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Can you help me understand this Political Science question?

The goal of this week’s readings is to place Magaloni’s theory of hegemonic stability into dialogue with many theories of democratization and autocracy/dictatorship. A recommended reading by Alt and Rose deals directly with political budget cycles, and those who find Magaloni’s Ch. 3 fascinating should definitely take a look at it. You may consider how Magaloni contributes to the debates on these foundational questions of comparative politics.

Post a reaction paper that critically responds to an argument, methodological issue, and/or empirical finding of relevance in the readings on the syllabus. You are encouraged to incorporate additional readings not included on the syllabus into your reaction papers.

Each paper should be 2-3 pages, double-spaced, using Times New Roman 12-point font and 1-inch margins. On separate pages, the paper should begin with a title page and end with a list of references (using any standard formatting); the paper should be carefully proofread and paginated.

Given the length of these papers, you should assert, develop, and defend a single coherent argument. A paper that tries to address multiple issues given these space constraints will inevitably lack depth. For each of these papers you are expected to a) synthesize (i.e., weave together relevant comments on the texts, but do not ever simply summarize); b) critique (carefully identify strengths and weaknesses that relate to your thesis); and c) propose modifications (i.e., ways to improve and/or extend the research). Justify the theoretical relevance and normative importance of your argument, critiques, and proposed modifications.

Weekly Readings

• Inglehart, Ronald and Christian Welzel. 2007. Mass Beliefs and Democratic Institutions, In Carles Boix and Susan C. Stokes (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Politics, pp. 297-316.
• Geddes, Barbara. 2007. What Causes Democratization?, In Carles Boix and Susan C. Stokes (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Politics, pp. 317-339.
• Wintrobe, Ronald. 2007. Dictatorship: Analytical Approaches, In Carles Boix and Susan C. Stokes (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Politics, pp. 363-395.
• Magaloni, Ch. 2-3

Recommended

• Alt, James E. and Shanna S. Rose. 2007. Context-Conditional Political Budget Cycles, In Carles Boix and Susan C. Stokes (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Politics, pp. 845-867.