The IBS Times; 211th Issue, January 2019

Team IBS Times Ishaan Sengupta (Editor in Chief) Aarushi Jandrotia (Managing Editor) Nishika Tatiya (Associate Editor) Sambhav Jain (Associate Editor) Aishwarya Siram Amit Shovan Mandal Ayush Thalia Kartik Grover  Noel Mathew Tanay Sood Achintya Saraswat Akanshi Bhargava Anisha Jose Bidisha De Samudrala Jagadish Kartik Bhardwaj Krishma Mohanan Narayan Tripathi Rahul Kumar GS Revathi Menon Samriddhi Bhatnagar Simran Abhichandani Supriya Panse External Submission: Chandrayee Mukherjee Designed By : Nishika Tatiya Ishaan Sengupta

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The Never-ending battle between Democracy and Communism‌ With the recent Venezuelan crisis that has been in the headlines, whih we have covered in our first article, we proceed towards other countries and economies which have their own history, family of governance and success as well as failures associated with them. While the cold war has ended, proxy wars have been extremely common and therefore it is important to highlight the conflict between these ideologies.

Imbibe yourself into the final issue of this annual year and venture into countries you’ve never been to.

As an editor, it gives us immense pleasure when we hear from our readers. We intend to improve ourselves every step of the day. We would like to that your support for the same. Keep following us on our website www.finstreetibshyd.wordpress.com as well.

Please write to us and become of part of these discussions.

Email id : editor.ibstimes@gmail.com Ishaan Sengupta POC - Editor-In-Chief Team IBS Times, Finstreet

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Contents 01

Political Systems Destroying The Economy; Venezuela

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Conservatives V/s Labour: The United Kingdom

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China: The Era Of Market Socialism

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Turkey: Government And Political Parties

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Pakistan- An Army With A Country

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The Indian Political Spectrum

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Political Spectrum Of North Korea: Right, Middle or Left

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The Cuban Economy: Communist Or Capitalist?

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Kosovo - Identity Crisis Of The Ten Year Old Country

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Switzerland: Political Scenario When It’s Working

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USA: A Capitalist Economy or a Mixed Economy?

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Bolivia- One Leader For Life

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World Focus: Country Crisis in 2018

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External Submission – Saudi Arabia- Economic And Financial Policies

Political Systems Destroying The Economy; Venezuela - Krishma Mohanan

The country is located in the northern coast of South America with diverse natural attractions. From the Caribbean beaches to snow-capped mountains, Venezuela has it all.

Venezuela was ranked among the countries with High human development index in the early 2000s. The Venezuelan socialism was much appreciated alternative to the marketbased approach of the majority of the world.

The country boasts about its largest proven oil reserves and has surpassed Saudi Arabia which is the second largest oil producer after Venezuela.

In the early 1990s, many Venezuelan were frustrated with their elected rulers and was inspired by Chavez and his bold ideas to reform the country which came to be known as the Chavismo movement. Chavez was able to capitalize his widespread discontent to the established political parties. Chavez won the presidential elections with 56 percent votes.

President Hugo Chavez socialism was endowed with real and refound democracy, where people assumed an active role.

His reforms were advocated towards an end to corruption, increased spreading on social programs, and redistribution of country’s oil wealth. Many Venezuelans supported Chavez as an alternative to the corrupt two party systems which had ruled since 1958. In the “mega elections” of 2000, Chavez was reelected as the president for a six-year term, which gave him unprecedented control.

Riding by this way of popularity, Chavez oversaw the drafting of the new constitution by way of decree. Chavez received support from the working class population for his spending on education, food coupons, and social services. While the others were opposed of his radical agenda to take Venezuela down the paths similar to Cuba.

But throughout his term, Chavez’s plans to reform policies in keeping high leftist ideology flattered. Many Venezuelans opposed his programs and in 2001 the economic reforms prompted massive protests and strikes. In 2002 his opponents organized a general strike to force his resignation. The economy was largely affected due to the closure of shops, factories and especially by the oil sector. But the efforts were in vain, since Chavez was able to withstand the pressure.

During his tenure, Chavez continued to support to the Cuban president Fidel Castro by supplying oil and petroleum product at cutrate prices. After he won elections in 2006, Chavez became more vocal about his antiAmerican rhetoric. Chavez initiated a program of nationalization that included the takeover of the petroleum sector. As a pavement to the program, Chavez nationalized the electricity and steel sector. At the end of 2007, the Venezuelan voters rejected the constitutional amendment that would have given Chavez, the power to hold 1

the presidency for an indefinite period. In the elections of 2010, Chavez United socialist party of Venezuela won the elections but the party failed to acquire a two-third majority and hence they had to form a coalition with the opposition, which was the first blow to the Chavez rule. Chavez was diagnosed with cancer in 2011 and he succumbed to death in 2013. So, with a huge majority from the people of Venezuela when he was in power for more than a decade few of his actions were he nationalized companies, set limits on interest rate and imposed controls on currency exchange.

Nicholas Maduro took the presidency after the death of Chavez to serve the rest of his term.

Maduro sought deeply to bring his divided country together. During the first part of his term, the middle-class citizens in Venezuelan cities took to streets to protest his government. Three groups within the Chavismo movement competed for influence; 1) Leftist which had strong ties with Cuba.

2) Military officers who had been taken part in the failed coup of February 1992.

3) Regional leaders with strong local support.

In the backdrop of the unstable political conditions, Venezuela’s economy began to deteriorate from the already struggling phase.

An international recession and oil prices reduction plunged the country into economic stagnation. All this was reflected in the downward trend into the Gross domestic product (GDP) and a steady increase in the inflation; exports declined and unemployment became a major concern. The declining confidence of the investors caused them to move their capital out of Venezuela and into the foreign markets. The government’s inability to adequately invest in the industrial sector and nationalization of the electricity and steel sector widened the problem.

Inflation ballooned to the highest in the

world. Shortage of basic necessities like milk, flour, medicines became widespread.

Against the backdrop, Maduro was quick to focus on the long-standing dispute with Guyana over a portion of that country claimed by Venezuela since the 19th century, which further intensified by the discovery of the oil offshore.

With the increasing discontent among the people with the Maduro’s rule, the national assembly went to polls in December 2015. In the event, PSUV lost control for the first time in 16 years. The opposition centristconservative came to the legislation in commanding majority. They passed an order for the release of majority of the high profile critics whom the Maduro’s government had incarcerated. Later in April, the opposition hit the roadblock to remove Maduro from office when the Supreme Court ruled out an amendment in the constitution to reduce the presidential term from six years to four years.

All of this leads Venezuelan economy deeper into the crisis.

On May 13, Maduro shocked the country by declaring a renewable 60-day state of emergency that granted the police and the army additional powers to keep the order and increased president’s ability to work around the legislature.

The political turmoil drove the economy deeper into recession. The inflation rose from 475.80 percent to 1660 percent in 2017. The government couldn’t pay to import basic food items like milk, flour, and eggs. Several months of inflation bought financial instability, leaving food, medicines, and electricity exorbitantly expensive and that too in short supply.

The Venezuelan government was faced with $3.5billion unpaid bills for pharmaceutical imports, arrears of $2 billion food import payments and about $4 billion dues to airline companies.

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In spite of the growing crisis, the Venezuelan government declined food and humanitarian aid from the groups like Amnesty International and the United Nations. On the political front, the Maduro government paid for its chronic mismanagement when the opposition won the majority. The government halted publishing any economic data about the country since 2014, other than shrinking cash and gold reserves.

Venezuela was experiencing a potent mix of massive price inflation, a deep depreciation of its national currencyVenezuelan Bolivar, and indiscriminate money supply by the country’s central bank Banco Central De Venezuela.

The Venezuelan crisis shows how costly it is to adopt a potentially dysfunctional belief system and how devastating such experiments may turn out. The Chavista creed could destroy Venezuela and end up collapsing under the weight of its own cataclysmic failure.

Adding more issues into the foray, the Leader of the opposition Mr. Juan Guiado ended up being a staunch candidate for the presidency, and the military swore to back Maduro instead of Mr. Guiado’s annauncment of candidature. This can only spell of more violence in the future.

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Conservatives V/s Labour: The United Kingdom -Narayan Tripathi

About United Kingdom: United Kingdom is confluence of two kingdoms which include England and Scotland, one principality know as Wales (some sources mentioned it as a country) and one province Northern Ireland. The structure of governance work in a very different way from other nations. In the case of UK, under constitutional monarchy, the parliamentary democracy work. Currently, Queen Elizabeth is the head of the states and Theresa May is the head of the government. Executive powers are exercised by the government in consent with the monarch.

United Kingdom legislative powers are divided into two houses, the House of Commons and the House of Lords. They also have countries assemblies’ Scottish parliament, Wales and Northern Ireland assemblies. The kingdom highest court is the Supreme Court. The judiciary is independent of both the executives and the legislatives.

Political System of United Kingdom: Kingdom follows the multi- party system in which there are several parties some are very recognized and some are either new one or they are not that known. The two major parties in Kingdom are the conservative and the Labour party. There was one more party which was known before the advent of Labour party was the Liberal party. Currently, Conservative party is in power and the party is

headed by Theresa May. Theresa May: In 2016 Theresa may was elected as the prime minister of the kingdom. Before this she was the home secretary of United Kingdom and she was also the MP of Maidenhead in 1997.

She became the first female PM since Margaret Thatcher and also the first one to lead the kingdom out of European Union.

History: Before 1707, all the four countries were separate but after 1707 when Wales joined the hands with England the confluence of all became the United Kingdom. List of years in which other countries joined hands with the England and at the end formed the United Kingdom.

Ireland came under England during 1600 but formally united through Act of Union in 1800.

Scotland was ruled from London from 1603 and formally joined hand with the England in 1707 Wales joined hands with the England in 1707 under the Act of Union.

United Kingdom is also the part of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The kingdom became the member of European Union in 1973.

Queen Elizabeth II:

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The Queen Elizabeth is the head of the state.

She ascended to the throne of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in 1952 upon the death of her father, George VI. In 2015, the queen became the Britain’s longest –reigning monarch. She also surpassed the record of her great- grand grandmother, Queen Victoria. She is also the head of the state of 16 independent countries including Canada and Australia. As a constitutional monarch, her role in legislative process is largely ceremonial.

Conservative Party: Conservative party, officially is the Conservative and Unionist Party. It is the centre- right party in the United Kingdom. It is the largest part with 9008 councillors. The party was founded way back in 1894 from the Tory Party. Conservative party’s domination of British politics referred to them as one of the most successful party in the western world and in its political ecosystem.

Labour Party: Labour party is the central left part in the United Kingdom. It is described as the alliance of social democrats, democratic socialists and trade unionists. Till 2017, the party was considered as the largest party in the “Western Europe” in terms of party membership. The party has half a million members. The party was founded in 1900, grown from the trade union movements and socialist parties.

Conservative Party vs Labour Party: Beliefs: Conservative party believes that people living in the country must be free and the markets should also be free from the political influence. They basically have the capitalist approach. They don’t want to control the society. On the other hand, Labour’s follow the socialist approach, they want to control and intervene in all the

aspect of the country and its economy. They have the belief that in this manner it will give government more control on the country. The policies can be defined in favour of the people of the country instead for the profit of few people or individual.

Benefit: Conservatives think for the countries benefit over the individual benefit.

That’s the reason UK is considered as the developed economy. On the other hand if one thinks for his/her personal benefit he/ she must vote for Labour because their ideology revolves around individual development over countries development.

Regulations: Under the Labour party rule the government will look more powerful and exercising its power in all aspects of the countries decision and in its betterment opportunity. On the other hand, in case of Conservative party, it is free and market forces determine the sentiments of the market and government intervention is least.

The ease of doing business also increases.

Immigrants Policy: Labour party encourages immigrants (unskilled workers) in the country on the other hand Conservative party discourage the idea of encouraging immigrants in the country.

UK leaving EU [The Brexit]: United Kingdom withdrawal from European Union (EU) referendum of June, 23, 2016 in which 52 percent of population voted in referendum supported withdrawal and on March, 29, 2017, UK government invoked the Article 50 of the Treaty of European Union. The prime minster announced government intention not to go for the permanent membership in European single market and EU customs union after leaving the EU. The government has also promised to repeal the European Communities Act of 5

1972 and also gave a node to incorporate existing European law into UK domestic law.

There is speculation that exiting would give a negative impact to the United Kingdom and would have the long term or at least short term impact on the countries real per capita income. Still it is more or less depends on whether it would be a soft or hard exit. The UK will leave the EU on 29 March 2019.

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China: The Era Of Market Socialism - Revathi Menon

The world’s second largest economy china is experiencing a tremendous growth and boom in the economy. China is the world’s manufacturing hub has shifted from centrally planned economy to more market based economy. A mixed economy that encouraged limited capitalism within the command economy is the main success of the economy in china and the poverty in china is also being reduced. The socialist market economy of china is based on the existence and dominance of public ownership in a market economy. The growth of the economy was 23.12 trillion dollars in 2017 which was the largest in the world. One of the major success of china’s economy is due to the fact that the government own majority of the industries that is dominated in the market and this has helped the companies to scale up in high priority projects. China is also one such country that has improvised economically during the early stages of civilization. They keep a balance between their politics and culture.

The world’s two largest economies are under a trade war that is between china and us.

During the year 2017 the president of US undertook an investigation in the trading practices of china and all of a sudden he imposed tariffs on Chinese products which covers a wide range of products like handbags, industrial items, rice and railway Equipments. China fought back the trade war

by levying taxes that range from 5% to 25% including chemicals, coal and medical equipment. But this aggressive trade war could harm the world economy as a whole and affect households and businesses. The cost of living in china is less compared to the developing world and almost 20 percent of the world population is in china so when the people get richer they tend to invest more and the suppliers sell their product and hence consumption rises. They have initiated steps to cater to all the needs of domestic demand from 1.37billion people. In order to build and compete in this world economy they are depending less on state owned companies and more on private companies to grab out the profits. A sudden shift and diversification to a more market based economy can happen as it has large consumer base and less dependency on exports. The main industrial city of china is Shanghai and the leading commercial port is Hong Kong.

The socialist system led by the working class and based on the alliance of the workers and farmers is the fundamental system of the People’s Republic of China. The socialist market economy is seen by the Communist Party of China as an early stage in the development of socialism where public ownership coexists alongside a diverse range of non-public forms of ownership. The Communist Party of China says that despite 7

the co-existence of private capitalists and entrepreneurs with public and collective enterprise, China is never a capitalist country as the party retains control over the direction of the country, maintaining the socialist development. Components of this economic model distinguish it from market socialism and market socialists believe that economic planning is unattainable, undesirable or ineffective. China has 33 administrative units under the central government that includes 22 provinces, 5 regions ( autonomous ),4 municipalities ,and also 2 special administrative regions. The communist party of china always dominates the government.

Earlier when the economy was command every state owned enterprise had to have a party committee and later on with the introduction of market economy, enterprises exist where the parties have no control. The main body of the party is the party congress, which meets once in 5 years and there is a central committee which is elected which includes general secretary, politburo ( a standing committee) , secretariat , and the central military commission. The right to make decisions on the economic policies lies with the communist party. The state council also has a ministry of justice and the legal system was establishes from various rules, laws and other legal codes.

The private sector is always the main driver of growth and the employment and the two thirds of the GDP of china was held by the private sector and thus ben always considered as the manufacturing economy. Major industries of china are manufacturing, agriculture and the telecommunication services thus contributing a lot to the economic growth and the boom. Back in 1978 the reforms promoted the capitalist form of economic reforms in the country but now it has moved from state owned to more privatized one. China is always referred as an

developing country and wants to be developed and there is no other country like china who is working hard to achieve this.

The measures of development are better health service, better standards of loving and less poverty etc. china is trying to open up some of their reforms bringing in more tourists, investors for improving the condition of China. As the population of china is very high the government finds it very difficult to cater and meet the needs of citizens in the area of health. Even though the country is growing in a fast pace the country needs to concentrate more on the health services as the services are distributed unevenly and this has to be managed. The quality of education is also not evenly distributed the education available in cities was much better than one provided in the rural areas. Apart from all these the Country is rich in culture, diversity and economically growing too. The economic reform brought in by the leader Mao influenced their culture, politics and this was one of the reasons for their economic progress and that’s the time when they started advancing their predominantly socialist economy. The recent leaders are now focusing on the economic progress and the economic planning that includes research, education and infrastructure development plans so as to develop their country in every way as possible by influencing industries and setting industrial targets with the help of instruments in the market.

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Turkey: Government And Political Parties - Samudrala Jagadish

On the question of who is going to rule the country i.e. the political party it has a wide range and huge impact on the country, people and its economy too. There is a say that many people believe if communist people rule the country they are opposed to the import more of foreign goods and support more of manufacturing and production in their own country.

Turkey’s government is a secular parliamentary representative democratic republic. Here the President is the head of the state and Prime Minister is the head of the government. Prior 1923 Ottoman Empire was ruling the nation and after it fell short the republic of turkey was found in the same year.

The new republic witnessed a series of military coups and political instability in the country over the years. On November 7, 1982 after a referendum the constitution observed was adopted in the country.

Prime Minister and Council of Ministers of Turkey: Turkey’s Prime Minister serves as the head of government. He/she is appointed by the President, and in practice is head of the party with the most deputies in parliament. The Prime Minister is mandated to form the government, and he/she appoints ministers.

The Prime Minister oversees the implementation of government policy. He/she

heads the Council of Ministers who oversees various sectors such as agriculture, environment, labor, and tourism. Each minister is responsible for their individual jurisdiction and accountable to the Prime Minister who can submit a proposal for a particular minister to be dismissed by the President.

The Judiciary Of Turkey The Judicial power in the country is vested upon a network of independent courts and supreme judiciary institutions. Few examples of supreme courts are the Constitutional Court, Court of Jurisdictional Conflicts, Supreme Court of Appeal, and the Supreme Military Court of Appeal and so on . Criminal and civil courts serve the country’s citizens.

Judges do not employ a jury to determine cases but rely on their convictions and the law.

The elections are held after every 5 years to elect deputies to the Grand National assembly.

Before knowing about the political scenario let’s have a glance of what kind of religious people exist as religion and ideologies of political parties too play a major impact on the political parties . Nearly 99% of the turkey population consists of Muslim religion. Apart from these there are also exists people from Judaism and Christianity religion. Including the major and minor parties there are 17 political parties in Turkey.

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Right - Wing Position : The party with highest number of MP’s, municipalities and metro municipalities would usually form the government and for turkey it is the ruling party i.e. Justice and development party (or) Adalet ve kalkinma partisi (or) AK parti . There ideology is Islamic democracy, social conservatism and Neo-Ottomanism as turkey’s majority i.e. almost 99% of the population is of Islamic, the religion of the people matches there party’s ideology. It was founded in the year 2001. They are in the ruling government and the prominent leaders are Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the position they hold is the right wing with a stand of 294 MP’s of total 600, 18 metro municipalities of total 30 and 791 municipalities of total 1351. The name that they represent in national level with other small political parties (or) alliance is People’s Alliance . The people’s alliance has also has the support of Great Union party (or) Buyuk birlik partisi (or) BBP which was founded in the year 1993 and now currently represents 1 MP and 6 metro municipalities . and the other one under People’s alliance is Nationalist movement party (or) milliyetci hareket partisi (or) MHP. It was found in the year late 1969 and the prominent leaders are Devlet Bahceli and the party’s ideology is Ultranationalism Pan- Turkism. Currently the party has 49 MP’s in the house, 3 metro municipalities and 159 municipalities. MHP party was founded in the year 1969.

Centre Wing : The party which is at centre – left is Republican People’s party (or) Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi (or) CHP . It was founded in the year 1992 and the prominent leaders are Kemal kilicdaroglu . It’s ideology is social democracy and kemalism . This party has a total of 144 of total 600 MP’s , 6 metro municipalities and 227 metro municipalities .

The name of it’s national affiliation is Nation

Alliance. In Nation alliance there is also other party which supports that is IYI party which was founded in the year 2017. It has a strength of total 42 MP’s and 9 municipalities . And the other party under Nation alliance is Felicity party (or) Saadat Partisi (or) SAADET . It was founded in the year 2001.The leader is Temel Karamollaoglu . The ideology is Sunni Islamism and conservatism. This party has the strength of 2 MP’s of the total 600 and 27 municipalities of 1351 . And the other party under Nation Alliance is Democratic party (or) Demokrati parti which was founded in the year 2007 . The leader is Gultekin Uysal and the ideology is liberal conservatism. It has only 1 MP and 14 municipalities .

Left - Wing : In left - wing we have People’s democratic party (or) halklarin demokratik partisi (or) HDP . It was founded in the year 2012 . The prominent leaders of this party are Sezai Temelli , Pervin buldan . In the house the people’s democratic party has strength of 67 MP’s out of 600 , with 2 municipalities and 97 metro municipalities . The ideology is democratic socialism and radical democracy.

The name of the national affiliation is People’s democratic congress.

In international affiliation it is recognized as Progressive alliance .

The above are the three main political wings in Turkey and apart from this there are also parties below the threshold in 2015 general election to name few of them are Patriotic party , people’s liberation party , Independent turkey party , Communist party and democratic left party .

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Pakistan- An Army With A Country - Achintya Saraswat Pakistan has been under military law more than civil law. Liaquat Ali Khan was murdered in 1951 and thereafter four shorttermed leaders ruled but were removed by President Iskandar Mirza himself. General Ayub Khan imposed a military law in 1958.

He then conducted a referendum for president-ship in 1965 where he challenged Fatima Jinnah, but she could only get major support in East Pakistan and some parts of city of Karachi. It was then, that Ayub Khan decided to move the capital from Karachi to Islamabad.

The fact is that long-term military rule whether imposed directly or indirectly, didn't let any politician upsurge through a democratic way. Even Z.A. Bhutto who rose to the fame was in the cabinet of President Ayub Khan, where he used clever maneuvers to make people follow him after he separated ways with the president. Bhutto tried to persuade people about how the country lost the winning war of 1965 with India.

In the general elections of 1970, held by General Yahya Khan who had the charge of the country, empowered by Ayub Khan. East Pakistan was won by Mujeeb-ur-Rahman who led Awami League meanwhile, West Pakistan was won by Bhutto leading Pakistan People’s Party. Indian impact was at its peak in East Pakistan.

After the Dhaka Fall in 1971, the country was split up in two countries. The West Pakistan continued to be ruled under Bhutto. He declared Qadyanis as non-Muslim and disallowed any political damage from religious parties. The constitution of 1973 still in use is considered a political breakthrough and was credited to Bhutto. Nevertheless, slowly he gained power by hook or by crook, which in-turn made people angry towards him.

The general elections of 1977 are considered the utmost rigged elections in the entire history of Pakistan and they resulted in an overthrow of Bhutto by Zia, the army chief. Moreover, Bhutto was executed in 1979 in a murder case.

USSR attacked Afghanistan in 1979 and the USA found a golden opportunity against USSR in the Cold War. Zia who also imposed a military law, now announced an “Islamisation” in the country to aid “Afghan Jihad” and received an enormous amount of financial and strategic aid from the US stopping the Red Army. Jamat-e-Islami which was against all the previous dictators whether military or civil, couldn't help this time and supported Zia for religious and topographical purposes and also communist Russia was considered to be a “big evil” as compared to the capitalist USA. The elections of 1985 were held on a non-party basis by Zia and Nawaz Sharif was also introduced to the politics by him only. The 11

entrance of Benazir Bhutto to the country in 1986 brought back a spirit almost the same when Z.A. Bhutto won election the first time.

But now it was stepped up in the province of Sindh from where Bhutto family belongs.

Then, Zia created MQM to counter the popularity of PPP in the province but it didn't do much damage to PPP because MQM was just supposed to get Urdu-speaking votes in urban areas of Sindh.

Zia died in an airplane crash in 1988 and elections were held in the same year, which resulted in PPP wining the elections. Benazir Bhutto became premier but she couldn't rule straightforwardly and after two years, elections were held by the president. Islamic democratic alliance (IJI) brought Nawaz Sharif to power in 1990 and he ruled the country for 2 years more. He resigned after opposition demanded thereafter.

Again, the Elections of 1993 were held on the non-party basis and Benazir Bhutto won again. She faced a strict opposition though, not only in the upper and lower house but Jamat-e-Islami made fierce protests focused in the capital city. After many corruption claims and seeing the country’s political situation, then-president used the 18th amendment to terminate the government and announced general elections in 90 days.

The general elections of 1997 gave Nawaz Sharif a heavy mandate and therefore he eliminated the 18th amendment as well so that the president even couldn't remove him. He made some severe decisions to reinforce his rule. Nawaz Shareef also welcomed thenIndian PM Mr.Vajpayee to Lahore amid violent protests. The Kargil war made the situation worse around the borders in 1999.

Especially in October 1999, he was removed by then-army chief Mr. Parvez Musharraf.

After 9–11, the political scenario of the world changed, and of the country too. Musharaf brought the idea of “enlightened moderation” the same way Zia felt the need to “Islamise” country during Afghan War. This time the USA put strict terms and conditions, for financial and strategic aid which brought turbulence in the country. Soon the country saw a series of bomb blasts and massacres.

The political instability made Musharaf leave the country after 8 long years of dictatorship.

Although, he was successfully running a civil government under him until the elections of 2008 happened.

The general elections of the year 2008 were held right after assassination of Benazir Bhutto which got her husband Asif Zardari to power. Imran Khan was supported by some unseen powers in 2011 to counter the heavy impact of two major parties, PPP as well as the PMLN. Media propaganda to bring Imran Khan to power in the elections of 2013 was at its peak but results were astonishing for many as PMLN won. The following 5 years brought a stability to the economy nevertheless the political situation continued to be uncertain as some powers wanted to eradicate Nawaz Sharif. Thereafter, he was made unable for any government post by the Supreme Court in the year 2017.

The general elections of year 2018 were called rigged by some of the international sources. The elections held under the supervision of military forces made Imran Khan reach the Prime Minister’s house. As, the political situation don’t favor him because of the number game as well as it looks like the politics of 90’s era is back in the country, when opposition parties were on fire.

Moreover, Pakistan as a country right now is dilemma as well to choose between devil and the deep blue sea, as the current international 12

condition in the world is forcing him to join hands with two world leaders, one is USA and other is China. No matter whichever Pakistan chooses to be ally with, huge stakes are associated to it, and its decision in the future.

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The Indian Political Spectrum - Anisha Jose

At its 70th year of independence, India has come a long and prosperous way from the country British exited in 1947; a country left which no hope of survival in its then condition. The evolution of the country into a vibrant constitutional democracy, took it high leaving all its dark memories behind. Now, India is the largest democratic country in the world and the country have a very wide political spectrum with largest number of political parties. And it would be very difficult to classify Indian political parties into left or right. Such terms, left/right/centre, are used to categorise political parties based on their political ideologies, socio-cultural policies as well as economic policies. For example, the stand they have taken on religion and religious groups, position on crimes, type of society and importance of culture, etc reflects whether they are left or right supports. The rights on a social level believes that the hierarchy in the society is natural and normal and the feels that the idea of rich employing the poor is better as it benefits everyone. Their economic policies promote capitalism which gives more economic freedom to big businesses, i.e., fewer regulations and lower taxes. Left on the other hand is giving more importance for reducing the gap between the rich and the poor. They stress on the belief that everyone in the society so come together to help each other. Supporting this, their economic policies are also framed such that they impose higher

taxes and they also implement strict regulations in the market. The left wants more state control and less market freedom. The right wants less state control and more market freedom and the centre is a mixture.

India was always a centre-leftist country. And this grouping was irrelevant until the birth of BJP (Bhartiya Janata Party). Till that moment, all the dominating parties were following centrist, left centre or extreme left tendencies.

As BJP continued to penetrate into the frame, its political ideology of being towards the Right could find its position in the Indian Political Spectrum. But none of the parties in India are on its extreme side as they are ready to compromise on their policies. Thus, the better classification would be the Centre, the Right of Centre and the Left of Centre.

Compromising on their extreme positions these political parties hold contradictory positions in social and economic issues. Even though parties like BJP, Shivsena, AIMIM, etc are following Right policies on social issues, their policies on economic policies are leaned towards left. This might be because of the India’s political history which was always centrist but tilted towards left. Parties that follow centre leftist ideologies are INC (Indian National Congress), AAP, JDU, CPIM, etc.

THE LEFTISTS: In a country that comprised of more than one third of world’s poor, the momentum of left 14

ideologies was strong. The main parties on this side of the spectrum are the Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) headed by the current West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Following the leftist policies, they were against private industries and also formed many trade unions to protect the labourers from exploitation. They also had given strong protection to minority groups. These leftist parties were strongly against the proposal of friendly alliance between US and India and also the global free trade. All these policies and trade unions were insufficient for these parties to hold their position. Now, these parties are working with a left-centrist ideology. Leading to the present situation of these parties being in power in only one major state, Kerala.

THE RIGHTISTS: With the rise of BJP has brought with it the first Right party of the country, even though Shivsena was there at the state level. This has brought in a lot of changes in the policies that India was following since its Independence.

These rightist policies brought in a shower of criticisms along with it. Those changes are visible in all the fronts like social, economic and politics. Their decisions and policies on various religious issues were bringing in controversies. The other changes which brought in the controversies were issues on nationalism, support and defence of traditional society and culture, etc. Major that were brought by this Right Government are demonetization, unified tax (GST), liberal policies favouring corporate, make in India policy, etc. All these policies were having its on positive and negative effect. The govt. could bring in huge FDIs to the country and also India became one of the best countries in

terms of ‘ease of doing businesses. But rising oil prices, depreciation of rupee value, increase in NPAs, falling GDP, etc are troubling the Government now.

THE CENTRE: Though many parties would fall under this category, one major party that fits this bill is the grand old party of India, Congress. As the party was at the centre of the freedom struggle it automatically came into power not only in national level but also at the state level after independence. It was congress under the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru chose the direction India should proceed after 1947. The party insisted on secularism to build a nation where all are equally supported and treated.

Along with the Congress, barring a few exceptions, almost all other parties, both national and state level, such as Samajwadi Part, Bahujan Samajwadi Party, DMK, AIADMK etc., can be put into the bracket of the Centre.

The newly formed AAP is also under this list.

Introduction of five-year plans, liberalization of trade, opening of Indian economy for global trade, privatization helped the economy in a positive manner.

It would be very difficult for one to decide which policy and ideology would be better for the economy. As Indian political parties are considered, they are not the followers of any extreme ideologies. Their policies are more flexible when it comes to different sectors and issues. So the political spectrum of India is lying between centre right and centre left.

15

Political Spectrum Of North Korea: Right, Middle or Left - Supriya Panse There are majorly three types of political spectrums accepted by the economies of world. It completely depends upon the country to select the respective spectrum.

Every spectrum has a different set of qualities which makes it different from the other spectrum. Here, we cannot conclude that one spectrum (e.g. Right) is superior to the other (e.g. Left), as every coin has two sides i.e. pros & cons would be always there. Let us check it out in detail.

Right winged-politics According to this spectrum, people here think that hierarchy in society is natural & normal.

The idea of class system, where a rich person is employing a poor person is considered quite healthy. Full economic freedom is given to big business houses thus encouraging capitalism. Here the regulations & Taxes imposed, both are comparatively less.

E.g. Capitalism, Classical, Liberalism, etc.

Left winged-politics On the other hand Left wing countries try to reduce the gap between rich & poor. They argue that rich should pay more through taxes so as to reduce the gap. They also prefer managing “Market”, by distributing the wealth equally or for government for making change happen in the country.

E.g. Pure communism, Socialism, Fascism, Anarchy, Theocracy, etc

Thus “Left” wants more government control with less market freedom & “Right” wants more market freedom with less government’s intervention.

Mixed winged-politics This is a combination of Left winged-politics & Right winged-policies.

E.g. Modern liberalism, Progressivism, Conservatism, etc North Korea History of North Korea can be traced back to 1910 during Russo-Japanese war. Japanese ruled the country for next 35 years. During the World War 2, Korean men were sent to fight & women were used as “sex vehicle” for Japanese soldiers. Thus they were brutally treated. As Japan was defeated in 1945 the country (Korea) came into the hands of U.S & Russia. They divided the country into two parts; Republic of Korea was established in Seoul, led by the strongly anti-communist “Syngman Rhee”. On the other hand in the northern industrial center of Pyongyang, “Kim IL Sung”, who became the first premier of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). Even if both the countries were having different leaders they wanted to have the whole Korea rather than a part, thus Korean War was fought. In 1953, North Korea invaded South Korea which was famously called as “Korean war”. After that till date, no 16

such wars have been fought but the relationship is not cordial though.

North Korea follows Left-winged politics, which is not purely left though.North Korea follows “Juche ideology” which is basically a Korean type of socialism developed from Marxist-Leninist roots. The “Juche” theory is a belief which states that through self-reliance only true socialism can be achieved. Since 1948 “Worker’s Party of Korea (WPK)” is a ruling party in North Korea. According the constitution of North Korea, “Dictatorship is people’s democracy”.

But is that really so? The answer is strictly “No”; the theories which are said to be followed are not actually followed in North Korea. Theories are completely different from reality. Elections in North Korea are completely manipulated and are a piece of show-off only. According to Left-winged ideology there should be equality among all classes of society, there should be no disparity among Upper class, middle class & lower class of society, but in reality there is high disparity between classes of society. Not only this corruption is one of the major issues of left-winged ideology & same is the case with North Korea too. The country is facing a serious level of corruption.

The situation of North Korea started declining only after 1970. Before 1970, like all other communist countries, after the war North Korea heavily invested in infrastructure, military expansion & capital intensive industries. By 1968 all homes were enabled with electricity, Children’s between the age group of 5 to 12 were enrolled in the schools, Standard of living increased, etc. Thus like all other Left-winged countries, all milestones were achieved. But this was very short lived & since 1970 everything changed.

In 1970, government started taking foreign capital in high amount so as to increase

military power. Well being of citizens of country has been completely ignored since then. In 1973, North Korea faced a huge amount of debt due to “Oil crisis”. Thus since 1970, it started changing the definition of Left-winged politics. It also backed out from Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT), barring it from doing nuclear test. In 2005, North Korea was successful in doing its first underground Nuclear Test. Since then, North Korea & U.S are in continuous tussle over nuclear power.

North Korea is having one of the worst “Human right indexes” in the world.

According to the Human right watch, people are brutalized very badly in North Korea.

Not only this there is no Justice in the country too, theoretically Judges are appointed by local people’s assemblies but in reality they are appointed by the Worker’s party of Korea (WPK) only. According to one survey, around 29% of deaths which takes place in North Korea are due to malnutrition & communicable diseases.

North Korea is a country which is not a part of “International Labor Organization” (ILO).

Thus the country brutally treats all laborers, where the official Labor Union, called as “General Federation of Trade Unions of Korea” is also controlled by the Political party itself. Again the government has a clause of “Freedom of Speech” & “Freedom of Religion”, but as mentioned earlier theory & practices are completely different. Political Party takes care of this too. In 2017, North Korea has taken last place in “Freedom of press index”. Citizens of country are not even allowed to travel freely within the country, thus barring them from “Freedom of movement” too.

Even after all this the country is expected to have GDP of 16.50 USD billion by 2019.

Thus the country is progressing a lot if 17

betterment of humans is not considered. So, is it like “Left-winged” ideology is wrong & the answer is No. Betterment of citizens along with the country is the actual motive of “Leftwinged ideology”, in case of North Korea; they deviated from the core principles. They have kept it in just a theory form & so today this is the case. One can never say that Left is correct & Right is wrong or vice versa. Every ideology would come up with its own pros & cons.

18

The Cuban Economy: Communist Or Capitalist?

- Samriddhi Batnagar The notion, whether a country is left wing or right wing, has emerged to be associated to struggles in favour or against civil and political rights of the masses, equality before the law, for democracy or centralization of power in the hands of the center. In most developed and underdeveloped countries today, the distinction between left or right is more or less revealed by social and economic differences and by the degree of political control over the interests of the civil rights of the population.

The same can be applied to identify the Cuban economy and categorize it as being a leftist economy or rightist economy.

Cuba has been described as a poor country, distant from globalization, with dreadful physical and financial infrastructure. It lacks a reliable communications service, health, education, low employment and even lower wage rates in the economy. Cuba is a closed society, where there is no right to free expression, association, movement, forming of unions or political choice. Citizens have no way to peacefully alter the state of affairs or take part in changing the political scenario .

CUBA, HISTORICALLY: RISE OF COMMUNISM!

communist state and was influenced by the .

The Cuban economy was a puppet of a totalitarian – left-wing regime, in the hands of the Castro family. The communist party (Partido Communisto De Cuba), organized by Fidel Castro, who was successful in overthrowing the government of dictator, Fulgencio Batista, came into effect under the constitution of 1976, became the only party permitted to function in Cuba and in 1992, was defined as the “ organised vanguard of Cuba”. At its 1991 Congress, the Cuban party reaffirmed its single-party rule, at a time when communism was collapsing in the Soviet Union and elsewhere in Europe, but it allowed limited foreign investment and economic reform. In addition, the party congress officially removed a rule requiring party members to be atheist.

Since its foundation, the Cuban party has been dominated by Fidel Castro and his brother, Raul Castro. However, after overthrowing the dictator who was majorly influenced by the U.S government, Fidel Castro had offered a Cuba, which promised freedom to its people.

However, Castro began to act and sound like a communist dictator. He failed to hold free elections as was promised to the Cuban people. He put to death hundreds of his former political enemies in hasty trials and put up botched up judicial proceedings.

19

Then he proceeded to fill Cuba's jails with political critics, including many anticommunist labor leaders, and other veteran opponents of the Batista regime. He put the press under strict censorship. The foreign property was seized without compensation to its owners. All the communist emerged unhurt and unscathed under his vigilance.

source: Washington post/news/Latino/Castro Cuba As his dictatorship hardened, Castro began increasingly denouncing the United States and to seek support from the communist bloc nations. Before his death on 25th November, 2016, Fidel Castro continued to dominate the Cuban soil and oppose US sanctions and ideology which were put forth by the country.

In 2011 Raúl, who had succeeded Fidel as president of Cuba in 2008—became party leader.

Fidel Castro was a firm believer of a Soviet style of economy. Cuba’s alliance with the Soviets provided a protective umbrella that propelled Castro onto the formation of an authoritarian government. Cuba’s support of anti-U.S. guerrilla and terrorist groups in Latin America and other countries of the developing world, military intervention in Africa, and unrestricted Soviet weapons deliveries to Cuba suddenly made Castro an important international face of communism.

The rise of state control has led to no freedom of speech, the right to express, or any other civil right that the masses could enjoy and moreover, had created a divide of the government connected elite, with access to hard currency and foreign goods, and the rest of the population, who live in dire poverty and suffer from shortages of even basic amenities. Even the “free” healthcare is of low quality and provides no benefits to the people whatsoever.

This points out to the fact that the totalitarian regime, is more oppressive than many other communist countries. Even the minimum wages of $20 a month in almost every job, was paid by the firm to the government, instead of the employee and would seldom reach the person, after it's pocketed by the government handlers. These and other grim realities of life under Cuban communism explain why so many Cubans are willing to risk their lives to flee. Castro had even outlawed private businesses, tourism, foreign investments, etc. giving its government full control of the state, where people were even dying homeless. By the state of a continuance of the state of affairs, it could be said, that Cuba had not been away from the live version of George Orwell’s 1984.

IMPACT OF AUTHORITARIANISM AND COMMUNISM: 20

relations and allow for private business to go to operations. Cuba has aimed at releasing all tourism-related sanctions, improve foreign relations and allow for private business to go to operations.

source:nationsonline.org TODAY; HOW IS CUBA CHANGING? Cuba has been trying to transform from a communist economy to a capitalist economy in the past few years.

In 2011 Raúl, who had succeeded Fidel as president of Cuba in 2008—became party leader and Miguel Diaz-Canel took over as Cuba's president in April 2016. Cuba’s newly appointed leaders have started stage for its socialist system to survive and come in the race with the existing developing nations.

Cuban lawmakers approved a draft of a new constitution which would replace the island's 1976 Soviet-style constitution, the new constitution includes the recognition of private property, the creation of the role of prime minister, the right to same-sex marriage and the omission of the word communism in it. It excludes a clause from the 1976 constitution saying the ultimate aim is the building of a “communist society.”, instead, it uses the word socialism. However, the communist party will still remain the powerful party it has always been.

The relationship between US and Cuba has always been the major concern for the countries development, as the embargo imposed by the US on Cuba in the 1900s had isolated Cuba from any modern developments. Cuba has aimed at releasing all tourism-related sanctions, improve foreign

With Cuba’s economic liberalization and improved diplomatic relations with the US, the economy is on a journey to become a right- wing economy with newly formed allies and the new form of socialism in the country.

Although the changes have been slow, they can slowly contribute to healthy growth in the near future.

21

Kosovo- Identity Crisis Of The Ten Year Old Country - Bidisha De

A Brief History Dated back to 1918, i.e., the end of World War 1, Yugoslavia was created from the Kingdom of Serbia, Kingdom of Montenegro and Kingdom of AustriaHungary. It was then called the “Kingdom of Yugoslavia”. However, this did not last long, as the Second World War broke out and by 1941 Yugoslavia was taken over by the Nazi Germans and Fascist Italians. By the end of WW2 in 1945, Yugoslavia was again declared as an Independent nation, but this time as a socialist state, a federation of six republics namely- Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and Macedonia.

Yugoslavia being a nation of various ethnic groups, the rising tension has always been kept in check under the Governance of their then President, Mr Joseph Broz Tito. Under his governance, Yugoslavia became the first socialist country undergoing far-reach economic reforms. Their Economy had specific characteristics based on a combination of socialist, self-managed and market features, facilitated by the country’s international relations. With President Tito’s death in 1980, the beginning of the end of Yugoslavia was marked and their economy took a turn to the worse.

This lead to the rise in economic and ethnic tensions and nationalism grew in some of the individual Republics. These along with the fall of Communism around the world resulted

in the breakup of Yugoslavia in October 1991.

This break up of Yugoslavia led to the formation of six independent republics namely, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia.

Serbia, which was once an independent country itself before it became a part of Yugoslavia, gained back it’s independence and identity again. Kosovo with it’s over than 90 per cent Albanian Muslim population, was a part of Serbia itself.

However, with the difference in culture and ethnicity, despite having autonomy, Kosovo never felt to be a part of Serbia and hence demanded freedom.

As expected, this decision was not supported by Serbia and this lead to “The Kosovo War” between 1998-99, taking lives of both ethnic Serbs and Albanians.

Finally, NATO intervened to end the war 22

and almost after ten years, in 2008 Kosovo declared themselves as an independent Nation.

A threat for India Although Kosovo has declared themselves to be an independent country, Serbian Government has denied accepting Kosovo as an independent Nation.

Along with Serbia, China, Russia, India as well as Brazil denies recognizing Kosovo as an independent country. However, Kosovo has gained recognition from countries like USA, UK, Pakistan and Australia.

India is one of the founders of the NonAligned Movement, it follows the principle of non-interference in other Nation’s internal affairs.

While the countries were busy with their Geopolitical issues, a female boxer from Kosovo, Donjeta Sadiku was facing challenges to participate in the AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championship. Belonging to the newly formed country, this female boxer’s visa was denied twice by India as it doesn’t recognize Kosovo as an independent Nation.

The 19-years old boxer Sadiku was previously denied an Indian visa on December 2017, when she was supposed to participate in the World Youth Boxing Championships in Guwahati. Offended by this decision of India, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to inform

all the member federations to not to hand over international events to countries that cannot ensure participation of all nations.

The Boxing Federation of India (BFI) won the right to host the Women’s World Championship for the first time since the inclusion of this event in the Olympics in 2012. However, with consequences like these on the very first time, India is in a risk of losing the opportunity of hosting the AIBA 2021 Men’s World Championships.

India is a country primarily known for its love for cricket, have been diversifying to other forms of sports recently and boxing is one of them. With India hosting international sports events like the World Cup, this year India got the opportunity to host the 2018 AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championship.

Exposures like hosting these events have encouraged India to utilize the sports sector as a strategy to create jobs, collect revenue, attract investments into the country and most importantly, encouraging and nurturing sports talent.

For 2018-2020, a budget of Rs.1756crore has been set aside by the federal government for it’s “Khelo India” program. The key features of this program include: • Providing annual scholarships of Rs.5,00,000 to 1000 young Indian athletes for eight years.

• Encouraging about 20 universities throughout the country by funding them to promote excellence in sports.

• Increase the number of Gyms in public parks and encourage their utilization.

• Usage of technology like mobile apps to reach out to talented sportspersons in rural and semi-urban areas of the country.

Besides these steps taken by the government, about 60 per cent of Sports products manufactured in India are exported and this has a huge scope of further growth in the near 23

future.

However, by indulging this growing sector into political issues, India has offended the IOC and now faces a risk of losing the opportunity of hosting Olympic-like events in the future.

Conclusion With India dealing with a disputed territory itself, its decision of not recognizing Kosovo as an independent country can be justified to a certain extent. But when it comes in the way of the opportunity of hosting such international events, alternate options must be present.

For Donjeta Sadiku, geopolitics became a challenge for her boxing career and to prevent this from happening in the future BFI has decided to pursue the government to separate sports from such political issues.

AIBA executive director Tom Virgets also reminded that hosting of the 2019 AIBA Men’s World Championships was given to Sochi instead of Ukraine because the latter denied recognizing Kosovo as an independent country.

With India keeping their hopes high in this sector of sports, issues like these can come upon as a curse. Immediate measures need to be taken by the government before the opportunity of hosting international events are permanently taken away from us.

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Switzerland: Political Scenario When It’s Working - Simran Abhichandani Switzerland, the land of watches, chocolates and alps is a country that follows ‘direct democracy’. Confused much? Now, we know what is democracy and if that wasn’t enough, here comes a heavier word- Direct Democracy. In this type of political system, all powers lie in the hands of individuals.

People are the whole and sole sovereign. This type of a government, although sounds like an ideal form of government but it is very difficult to implement. Specially in a country with huge population, this form of government often creates havoc.

How it works for Switzerland? It is because Switzerland is a small (not a huge) country located in the heart of Western Europe, at the intersection of German, French and Italian language and culture. Thus, Switzerland has always been a pretty diversified country in terms of culture and other similar factors for centuries. Direct Democracy, particularly has a long but disputed tradition in this country.

Switzerland’s Direct Democracy is not the result of cultural or harmonic development.

When modern Switzerland was founded in 1848, the Federal Constitution knew neither of the two- the popular initiative or the referendum. The invention of modern direct democracy, i.e. the right of citizens to participate in the political decision-making process and to have the final say, dates back to the French Revolution: After the deposition of the king in 1792, the philosopher and

revolutionary Marquis de Condorcet was elected ‘Rapporteur’ of a national constitutional convention. It is pretty evident that the basics of the governmentlike decentralization of power have been recognized through hard political struggle, including a violent Revolution in 1798, decades of rioting which culminated in a short civil war in 1847. However, inspite of all these wars, Switzerland was successful in maintaining a democratic system that gave total rights to its citizens to make decisions relating to the State.

Basic Facts & Features of Switzerland's Direct Democracy: The Swiss Constitution is pretty brief. It defines all areas that are subject to federal legislation concisely. If something is not explicitly mentioned, it is left to the legislation of the cantons (member states of the federation), thus it is essential to update the constitution from time to time to realize the changes in society and technology that demand for a uniform solution that is acceptable and applicable throughout the country. The Swiss constitution can be changed only if an overall majority of the electorate agrees in a referendum and if the electorate of a majority of the cantons agrees, too. The latter is a little more difficult sometimes because it means that the rather conservative electorate of the 25

small rural cantons must be convinced alongwith others.

Switzerland is a Confederation of 26 cantons.

The cantons do enjoy quite some autonomy.

Governments, parliaments, and courts on 3 levels:  Federal  Cantonal  Communal The federal government frames policies relating to defence, energy, national roads and external relations.

The cantons have their own government, laws, courts and constitution but must not contradict the federal constitution. Some of the areas in which they dictate their own policy include education, healthcare and cultural affairs.

The communes are mostly run by communal assemblies and have their own responsibilities including local planning, social welfare and schools.

FUN FACT: SWITZERLAND’s PRESIDENT ISN’T ELECTED BY THE PEOPLE

is elected by it and not the people.

Now, how does this actually function? Direct Democracy is the key to Switzerland's famous political stability and therefore all the laws framed in Switzerland are described in the below mentioned short process: 1. Firstly, a draft is prepared by experts in the central administration for framing any new legislation.

2. After framing the draft, it is then presented to a large number of people in a formalized manner and the poll includes opinions of Cantonal governments, political parties, as well as many non-governmental organizations and associations of the civil society. They may discuss and comment on the draft prepared and suggest some changes if any.

3. After the result of the same is obtained, it is presented to parliamentary commissions of both chambers of the federal parliament and is discussed in detail behind closed doors first and finally debated in public sessions of both chambers of parliament.

4. The electorate holds a veto- right on laws that is to say, if anybody is able to find 50,000 citizens signing a form demanding for a referendum within 3 months, a referendum must be held.

The rules for referendums on cantonal and communal level are pretty much the same as above.

PROS OF DIRECT DEMOCRACY: Total Government Transparency: Since all the discussions are held in public, it is rather needless to say that there exists a greater level of transparency in the functioning of the government.

In Switzerland, it is the parliament that elects the government and thus, even the president

Government Accountability: Since, the people’s wishes and will are kept well in front 26

of the government, it cannot say that it didn’t know what the people’s will was and thus becomes more accountable.

Greater Citizen Cooperation: The citizens feel that their decisions matter and are happy to comply with the laws as they are made with their consent and are not imposed on them.

CONS OF DIRECT DEMOCRACY: Indecisiveness of Government: As mentioned in the first leg of the article, Direct Democracy isn’t for countries with huge population and thus, if there is huge population, it would be difficult for the government to come to a consensus.

Public involvement: Public involvement drops after a certain period as making of laws isn’t a small process and thus the basic essence of including the will of majority is lost.

Repeated Tense Situations: Again, iff a country is big. Example: India. Then, everyday there would be some or the other dispute for which referendum would be filed and it would all lead to chaos rather than harmony.

CONCLUSION: The Swiss style of politics, like any other, has its own pros and cons but it doesn’t stop the country from growing (current GDP growth5%). Whatever works for whoever, we guess. .

27

USA: A Capitalist Economy or A Mixed Economy?

- Akanshi Bhargava United States of America is popularly considered a capitalist economy. A capitalist economy is the one in which most of the powers are vested with the wealthy entrepreneurs who maximize profits. Pure capitalism has long ago disappeared from the economy as the government has taken certain initiatives to intervene in social problems of the economy.

The economy can be described as the mixed economy. The government plays a key role along with the the private players.

USA is rich in natural resources. The mineral resources , the fertile land and the moderate climatic condition makes it a feasible place to grow corn. It is popularly known as the cornbelt. The USA has a steady growth of labour force which converts the natural resources into goods. The Asian immigrants who are willing to work find ample job opportunities in the country. This labour mobility has somewhere added to the growth of the country.

In the early 20th century , Americans believed in the specialization of labour and division of labour. This approach continues in some organizations but not in the high technology industries. These industries follow flexible and horizontal organisation structure.

Americans belief in personal freedom. They feared excessive government control. The concept of free market economy originates from there. They believe that an economy can

function more efficiently under private individuals than government. The price in the economy is determined by the forces of demand and supply.

There are some situations in which the role of the government is very crucial for example in the case of natural monopoly. It uses antitrust laws to break up those business combinations which turn out to be more powerful than the market forces. It launches various social security schemes to help the aged , helps the unemployed and regulates the private players from creating pollution beyond a point.

Despite USA being a mixed economy where the combination of minimum government intervention was well balanced with the dominance of private players faced a few major crisis in the country which impacted the economy for almost a decade each time.

Some of the crisis that befell on the economy of America are:  The Great Depression 1930  Savings and Loan Crisis 1989  2008 Financial Crisis The Great Depression 1930 started due to the stock market crash in October 1929 and was worsened in the Dust Bowl 1930. Dust Bowl was the worst drought in North America in 300 years. This was further accompanied by Federal Reserve’s contractionary monetary policy. This created deflation in the economy and prices fell by 27%. Gross Domestic Product fell by 29% 28

and unemployment rate increased to 24.9%.

The economic downturn was responded by programs like New Deal. New Deal was a set of programs offered by the then President Roosevelt to recover the economy from the dire crisis. Roosevelt closed the bank for four days declaring a bank holiday to stop the people from withdrawing money from the banks. The banks were reorganised and insolvent ones were closed. The increase in government spending and World War II ended the Great Depression but the debt to GDP ratio rose to 126%.

The 1980 Savings and Loan Crisis was due to the The Federal Home Loan Bank Act of 1932 which established the S&L System to encourage homeownership in working class.

S&L paid lower interest rates on deposits and offered lower mortgage rates.

The S&L were further insured . The year 1970 was followed by stagflation and slow economic growth which further devastated the S&Ls. Depositors found better deposit rate in other banks. The low mortgage rates was the only source of income left with the S&L. With due permission the S&L increased their deposit interest rate which further had eaten up their funds. The deposits were being used to invest in speculative real estate. The S&L kept on having bad debts and incurring losses.

This crisis pushed the economy into recession.

The 2008 Financial Crisis started showing its first sign when the housing prices came down.

It was assumed that the fall in price will bring down the housing price to a reasonable level as earlier the prices were overheated. Banks has given 100% loans to consumers for buying houses. The Community Investment Plan pushed the banks to make investments in subprime areas. The Gramm-Rudman Act allowed banks to engage in trading derivatives they sold to

investors. These mortgage backed securities needed home loans as collateral. They created an unsatiable demand for mortgage backed securities. The banks sold the original mortgage in tranches. This made it difficult to price the derivatives. They invested in risky assets was motivated by the thought that a credit default swaps protected them which was sold by an American International Group.

When the derivatives lost value the AIG did not have enough cash flows to honour all the swaps. Banks panicked , it led to the mutual distrust among the banks which led to the 2008 financial crisis.

The three financial crisis had a great impact on the economy so much so that it shook the economy upside down creating an environment of panic , mutual distrust, low confidence in the government.

29

Bolivia- One Leader For Life - Rahul Kumar G S

Bolivia started its journey of independence in the year 1825, but was not totally independent. Bolivia had to go through many coups by military and non-military forces.

The constitution has gone through several amendments, but the new one, embarks supreme power to the president of the country and lets him serve the nation for 5 years and could extend to another 5 years. The president is elected by the public through a general election. If no one has the majority, the national congress can decide among the topmost contenders and appoint one of them as the president of the country. The legislature comprises 36 senators and 130 deputies elected for tenure of 5 years. The judicial system includes a supreme court with strength of 12 members and a constitutional tribunal of 5 members who looks over the constitutional reforms and other legalities pertaining to the country.

One of the main issues faced by the citizens of Bolivia is lack of proper education and health service. Education is compulsory till the age of 13 years but secondary education is not compulsory.

The attendance tracking shows a mere feeble figure in the secondary segment. There are a lot of state funded hospitals but the number of doctors and nurses available in the rural areas are very fragile. Bolivia, from the beginning has been concentrating on its activities and exporting the natural resources such as silver,

tin to other countries. During the 1880s, there were mainly two political parties, the liberals and the conservatives.

Conservatives ruled around 20 years and their main focus was to expand the mining industry so, they were more focused on building railway tracks to connect the country to other nations around the world. Tin was one of the most mined commodities which were exported to other countries.

During the 1930s, due to the great depression and due to the prolonged effects of World War 1, the tin industry was in terrible crisis which hit the Bolivian tin production industry very hard and all of a sudden one was ready to invest in tin mining. This lead to a nose dip in the quality of tin produced by Bolivia.

During the 1936, military overthrew the ruling government and took charge on their hands. They took over the standard oil company. They tried to revolutionize Bolivia and march towards enhanced future but was not able to achieve their goals.

The 1950s saw the rise of revolutionary nationalist movement party (MNR), which was upholding the rights of peasants and mining labors. They were against the luxuries enjoyed by the tin mining lobby who enjoyed at the cost of keeping stringent working conditions to its labors. During 1952, Bolivia’s three large tin mining companies were nationalized by the government. New 30

labor laws were brought in, lands were distributed to peasants and Indian farmers.

Indian farmers who were not allowed to vote, were given the freedom to vote for the very first time in the history of Bolivia writing a path-breaking chapter in the history of Bolivia.

Hernando (HernĂĄn) Siles Zuazo came into power during 1956, where he saw that the country is terribly affected by inflation due and had to be curb immediately. He took a helping hand from the United States of America and introduced many economic schemes to control the inflation, which his country was suffering from, and was able to hitherto do so in an effective manner.

Hernando understood that the schemes introduced during the revolution could not be taken ahead, as it was taking a great toll on the economic stability of the nation, so he started cutting down on advanced social programs and social services extended by the government towards the society. He went to the extent of inviting American oil companies to enter Bolivia and set up their companies.

The military rule came back to Bolivia during 1964 under the regime of General RenĂŠ Barrientos, who was very conservative in nature towards his policy makings. He suppressed the organized labor communities and did not allow any opposition group to come together to stand against him. Che Guevara tried to put together some peasants and fight back against the military ruler but the Bolivian army was well trained by the United States of America and was heavily supported by the central intelligence agency (CIA) of America, which lead to the horrible defeat of the communist leader Che Guevara.

During the military regime, the leaders changed frequently, the civil rights of citizens were abolished and the labor syndicates were demolished. However, during the military rule, the economy had flourished and the

focus from tin mining activities which was the basic breadwinner for the society, had changed and now the rulers were more focused on the agriculture sector.

Currently, Bolivia is ruled by the left leaned President Evo Morales, who has been serving the post of the president for past several years and has changed limits attached to the presidentship several times. This is his 12th consecutive year as the president of Bolivia.

Mr. Morales has been accused of being corrupt, giving large government contracts to a Chinese construction company but, he has completely denied any connection with the case like any political figure would do, but the question of the hour is not whether he is corrupt or not, it is whether he is willing to give the citizen of Bolivia the right to elect anyone other than him for the post of president.

As a citizen of Bolivia, an individual must have the right to vote for a new leader of his or her choice, but in contrast, are being deprived of those basic rights. When a person clinches to power, it does not give out right signals to the society and the people he is serving. This very practice of letting go of power, is against the leftist ideology of power concentration to a single person. Some of the citizens are also afraid to vote for a leader who has not proved his mettle and would want to stick to the tried and tested leader

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World Focus: Country Crisis in 2018 - Kartik Bhardwaj The following list gives the illustration of all the countries that went through some kind of conflict in 2018, be it social, political or economic that led to a crisis.

North Korea North Korea’s nuclear missile testing make the threat of war on the Korean peninsula. As most of us know that US and other nations want to put a halt to the ongoing improvements of the nuclear deterrents that North Korea is working upon.

Pyongyang’s sixth nuclear test in September 2017 with the increasing range of their missiles demonstrate their determination to advance its nuclear program and intercontinental strike capability.

Kim Jong Un’s dedication towards nuclear arms is driven partly by his fear that without such deterrence he risks being deposed by outside powers and partly by perceived threats inside North Korea i.e. the elite rivalries, the tightly managed but still unpredictable impact of economic reform, and his difficulty in controlling information flow — including from foreign media channels.

US is using a maximum pressure strategy on north Korea for them to stop their advancements in nuclear weapons as they believe that king john un is not someone who should possess that kind of power.

The Rohingya crisis: Myanmar and Bangladesh Rohingya crisis entered a dangerous phase when in August an attack led by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), a militant group of Myanmar’s , Rakhine state targeted the long mistreated Muslim Rohingya community with a brutal and indiscriminate attack. The assault led to a major refugee exodus making 6, 55,000 Rohingya Muslims fleeing to Bangladesh. The government has restricted any humanitarian aid to the area.

Pressure from the UN Security Council and the western governments is getting critical.

The focus is on getting these refuges the right to return in a voluntary, safe and dignified manner. In reality, however the Rohingya won’t return back unless their government restores security for all communities, grant them freedom of movement and access to all services and rights and allow humanitarian agencies unfettered access.

While publicly, Bangladesh is trying to persuade the Myanmar government to take back the immigrants, privately it also acknowledges the hopelessness of that endeavour. The refuges presence also can be used to stoke the communal conflict or aggravate political divisions ahead of elections expected to occur in late 2018.

Whatever may be the outcome of this, it can huge friction between the Buddhist and 32

Muslim population Bangladesh.

of

Myanmar

and

Syria After seven years of devastation, finally President Bashar-Al Assad has an upper hand, thanks to the Iranian and the Russian army.

But the fighting is yet not over. Syria is the arena for the rivalry between Iran and its enemies. In Syria and Iraq, Islamic states remnants have retreated into the desert to await new opportunities. One of the gravest immediate dangers is however is the possibility of an offensive by the Assad regime in Syria’s northwest where rebel held areas are home to some 2 million Syrians and into which Turkey has deployed military forces. A regime offensive I the northwest could provoke massive destruction and displacement.

Ukraine The conflict in eastern Ukraine has claimed over 10,000 lives and is going towards a grave humanitarian crisis. While is grows worst, relations between Russia and the west are doubtful on improving. In other areas of Ukraine, mounting anger at corruption created new challenges. President Petro Poroshenko’s government has not considered the systemic corruption at the root of many of the country’s problems.

Many Ukrainians are losing faith in law, institutions and elites.

Venezuela Venezuela took an another turn worse than 2017, when as president Nicolas Maduro’s government led the country further into the ground while strengthening its political grip.

But with the economy in free fall, Maduro faces tough challenges. The country’s is contracting.

In late November, Venezuela defaulted in its

international debt. Sanctions will make debt restructuring nearly impossible. Even the increasing Russian support is not going to suffice, on the other hand china is looking forward to bailing Maduro out.

A default could provoke the seizure of Venezuelan assets abroad, affecting the oil trade that accounts for 95 percent of the country’s export earnings.

While opposition politicians look for the presidential vote, due by late 2018, as an opportunity for foreign engagement, the government is dicey in permitting a credible vote. It might call for an early poll and will catch their opponents unprepared and deploy the same tactics that it used to win the local and the regional elections. If opposition seems to recover, Maduro might seek to avoid elections by claiming that external threats warrant a state of emergency.

Meanwhile, the weak Venezuelan state will continue to provide a haven for criminals and an opportunity for money laundering, drug trafficking and people smuggling, further provoking Venezuela’s neighbours. Also the hyperinflation in Venezuela was reported to be 1 million percent in July. Prices of commodities went to 34-fold times in a matter of months. People used to go the markets with money in their pockets and they brought back goods in a basket. Now the situation is that they take money in a basket and they are getting back with goods in their pockets.

Sustained international and domestic is required to push the government towards a credible presidential elections.

Zimbabwe No cash, No bread, No KFC. As the country’s fragile currency is losing its value at an alarming rate, price soar, local and foreign businesses close their door and people are wondering if their savings will be wiped out once again, as they were during the 33

collapse and hyperinflation that tore through the country a decade ago.

“Every minute, every hour, every day the prices are changing”, said a whole seller who didn’t want to reveal his name.

While supermarkets have been rationing some items and mining companies are complaining of lack of access to foreign exchange reserves.

KFC has closed all its local outlets citing “these difficult times”.

Leading fast food chains have shut their door to people because of the currency crunch in Zimbabwe.

The crisis even led to a deficit of fuel which led to people standing in long queues at gas stations.

People used to go the markets with money in their pockets and they brought back goods in a basket. Now the situation is that they take money in a basket and they are getting back with goods in their pockets.

The current government is trying to turn to a new leaf and believes that the turnaround will be quick.

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External Submission

Saudi Arabia- Economic And Financial Policies - Chandrayee Mukherjee In today’s world when every country is fighting to achieve best place in terms of economy and finances, we have come across the country which has oil-based economy along with various governmental activities of their economy. “The country which is more developed shows the less developed country the face of its near future” says Karl Marx.

Regarding the country, we can say it possess about 16% of the world’s petroleum reserves, ranks largest exporter of petroleum, and plays a leading role in OPEC. The petroleum sector accounts for only 87% of the budget revenues, 42% of earnings, and 90% of export earnings.

Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest economy in the middle east and the richest Arab country. The policy of large-scale public work jobs which are undertaken by the government, along with the foreign direct investment and soundness of the banking and financial systems have enabled the country to become the largest exporter of oil in the world.

In 2017, the economy of the country has slowed down due to low oil prices and production as the country lowered its oil output under OPEC agreements. The kingdom was able to narrow its budget deficit from 17.2% to 8.3%, by tapping its issuing bonds and foreign reserves. The deficit is expected to be financed by means of asset draw downs and international borrowing and hence GDP by 2022 will drop down by 1%.The kingdom

has already reduced subsidies over water, electricity and petroleum products and introduced value added tax on their products.

Thus it had a negative impact on inflation which rose up to 3%.The Saudi economy is trying to recover from its oil prices and the output are expected to rise this year. The country has already revised Saudi GDP growth forecast from 1.1% to 1.6% in 2018.

On the other hand the government spending tends to increase and VAT has been reduced.

Apart from the economic point of view, Saudi Arabia has faced some political turmoil both at domestic and international level.

Mohammad Bin Salman has been appointed as a crown prince in June2017 following King Salman’s decision to remove Mohammad Bin Nayef from the decision. In 2017, Mohammad Bin Salman has been appointed and took anticorruption campaign in November 2017.He was particularly involved in diplomatic campaign with Lebanon, Qatar, and Iran.

Hence although these are the major economic conditions still there but there are main sectors of the industry where the country invests.

The agriculture in the country has accounted for 2.6% in the GDP and employs nearly 5% of the active population. It is not at all a productive sector as compared to large state investments which is benefitted. Because of the geographical and climatic constraints, it has imported most of the agricultural and 36

food products. Water scarcity has been the major threat to the country. The industrial sector has gone till 44.2% of GDP mainly dominated by oil drilling and government revenues. Lastly the services represented 53.2% of GDP. Hence in this way the country had contributed to the economic factors.

There are other financial factors which are present.

The Ministry of Finance is the controlling factor for controlling the finance of the country. The Ministry owns the Istidima Holding Company, which on 23rd april 2018 had received 36.2% stake of Saudi Bin Laden Group owned by Bakr Bin Laden and brothers Saleh.

The strategic position of Saudi Arabia, close to north-eastern Africa, and West Asia, has been developed giving the country great potential in water, air and land transport.

Some of the given sectors of the country has been developed in the recent days. The country’s oil sector is the most important revenue generating sector including Oil and Gas sector which has 45%of country’s GDP and 60% of revenue and 90%of exports. The majority of oil production and is also developed in country’s export and import infrastructure. It has the world’s export and import refineries and the infrastructure is developed. The service sector has been dramatically changed in the second half of the country and hence cheap labour of semiskilled and skilled workers are there. The country’s legal healthcare and hospitality sector has been developed, represents more than 50% of the economy. The approximate percentage of employees more than 30% of the huge population has been working under government sector.

Rapid population growth has been also the great advantage for the people. The Saudi Arabian Monetary Policy committee (SAMA) has been impetus in the world. The SAMA

currency has floated down to 50% as the value of USA currency fell and hence the banking sector has developed low problems due to loans. Islamic Banking has been important as interest payment to loans are important factors. Issuance of corporate bonds has been increased and these systems are called “SUKUK”.

The Saudi stock exchange has reported 156 public companies in their list and regulated by capital market authority or CMA. The equity markets in TADAWUL stock exchanges rose up to 17% from the previous. Along with it, the food production is also an important part so as the agriculture. Water is the main challenge over the ages, and the country has been third largest in the production of dates, tomatoes, and wheat. The dates production is also largely developed and half a billion of the population is involved in the sector. The manufacturing sector of the country is developed under Saudi Arabia Industrial Corporation(sabic) since 1970. The country’s manufacturing started from petroleum and expanded into metal sector. It has also developed its petrochemical and fertilizers.

Along with this, the petrochemical industry has developed 5% in GDP growth. Along with this, the tourism sector of the country has developed and contributed to country’s GDP. Apart from this, the country has developed in military expenditure and 7th largest in the world. Informal Sector of the country has developed when the foreigners came to the country who are the servants of the country and are not properly registered. Employment, labour and Saudization has developed in the country.

Thus including its exports and imports the country has grown both financially and economically and hence it has led to the overall development and hence argument of Left Vs Right holds good.

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Annual Team Photograph 2017-2020

FINANCIAL TRIVIA The Trump administration on the 28th of January 2019 sanctioned Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, ratcheting up pressure on socialist President Nicolas Maduro to cede power to the U.S.-backed opposition in the oil-rich nation in South America.

The action means Maduro’s embattled government would lose access to one of its most important sources of income and foreign currency along with around $7 billion in assets of the state-owned company, Petroleos De Venezuela S.A.

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