CUMfAI<·\IIfI fULIIhSCt>hll'RLIII.NSIbLLhAMl~,11IUb AUGUST 1998
SECTION I ANSWER ONE OF 711E FOLLOWING QUESTIONS
A. Harry Eckstein has argued that when a theory aspires to universal applicability but cannot explain a significant ruse, that "single crucial case may certainly score a dean knockout over [the] theory." But King, Keohane. and Verb, argue that "the single observation is not a useful technique for testing hypotheses or theories," because most explanations rely on more than one causal factor (requiring more than one observation for testing), because errors in measurement may cause mistakes in any given test, and because random events interfere m what are anyway only probabilistic theories. What types of tests can add or subtract substantial credibility to or from a theory or hypothesis and why?
B. Describe one work in comparative politics you consider exemplary in methodological terms, and analyze how it addresses key issues raised in debates over comparative methodology.
SECTION 11 ANSWER ONE OF THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS
A. Some theorists argue that economic globalization acts on all countries with a homogenizing influence; others suggest that for diverse reasons, general concepts and theorizing make it possible successfully to compare cross-regionally to draw urnclusions about such political phenomena as political institutions, political economy, regime changes. voting and party systems, and social movements. Given these claims, what basis if any is there for region-specific or "area" studies? Support your arguments with concrete examples from cases from at least two regions of the world.
B. Barrington Moore in,SocialOngineoJDicmtnrshnpandDemocracy(p.486)observes, "Cultural values do not descend from heaven to influence the course of history. They are abstractions by an observer, based on the observation of certain similarities m the way groups of people behave... Even though one can often make accurate predmtions about the way groups and individuals behave over short periods of time on the bases of such abstractions, as such they du not explain the behavior. To explain behavior in teens of cultural values is to engage m circular reasoning.. the problem is to determine out of what past and present experiences such an outlook arises and maintains itself.. To maintain and transmit a value system, human beings ate punched, bullied, sent to jail, thrown into concentration camps, cajoled, bribed, made into heroes, encouraged to read newspapers, stood up against a wall and shot, and sometimes even taught sociology" Are corms of political behavior better understood, as Moors suggests, as the results of power and control, or as the products of deep-running and at some level consensual cultural values? Develop your answer in the context of one body of theorizing about political behavior (e.g., institutional choice, social movements, or others). and make specific reference to relevant cases
SECTION HI ANSWER IWO OF THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS
A. O'Donnell and Schmmer suggest that after 1945 it became impossible for authoritarian regimes to legitimate themselves Yet a significant number of authoritarian regimes in different regions have resisted the "Third Wave" of democratization since the 1970's. What theoretical approach best allows us to begin explaining divergent regime outannes in either the Americas, Africa, the former USSR, or East Asia?
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elliclcul>ccld Inohaloocscwnoluwlal>l,lemshu.lesmlbedas'efficleni" Whaypesul differences may make a given electoral system experience dififierent degrees of efficiency in two countries even when using the same standard of "efficiency "? Develop your arguments with reference to at least two cases.
C. The assumption of much political economy theorizing is that late industrialization requires a strong interventionist state. In an era of globalization and liberalization, it is widely suggested that intervention has been sharply curtailed If true, what does this mean for theories about industrialization in developing countries? Does n mean that while developing countries can now stabilize their economies in the short-term, they will be unable to industrialize over the long-term?
D. Proponents of both structural" and "agency"-oriented explanations of politics assume these two categories are mutually exclusive However, Kitschelt argues that when it comes to regime change, "structural approaches lend to explain 'too much; whereas [leader- or agency-oriented] process approaches explain 'loo little ~ Structural approaches are good at accounting for the general causes of regime breakdowns and the consolidation of new regimes. process approaches may explain the timing of breakdown and transition as well as the specific trial-and-error process of searching for a new viable regime." Are structure and agency approaches complementary, as Kitschelt suggests, or does this simple blur the line between two fundamentally opposed approaches to explaining politics? Develop your answer in at least one area of comparative politics theorizing.
E. Many theorists long assumed that contlmts over "primordial" identities such as ethnicity and religion would disappear with cconomncdevelopment and political participation Yet the great political changes of the past I S years (including the end of the Soviet Union) have coincided with the resurgence of such conflicts in different regions of the world Assess theoretical approaches to explaining such conflicts m the 1980's and 1990's with reference to cases m at least two regions of the world.