Exam 2 Review Sheet
Weeks 5–8 (Distributive Politics through Populism)
Exam Format
- Open book / open notes
- 5–6 True/False with explanation — each item states a claim; you indicate whether it is true or false and explain your reasoning in 2–4 sentences
- 1 Essay — a deep dive into a reading of your choice (see below)
Bring a printed reading
The essay asks you to engage closely with one assigned reading. Before the exam, choose the reading you know best, print it out, and bring it with you. You will be expected to cite specific arguments, evidence, and passages from the text in your essay response.
Key Terms and Concepts
Programmatic Politics vs. Clientelism (Lecture 5.1; Stokes et al.)
- Distributive politics
- Programmatic vs. nonprogrammatic distribution
- Clientelism / contingent exchange
- Targeted vs. universal benefits
- Brokers and agency problems
- Geography of clientelism
- Wealth, education, and clientelism
Vote Buying (Lecture 5.2; Aspinall & Berenschot)
- Public goods vs. private goods
- Vote buying
- Open-list vs. closed-list proportional representation
- Electoral accountability
- Tim sukses (success teams)
- Welfare states in developing countries
Ethnicity and Public Goods (Lecture 6.1; Miguel)
- Collective action problem
- Public goods provisioning
- Ethnic diversity and cooperation
- Selective incentives
- Contract theory
- Subnationalism
- Encompassing ethnic parties
- Sectarianism
Democracy and Redistribution (Lecture 6.2; Holland & Schneider)
- Poverty (extreme, moderate, relative)
- Purchasing power parity (PPP) / poverty lines
- Multidimensional poverty
- Inequality trends
- Easy vs. hard redistribution
- Social spending (health and education)
- Median voter theorem
Washington Consensus Reforms (Lecture 7.1; Archibong et al.)
- Washington Consensus
- Stabilization, liberalization, privatization, structural adjustment
- Reform sequencing
- Partial reform equilibrium
- Crisis as reform window
- Sub-Saharan African reform experience
The Gendered Legacy of Reform (Lecture 7.2; Benería et al.)
- Structural adjustment and gender
- Female labor force participation (FLFP)
- Export-led growth / apparel sector
- Voluntary compliance / codes of conduct
- Global framework agreements
- Trade unions and labor rights
- Rana Plaza collapse
Key Arguments and Takeaways
Stokes et al., Brokers, Voters and Clientelism, Ch. 1
- What distinguishes programmatic from nonprogrammatic distribution?
- What makes clientelism a distinct form of nonprogrammatic politics (the quid pro quo, explicit or implied)?
- Patronage vs. vote buying — how do they differ?
- Study the full typology of distributive politics and the examples Stokes et al. use to illustrate each form.
Aspinall & Berenschot, Democracy for Sale, Ch. 5
- Vote buying is widespread in Indonesian elections and reflects a transactional political culture rooted in patronage networks
- Open-list proportional representation increases individual candidates’ incentives to buy votes because they compete directly against co-partisans.
- Informal “success teams” (tim sukses) function as localized broker networks, linking candidates to voters at the community level.
- Vote buying takes different forms in different places, depending on the candidate’s connections to the local community (what are these forms).
- Vote buying is more prevalent in some types of elections relative to others (which ones?).
- Is vote buying a “successful” strategy in terms of actually buying votes?
Miguel, “Tribe or Nation?”
- Tests whether ethnic diversity undermines public goods provision by comparing school funding in Kenya and Tanzania.
- Finds that Tanzania’s post-independence nation-building policies fostered a shared national identity (subnationalism) that sustained cross-ethnic cooperation better than Kenya’s ethnically competitive system.
- Ethnic diversity does not automatically reduce collective action; what matters is the political and institutional context in which diversity is managed.
- What are the specific policy choices that Tanzania made to promote human development?
- Updating to 2026, is the analysis still relevant?
Holland & Schneider, “Easy and Hard Redistribution”
- Distinguishes two types of redistribution: “easy” (non-contributory schemes like CCTs) and “hard” (contributory benefits like traditional pensions).
- Democracy more reliably expands easy redistribution because it faces weaker elite resistance and broader coalitional support.
- Hard redistribution is politically costly and therefore rare even in democratic settings, especially where organized interests are strong.
- Latin American cases illustrate that expansion of social spending under democracy does not necessarily reduce underlying inequality.
- What is Holland & Schneider’s main argument for why easy redistribution persists (hint: it has to do with certain coaltions and entrenched interests).
Archibong et al., “Washington Consensus Reforms and Economic Performance in Sub-Saharan Africa”
- Reform adopters performed worse than non-adopters in the 1980s–90s but experienced improved per capita growth in the post-2000 period — what explains the reversal?
- Pairing market-oriented reforms with pro-poor policies was central to successful outcomes.
- What do the country case studies (Ethiopia, Nigeria, Uganda, Senegal) reveal about the conditions for reform success?
- What does the paper recommend in terms of reform design, social safety nets, and local ownership?
Benería, “Markets, Globalization and Gender”
- Neoliberal structural adjustment increased female labor force participation, particularly in export-oriented manufacturing, but often in precarious, low-wage conditions.
- Cuts to social services under structural adjustment disproportionately burdened women, who shoulder the majority of unpaid care work.
- Global supply chains in sectors like apparel rely on female labor while diffusing accountability for labor standards across multiple tiers of suppliers.
- Identifies three related effects of globalization on gender equity (liberating, intensifying, reconstitution)
- Which of these does Benería challenge and which does she endorse?
Putzel, “The ‘Populist’ Right Challenge to Neoliberalism”
- Putzel identifies a “mature phase” of neoliberalism that differs from the original Washington Consensus by incorporating rights-based social policies.
- Policies such as promoting gender equality, inclusion of minorities, migrants, and the poor became a source of resentment among middle-class and working people experiencing economic decline.
- Voters also resented the idea that these policies were the product of elite bargains between national leaders and international organizations rather than social consensus.
- What is the “commodification of politics” and austerity in public services that contributes to mass cynicism toward neoliberal elites?
- What is the “rock and a hard place” that social policy finds itself between, and what does Putzel recommend?
Essay Guidance
The essay question will ask you to engage in depth with one reading of your choice from the weeks covered on this exam.
Caution
The essay prompt you receive on exam day will be different from any practice prompts below. These are examples meant to guide your preparation.
You should be prepared to:
- Summarize the reading’s central argument clearly and accurately
- Explain the evidence or logic the author uses to support the argument
- Connect the argument to broader course themes (e.g., distributive politics, development, gender, populism)
- Evaluate or apply the argument — does it hold up? What are its limits? How does it relate to other readings or cases from lecture?
Practice prompts:
- Choose one reading from this unit and explain its central argument. What evidence does the author use? What are the argument’s strengths and limitations?
- Drawing closely on one reading, explain how political institutions or historical context shape economic or distributional outcomes in developing countries.
- Using one reading as your primary source, discuss how globalization has created new challenges for democratic governance or social welfare.