Political Science 257-- Democracy & Democratization
Dickinson College: Spring 2003
Professor Bova 
Exam Study Guide

This study guide is intended to help you prepare for the exam to be given on Friday, May 9 at 2:00. It includes:  I) a list of important terms and concepts and II) essay questions, some of which will appear on the exam.
I) SOME BASIC TERMS AND CONCEPTS

NOTE:  The following list of concepts focuses primarily on concepts discussed in class. It is not  comprehensive and is not intended as a substitute for review of class notes and assigned reading, both of which deal with additional material which could appear on the exam in some form.

Alien & Sedition Acts
undemocratic elements in framers' constitution (acc. to Dahl)
uniqueness of the US model (acc. to Dahl)
undemocratic features of electoral college (acc. to Dahl)
Franco
apertura
Adolfo Suarez
the PRI
Vicente Fox
Mikhail Gorbachev
glasnost
Boris Yeltsin
Russia's triple transition
Vladimir Zhirinovsky
totalitarianism
civil society
Vladimir Putin
Russian oligarchs
Fall 1993 crisis in Russia
 sharia
Sunni v. Shite view on succession
Kemal Ataturk
kemalism
secularization
Pahlavi dynasty
Mossedegh
Ayatollah  Ruhollah Khomeini
guardianship of the jurist
Iran's Council of Guardians
Mohammed Khatami
Confucianism
the "Asian values" debate
Syngman Rhee
Kwangju Rebellion
Kim Dae Jung
Roh Moo-hyun
Market Leninism
Tiananmen Square
electoral democracy v. liberal democracy

II) ESSAY QUESTIONS

NOTE: The exam will include TWO of the following essay questions from which you will be asked to choose ONE.  The essay will be closed book and must be written in class without use of notes of any kind.  Whichever essay you choose, keep in mind that the best grades will be reserved only for those essays that: a) demonstrate a substantial familiarity with both in-class materials and the required reading and b) effectively combine generalizations about the subject with the details and evidence needed to support those generalizations.

1. While many observers point to the United States, the world's longest-existing consolidated democracy, as a model for newly-democratizing states to emulate, Robert Dahl argues that the original US Constitution had many undemocratic features and may not be a very good model for others to copy.  Is he right?  In your essay be sure to: a) explain the features of the original US Constitution that led Dahl to those conclusions, and b) note both the extent of and limits to change in those undemocratic features that have occurred over time.

2. In The Third Wave, Huntington suggests that culture may well define the limits to the global spread of democracy and that Islamic and Confucian cultures appear to be especially resistant to democratic politics. Is he right?  In your essay be sure to: a) consider what it is about those two cultural traditions that that may be relevant to understanding democratic prospects, and b) discuss whether or not the record of democratization in the Islamic and Confucian worlds provides grounds for optimism or pessimism about the future of democracy in those parts of the world.

3. On p. 315 of The Third Wave, Huntington argues that "the two key factors affecting the future stability and expansion of democracy are economic development and political leadership." Is he right?  In your essay be sure to: a) discuss the relationship between economic development and democracy in the cases and regions examined in class, and b) discuss the role of political leadership in explaining successful democratization in the cases discussed in class.


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