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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████████

Question Type

Main point

The main point of this Phenomenon-Hypothesis passage is the author’s hypothesis about why authoritarian rulers undertake democratic reforms. She says that authoritarian rule causes certain social changes which then cause authoritarian rulers to institute democratic reforms in order to hold onto power.

Authoritarian rulers tend ██ █████████ ██████████ ███████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ █████ ████ ███ ████████ ████████ ███ ██████ █████ █████ ████ ████ ████████ ██████ ███ ███████ ██████ █████ █████ ████ ███████ ███ ███████████

Unsupported. The author doesn’t say that authoritarian rulers institute reforms out of fear of slow economic growth and disruptions to social order. She says here that they institute democratic reforms because they recognize that certain social changes will make it impossible for them to retain absolute power. In other words, they institute reforms because they feel like their own power is under threat.

Authoritarian regimes tend ██ ██████ █████ ███ ███████████ ██ ████████ ██████████ ██████ ██ █████ ███████ █████ ███ ███████ █████ ████████ █████████ ███ ██████ ███ ████ ████ ███████ ███ ███ ███████

Unsupported. In P3, the author does note that when wealthy people realize that authoritarian regimes are harmful to their economic interests, they won’t support the regime anymore. But she doesn’t say anything about opposition groups who build support among the wealthy.

Authoritarian policies tend ██ ███ ████ ███ ██ ████████ ███ ████████ █████ ████ ██ █ ██████ ████ ██ ███████ █████ ████ ███ ████████ ███████ ███████ ██ ██████████ ████████ ██████ ███ █████████ ████ ██ █████ ██████

Unsupported. In P5, the author says that certain social changes can be accelerated by a regime’s initial economic and social success. She never says that this success will be short lived, nor does she suggest that short-lived success causes regimes to alienate the nation’s economic power base. Instead, a regime’s success gives citizens time to reflect.

Authoritarian principles tend ██ ███ ████ ███ ██ ██ █████████ ███████ ████ ██████ ████ ███ ██████ █ ██████ ██ ████████ ███ ██████ █████████ ████ ██ ██████████ ██ ████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ██████████ █████████████

Unsupported. Authoritarian principles may be untenable in the long run, but not because of the reasons in (D). Instead, they’re untenable because they cause certain social changes that require the institution of democratic reforms.

Authoritarian rulers who █████████ ██████████ ███████ ███ █████████ ██ ██ ██ ███████ █████████████ ████ █████ ██ █████ █████ ███████ ███████ ██ ███████ ████ ██████████ ███████████ █████████████ █████████ ████████

The main point of the passage is that authoritarian rulers who institute democratic reforms do so because of certain social changes that threaten their power. Authoritarian rule causes these changes, and the changes cause democratic reforms, since rulers will otherwise be unable to hold onto power.

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PrepTest 110 - Section 1 - Passage 1 - Question 1

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