Final exam preview
The first question on the final exam will cover the bigger countries from the blue Skidmore text: Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Mexico, Peru. I will pick TWO of these randomly on the day of the exam; you should be prepared to write a brief essay about any of them. The question is:
Some scholars argue that democracy requires the development of five independent, but mutually related, "arenas":Write an essay comparing both countries along these dimensions. Are they different or the same? What historical factors contributed to these differences/similarities? How does understanding these relationships (today and their historical development) help us understand current politics in those countries?
- Civil society: associational groups, individuals, movements, etc.
- Political society: the institutional structures (especially political parties) and the area for "public/political" contestation of power
- Rule of law: which includes an independent judiciary that can enforce law on citizens & government
- Bureaucracy: especially a modern bureaucracy capable of efficiently managing the day-to-day workings of the state
- Economic society: the institutional structures of a free market, and the rights associated w/ them, as well as the groups, individuals, associations associated w/ these
The second question covers the Politics in the Andes book. You're free to draw examples from any of the chapters, in order to answer the following question:
The dictum in political science — "no state, no democracy" — is a common thread through many of these chapters (either implicitly or explicitly). Why is a state important for democracy? What kind of state is necessary? How does the relative degree of a modern, institutionalized, and consolidated state affect the quality of democracy?
Of course, the more detailed your answers, the better your grade. So be prepared to spend some time writing (you'll have two hours). I'd spend no more than an hour on the first, and no more than 30 mins on each of the other two. The last question will be announced the week before the exam, after we finish reading The Quiet Revolution.
2 Comments:
A few people I know from class wanted to get a study group going for the exam. If anyone wants to join email me:
k4blakle@wmich.edu.
I highly encourage studying in groups. But only if everyone in the group pulls their own weight (don't give in to free riders). But the cliche that "two heads are better than one" is pretty accurate. If you study in groups, you can get a lot more done, a lot faster.
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