Self-study
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
█████ █████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ ██████████ ██ █ █████████ ██ ██████ █████████ ███ ████████████ ██ █████████████ █████ ███
three major types of societal change ·
We're about to get three changes that lead to democratic reform
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
██ ████████ ██ ████████ █████ ███ ███████ ███ █████████ ██ ████████ █████████ ██ █ ███████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ███████ ██████ ██ █████████ ███████ █████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██ █████████ █████ ████ ██████████ ██████ ██ █████████████████████ ███████████████ ██████████ █████████████ ███ ████ ████ ██ █ ████████ ███████ ████ ████ ██ ███ ██████████ ████ ███ █████████████ ██████ ██ ███████████ ███ ████ ███ ████████████ █████ ██████ █████ █████████ ██████████ ████ █ ███████████ █████ ██ ███ ████████ █████████ ██ █████ ██████ ███ ███████ ██ ████████ █████ ███ ██████████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ███████████ ███ ███ ████ █████ █████████ █████████████ ██ █████ █████████████ ████████
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
█ █████ ██████ ███████ ████ ███ █████████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ███████████████ ██ ███████ ████████ ██ ███████ ███ ██ █████ ██████ █████████████ ████ ██████ ███ █████████ ████████ █████ ██ ███ ███████ █████████ ███████ ███████ ████████ ███ ███████████ ███████ ██████ ██ █████████ ███ ██████ ██ █████ █████████ ███████████ ███████ ██ ███████████ ██████ ███ ████ ███████ ███ ████ ██ ███████ ███ ███████████████ ████████ ████████ ██ ██████████ ███ ████████ ██████ ████ ██████████ ███ ███████ █████████ ███ ████████ ████ ████████ ███████████ ███ █████████ █████ ███ ███████ ██ █████ ██ █ ████████ ██ ██ █████████████ ██████ ████ █████ ████ ██████ ████████ ███ ███████ ███ ████████ ██ ██████ ██ ███ ██████████
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
█████████████ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████ ███ ██ ████████ ███ █████ █████ ██ ████████ ███████████ ███ █████ █████ ███ ██ ███████████ ██ ███ █████████████ ████████ ███████ ███████ ██ █████████ ████████ ██████ ███ ███████████ ██████ ███████████████ █████ ██ ████████ █ ██████ ██ ██████████ █████ ████████ ███ ███████████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ █████████████ ██ █████ ████ █████ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ███████████ ██ █████████████ ██████ ████ █████████ ████ ███ ███████ ████ █████ ████ ████ ██ █████████ ████ █████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ██ █████ █████ ██████████ ██████ ███████ ████ ██████████ █████████ ████████
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
5.
It can most reasonably be ████████ ████ ███ ███████ ████
Question Type
Implied
We’ll have to use POE to find the answer to this Inference question. Recall the author’s main point: authoritarian regimes tend to cause certain social changes that force authoritarian rulers to institute democratic reforms if they want to hold onto power.
a
many authoritarian rulers █████ ██████████ █████████ ██████████ ██████ ████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ██ ██
Unsupported. Authoritarian rulers institute democratic reforms because of the social changes that pressure them to do so. We have no reason to believe that rulers would still institute these reforms if they weren’t pressured by social changes.
b
citizen dissatisfaction in █████████████ ███████ ██ ███████ ████ █████████████ ████ ██ █████ ███████
Unsupported. P5 notes that the three types of social change can be accelerated by the regime's initial economic and social success. But we don’t know that citizen dissatisfaction is highest at the beginning of the regime. In fact, the shifting social norms and economic interests described in the passage seem to suggest that some citizens get more dissatisfied over time.
c
popular support for █████████████ ███████ ██ ██████ ████ ████████ ██████████ ███ ████
Unsupported. P5 actually notes that the three types of social change that lead to democratic reforms can be accelerated by the regime's initial economic success. We have no reason to believe that popular support is lowest when economic conditions are weak.
d
absolute power in ██ █████████████ ███████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ████████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ███ ███████ ███ ██████
Supported. Authoritarian regimes cause social changes which contribute to a society no longer condoning the regime. The author says
e
citizens view human ██████ ██████ ██ ███ ████ █████████████ ██████ ██ █████████████ ███████
Anti-supported. P2 says that citizens also object to the regime’s concentration of power.