Ph.D. Comprehensive Examination in Political Analysis

May 2013

You may consult your readings and notes but no one else!

Submit your answers as a Word attachment by 5:00PM to both

and

Be sure that your student identification number appears at the top of every page.

Be sure that your name appears nowhere in the document.

Please answer two of the following

QUESTION ONE: Select a policy problem or issue with which you are already well-acquainted that currently confronts any national or sub-national government. Write an essay exploring how any readings you have done about political institutions and systems (that is, readings about: specific institutions and systems; the kinds of challenges institutions and systems face; the successes and failures they experience; and the alternative models or modes of analysis one may apply to them) help you to diagnose: (a) the origins and character of the problem or issue, and (b) the opportunities and constraints that appear relevant to managing the problem or issue.

[Note that the term “political institution” is quite broad and refers to organizations with self-defined public goals (such as advocacy groups and other civil society entities) and to governmental bodies with constitutional or legal mandates to carry out particular tasks (e.g. legislating or regulating). The phrase may also refer to the rules by which such organizations and bodies operate and interact. The term “system,” as used here, simply refers to the relationships over time among institutions within a structure of governance.]

QUESTION TWO: Select any public policy issue (e.g. welfare, health care, trade, immigration, anti-terrorism, climate change, etc.) other than the one you may have explored in question one above, where one might conclude that significant policy reform is warranted. Suggest both the political analysis and the policy analysis that ought to inform the reform effort. As best you can, speculate regarding: (a) the likely findings of each kind of analysis, and; (b) the challenge of making the policy analysis politically relevant. (Note: you need not address a U.S. public policy issue.)

QUESTION THREE: Huge budget deficits and burgeoning national debt have become the dominant policy issue facing Washington. And the United States is not alone: as the ongoing crisis in Europe attests, many other nations are facing medium and long-term fiscal crises reflecting over-borrowing and the pressures of an aging population. These present harsh political problems to their governing authorities. Drawing upon readings where they appear useful, discuss strategies that such governments might follow to enact the necessary deficit-reduction measures and maintain societal support. You may choose to answer the issue in general terms, citing country examples where useful, or you may focus your analysis on a particular nation.

QUESTION FOUR: The logics of policy analysis and international relations often assume that there exist more or less unified governments that can and do pursue purposive policies aimed at promoting the national welfare or the “national interest.” But scholars and practitioners who examine policymaking and policy implementation typically find otherwise and develop models or frameworks to help us understand “real world” decision making and policy implementation.

Select a policy issue (different from one you address in an earlier question) and write an essay addressing the advantages and disadvantages of undertaking scholarship on that issue that centers on going “inside” and “disaggregating” the policy process. Draw upon and cite authors from your reading list as appropriate.

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