoirs until they “serve a purpose for our fatherland and the public seems receptive,” conditions that he never saw fulfilled during his lifetime. Bruning’s critics and defenders alike were nonplussed when his revised memoirs finally appeared and explained that he had sought as chancellor to promote consensus in favor of a constitutional amendment to replace the elected president with a hereditary monarch. Depicting himself as a staunch conservative in the spirit of Bismarck, Bruning termed the restoration of monarchy the “crux (Angelpunkt) of my whole policy” as chancellor. According to this version of history, he had discussed a restoration with General Kurt von Schleicher at their first meeting in the spring of 1929 and with Hitler in October 1930; thereafter he employed secret intermediaries to forge an alliance with the second most powerful Nazi leader, Gregor Strasser. He intended to make way for a Nazi chancellor at some point in the year 1932 in a coalition government dedicated to restoring monarchy, and he even secured the acquiescence of leading Social Democrats for this plan as the only alternative to a one-party Nazi dictatorship. They were thwarted, the memoirist concluded, by President Paul von Hindenburg’s legitimist devotion to the hopelessly unpopular ex-kaiser (still alive in Holland) and by hypocrites on the Right who placed partisan advantage above monarchist principle. Careful readers soon questioned the reliability of this account for several reasons. First, the author never identifies the potential monarch, glossing over

Constitutional Discourse and the Development of Structures for Sustainable Development in Africa

At independence, Africans believed that they would be able to reconstruct the non-democratic state captured from the colonialists and develop more effective governance structures. The hope was that proper constitution making would provide the African people with the appropriate foundation to build transparent, accountable, and participatory governance structures. Unfortunately, the constitutional rules adopted at independence were weak, inefficient, and not particularly viable. In addition to the fact that they were easily subverted by interest groups seeking ways to enrich themselves at the expense of the rest of the people, they allowed the new leaders to turn governmental structures into instruments of plunder to generate benefits for themselves. Like their colonial counterparts the neo-colonial governance structures were exploitative, undemocratic, and not designed to maximize wealth creation or popular participation. Instead of engaging their populations in proper constitution making in the post-independence period to reconstruct the neo-colonial state and design more effective laws and institutions, the new African leaders undertook opportunistic institutional reforms that significantly enhanced their ability to monopolize political power and the allocation of resources. What emerged were one-party political dictatorships that endangered peaceful coexistence and had a devastating effect on the creation of wealth, and subsequently on the alleviation of poverty. By the mid-1970s, government in many African countries had degenerated into a corrupt, patrimonial system in which civil servants regularly sold access to lucrative monopoly positions created by state regulations. As a result of changes that took place in the global political economy in the late 1980s. Africans now have another opportunity to engage in state reconstruction to provide themselves with more effective governance structures and economic systems that enhance the ability of entrepreneurs to create wealth. As the experiences of Benin and South Africa indicate, a bottom-up approach to constitution making that enfranchises the people and provides them with the facilities to participate effectively in the process should allow Africans to provide themselves with institutional arrangements that enhance peaceful coexistence and maximize the participation of entrepreneurs in wealth creation.

The 1995 Democratic Constitution of Malawi

On 17 May, 1995, the Malawi National Assembly adopted a democratic constitution. In terms of Malawi’s post-colonial history, the adoption of the constitution was an unprecedented event. For a period of 30 years, Malawi had been subjected to a one-party dictatorship led by Dr Hastings Banda. Supported over the years by the West because of its anti-communist rhetoric, the Banda regime found itself abandoned with the ending of the Cold War and the collapse of apartheid in South Africa. Pressure from internal and external groups led to a referendum on the oneparty state in June 1993 which the Banda regime lost and to the first multi-party elections in May 1994 which the regime also lost. A day before the 1994 elections, the Malawi National Assembly adopted a Provisional Constitution for a period of 12 months. Pursuant to section 212 of the Provisional Constitution, the National Constitutional Conference was held in February 1995 for the purpose of making recommendations to the National Assembly on a permanent constitution. Rather than replace or repeal the Provisional Constitution, the National Assembly decided in April 1995 to make modest amendments to it in order to address some of the more blatant deficiencies that were identified at the Constitutional Conference. During the coming years, the Law Commission will make a detailed study of the entire document, make recommendations to the Minister of Justice and, it is hoped, address some of the obvious drafting oversights.

Reason and unreason in Civil Defense

The Imaginary War is an interesting, and sometimes illuminating, study of one of the odd phenomena of the Cold War, or of what may be called the Second Red Scare in American history, involving government policy, public opinion, and popular sentiments. The Second Red Scare differed from the First Red Scare, since while during the latter (approximately 1919 1923) the national preoccupation was principally addressed to internal Communist and Communistic dangers, during the 1950s the main dangers to the Republic were seen as consisting of the presence of a foreign su? perpower, the Soviet Union (even as many people found it politic to em? phasize the danger of domestic Communists too). We ought to admit (and perhaps Guy Oakes may not agree with the validity of such a recognition) that to some extent these preoccupations were warranted. He is, for instance, extremely critical of George Kennan, as if Kennan had been an architect of the Cold War?whereas Kennan's famous "X" article in 1947 was but the last one of his series of warnings about the Soviet Union, whereafter Kennan, more than often, criticized the very same exaggerations of Cold War policies and propaganda with which Oakes is concerned. And the Soviet Union was a Superpower, sus? picious of and often hostile to the United States, a one-party dictatorship and, since 1949, a possessor of nuclear weapons and of the instruments of their eventual delivery. At the same time the ambitions and the purposes attributed to the Russian leaders?and, consequently, the prospects of a Russian nuclear attack on the United States?were exaggerated, and un? realistic. There are two main reasons for such a statement, of which Guy Oakes is mainly concerned with the second. The first is that there is (and, perhaps more significantly, there was at the time) no evidence that the leaders of the Soviet Union (Stalin included?he died in 1953) ever wished, or contemplated, a nuclear Third World War with the United States. Mod? est they were not, but cautious they were, more than often, aggressively

Tiananmen and Beyond: After the Massacre

Tiananmen and BeyondAfter the Massacre Wuer Kaixi (bio) Over the past few decades, and especially in the ten years since 1979, the Chinese people have been engaged in a continuous struggle for democracy and freedom. The case of Wei Jingsheng, who is still serving a 15-year sentence in solitary confinement for his activities during the Democracy Wall period, is well known. But there have also been many anonymous heroes who have made tremendous sacrifices, including the loss of their lives. It is their efforts that paved the way for the massive student demonstrations and the prodemocracy movement that erupted in 1989. For a country like China, with a population of more than a billion people and a five-thousand-year history of feudalistic culture, it is a very difficult thing to attain democracy. But finally in 1989 we made a great step forward. Many of you may wonder how I can say that this has been a great achievement, since the prodemocracy movement was suppressed and so [End Page 6] many people have died. But I would say that, yes, it has indeed been a great victory. For the first time in many thousands of years the Chinese people came forward and faced their government directly; they openly called for the resignation of government leaders, for an end to corruption, for the right to exercise all sorts of freedoms, and for the safeguarding of their constitution. This alone must be regarded as a great victory. Of course, the price paid for this victory was also very great. In the course of the prodemocracy movement, many of my fellow students, friends and comrades, along with doctors, nurses, and men and women from all walks of life, were killed in Tiananmen Square and on Changan Avenue in Beijing. This came as a great shock to people all over the world, and they have risen with one voice to condemn the Chinese government. But it is even more important to understand what my countrymen died for, and to carry forward the tasks that they were unable to complete. What were they demanding? It was very simple: freedom, democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. And a true republic. In name, China is called a "People's Republic," but even after the revolution initiated by Sun Yatsen we have continued to be governed by a series of dynasties. These feudal, imperial rulers have denied the Chinese people their natural and fundamental human rights and freedoms. So the attempt to establish a true and genuine republic is an important aspect of our struggle. The political system in China has always been a one-party dictatorship or rule by a very small clique. Many people in Beijing openly said that what we have in China is total lawlessness—whatever Deng Xiaoping says is the law. This is a great insult to the people of China, to the Chinese constitution, and to the concepts of democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. In fact, human rights and freedom have never been respected in China. The people have never been free to express their aspirations or to make any kind of political choice. But now, after the massacre, they don't even have the right to ask for these things. So to achieve the goals that my compatriots and I are seeking will require a long period of time and great efforts. In this struggle we need the support of all the peoples of the world. Thus we are gratified that, in the wake of the massacre, countries like France, the United States, Canada, Australia, and others have extended tremendous moral and other support to the prodemocratic movement. They have also strongly condemned the Chinese government and imposed economic sanctions against it. Nonetheless, the Chinese government not only has failed to put an end to its atrocities but has intensified its dictatorial rule. More than 120,000 people have already been either openly or secretly arrested, and at least one hundred have been executed. This represents an attempt to destroy, in one stroke, the human fabric of the prodemocracy movement in China. [End Page 7] Of the 120,000 arrested, most were intellectuals or...

On One-Party Dictatorship (2 February 1938)

Question One: Is the current political system in the Soviet Union a one-party dictatorship?

The Harassed Exile: General Cipriano Castro, 1908–1924

General Cipriano Castro came to power in Venezuela in 1899. During his nine year regime he destroyed all internal political opposition, imposed a tight, one-party dictatorship, and undermined the national economy by creating federal monopolies, implementing arbitrary trade policies, and antagonizing foreign nations. His relations with outside powers were poor in particular. Not only did General Castro’s refusal—or inability—to pay international debts result in the December 1902 naval blockade of Venezuela by Great Britain, Germany, and Italy, but his undiplomatic treatment of foreign representatives, harassment of foreign companies, and policy of trade warfare prompted the severance of official ties with Colombia (1901), France (1906), the United States (1908), and the Netherlands (1908) and strained relations with Great Britain and Italy. In fact, in late 1908 the Dutch fleet began to conduct a belligerent naval demonstration against the Venezuelan coast and the United States was debating, among stronger measures, whether or not to boycott Venezuelan coffee and cacao. Clearly most Venezuelans and most foreigners favored General Castro’s removal from office. Their wishes were fulfilled in late 1908 when the dictator’s health—he had been bordering on death for four years due to a kidney ailment—again collapsed and he opted for surgery in Germany. First Vice President Juan Vicente Gómez was named Acting Chief Executive until General Castro returned from Europe.