Dr. Courtney Brown
Developmental Democracy
Some Past Test Questions

1. List and explain Richard Joseph's eight phases of transition to democracy that were outlined in class. Explain with examples how a country can experience these phases sequentially (i.e., one after the other), or simultaneously (one or more phases at the same time).

2. According to Robert Dahl, what is polyarchy, and what are the seven most important procedural minimums that are required in order to make democracy possible? If these procedures are required, describe and explain some (minimally three) things about which there can be great variation in democratic structure (e.g., the types of institutions that are established).

3. Samuel P. Huntington lists five major factors that have contributed to the occurrence and timing of the most recent wave of transitions to democracy. Two of these factors are changes in the role of external actors (such as United States and the Soviet Union) and snowballing. Explain these things. When a nation reverts to authoritarian rule (as in the case of Nigeria), Huntington argues that certain factors are responsible. List at least four of these factors and explain them.

4. What are the three paradoxes of democracy that are identified by Larry Diamond? Explain them. How is federalism sometimes used to manage democratic systems that govern societies with deep ethnic cleavages (i.e., divisions)?

5. Using Nigeria as your primary example, discuss the problem of corruption in states wanting to experiment with democracy. What are various strategies that have been suggested in our text for reforming corruption. Would they work in Nigeria? Why or why not? Include in your discussion insights involving corruption that you have gained from Ali Mazrui's video presentation, "New Conflicts."

6. Why has it been so difficult for newly independent African states to develop stable democratic institutions that parallel the governments of their European and American counterparts? Ali Mazrui's insights on this matter (from his Search for Stability" presentation) would be useful to blend into your answer. But also, what is prebendalism and why has it developed into a African governmental form? Connect this to the first part of your answer.

7. What is Down's economic theory of democracy? Explain it using both words and pictures. Then, clearly explain how this theory applies to problems of democratization in developing nations. Give examples to illustrate your points.

8. Describe the complexities of the problems of national debt and foreign aid with regard to new democracies in Africa. Why is the U.S. and other Western powers giving little attention to African democracies? Where is the attention going and why? Why are South American democracies apparently working while African democracies are having real troubles. There are lots of political consequences and intricacies related to these things. Talk about all of them.

9. Describe a single detailed but general (i.e., applicable to many countries) model of the sources and consequences of the scarcity of renewable resources that includes ideas such as unequal resource access and weakened states. Draw a diagram of the model and explain it with words. Then relate this model to the idea of developmental democracy. How do these ideas relate to an authoritarian government that may be in a transition to democracy, and visa versa? Give examples that address the concept of carrying capacity.

10. Give three models of the role that the scarcity of renewable resources plays in the emergence of violent conflict within a country. Describe also how these three models typically happen sequentially (i.e., over time, one after the other). Draw a diagram of each model, and explain them with words. Then carefully describe how a developing country may be helped or hindered in its movement toward a democratic transition due to these environmental problems. Examples are wonderful, and needed.

11. Describe a model that explains the eruption of internal violence, both urban and rural, in the Philippines that has environmental degradation as one of its primary causes. Give a pictorial representation of the model as well as a verbal description. Tell how democracy and the environment in the Philippines interact and are interdependent.

12. Following Sprague, how does voter institutionalization relate to electoral system bias? Why is this important for developing countries who have just initiated democratic government? How does winner take all vs. proportional representation systems relate to this?

13. What is political corruption? How is it relative to a society? Give examples of corruption that can destabilize a democratic regime and other examples that may not hurt. Explain the "why" for each. What is a form of governance in which corruption is an integral and useful aspect? What should the trend of political corruption look like with regard to political decay and democratic transition? What warning signs need to be heeded in this regard?

14. What are the some of the potential problems with proportional representation systems with regard to democracy in developing countries? Give examples. Be specific.

15. Describe the role that culture plays in democratic development. Give examples from across the globe to illustrate your points.

16. What are the arguments in favor of a parliamentary system of government in a setting in which a nation has a developing democracy? What problems could a presidential system bring to the situation? Under what social conditions within a country could a presidential system help rather than hurt the stabilization of the country's democratic political future? Again, give some examples.

17. Describe Ali Mazrui's ideas (from his video "In Search of Stability") of how developing countries may successfully conduct democratic elections in Africa, only to have the military execute a coup that destroys the democratic process. What was wrong with the democratic situation such that this is such a common occurrence? How does this relate to traditional sources of authority and governance in Africa?

18. What are the factors that can cause a newly formed democracy to collapse into authoritarianism, i.e., to experience a retreat from democracy? Explain the factors, with examples. With this in mind, explain why India is still democratic.

19. Speaking on the subject of democracy and federalism in Africa, consider the following words of Leopold S. Senghor, the former president of Senegal.

Our Democracy will be federal. Local differences, being complementary to each other, will enrich the Federation and, conversely, the Federation will preserve the differences. Let us take the idea a little further. The federal structure . . . within the framework of the Federal State itself, to regional and communal collectivities even in social and economic matters. The Yugoslav structures adapted to our own situation can be used at this juncture as models.

Use your own understanding of federalism to explain, justify, or critique Senghor's views. What does federalism do specifically to which Senghor may be referring? Explain why his analogy to Yugoslavia ultimately failed. Does this mean federalism in African will fail? Explain.

20. Put developmental democracy into a "macro" or wide-angle perspective. From a Western perspective, why is the development of democracy within a society an "natural" occurrence? In particular, describe the attributes of social and political evolution relating to change that have been identified by Nisbet. List and describe four dichotomous schemes for looking at political modernization. What do these schemes have to do how we conceptualize political modernization?

21. List and describe four crises of development that all societies may go through while they evolve in the direction of developmental democracy. Explain these crises. How are they related to Nisbet's uniform causes of social change?

22. Explain Adam Przeworski's theory of de-institutionalization as the source of political instability.

23. Discuss Angola's difficult transition to democracy, as presented by Marina Ottoway in Kumar's book. What went wrong, and what lessons have we learned from this case?

24. List and explain Lucian Pye's five crises of political development. How does Huntington's desire to insure political order and stability relate to Pye's ideas. Be sure to explain Huntington's ideas regarding this as well.

25. What are "easy" and "hard" issues, and what relevance do they have for developmental democracy? How does this relate to concepts of governmental structures, such as federalism?
How do these two types of issues relate to governmental stability in a developing society?

26. What is Down's economic theory of democracy? Explain it using both words and pictures. Then, clearly explain how this theory applies to problems of democratization in developing nations. How does environmental decay enter into the problem of creating democratic stability given the ideas of Down's macro perspective? Give examples to illustrate your points.

27. Explain Adam Przeworski's theory of de-institutionalization as the source of political instability. How do Przeworski's ideas compare with those of Huntington?

28. From Kumar, what are postconflict elections? What are the objectives of postconflict elections? What are the impediments to postconflict elections? Identify and describe three roles that the international community can play in post conflict elections.

29. From Dahl, identify and explain the three possible paths that can lead to the development of a democratic culture. Also, how does this relate to the development of democracy in China? Which path is most relevant to China and why?

30. List and explain Lucian Pye's five crises of political development. What are Organski’s stages of political growth? How do Pye’s crises relate to Organski’s stages of political growth? Finally, describe how Huntington's desire to insure political order and stability relate to Pye's ideas. Be sure to explain Huntington's ideas regarding this as well.

31. Describe Liberia’s experience with democracy, from the prelude to the 1997 elections to the current time. How does the Liberian situation relate to Richard Joseph’s ideas regarding the steps needed for a democratic transition? Is prebendalism relevant here, and if so, how? Explain.

32. What is the very general description of democracy that is offered by Phillip C. Schmitter and Terry Lynn Karl? With regard to this definition, define and explain the relevancy of (a) the public realm, (b) citizens, (c) competition and cooperation, (d) majority rule, and (e) representatives.

33. From the perspective of Ali Mazrui as portrayed in his video presentation “In Search of Stability,” why has it been so difficult for newly independent African states to develop stable democratic institutions that parallel the governments of their European and American counterparts? How does this connect with Dahl’s concept of polyarchy? Be complete in your answer, and give examples.

34. What is a “mixed electoral system?” Explain how this system differs from a strict proportional representational system and a single member plurality system. Describe Germany’s use of this system, as well as some of the variations from Germany’s usage that have been applied in other countries.

35. What is a “single member plurality electoral system?” Identify some countries that use such a system. What are some of the advantages of this type of electoral system? What are some of the disadvantages of this type of system? Why might such a system be useful or harmful to a new democratic state? Be specific, and give examples.

36. List and explain Lucian Pye's five crises of political development. Relate this to the stages of economic growth as described by W.W. Rustow as well as the stages of political growth as described by A.F.K. Organski.

37. How does Samuel Huntington's argument regarding the balance between political order and stability relate to the ideas regarding institutionalization made by Adam Przeworski?. Be sure to include a graph in your discussion of Huntington's ideas.

38. What are the five types of plurality-majority voting systems? What are semi-proportional electoral systems? What are proportional representation systems? What is preferential voting? Be sure to explain the variations in these voting systems, and offer examples of countries using these systems.

39. Why are deep ethnic cleavages difficult to manage in a new democracy? Describe various ways to address the problem of significant ethnic cleavages when setting up a new democracy. Give examples of countries in conflict in which these ideas are fully illustrated. Explain these examples.

This entire site is Copyright © 1997-2010 by Courtney Brown. All Rights Reserved.
DISCLAIMER
URL: www.courtneybrown.com