How my Old Impressions of America(ns) Have Changed

*Article published on Wednesday, April 15th, 2015 on the blog of the Visiting Student Program of the University of Arkansas

       My perception of the United States and its people have definitely changed since I got involved in the University of Arkansas community. In this sense, my views have changed concerning two main aspects: the “rich America” and the discrimination against immigrants. Moreover, dear readers, I would like you to know that I will be very glad if I change your perspective simultaneously as you read this brief article.

       First and foremost, as almost everyone knows, the U.S. is really a developed country -economically speaking- because it has one of the largest economies in the world. In regard to this, one generally associates America with luxury material possessions and rich people, among other stereotypes. However, now that I am living here, I have learned that not everything is like in the movies for a lot of people (fun, money, well-being, and the like). For instance, there are many who must survive with difficulties in their day-to-day lives, such as homelessness, unemployment, poverty, hunger, illiteracy, and so forth.

No worries! Let’s talk good news! It turns out that many local organizations, in conjunction with the non-profit “The Pack Shack,” brought nutritious ingredients to the Arkansas Union in order for us to pack them and help fight hunger in Northwest Arkansas. The idea was to pack 17,000 meals and give them to our neighbors in need. While having conversations with the organizers, faculty members, and fellow students, I learned that 27% of children in Northwest Arkansas are at risk of going to bed hungry tonight. Additionally, this experience taught me that through generosity and volunteering we can promote a problem-solving community, and combat poverty in the most vulnerable parts of the world, regardless if it comes to a developing or developed country. On this occasion the best part of helping others was receiving the satisfaction that many more will go to bed with food in their stomachs, without sadness, and with more energy to face their next day.

       Secondly, the other viewpoint that has undergone a considerable change is the one regarding American discrimination against foreigners. I used to think that discrimination against Latinos and other ethnicities was very common in America, especially in the South. Nevertheless, now that I live here, I am finding that this is not completely true. Fortunately, the American society is learning about immigration and inclusivity little by little. The more we educate ourselves about the importance of learning from diversity, the more we welcome people regardless of their origin. 

       Finally, I would like to say that I was very lucky to be in the U.S. to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas, because two friends of mine invited me to go to their houses for such traditions. I had the opportunity to visit the town of Hope in Southern Arkansas and Dallas, Texas. Contrary to what I used to believe, Southerners are known for their hospitality, friendliness, and their interest in learning about diversity. For example, my friends’ families hosted me with a great desire to share cultures and values. Living, eating, shopping, playing board games, and laughing with them made me feel at home and not simply a stranger. In addition, I felt welcomed at the beginning of April when I had Easter lunch at the Fenderson's, a very open-hearted family that lives in Fayetteville, very close to the campus. 

       To conclude, I would say that our perspectives of what surrounds us changes frequently, and we see the realities around us differently every day depending on what we want to see. In my case, in particular, I have overcome my fears of change, and now I see the United States and its people with very different eyes. Also, as I have said, the UofA has helped me to recognize the importance of diversity, sense of community, and inclusivity toward those who want to have a better life. No matter if we are abroad or at home, we should always seek changes in order for everybody to have the basics to be happy, and not like in the movies, in which only some are portrayed with a smile in their faces.

The Sudanese Presidential Election

     Because of the fact that various independence movements have taken place in Africa recently, when talking about Sudanese politics, one has to keep in mind that in reality there are two countries whose name is “Sudan.” In this case, this brief election analysis will focus not on “South Sudan,” but on “Sudan” properly, which is located in the North, but its official name does not include that detail. In addition, while limiting the framework of this essay, it is important to say that even though there is a general election scheduled tentatively for this Thursday, April 2nd, the presidential process will be the main topic.

     The fact that this country has a multi-party electoral system means that several parties might run for office, but only the one that gets the majority of popular votes will take official position. Additionally, unlike previous analyses in which parliamentary elections have been described, this case study is related to a presidential system, which means that the Congress and Presidential branches are separated. In other words, this is a political system in which executive and legislative power are allocated separately. Due to the fact that there are independent branches of government, this kind of authority is well-known academically like “divided government.” Also, contrary to parliamentary systems, the head of the government selects directly his or her own cabinet in presidential systems. As a result, this brings many consequences in terms of policy-making processes.

     In regard with the primary political players that are related with this election in particular, it goes without saying that although there are fifteen candidates running for presidency, just Omer Hassan al-Bashir, who is the current president of Sudan, and who has been governing this country since the 1989 coup, has real possibilities. Even though he had said that he was not going to seek re-election after his 2010 presidential campaign, it is a fact that the odds that he wins again are high. His political organization, the country's ruling National Congress Party, is competing against other parties that have low probabilities of winning, such as The Popular Congress Party and the Democratic Unionist Party. Moreover, only “six of the presidential candidates are running on their party ticket while all the others are running as independents” (Naib, 2015). Also, according to reports given by the National Elections Commission, eight international groups want to supervise this electoral process as well as over 170 more local organizations.

     Furthermore, the most evident issue under debate in this specific election is undoubtedly the fears of an electoral boycott. Throughout history Sudan has been characterized by its political instability. Also, as many other African countries, Sudan is likely to undergo armed conflict close to political processes. For instance, before its independence, there was a civil war between South Sudan and Sudan that resulted in millions of deaths. In this case, in particular, there is a call for a boycott by the political opposition. To put it differently, the National Consensus Forces launched a campaign for a poll boycott under the slogan “Erhal”, which means in English “leave.” This opposition alliance states that citizens “have the right to boycott as they have the right to vote.” (Naib, 2015). In spite of these electoral threats, the registration process went smoothly.

     To sum up, even though this month Sudanese people will attend polls to decide who their next president will be, it seems like the same person that has been governing during almost the last 26 years is going to keep the power for at least one more term. The general elections are near and all the advertisements have been promoting the same candidate and his party, who is Omar al-Bashir, of the National Congress Party. Meanwhile, the hopelessness regarding changes among the peoples of Sudan is present.

Israel: General Election in The Knesset

        The Middle East region is characterized by its complexity. That is why in order to better understand its main events, it is necessary to break down this area not only by geographical criteria, but also by cultural, economic, and political aspects. In this sense, this brief analysis will limit its framework to Israel, in particular, in the political arena.

     The Knesset, the Israeli congress, was supposed to hold national elections in 2017; however, the parliament was dissolved by most of its members and an early election was scheduled for this Tuesday, March 17th. In other words, Israel carried out a parliamentary dissolution, which can be defined as the termination of a legislature’s term. Following the dissolution will be a general election in which all members of the parliament must stand for office. A general election refers to a national election in which all seats in the legislature are contested. Therefore, a prime minister, who is the head of both the majority party or coalition, and the head of the executive branch in a parliamentary system, will be elected as well -- not through popular vote, but through a coalition building in the congress.

      After having generally introduced the topic of this article, it is important to outline the principal components which will make up the report: a description of the type of the electoral system Israel has, the primary contenders playing in this legislative election, and some of the issues the next government is going to face when taking office.

        To begin, unlike bicameral parliaments, such as used in the United States, in which the legislature is made up by a lower and an upper chamber, Israel’s is unicameral. In addition, as a parliamentary democracy, the Israeli government --the head of state-- depends on a legislative majority for its survival. Nevertheless, this task is not so straightforward as it might seem. The fact that this country has a proportional representation and a multi-party electoral system means that several parties might enter the Knesset, but only the largest ones will decide who forms the government. The odds are low for a majority government to be elected, in which the chief political executive is made up of a single party that controls a majority of the seats. There is a high likelihood of a coalition government, in which the head of the congress is formed by various parties that collectively reach a minimum winning coalition, and as a result hold legislative majority.

       To gain further perspective on Israel’s political landscape, this report must look at the contenders who have important roles in this particular election. For example, according to recent polls published on Haaretz (2015), although there are twelve leaders of different parties who have a real chance to win a considerable quantity of the 120 seats, just seven are getting a notable role: Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home), Ayman Odeh (Joint List of Hadash and Arab factions), Moshe Kahlon (Kulanu), Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid), Tzipi Livni (Hatnua), Yitzhak Herzog (Labour Party), and Benjamin Netanyahu (Likud). Nonetheless, only the last three candidates can potentially become prime minister (Allen, C., Sanz, R., & Furst, D., 2015). To illustrate, Mr. Netanyahu is the present-day prime minister of Israel, who “is currently running for his fourth term, and his third consecutive one” (Kordova, 2015). Also important is Mr. Herzog, who is the main rival of Mr. Netanyahu, and who is “currently leader of the opposition in parliament and co-leader of the centre-left Zionist Union electoral alliance” (BBC News Middle East, 2015b). This party is made up by both the Labour Party and Hatnua, which is the political group represented by Mrs. Livni --Netanyahu's former justice minister.

       Ultimately, both internal and external issues are waiting for the next prime minister of Israel. On one side, in regard with the international community, Israel should enhance its diplomatic performance on the world stage. In particular, this country needs to repair relations with the United States, solve problems with Palestine, and confront security conflicts regarding Iran. Otherwise, the international criticism toward Israel will continue. On the other side, on the national level, some challenges of government will be the fast-growing social inequality and the rising cost of living, which has been portrayed by high-price housing and food. The last issue seems to be the most important in the context of this election, but the economy is not a top priority for some candidates.

       In brief, the bottom line is clear: even though it is more than likely that the seven political parties mentioned above will be over the required electoral threshold (a mandated minimum share of the vote that a party must win in order to be eligible for representation in the form of seats), neither the Zionist Union (an alliance between the Labor Party and Hatnua), nor Mr. Netanyahu’s Likud will have enough seats to choose the next prime minister. This fact will trigger certain effects in terms of electoral strategies in the Knesset. For example, generally speaking, prime ministers have unilateral authority to distribute portfolios as they see fit. Yet this probably will not be the case in Israel after this election day, because the cabinet will not be allocated among legislators of the same party. Consequently, the policy area for which every cabinet minister is going to be responsible will be a crucial point in the next parliamentary bargaining. Furthermore, one has to keep in mind that the management of public policies is not simply an issue under debate in an electoral process; citizens really want problem-solving politics.

Update of the Regulations of the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica (2015)

Actualización 2015 del Reglamento de la Asamblea Legislativa de la República de Costa Rica

Parliamentary Election in Lesotho

       The majority of presidential systems in the world are concentrated in the Western Hemisphere. That is why citizens who live in the Americas are not likely to be familiar with parliamentary systems, such as Lesotho’s. Additionally, being aware of what is happening in the politics of other continents can turn out to be difficult due to the lack of access to information and geographical distance as well as other reasons. To illustrate, many people even do not associate “Lesotho” with the little country that is in Africa, and is surrounded by South Africa. Moreover, when it comes to Lesotho’s political issues, one should know that two main events took place in 2014: Prime Minister Thabane accused the military of trying to overthrow him, and then, early elections were scheduled for Saturday, February 28th, 2015 to resolve tensions after the attempted coup (BBC News Africa , 2015).

       Having pointed out the political context that Lesotho is undergoing at the beginning of this year, it is especially important to explain this electoral scenario through the three following aspects: a brief description of Lesotho’s electoral system, one of the most significant social issues that Lesotho is experiencing at this time, and the primary contenders who are participating in this election in particular.

       Firstly, there are some political science concepts that one should take into account concerning this election analysis. For instance, in order to understand the Lesotho’s electoral system it is important to consider that this African country, as mentioned above, has a parliamentary system, which is a type of democracy in which the government -the head of state- depends on a legislative majority for its survival. Also, when talking about a general election occurring in Lesotho, where there is a considerable possibility of a coalition government, this document is making reference to a national election in which all seats in the legislature are contested. Besides that, it is likely that a government is formed by two or more parties that collectively hold legislative majority. Furthermore, Lesotho has both First-Past-The-Post and Proportional Representation. This is, “eighty seats will be allocated based on constituency votes (one candidate for each constituency) and forty seats will be allocated to reflect the share of the national vote” (BBC News Africa , 2015).

    Secondly, the most notorious issue under debate in this specific election is undoubtedly the fears of post-election violence. Throughout history elections have often been followed by violence and instability in Lesotho. In this case, in particular, one can consider that because of the fact that none of the parties is likely to get enough votes to govern alone, violent unrest can show up. That is why another important character, the army, “has promised to keep soldiers in the barracks on polling day to allay fears of violence, but questions remain as to what will happen after the publication of results” (SAPA, 2015).

       Finally, the third aspect is the political players and the interest groups involved in the election. On one hand, it is essential to say that even though there are 23 political parties competing for this parliamentary election, only three of those organizations are recognized as possible winners: Mr. Thabane's All Basotho Convention (ABC), Mr. Metsing's Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD), and Mr. Mosisili's Democratic Congress (DC) (BBC News Africa , 2015). On the other hand, there are certain political figures who are playing a crucial role individually. For instance, South Africa's deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa has been in charge of mediating among the political parties following an attempted coup last year. The United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon has been supervising the preview of these elections in Lesotho as well (Oderson, 2015).

       To conclude, after having checked briefly what is happening currently in the political arena in Lesotho, it is notable how the existence of a coup d’etat (the use of force to remove a sitting government and replace it with another one outside the parameters of the law) might attract the participation of other political players, not only in the national level, as in the case of armies, but also in the international community, as in the case of the United Nations. Even more important, these interesting events (coups d'etat) might trigger other political processes, such as early elections, in order for a certain country to recover its political stability.

The Slovakian Referendum

       Among all the countries that belong to the European Union, the Slovak Republic is one of the few territories whose constitution still restricts some civil rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) groups. Consequently, a referendum has been scheduled by the Slovakian President Andrej Kisha in order to decide if the rights mentioned above should be yielded or not (Janicek, 2015). In this sense, it is crucial to analyze this political phenomenon through three fundamental aspects: what a referendum theoretically is, a brief description of what the social issue of same-sex marriage is, and the primary contenders involved in the political scenario.

       First of all, in terms of political concepts, one should know that the word “referendum” means a policy proposal drafted by electoral officials and put to a vote by the electorate. Second of all, it is important to recall that the major issue exposed in this brief analysis is the recognition or not of the same-sex partnership in Slovakia. Because of this, the reading of the Constitution of the Slovak Republic is crucial. For instance, according to this document, marriage is defined exclusively as a union between a man and a woman (The National Council of the Slovak Republic, 1992). As a result, it brings many other effects concerning civil rights for same-sex couples. That is why the referendum that is going to take place on Saturday, February 7th will ask voters three questions: Do you agree that only a bond between one man and one woman can be called marriage? Do you agree that same-sex couples or groups should not be allowed to adopt and raise children? Do you agree that schools cannot require children to participate in education pertaining to sexual behavior or euthanasia if their parents don’t agree? (The Economist, 2015).

       Finally, the third aspect in regard to this analysis is the political players and the interest groups that are lobbying before the referendum occurs. On the one side, there are Slovakia's anti-gay activists, who are represented basically by the Catholic Church, the Alliance for Family (ARZ), and over 100 more organizations. Under the current circumstances, one can take into consideration that the Catholic Church is the most influential player due to the fact that 63% of Slovaks consider themselves members of the Church; therefore, there is an enormous opportunity to mobilize voters to restrict the family rights of the LGBT community. On the other side, there are human rights activists who are encouraging people not to vote at all, because the “turnout in the ballot must be more than 50 percent” (Janicek, 2015). To illustrate, one of Amnesty International’s researchers on Slovakia, Barbora Cernusakova, said, “This referendum could lead to a significant step back for Slovakia. If the public says yes to these questions and they’re adopted into law, Slovakia bolsters homophobic discrimination and undermines sexuality education.” In addition, she said that this ban on same-sex adoption of children might violate the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

      In conclusion, it goes without saying that both the electoral system and the referendum topic itself play very meaningful roles in the Slovakian politics currently. Undoubtedly, these kinds of electoral processes bring a great impact on the social life regarding democratic aspects, civil rights, and so forth.