Word: parliament
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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They have to. In 2005, Bhutan's fourth King, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, announced that he would abdicate in favor of his son and that the country, after nearly a century of mostly benign royal rule, would become a constitutional monarchy with a popularly elected parliament. Most Bhutanese were horrified, fearing that democracy could lead to instability, as it had in neighbors such as Nepal and Bangladesh. But the King insisted, explaining that no nation should be in the hands of one person and that change should happen while the country was still peaceful and prosperity was growing...
...palace of the parliament in Bucharest, they like to say in Romania, is the second largest building in the world, trumped only by the Pentagon. It will need all its space when NATO leaders start their summit there on April 2. Heads of government of most of the 26 states that make up the world's largest military alliance will show up, as well as guests such as Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, whose nations are deploying troops alongside NATO allies in Afghanistan and other far-flung places...
Sadr then morphed from a militia leader to a political force in Iraq's parliament, controlling the second-largest bloc of MPs in the Shi'ite alliance that brought Maliki to power. And his militia regrouped, acquiring arms, training and a modicum of discipline with help from Iran and Lebanon's Hizballah. By the end of 2005, the Mahdi Army had grown into a formidable force. Allawi's political fortunes, meanwhile, had faded. Religious Shi'ites never forgave him for attacking the militias, and secular Iraqis accused him of leaving the job unfinished; in two general elections, he was barely...
...Maliki is hoping that the U.S. military's successes against al-Qaeda have also helped Shi'ites feel more secure - and less dependent on the Mahdi Army's protection. He's betting, too, that he has enough support in parliament to risk Sadr's wrath, counting on Kurdish parties to keep his government afloat in the event Sadr's loyalists desert the coalition. The Prime Minister has also been careful to give himself some political wiggle room. His spokesman has said the operation in Basra is not directed at the Mahdi Army, but against unspecified "armed gangs." This allows Maliki...
...leaders are moving in that direction. "Since 9/11 all decisions were made by one man," former Prime Minister Sharif told reporters after a meeting with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte on Tuesday. "Now the situation has changed, a truly representative parliament has come into being. Every decision will be presented before the parliament, [and] they will review Musharraf's policy in the last six years," he said, according to Agence-France Presse. Both Sharif and Zardari have suggested negotiating with some of the militants in order to come to a more peaceful resolution of the problem, without resorting...