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Government 317, Fall 2001 Final Exam Study Guide

The exam will include a number of short-answer questions and one longer essay question. The long essay will count for half the exam grade. For the long essay I will give you a choice between two of the following. That is, of the four questions, I'll pick two from which you are to choose one to answer. I expect you both to draw clearly on the required reading and to engage the ideas I talked about in lectures. Wording on the actual exam may vary slightly.

  1. Discuss institutional balancing, policy moderation, midterm loss, divided government and all that--strategic coordination, lots of accidents, or what? Are voters really as sophisticated as the most elaborate of the theories about these topics seem to claim? If not, what's going on?
  2. Consider two ways a person may become involved in politics: contributing money to a political campaign and turning out to vote. Can either activity be well explained as rational, self-interested behavior? If not, what are the best explanations? In light of the explanations, discuss why campaign finance legislation tries to limit the maximum amount an individual may contribute, while laws that pertain to voting, such as the Voting Rights Act, try to increase participation.
  3. It seems fair to say that last year's presidential election would have been quite different had Ralph Nader not run as the Green Party candidate. Is it typical for third parties to have important effects on American elections and American parties? However much actual third party runs may affect things, is it reasonable to say that threats and fears of such events are even more consequential? In developing your argument you should use spatial model and strategic voting ideas.
  4. Why are U.S. House elections so often uncompetitive? Do voters choose among candidates in those elections in ways that differ significantly from the ways they choose in other elections that are more competitive? Or is the best explanation for the lack of competitiveness mostly not about what voters do?




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Walter Mebane
Thu Dec 6 13:43:01 EST 2001