Supreme Leadership Research Articles

Supreme Leadership Under Crises: Effects of Deity-Like Leadership

Supreme Leadership Under Crises: Effects of Deity-Like Leadership

Ion Antonescu and the Church

This study refers to the attitude of Ion Antonescu towards the Romanian Orthodox Church. The documentary sources used for this study which, as far as I am aware, is the first of its kind, are drawn from the transcripts of the governmental meetings, held mostly during September 1940 – April 1941, i.e. from the moment Ion Antonescu took over the supreme leadership of the and until he decided to focus primarily on military preparations. This study shows that Ion Antonescu considered that the Orthodox Church should play the role of a kind of special ministry of the state, in charge of facilitating control over the population; in Antonescu`s vision, the state was to be the main beneficiary of such an arrangement, but it was willing to share those benefits with the church. For Ion Antonescu, this „philosophy” had two main theses–consequences. The first was that the Romanian state needed the Orthodox Church and, therefore, had to support its existence by both political and material means, and the second was that the priesthood, in its activity, had to meet minimum „ethical–moral standards” that would allow it to fulfill its role as an instrument of ideological control over the population.

Popular Mobilization Forces (Quwwat al-Hashd ash-Shaabi) as a Factor Influencing Security and Political Situation in Iraq after 2014

Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, Quwwat al-Hashd ash-Shaabi) were critically important for the restoration of the Iraqi state sovereignty over the vast territories to the west and north of Baghdad occupied by the radical Islamic State group. Having provided its mighty support to the demoralized armed forces in 2014, the PMF became a kind of “imperium in imperio” that has even its intelligence and by itself represents a new challenge to the federal center. The key figures of the de facto Shia PMF having strong ties with Iran waged warfare against American occupation forces; the fact that could not but worry Washington. The degree of this concern was illustrated by the American decision to eliminate the PMF most symbolic figure Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis along with Iranian general Suleimani on the territory of Iraq, formally a sovereign state. The Iraqi government which is skeptical towards the perspective of making Iraq an Iranian satellite, has drafted a plan to integrate the Shia PMF forces into the armed forces, at the same time transforming its military structures into political organizations. The government's natural ally in these efforts is the supreme leadership of Iraqi Shias that is also skeptical about the wilayat al-faqih theocratic doctrine of Iran, unlike the majority of Iranian bred historical leaders of PMF.

An Exploratory Study on the Perceived Competencies Needed by Emergency Preparedness Officials in Government

This study aims to explore the required competencies of emergency preparedness officials in government when performing non-military duties for emergency preparedness, based on the perception of retired military officers selected by the Korean Ministry of the Interior and Safety. Through the behavioral event interview (BEI) with high-performing government officials working on emergency preparedness, the list of competencies for non-military duties was developed and compared with those required for professional soldiers’ military duties for emergency preparedness. With the competencies included in the military selection test by the Korean Institute for Defense Analyses as a control group, the difference in competencies was tested between the two professions. Among a total of 27 competencies, it is found that 5 common competencies (including self-image management) and 2 job competencies (including utilization of supreme leadership and PR ability) are the unique competencies among government officials for emergency preparedness.

Mass Political Culture and the “National Discussion” of the Stalin Constitution in the Concept of Olga Velikanova

This review analyses a monograph by O. Velikanova, an American historian of Russian descent. The work focuses on the interaction of the Bolshevik authorities with the USSR’s population during the most large-scale political campaign of the early Soviet era, the “national discussion” of the draft version of the Stalin Constitution in the second half of 1936. Special attention is paid to the author’s method with various sources: from official legislation to classified document management, including several previously unpublished documents. The author aims to theoretically substantiate the existence of the phenomenon of mass political culture in the Soviet reality of the 1930s at the individual and group levels. Additionally, the author provides arguments illustrating the need to study the social perception of power practices during the mobilisation campaign by the civilian population and confirms the effectiveness of the results. Attention should be paid to the author’s justification of the point of view about the early date (1933) of the start of the constitutional reform in the USSR. The author proves the thesis about the large-scale social conditions that arose as a result of the extreme events of the early 1930s. Velikanova explains the goals of the reform of the USSR constitution in the context of domestic and international realities of the mid‑1930s and the relations of the supreme leadership of the Soviet Union with regional functionaries and mass groups of the population. The author’s attention focuses on the causes and forms of perception of the campaign and the discourses in relation to the draft version of the Stalin Constitution. Velikanova analyses and explains both loyalist (conformist) and liberal (both conformist and protest) discourses, and the insufficiently studied positions of the part of the population which supported the reinforcement of the repressive antidemocratic policy of the authorities, concluding that the spread and influence of protective tendencies in society were sufficiently strong. The reviewer appreciates the author’s contribution in the form of a detailed consideration of mass sources, although the method of working with them could be a subject for discussion. Finally, it is emphasised that, beyond any doubt, the author’s position and conclusions are valuable for further interdisciplinary studies of the nature and evolution of Stalinism in the USSR.

Developing Water Leaders as Catalysts for Change: The Nebraska Water Leaders Academy

AbstractManaging water resources is increasingly complex and dynamic. Sustaining freshwater ecosystem services in the face of increasing challenges and emerging threats is a supreme leadership challenge. Leadership development program designers should look to social science theories and methods to prepare leaders to catalyze the change necessary to meet future challenges. This paper provides evidence that a new generation of water leaders is needed; and correspondingly, there is a need for new leadership development programs. The Nebraska Water Leaders Academy and its evaluation is presented as a case study of a successful program training leaders in social science‐based skills in order to produce catalysts of change. The Academy is theoretically grounded in transformational leadership, champions of innovation, civic capacity, and entrepreneurial leadership. The Academy employs a process‐based curriculum with developmental experiences that includes key components of assessment, challenge, and support. Formative assessment provides constructive feedback from participants and guides the development of future sessions and curriculum. Summative assessment is used to gauge participants’ leadership knowledge, skills, and behaviors, and evaluate the instructional methods used in the Academy. Results of pre‐ and post‐Academy assessments of participants from both the participants’ and raters’ perspectives indicate statistically significant increases in transformational leadership behaviors, champion of innovation behaviors, civic capacity, entrepreneurial leadership behavior, awareness of Nebraska water issues, and engagement with Nebraska water issues.

Мобілізаційна підготовка оборонно-промислового комплексу: час нових підходів

Створення й утримання необхідних мобілізаційних потужностей для нарощування виробництва озброєння, військової техніки, матеріально-технічних засобів, виконання ремонтів, надання послуг в особливий період є одним з основних напрямів діяльності держави, її вищого керівництва і керівництва центральних та інших органів виконавчої влади. Перегляд та комплексне оновлення нормативно-правової бази мобілізаційної підготовки та мобілізації в Україні є запорукою підвищення ефективності мобілізаційної підготовки національної економіки України та оборонно-промислового комплексу як її складової.

ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SOVIET ADMINISTRATION IN THE CARPATHIAN REGION THROUGH THE USE OF THE OPEN FORMS OF PUNISHMENT (1944 – 1954)

Summary. The publication’s purpose. The purpose of this article is to reveal the peculiarities of the use of the public forms of the punishment and the intimidation (open trials and executions, exposing of the victim bodies to the general survey, the rebel graves destruction) of the nationalists and local residents who supported the Ukrainian liberation movement in the Carpathian region (1945 – 1954) by the Soviet repressive and punitive bodies. The research methodology is based on the principles of historicism, systematic, scientific approaches, verification, the author’s objectivity, as well as the use of general scientific methods (analysis, synthesis, generalization) and special-historical (historical-genetic, historical-typological, historical-system) methods. The scientific novelty consists in the fact that for the first time on the basis of the unknown and less-known archival documents, the forms of conducting the open trial processes and the executions, exposing of the victim bodies to the general review, and the destruction of the rebel graves have been considered comprehensively. Conclusions. Consequently, the Stalin’s regime used the most brutal measures to overcome the opposition to its policy. The terror against the liberation movement and the local population was encouraged by the supreme leadership of the state. One of the forms of the establishment of the Soviet administration and the struggle against the Ukrainian liberation movement was the policy of intimidating members of the OUN and the UPA and the local population: the open trials and the executions, the exposition of the victims’ bodies to the public, and destroying the rebellious graves. A special importance of the Soviet administration was give to the open trials of the OUN members and the UPA members and the executions aimed at discrediting the activities of the OUN, to form a negative attitude towards the nationalists. However, neither the public executions nor other force and propaganda forms were able to deprive the nationalists of the support and the population assistance, to keep them in fear, as the regime sought for, but it did not contribute to the formation of the pro-Soviet mood. The perspectives of the research is the studythe peculiarities of conducting the open court trials in Volyn region.

ВДОСКОНАЛЕННЯ УПРАВЛІННЯ ЯКІСТЮ ПРОДУКЦІЇ ВИСОКОТЕХНОЛОГІЧНИХ ПІДПРИЄМСТВ

The center of economic policy at the present stage is the task of comprehensive upgrading of the technical level and quality of products, which should implement the latest achievements of scientific thought, to satisfy the highest techno-economic, aesthetic and other requirements of consumers. Improving the quality of domestic products in a market economy is one of the components of the mechanism of accelerating the socio-economic development of society, requires the strengthening of the effectiveness of state standards to its technical level. The mechanism of product quality management is considered one of the elements of the general economic mechanism of the enterprise. With this in mind, quality policy is an element of overall policy and is endorsed by senior management. It represents the general intentions and direction of the enterprise to the quality, formally formulated by the supreme leadership. In other words, quality policy is a guideline for the general direction of the enterprise's activities in quality management of products. Quality policy is aimed at choosing the areas of work on product quality management, goals and the choice of real means for their achievement, which will allow the production of high quality products. The main focus of quality policy should be to maximize the use of all internal reserves to achieve a high level of product quality, as well as to find solutions that would reduce costs without compromising quality. The mechanism of product quality management is a set of methods and techniques of influence from the management of the company to its employees in order to effectively direct their actions and use of potential properties to quality work. Product quality management includes those aspects of management functions that define goals and responsibilities in the field of quality. Therefore, quality management functions are used for quality management, quality assurance, quality control, training and motivation of employees in the field of quality. All these functions are interlinked in the form of loops of quality and collectively represent a process of quality management within the entire enterprise.

GREGORY YAKHIMOVICH – FAMOUS UKRAINIAN PUBLIC AND POLITICAL FIGURE: MILESTONES OF LIFE AND ROLE IN THE NATIONAL REVIVAL IN GALICIA IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

The article analyzes the social and political activities of Gregory Yakhimovich – famous Ukrainian public and political figure in the context of national revival in Galicia in the first half of the nineteenth century. Characterized the life and career of G. Yakhimovich. Reveals the background and consequences of the national revival in Galicia in the first half of the nineteenth century. Considerable attention was paid to the analysis of the influence of Gregory Yakhimovich on the national revival in Galicia in the period under study. It is noted that G. Yakhimovich played an important role in the revival of the national consciousness of Ukrainian Galicia, and during the revolution and after it played, as noted above, G. Yakhimovich, because in the second half of the nineteenth century. the restoration of the struggle for the political and cultural rights of all of Ukraine began, and thus the preconditions for the revival of the national statehood of 1917–1920 were formed. Since the formation of the Main Russian Council and until the last days of his life, G. Yakhimovich was a spiritual and political leader of the Ukrainians of Galicia. He actively defended the rights of the Ukrainian language, negotiated with the emperor and the supreme leadership of the state regarding the protection of the national interests of Ukrainians, sponsored the training of talented Ukrainian youth, etc. In addition to socio-political, church, administrative and scientific activities, G. Yakhimovich also engaged in other affairs, in which he manifested himself as a person with a significant amount of talent. Among other things, he designed a grass mowing machine and developed a spray plan on the Xiang River. For his outstanding achievements in the Austrian Empire, he was awarded the noble title of the Baron and the Order of the Commander's Cross of Leopold (at that time, the highest state award). Since he was the son of the Ukrainian peasants, this state title demanded a great deal of respect for this person and recognition from the side of society and the state. In addition to socio-political, church, administrative and scientific activities, G. Yakhimovich also engaged in other affairs, in which he manifested himself as a person with a significant amount of talent. Among other things, he designed a grass mowing machine and developed a spray plan on the Xiang River. For his outstanding achievements in the Austrian Empire, he was awarded the noble title of the Baron and the Order of the Commander's Cross of Leopold (at that time, the highest state award).Since he was the son of the Ukrainian peasants, this state title demanded a great deal of respect for this person and recognition from the side of society and the state. It is shown that G. Yahimovich also played an important role in shaping the political consciousness of the Galician Ukrainians. His work as a clergyman, scholar, social-political and at the head of the President of the Russian Parliament laid the spiritual basis for the struggle for the revival of the Ukrainian state in the early twentieth century and gave a new generation of Ukrainian political leaders belief in the rightness of their state claims. The current political situation in Ukraine boosts interest in the political views of G. Yakhimovich, which should facilitate the unification of the Ukrainian nation for the purpose of preservation of national statehood. The intellectual legacy of G. Yakhimovich occupies a prominent place in the history of the Ukrainian people. Historical and legal study of his interesting political views is a major contribution to modern processes of state-building in Ukraine.

LEADERSHIP IN ISLAMIC EDUCATION: STUDY OF THEMATIC AL-QUR'AN AND AL-HADIST

<p>The term leadership in Islam is associated with “the highest leadership for Muslims”, known as the Caliph, Imam, Imaratul and so forth. It means the supreme leadership for Muslims in religion and world affairs. The popular definition of the Caliphate is the supreme leader of the world in matters of religion replacing the Prophet Muhammad SAW. It is also called “Replacing the prophetic assignment to maintain and manage world affairs”. Of the supreme leader, and later expanded to all aspects of human life, to the smallest groups, families and individuals. In this case, of course we will not discuss the issue of caliphate, a succession of national leaders and so on, but we briefly cover how we should lead an institution or organization. Therefore, we need to figure out the feature of leaders, so that we can apply to choose a leader.</p><p>Istilah kepemimpinan dalam Islam biasanya difokuskan pada “kepemimpinan tertinggi bagi umat Islam” yang dikenal sebagai khalifah, Imam, Imaratuh dan sebagainya. Artinya, kepemimpinan tertinggi bagi umat Islam dalam urusan agama dan dunia. Definisi populer kekhalifahan adalah pemimpin tertinggi dalam urusan agama dan dunia menggantikan Rasulullah SAW. Pemimpin dalam Islam juga disebut “Penggantian tugas agama kenabian untuk memelihara dan mengatur urusan dunia”. Dari pimpinan tertinggi, dan kemudian berkembang ke seluruh aspek kehidupan manusia, ke kelompok terkecil, keluarga dan individu. Dalam hal ini, tentu saja kita tidak akan membahas masalah khalifah, suksesi pemimpin nasional dan sebagainya, tetapi kita hanya akan melihat sekilas bagaimana seharusnya jika kita bertugas memimpin suatu lembaga atau organisasi. Oleh karena itu, yang kita perlu tahu adalah sifat dari para pemimpin ini, sehingga kita bisa mengaplikasikannya untuk memilih seorang pemimpin.</p>

Chinese Characteristics of the “Socialist Rule of Law”: Will the Fourth Plenum Cure the Problems of the Chinese Judicial System?

The Fourth Plenum of the 18th Party Congress has been characterized as a historical event at which the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officially endorsed the rule of law (yifa zhiguo). But in fact, the term was first coined and already used in the work report delivered by Jiang Zemin, the then party general-secretary, at the 15th Party Congress in 1997. Described as a fundamental governing strategy of the CCP, the Chinese socialist rule of law is clearly distinguished from the supposedly capitalist rule of law as understood in the West. The most striking difference between the two resides in the matter of judicial independence, which is denied in China but essential for the Western concept of the rule of law. Judicial is denied in China because to establish it is to establish the court system as a competing authority, which would necessarily undermine the supremacy of the party's authority over the state, rendering this practice incompatible with the party-state structure.Instead, China's courts are granted the authority to exercise adjudicative independence (shenpan duli). This authority has two aspects: first, courts can exercise judicial power independently without interference from other state institutions; and second, courts are authorized to challenge the legality of decisions of other state institutions within the realm of law. This arrangement is part of the institutional design of the party-state. Under the party's supreme leadership, state power is divided into four branches: the legislative, the executive, the judiciary, and the procuratorates, among which a measure of checks and balances is installed. This structure is supposed to allow the party, the only authority that sits above the state, to generate concerted actions from different branches of the state based on the principle of the CCP's leadership (i.e., rule of the party) on issues that are of primary importance to the party and require the party's direct involvement in the decision-making process. It also allows the CCP to delegate decision-making power to state institutions and to have their powers checked by each other based on the principle of the rule of law on issues that are of secondary or little importance to the party and that do not require its direct involvement in decision-making.1This essay aims to provide readers with the necessary context to enable a deeper understanding and more pertinent assessment of the Fourth Plenum. To that end, the first section explains the limitations of the Chinese judicial system and how these limitations are consequences of two structural defects inherent in the overall institutional design of the party-state. In the second section, I then show how the reform measures introduced at the Fourth Plenum respond to these structural defects.Limitations of the Chinese Judicial SystemTwo ruling orders feature the CCP's regulatory rules and policies. They are the rule of the party and the rule of law. They often appear in tandem in the same document and sometimes in the same sentence, suggesting their harmonious coexistence.2 To be fair, the juxtaposition of these two ruling orders is not always problematic because the party, as a secure autocrat (instead of a roving bandit, in Mancur Olson's terms), has an encompassing in the stability and prosperity of the state.3 Therefore, simply out of self-interest, the party would not and should not act wantonly in violation of the law that was sanctioned by itself. However, this occasional alignment of interests of the party and the state does not exclude instances of misalignment of their respective interests. For example, it is in the interest of the people to enjoy the freedoms of the press and association, which are against the interest of the party if it intends to preserve its political monopoly over the state. China's courts are designed for this scenario of misalignment. Such design enables the CCP to supervise and consequently to engage in judicial decision-making in order to advance its interests. …

Going beyond the hero in leadership development: the place of healthcare context, complexity and relationships: Comment on "Leadership and leadership development in healthcare settings - a simplistic solution to complex problems?".

There remains a conviction that the torrent of publications and the financial outlay on leadership development will create managers with the skills and characters of perfect leaders, capable of guiding healthcare organisations through the challenges and crises of the 21st century. The focus of much attention continues to be the search for the (illusory) core set of heroic qualities, abilities or competencies that will enable the development of leaders to achieve levels of supreme leadership and organisational performance. This brief commentary adds support to McDonald's (1) call for recognition of the complexity of the undertaking.

Pope Paul V's global design: the fresco cycle in the Quirinal Palace

Commissioned by Paul V, the monumental fresco in the Sala Regia of the Quirinal Palace, Rome, represents Kongolese, Ethiopian, Persian, and Japanese ambassadors, in addition to what can be regarded as Chinese figures. The present article investigates how the fresco emphasizes the pope's evangelical successes, and his desire to increase conversions and unite other Christian Churches under the supreme leadership of the papacy despite Portugal and Spain's claim for padroado. The fresco also reflects papal ambition to establish a pan‐continental military and commercial network in order to counter the Ottomans and Protestants. The pope's intertwined foreign policies towards the nations represented in the fresco are examined to clarify these points. The fresco appropriates the presumptive power of the non‐European potentates and manipulates imagery of their envoys (both actual and imagined) to promote the pope's authority. In particular, the individualized representation of the East Asians contributes to the display of the papacy's global knowledge and its power. Apart from the images of the foreign dignitaries, other understudied figures in the fresco are analysed. The surrounding urban environment is related to the mood of levity in the fresco, which stresses eternal bliss for the pope's devotees and divine punishment for the disobedient.

Human Resource Challenges Confronting the Senior Management Service of the South African Public Service

The Senior Management Service constitutes the supreme leadership cadre of the South African Public Service. It was established in 2001, and its aim and purpose being to lead and direct the service delivery transformatory agenda of the South African Government, within a developmental state paradigm. Driving the transformatory agenda is dependent upon a stable, reliable and competent Senior Management Service (SMS). However, the SMS is currently confronted with human resource challenges, such as staff capacity, strategic cross-cutting issues, and staff turnover. Regular summits lead by the Public Service Commission (PSC) and Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) with civil society and labor union involvement, can effectively contribute to ensuring that human resource challenges are adequately dealt with.

Robust Revolution to Retiring Revolution: The Life Cycle of the Soviet Revolution, 1945-1968

The article addresses the three institutional pillars of the Soviet polity - political order of a single-party dictatorship with the distinctive feature of party-state bifurcation, economic order of non-market, non-private property economy, and a system of mass state terror - and the way they coped with particular circumstances between 1945 and 1968, especially the Second World War, the profound change in its composition (i.e., the renunciation of the mass terror), changes in the supreme leadership, generational change and interactions with the outside world.

Revisiting the Meeting of the Staatssekretäre on 2 May 1941: A Response to Klaus Jochen Arnold and Gert C. Lübbers

In my article 'Germany's Staatssekretaire, Mass Starvation and the Meeting of 2 May 1941',' I posit that the meeting of the Staatssekretire on 2 May 1941 was an official session of the Economic Command Staff East, the management committee responsible for economically administering the occupied Soviet territories. Those present, namely the relevant representatives of the German ministerial bureaucracy and the Wehrmacht, signalled their endorsement of the ruthless exploitation of Soviet foodstuffs for the benefit of the invading troops and the home front, and at a cost of the lives of tens of millions of Soviet civilians. The meeting served to elaborate and co-ordinate the approach already sanctioned by Germany's supreme leadership. In this way, the meeting had massive implications for German occupation policy in the Soviet Union. With their article 'The Meeting of the Staatssekretaire on 2 May 1941 and the Wehrmacht: A Document up for Discussion',2 Klaus Jochen Arnold and Gert C. Liibbers have written a direct response to and critique of my article and the theses contained therein. In writing their article, Arnold and Liibbers have two principal aims. First, they seek to exonerate the Wehrmacht from their participation in the planning that is, the premeditated preparation of atrocities against civilians and prisoners of war in the Soviet territories at all costs. They do this in two ways: by playing down the importance of senior Wehrmacht officers such as General Georg Thomas in endorsing and planning these atrocities; and by giving the responsibility for this criminal intent exclusively to Adolf Hitler, his nominated successor Hermann Goring, and the Staatssekretair in the Ministry for Food and Agriculture, Herbert Backe. Secondly, by laying the blame at the door of a mere few, Arnold and Liubbers contest the centrality of the forced creation of food surpluses in German occupation policy for the Soviet Union, the agreement reached between the Wehrmacht, Party agencies and the German ministerial bureaucracy on this policy and, in particular, the nature and significance

JUKKA RENKAMA. Ideology and Challenges of Political Liberalisation in the USSR, 1957-1961: Otto Kuusinen's "Reform Platform," the State Concept, and the Path to the 3rd CPSU Programme. (Bibliotheca Historica 99.) Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura. 2006. Pp. 396

The overall aim of Jukka Renkama's book is to demonstrate that ideology does matter, that Nikita Khrushchev was not the only reformer in the political leadership of his era, that socialism was changeable, and finally that Otto Kuusinen, who became a member of the Soviet supreme leadership, played a central part in thinking up the content and paving the way for what has traditionally been labelled the Khrushchev reform policy. Renkama on the whole fulfills his plan. The book is the result of much effort and conscientious work, the scope is impressive, and there are many interesting details. Apart from what concerns Kuusinen's role, however, no new knowledge is added to what is already known of the period in question. (For example, see Amy W. Knight's Beria: Stalin's First Lieutenant [1993] and William Taubman, Khrushchev: The Man and His Era [2003].) The reader is guided through the history of socialist ideas in the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and China in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The point of focus is the making of the 1961 Soviet Party Program, which was carried out by a special commission under the surveillance of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). Kuusinen had a strong influence on reform-minded members of the commission and on Khrushchev personally, and much of the inspiration came from Hungary and Yugoslavia.

State of Governance in Bangladesh

The present state of governance in Bangladesh is evaluated here using the concept of governance, particularly good governance. Bangladesh shows all the symptoms of an underdeveloped polity. Democracy has not been institutionalized. Politics continues to be dominated by big money, goons and people with little background and training in formal politics. Elections have become such an expensive affair that ordinary citizens act only as passive voters. Power and authority are concentrated at the top echelons of government. Corruption has become so endemic that it has engulfed the entire society. Both the supreme leaders of two major political parties, ie the Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, were handed top leadership positions for reasons of heredity and kinship. This permanent nature of supreme leadership has thwarted internal democracy in political parties' function and management. The dominant position of the executive is widely known. The parliamentary system that is in existence can best be termed a prime ministerial system. The parliament is content to play second fiddle to the executive. Lack of independence of the judiciary has resulted in its heavy dependence on the executive. Lack of accountability and transparency in the affairs of the state is a major impediment to effective governance. The human rights situation remains unsatisfactory. One of the pressing problems of governance is the politicization of the public bureaucracy, with adverse effects on performance. Expenditure on the military continues to rise without any apparent justification.

The Decline of a Moral Regime

Chinese political culture has undergone profound changes since the Great Leap Forward (GLF) Campaign in 1958. The campaign extended the scope of the Chinese moral regime to its extreme. Ironically, the failure of the GLF destroyed the moral consensus in Chinese politics, undermined the myth of a supreme leadership, bred moral alienation in the masses, and more importantly, led to cadre corruption. This article sets out to examine the interaction between economic development strategy and political culture in China, constructs the logic of moral decline in that society, and documents the signs of the decline.