POL 102: Comparative Politics Fall 2010

Midterm Exam Study Guide

The midterm exam is worth 20% of your semester grade, and broken down into four sections: map quiz,
multiple choice (vocabulary), short answer, and short essay. The points for the midterm are as follows:

Map quiz 5 points (½ point for each correct identification)

Multiple choice 5 points (1 point for each correct answer)
Short answer 5 points (1 point for each correct answer)
Short essay 5 points

The midterm exam should take about 70 minutes. You are allowed one 5x7 index card with notes (on
both sides). I suggest spending no more than 15 minutes on the map quiz, 15 minutes on the multiple
choice section, 15 minutes on the short answer, and the remaining time on the short essay section.

Map Quiz
This portion of the exam will ask you to correctly locate the 10 countries our textbook focuses on:

• United States • Brazil

• Great Britain • Nigeria
• Russia • Iran
• China • India
• Japan • Germany

Multiple Choice
This portion of the exam will ask you to correctly identity the definition of 10 vocabulary terms, drawn
from the following list:

• state • modernizing authoritarian regime

• nation • social construction
• nationalism • civil society
• bureaucracy • federalism
• government • legitimacy
• regime • corporatism
• failed state • neoliberalism
• capitalism • public goods
• consociationalism • import-substitution industrialization (ISI)
• neocolonialism • developmental state
• globalization • comparative advantage
• modernization theory
POL 102: Comparative Politics Fall 2010

Short Answer
I will select five of the following questions for you to answer. Aim for about 2-3 sentences per answer.

1. Compare and contrast civic nationalism and cultural nationalism.

2. Compare and contrast social market economy and market economy.

3. Compare and contrast corporatism and pluralism as forms of interest group representation.

4. Compare and contrast social democracy and liberal democracy.

5. Compare and contrast two theories of national identity: primordialism and constructivism.

6. How does Karl Marx define the relationship between the bourgeoisie and proletariat?

7. Max Weber describes three kinds of legitimacy, define two of them.

8. Describe two ways the Scandinavian welfare state is different from our own.

9. Describe two ways the University of Brazilia’s affirmative action policy is different from such
policies in the United States.

10.Describe two problems facing failed states, citing two examples from the Failed States Index.

Short Essay
I will select one of the following short essay prompts for you to answer. Aim for 2-3 paragraphs.

1. Brazil and Denmark, while different in many ways, illustrate efforts to use policy to solve social
problems. Write a short essay that discusses the ability of policy to solve social problems. Be sure
to identify at least one reason why such policies might be desirable, as well as at least a limitation
of such policies.

2. We have discussed how Karl Marx and Alexis de Tocqueville might view a popular television
show, American Idol. Write a short essay discussing what Marx and Tocqueville might think of
college athletics. Be sure you provide at least one observation (positive or negative) from each of
the two thinkers.

3. Chapter 5 discusses how the IMF and World Bank would impose structural adjustment policies
on developing countries that faced economic crisis. If our government had followed this advice to
solve our own economic crisis, what would such policies have meant? Provide two examples.