PT110.S1.P1.Q2

PrepTest 110 - Section 1 - Passage 1 - Question 2

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P1

Most authoritarian rulers who undertake democratic reforms do so not out of any intrinsic commitment or conversion to democratic ideals, but rather because they foresee or recognize that certain changes and mobilizations in civil society make it impossible for them to hold on indefinitely to absolute power.

Intro topic / explanation · Most authoritarian rulers who allow democratic reforms feel threat to their own power
Their power is threatened by changes in civil society. Has nothing to do with their own belief in democratic ideals.
P2

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three major types of societal change · We're about to get three changes that lead to democratic reform
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Change 1 · Values and norms change, making people want freedom
Example: Some Latin-American countries in 70s and 80s. Desire for freedom leads to people protesting and organizing.
P3

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Change 2 · Economic interests of privileged people change
When privileged people believe the authoritarian regime is harmful to their interests, they won't support the regime anymore. Example: Philippines.
P4

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Change 3 · More resources, autonomy, and self-confidence in other parts of society
Example: students, lawyers and workers do things that are disruptive to society. Information channels pop up outside of the government's control. This makes it more difficult for the regime to control its citizens.
P5

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Causal chain · Authoritarian rule causes the three changes, which causes democratic reform
A successful authoritarian regime can lead to economic growth and stability, which leads to people reflecting on their own society, which is the impetus for the three changes described earlier.
Passage Style
Phenomenon-hypothesis (RC)
Single position
Show answer
2.

The author's attitude toward authoritarian ███████ ██ ████ ██████████ █████████ ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ ██████████

a

uncertainty whether the ███████ ██ █████████████ ███████ █████████ ███████ ████████ ██ ██████ ███████████ ███████

Unsupported. The author doesn’t explicitly distinguish between genuine progress and superficial change. In P1, she says that authoritarian rulers who institute democratic reforms don’t do so because of a commitment or conversion to democratic ideals. But it seems like both the social changes and the democratic reforms are real, even if rulers institute the latter without conviction.

5%
b

puzzlement about the ███████ ██ █████████████ ██████ █████ █████ ████████ ██ █████ █████ █████ ███ ██████

Anti-supported. The author isn’t puzzled about authoritarian rulers’ motives. She says here that authoritarian rulers are motivated to institute democratic reforms because they want to hold onto power. She doesn’t address what might have motivated them to become authoritarian rulers in the first place.

4%
c

confidence that most █████████████ ███████ ████ ██████████ ██ ████████ ██ █ ████ ██████████ ████ ██ ██████████

Supported. In P5, the author says that authoritarian regimes tend to generate certain democratic social changes. She argues that authoritarian rulers’ only hope of holding onto power is to institute democratic political changes. This suggests that she’s confident that most regimes will become more democratic, since most rulers are forced to institute democratic reforms.

86%
d

insistence that authoritarian ████ ███████████ ██ █████████████ ██████ ████ ██ ██████████

Unsupported. The author doesn’t actually say anything about whether authoritarian regimes are just or unjust.

3%
e

concern that authoritarian ██████ ████ ████████ ████ ██ ██████ █████ ███████ ███████████ ██████████ ███████

Anti-supported. In P5, the author says that most regimes will bring social changes that necessitate democratic reforms. She says here that authoritarian rulers’ only hope of retaining power is to institute democratic reforms. She doesn’t seem concerned that rulers will find other ways to retain their power.

1%

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