Department of History and Political Science
POLS 2043 Spring 2009 Semester
Introduction to Comparative Zap # 2608
Politics TR 2:30-3:45
Dr. Ken Hicks PH Room 312
Study Guide #2
Overview
The first examination covers the material from Chapters 7-10 of the Sodaro text, and any current events
material discussed in class. The examination is worth 100 points, which .166 % of students’ overall grade.
The examination is organized into three sections: an objective section comprised of multiple-choice
questions, a concept identification section, and a take-home essay component. The objective section is
worth 25 points, and the concept identification section is worth 35 points. The take-home examination is
worth 40 points.
Chapter Outlines
1. Chapter 7. Democracy: What is it?
a. The Temple of Democracy
i. Step 1. Democratic Values
ii. Step 2. The Rule of Law
iii. Minimum and maximum forms of democracy
iv. Pillar 1. Popular Sovereignty
b. Techno-Democracy
i. Pillar II. Rights and Liberties
ii. Pillar III. Economic Well-Being
iii. Dilemmas of Democracy
c. Hypothesis-Testing Exercise: Consociational Democracy
i. Is Egypt Democratizing?
2. Chapter 8. Democracy: How Does it Work? State Institutions and Electoral Systems
a. State Institutions
i. Presidentialism
ii. Parliamentary Government
iii. Presidential-Parliamentary Democracies
iv. Comparisons
b. Electoral Systems
i. Electing a President
ii. Legislative Elections
c. How Anomalies Can Occur in the SMD System
d. Hypothesis-Testing Excerise: Do PR Systems Have Higher Turnout than Plurality
Systems?
3. Chapter 9. Democracy: What Does it Take? Ten Conditions
a. Ten Conditions for Democracy
i. Elites committed to democracy
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ii. State institutions
iii. National unity
iv. National wealth
v. Private enterprise
vi. A middle class
vii. Support of the disadvantaged for democracy
viii. Citizen participation, civil society, and a democratic political culture
ix. Education and freedom of information
x. A favorable international environment
b. Patterns of Democratization
4. Chapter 10. Conditions for Democracy in Afghanistan and Iraq
a. Afghanistan
i. The monarchy
ii. The Soviet invasion
iii. Elites committed to democracy
iv. State institutions
v. National unity
vi. National wealth, private enterprise, and a middle class
vii. Citizen participation, civil society, and a democratic political culture
viii. Education and freedom of information
ix. A favorable international environment
b. Iraq
i. British influence
ii. Saddam Hussein
iii. Elites committed to democracy
iv. State institutions
v. National unity
vi. National wealth
vii. Private enterprise
viii. The middle class
ix. Support of the disadvantaged for democracy
x. Citizen participation, civil society, and political culture
xi. Education and freedom of information
xii. A favorable international environment
Multiple-Choice Questions
Section One of the examination tests students factual knowledge of the assigned material. Objective
questioning is, to say the least, a “blunt instrument” for identifying the depth of students’ knowledge of any
subject matter; however, performance on objective sections is a powerful predictor of overall student
performance. Often, a poor performance on a multiple-choice section will reveal gaps in student
preparation or study habits. Consequently, I routinely include objective sections in my 1000 and 2000-level
courses.
This section will be comprised of 25 five-item multiple-choice questions, each worth one point. Students
will complete this section of the examination on a Scantron sheet with a #2 lead pencil. The questions will
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be drawn directly from question universes that can be found on the instructor’s website. The instructor
reserves the right to rephrase the question, and to change the order of options.
Multiple-choice questions are of relatively limited utility from a pedagogical standpoint. However, multiple-
choice formats do allow instructors to evaluate students’ grasp of concepts, historical context, and key
events, and hence are often a useful component of examinations.
The universes to the multiple-choice questions can be found on the instructor website. They are
hyperlinked by chapter in the course schedule.
Sample Question
Key Concepts
Section Two of the examination requires students to accurately define and explain the significance of a
universe of concepts. Students should note that this is a two-part exercise, and that effective definition is
only part of the requirement; students must also explain how the concepts contribute to the understanding
of comparative politics.
The universe of concepts is drawn from the key terms at the end of some chapters, and other concepts that
are central to that particular chapter.
Anticipated Elections, C8 Shah, Zahir, C10
Baath Party, C10 Hurdle (Threshold) Requirements, C8
Checks and Balances, C8 Hussein, Saddam, C10
Civil Society, C9 Inclusion, C7
Coalition Government, C8 Iran-Iraq War, C10
Collective Goods, C10 King Faisal, C10
Consociational Democracy, C7 Logic of Collective Action, C10
Consolidation, C9 Loya Jirga, C10
De-Baathification, C10 “MacMahon Line”, C10
Democratization from Above, C9 al-Maliki, Jawad, C10
Direct Democracy, C7 Najibullah, Mohammed, C10
Equality of Condition, C7 “No bourgeois, no democracy”, C9
Equality of Outcome, C7 Paced Transition, C9
Equity, C7 Pan-Arabism, C10
Governmental Instability, C8 Parliamentary Government, C8
“Great Game, The” C10 Party Discipline, C8
Hung Parliament, C8 Persian Gulf War, C10
Popular Sovereignty, C7 Single-Member District/Plurality Method, C8
Polyarchy, C7 Single-Party Majoritarian Government, C8
Presidentialism, C8 al-Sistani, Ali Husseini (Grand Ayatollah), C10
Presidential-Parliamentary Democracies, C8 Snap Elections, C8
Proportional Representation, C8 Social Capital, C9
Qaeda, al, C10 Taliban, C10
Revolution from Below, C9 Techno-Democracy, C7
Rule of Law, C7 “Twelver” School of Islam, C10
al-Sadr, Muqtada, C10 “Velvet Divorce”, C9
Security Council Resolution 1441, C10 “Velvet Revolution”, C9
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Weimar Germany, C7
al-Zarqawi, Abu Musab, C10
Discussion and Essay Questions
Classes are organized around Socratic questions that are intended to facilitate an active and open dialogue
between the instructor and the students. The following questions offer insight into the structure of class
discussions, and in some instances will offer significant insight into essay topics for the take-home portion
of examinations.
Chapter 7/ Democracy: What is it?
1. Is “liberalism” synonymous with “democracy”? Why or why not?
2. What is democracy? How does Sodaro use the metaphor of a temple to provide a fuller
understanding of complexity of democratic governance and the conditions that are necessary for
sustaining a democratic society?
3. What are the principal democratic values necessary for democracy? Why does Sodaro consider
inclusion to be a key democratic value?
4. What are the limits of tolerance in a democratic community? If a group of people in society reject
the idea of democracy, then should that society nonetheless include them in democratic
deliberations? Why or why not?
5. Sodaro considers the example of Estonia and Latvia as countries who explicitly rejected the
inclusion of Russians in their political processes. What explains these Baltic countries’
unwillingness to include an ethnic group whose members were pretty thoroughly acculturated?
6. How important is equality for a society to be democratic? How does inequality threaten to
undermine democracy? What role should the state play in securing a sufficient degree of equality
for democracy to work?
7. What role does the rule of law play in democracy? Is rule of law necessary for a democratic
society? Given allegations that the rule of law eroded during the years of Bush administration’s war
on terror, what is necessary for preserving the rule of law?
8. Sodaro argues that there are minimum and maximum variants of democracy. Looking at the
different “Pillars of Democracy,” what are the minimum and maximum expressions of democratic
governance for each of the following:
Popular Sovereignty
Rights and Liberties
Economic Well-Being
9. Looking at the “Techno-Democracy” section on p. 181, what is the likelihood that in the
foreseeable future we will see a blending of representative and plebiscitary democracy described in
this section? Would this development be a good or bad thing?
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10. What are some of the central “dilemmas of democracy” considered by Sodaro on pp. 186-188?
What do these dilemmas suggest about democracy?
11. Based on the “Hypothesis-Testing Exercise” on Consociational Democracy, what explains the
relative success of the Netherlands? Can the Netherlands, in fact, be considered a success in light
of recent troubles?
12. On pp. 189-191, Sodaro asks the question: “Is Egypt democratizing?” What is the evidence that
Egypt is moving toward democracy? What is the evidence that Egypt will persist in practicing a
relatively benign form of authoritarian regime?
Chapter 8/ Democracy: How Does it Work?
State Institutions and Electoral Systems
13. What are the defining characteristics of a presidential system of government? What are some of
the different shapes that a presidential system can take? What are the principal drawbacks of
presidential systems?
14. What are the defining characteristics of a parliamentary system of government? What are some of
the different shapes that a parliamentary system can take? What are the principal drawbacks of
parliamentary systems?
Single-Party Majoritarian Govt.
Majority Coalition Govt.
Minority Govt.
Anticipated Elections
15. Sodaro discusses some of the hybrid systems, otherwise described as presidential-parliamentary
democracies. What are some examples of such mixed systems? What are some of the different
shapes that presidential-parliamentary systems can take? What are the principal drawbacks of
presidential-parliamentary systems?
16. Which system of democracy is “best”? Given Sodaro’s discussion of the advantages and
disadvantages of the three systems, what is the best way of determining which system is most likely
to be able to reproduce itself as a democratic system from generation to generation?
17. Regular elections are the central part of any democratic system. In terms of presidential elections,
what are some of the different methods that can be used to select a president?
18. What are the two principal methods of legislative elections? What are the primary advantages and
disadvantages of single-member districts? How can anomalies occur in an SMD system? What
are the primary advantages of a system based on proportional representation? How does the
proportional system of Israel demonstrate some of the problems associated with a parliamentary
system?
19. Based on Sodaro’s discussion on pp. 215-216, are proportional representation systems more likely
to produce greater voter turnout than plurality systems?
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20. Sodaro uses recent elections in the Palestinian Authority to demonstrate how certain rules can
affect the course of political events. Who were the principal contestants for power? What was the
nature of their appeals? What type of system did the Palestinians adopt? What factors weighed in
the success or failure of the contestants? What were the political consequences of the outcome of
the 2006 elections?
Chapter 9/Democracy: What Does it Take?
Ten Conditions
21. The narrative theme of this chapter is to identify what conditions must hold in order for a society
to make the transition from a nondemocratic to a durable democratic society.
22. The very first of the 10 conditions for democracy suggests that mass commitment to democracy is
less important than elite acceptance of democracy. Why is elite acceptance of democracy crucial
for the instantiation and maintenance of democracy? Is elite support for democracy a sine qua non
(“Without which not) for democracy? What can be done to overcome elite opposition to
democracy?
23. Do state institutions have to be explicitly designed with democracy in mind in order for democracy
to emerge? What does a state’s legitimacy contribute to the potential for democracy? What are the
obstacles to building a democracy on the wreckage of an authoritarian regime?
24. Can democracy succeed in societies characterized by serious degrees of ethnic, religious, or racial
heterogeneity? How many ethnically homogenous countries are there in the world? How can a
sense of shared national identity be established in failed nation-states like Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Iraq,
and Afghanistan?
25. Is a certain level of national wealth required in order for democracy to take hold? Is excessive
affluence in the absence of democracy a major impediment to democracy? Why or why not?
26. What is the connection between private enterprise and democracy? Does economic freedom
promote political freedom? Does that bode well or ill for authoritarian countries attempting to
promote economic within the framework of an authoritarian political regime (e.g. China)? What
does Barrington Moore’s Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy (1966) suggest about the
relationship between the economy and the state?
27. Why is a vibrant middle-class necessary for the maintenance of democracy? How large does a
middle-class have to be in order to create a favorable climate for democracy? Does the middle class
always support democracy?
28. James Mill argued that societies should be judged by how they treat their most vulnerable
members. Can a society remain democratic if the most disadvantaged in society lack the
opportunity to improve their circumstances? What is the impact of widespread poverty on a
society? Are the poor generally consistent supporters of democracy?
29. How essential are political parties to a successful democracy? Why does Sodaro believe that parties
play a “crucial” role in the participatory process?
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30. What is civil society? What is the key point of civil society, according to Sodaro? How important
is volunteerism for a vibrant civil society? What is social capital, and how can you tell how much
social capital has been invested in a community?
31. Is education always positively correlated with democracy? What are some of the ways that
education can be used in the service of anti-democratic regimes?
32. How can the external environment affect the prospects for democracy in a particular country?
What are the conditions that contribute to a favorable international environment for the creation
and maintenance of democracy?
33. What are the major patterns of democratization that Sodaro considers?
“Elderly Democracies”
“Inherited Democracies”
“Imposed Democracies”
i. Crisis of Inclusion
ii. Organization
iii. Attempt at Cooptation
iv. Catalytic Crisis
v. “Democratic Bargain”
Pacted Transitions
Democratization from Above
Chapter 10/ Conditions for Democracy in Afghanistan and Iraq
34. Looking at the ten conditions for democracy described in Chapter 9, what are the prospects for the
democratization of Afghanistan? Based on your analysis, what are the three conditions that will
predict a successful transition? Likewise, what three conditions create the most serious obstacles to
democratization?
35. Looking at the ten conditions for democracy described in Chapter 9, what are the prospects for the
democratization of Iraq? Based on your analysis, what are the three conditions that will predict a
successful transition? Likewise, what three conditions create the most serious obstacles to
democratization?
36. Based on your expert analysis of the conditions in Afghanistan and Iraq, how would you rate each
countries prospects for success? Which country is more likely to achieve democracy? Be prepared
to defend your analysis by referencing Chapter 9’s ten conditions for democracy.
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