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
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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
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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
4.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ████████████ ██ ███ ████████
a
A political phenomenon ██ ██████ ██ █ ███████ ███ ██ ███████ ████ ███ ██ ███████ ████ ██████████ ███ ███ ████████ ██████████ ██ ████ ████████ ██ █████████ ███ ███████████ ██ █████████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ███ █████████
The author does link a political phenomenon to a general set of causes. But she doesn’t compare the relative importance of each cause, nor does she consider any alternative causes.
b
A political phenomenon ██ ██████ ██ █ ███████ ███ ██ ███████ ████ ███ ██ ███████ ████ ██████████ ███ ██ ███████████ ██ ████ ████████ ██ ██████████ ███ ██████ ████████████ ██ ██████████ ████ ███ ███████████
The author links a political phenomenon (authoritarian rulers instituting democratic reforms) to a general set of causes (social changes). She divides and explains each cause, and then she reaffirms the causal relationship between authoritarianism, social changes, and democratic reforms in P5.
c
A political phenomenon ██ ███████████ ███ ████████ ██████ ██ ███ ██████████ ███ █████████ ███ ██████ ████ ███████████ ███ ████████ █████ ██ █████████ ████ ███ ██████ ███ ███████ ███ █████ ███ ███ ███████████
The author does describe the causes of authoritarian rulers instituting democratic reforms. But she doesn’t prefer one cause over the others. In fact, she says in P5 that authoritarian rule tends to bring about “all three types of changes,” which then cause rulers to institute democratic reforms.
d
A political phenomenon ██ ███████████ ████████████ ███████ ████ ██████████ ███ █████ ███████ █████████ ███ ██████████ ███ ████████████ █████ ███ █████████ ███ ████████ ██ ███████ █████ ███ ██████ ████
The author does identify a political phenomenon: authoritarian rulers instituting democratic reforms. But she isn’t exploring the similarities between this phenomenon and the three types of social change. Instead, she argues that the social changes cause the democratic reforms.
e
A political phenomenon ██ ███████████ ███████████ ███████ ████ ██████████ ███ █████ ███████ █████████ ███ ██████████ ███ ███████████ █████ ███ █████████ ███ ████████ ██ ███████ █████ ███ ██████ ████
The author does identify a political phenomenon: authoritarian rulers instituting democratic reforms. But she isn’t exploring the differences between this phenomenon and the three types of social change. Instead, she argues that the social changes cause the democratic reforms.