Field Exam Day One
August 1998
Part I -- Required

In a Rothbaum lecture at the University of Oklahoma in f 997, Seymour Martin Lipset discussed the conditions of democracy. The first four that he named were: economic well-being; levels of education: the narrowing of income inequalities over time; and a history of British colonial status (". . . democracy has correlated more tighly with former British colonial status than with any other structural variable. even the economic factors"). This raises the question of whether governing institutions matter, and whether culture--political values and beliefs-matters. With these clues and questions as starting points, explore what you believe accounts for the relatively early development and the persistence of democracy in the United States.

Part II--answer two

1. Compared to the legislatures of other countries, Congress is exceptionally active, vigorous, and powerful. What is the explanation for this distinctiveness? And what do you think are the consequences for American government and public policymaking?

2. Almost all students of the presidency agree that presidential power (influence over governmental action) varies greatly in the course of time--whether from issue to issue, from incumbent to incumbent, or from one era or historical moment to the next. Yet there is not much agreement on the question of why presidential power is so changeable and whether the changes occur according to some historical pattern. Select TWO contrasting theories or systematic explanations of presidential power that you have encountered in graduate study. Identify them; compare them; and assess their utility in explaining the changeability of presidential power over time.

3. If "interests" and "interest groups" are as fundamental as David Truman's work indicates, then it is logically to be expected that they will be found in (1) the legislative process, (2) the executiveadministrative process, or (3) the judicial process. Explore, with specific reference to other research in political science, whether "interests" and "interest groups" are found in the institutions and processes so indicated, how they operate. and whether what can be found is consistent with what one should expect from Truman.

4. Madison referred to separation of powers and federalism as "auxiliary precautions"--that is, ways to contain the power of government and keep government responsible to the populace in addition to the more fundamental way of periodic election of officeholders. Of the two auxiliary precautions, which has been more effective as an instrument to the Framers' end'? Explain your choice analytically and at length.

5. List the major functions normally said to be performed by American political parties. Select at least three of these functions, and explain whether in the past 30 years the parties have been able to maintain their historic share of the function or whether the function has been substantially yielded to other actors or institutions.